In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu one of the negative connotations that can attached to purple belts is that they can occasionally think they already know it all. I’ve only done a few pieces where I have injected my own views on grappling and I always try to use materials from other, more knowledgeable grapplers in my pieces. But I’d like to try out doing more reflective, blog-like pieces on training. I’m not an expert. I don’t compete a great deal. I’m just a guy who works full time, writes on the side, and trains grappling 5-6 times a week. But I’ve embraced the stereotype of the know-it-all purple belt for this article series.
You may have heard these words before, when a hardliner of a certain style sees a technique and says something along lines of “yeah, that works, but that’s not [insert name of a martial art here]”. It’s a close-minded sentiment and one I don’t like to be around, it’s an attitude stuck in the past. One of things I like about competitive martial arts is they are in a constant state of evolution with the game consistently being moved forward in an effort to be one step ahead. But, despite that evolutionary drive, every martial arts has those who resist this change and feel the art is already complete.
And when confronted with new or different techniques or approaches their response is often a dismissive one. Some Judo hardliners view wrestling as a less technical art inferior to their own. I’ve spoken to Sambo competitors who have traveled internationally and been told that their submission focused approach isn’t really Sambo by some coaches who prefer a throwing based style.
And it exists in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well. There is a segment of the BJJ community that believes that jiu jitsu has held all the answers needed for fighting since Royce Gracie won UFC 1 and that additions to it are unnecessary. They dismisses new techniques as being unrealistic or being too sport centric and cite early MMA as indisputable evidence that BJJ is already the superior art.
The result is an exclusive view of combat. Jiu Jitsu holds a limited range of techniques and techniques outside of those few are both not jiu jitsu and not worthy of attention. For some, even today, leg locks are not really Jiu Jitsu because they by-pass the positional hierarchy that is at the “core” of Jiu Jitsu. I’ve heard comments made about matches with long periods of stand up where people complain “I wish they’d stop Wrestling and get to the Jiu Jitsu”. I remember the debates over the 50/50 position and if it was “really Jiu Jitsu” or just stalling. The bermibolo and inverted guard craze came under similar fire from some corners of the community for not really being Jiu Jitsu because it wasn’t instantly apparent how it would work with strikes involved.
Now there is something to be said for narrowing one’s focus, defining one’s game, and for strong understanding for the fundamentals. But trying to limit the technical focus of an art because it emulates the games of past legends isn’t a positive. I understand that the collar cross choke from guard is a highly effective technique, and I recognize it as a vital technique for beginners to learn, but I don’t need to make it the centerpiece of my game purely because Helio Gracie used it to great effect.
My personal view of Jiu Jitsu is inspired by a conversation I had with my first instructor Adem Redzovic in which he stated “Jiu Jitsu is what works”. In the context of how it was said was not an exclusive statement meant to set Jiu Jitsu apart from other arts, it was an inclusive statement along the lines of Bruce Lee’s philosophy of incorporating what is useful and discarding what is not. If something is usable in certain situations in a repeatable manner against a fully resisting opponent in a way that can be safely trained, then it can be a part of my grappling game regardless of where it came from.
This isn’t to say this approach doesn’t have pitfalls. It can easily turn into a failing to credit other arts under the idea that anything and everything is Jiu Jitsu. There is a tendency to try to rewrite the past and point to individual uses of technique as a sign of larger proficiency. For instance a short video of Helio Gracie showing a heel hook is not proof that a deep leg lock game has always been a part of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While there are certainly lineages that have favored footlocks more than others, the reputation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters being adverse to leg locks is, generally speaking, well earned historically.
Credit must be given where credit is due, source your technique. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does teach double leg takedowns, but when I teach a class and show them, I teach details I learned through watching Justin Rader instructional material. Rader was a wrestler and adapted him wrestling game for submission grappling situations, and when I teach it I make it very clear where I learned what I am teaching.
When it comes to Jiu Jitsu’s lineage, I respect all the great grapplers, but the ones I tend to admire are the ones who always kept an open mind. Rolls Gracie stands out as a grappler who focused on expanding his knowledge by competing and training in Wrestling, Judo, and Sambo and then bringing what he learned back to his students in an effort to expand their understanding of grappling. This a far more positive outlook than the restrictive methods that many embrace.
Rule sets limit what you can do in competition and if you are training for one rule set in particular then it makes sense to specialize your training, such as an Olympic Wrestler forgoing learning submissions. But the Submission Grappling competition scene has many rule sets, if your goal is to be a well rounded submission grappler you shouldn’t let a single rule set limit you, be a grappler who can adapt his or her game for any rule set.
I admire most those coaches who always seek to expand their views on grappling. At the highest levels of competitive Jiu Jitsu athletes are forced to maintain an open mind or else fall behind the curve. So the next time you see someone in a grappling or MMA match doing something different, try and fight off that all too human urge to reject something new purely because it is unorthodox. Let what is effective be your guide for good technique.