Our teachers are the best BJJ coaches, athletes, blackbelts or taught by the best in the world including Olympic Gold Medalist Juan Moreno, John Pellegrini (Movies – The Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon), Rashad Evans (UFC Hall of Fame), Jean Mongeois (World and PanAmerican Game Gold Medalist), American Top Team, JACO and sever other top-tier BJJ teams. Whether your ambition is to learn and train in Jiu-jitsu for the purpose of self-defense, fitness, or competition, this Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school in Lake Park, Palm Beach County Florida, has the programs designed to accommodate you.

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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Menu
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Menu
what is BJJ

What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

In the martial world, there are two modern designations which differentiate the various sorts of martial arts disciplines. The two main categories are striking arts and grappling arts.

Striking arts include the various types of Kickboxing, as well as Taekwondo and Karate. These arts primarily seek to defeat an opponent by means of strikes such as punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, with the overall goal to disable, knock out, or otherwise beat an opponent into compliance, unconsciousness, or severe physical injury.

The grappling arts which include Jiu-jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, and Sambo, seek to render an opponent compliant by means of holds, chokes, and joint locks. It is widely held that this sort of a fighting technique is more humane than the beating of a person into compliance.

The entire martial world, as well as the grappling world in specific, was rocked by the international exposure of the Brazilian style of Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) , most notably thru the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).

In this sort of freestyle competition, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu was seen to be the single most effective grappling art, and possibly the world’s most effective Martial Art in general in the eyes of many. The Blackzilians have one of the fastest growing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition teams in South Florida. Come by to try our Lake Park Jiu Jitsu classes FREE!.

Our teachers include Jiu Jitsu icons, like Rashad Evans, and were taught by the best BJJ teams in the world including Olympic Gold Medalist Juan Moreno, John Pellegrini, American Top Team and JACO. Whether your ambition is to learn and train in Jiu-jitsu for the purpose of self-defense, fitness, or competition, this Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school has the programs designed to accommodate you.

 

what is BJJ
origin of bjj

The Birth Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Let us now go into a brief bit of history and the exportation of Japanese Ju-jitsu to the country of Brazil. Ju-jitsu seems to have simply been a name for unarmed combat in the Samurai period though this may be an oversimplification on behalf of modern scholars. In any case there were definitely striking and percussive movements within the general subject of Ju-jitsu.

It was the advent of Kodokan Judo under the venerable Jigoro Kano that initiated the first grappling revolution or shall we say isolation of grappling-type techniques. Judo practitioners practiced an art and sport which featured no punches or kicks but rather focused solely on throws sweeps and locks. That these chokes and joint locks are potentially fatal is paradoxical in respect to the “gentle” nature of both Judo and Ju-jitsu.

A certain “Count” Maeda found himself in Brazil many decades ago and it is from this point in history that Gracie and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu begins. This Count Maedaaka Count Koma instructed two sons of a locally prominent fellow by the name of Gastao Gracie. These sons Carlos and Helio went on to develop both the Gracie style of Jiu-jitsu, like you see in jiu jitsu schools in Lake Park, in Palm Beach County, as well as the Gracie diet.

This stripped-down variant of the original Ju-jitsu eliminated techniques which relied on strength favoring maneuvers that focused on leverage and technique. The Gracie clan followed in the path of Maeda which involved challenging stylists of other fighting systems to no-rules or in the Portuguese “Vale-Tudo” matches in order to prove the effectiveness if not invincibility of this somewhat obscure art.

origin of bjj
history of Brazilian jiu jitsu

The History Of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

One can hardly discuss the contemporary Martial Arts scene without including the revolutionary movement that is from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu schools in Lake Park,.

This very direct and to-the-point method of self-defense and fighting does not make claims of leading a person to any sort of spiritual enlightenment or philosophical mastery nor does it make any claims to the effect that by studying and mastering the art one may achieve an almost supernatural level of human ability. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu or BJJ is quite simply an extremely efficient and effective method of subduing an opponent by means of holds joint-locks and chokes. Many other arts and fighting styles have among their arsenal of techniques some of these same movements so how did Brazilian Jiu-jitsu come to be such a dominant and revolutionary force in a comparatively short time.

history of Brazilian jiu jitsu
BJJ LANDSCAPE

Understanding BJJ's Martial Landscape

Let us begin not with the rich history of this art itself but rather the greater martial landscape of the modern Martial Arts era. I will say that in my opinion this is the period after World War II when American servicemen returned from places like Okinawa Japan Korea and other Eastern nations bringing back newly acquired knowledge and experience in arts such as Karate Ju-jitsu Judo Taekwondo and Kenpo.

Of these arts it can be said that Karate and Judo were the most widely practiced. It was much later in the Bruce Lee era that Americans became fascinated with Chinese Kung-Fu and its incredibly artistic cinematic counterparts. Beside the widely-received films of Bruce Lee himself you have the early works of men like Jackie ChanSnake-fist Fighter 36 Crazy Fists Drunken Master Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin Gordon LiuMater Killer 8-diagram Pole Fighter Shaolin 36th Chamber Kill Bill and the unrivaled Venoms Mob5 Deadly Venoms Magnificent Ruffians Unbeatable Dragon Masked Avengers Chinatown Kid.

This same Venoms Mob an uber-talented group of Martial Arts film stars also made a movie entitled “Chinese Super Ninjas”. This leads us to the next stage of American Martial arts interest the Ninja.

Few figures have become as iconic as the mysterious and deadly Ninja. The truths and legends regarding this facet of martial culture require a degree of research and examination that lie beyond the scope of this essay but let us say that America was Ninja-crazy in the 1980’s and it has hardly died down in popularity since when u consider the success of children’s programming such as Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and the more recent Naruto.

In the years that followed the Bruce Lee/Kung-Fu and Ninja film period a new player emerged in the American martial world Korean Taekwondo.

Taekwondo came to dominate the 80’s and early 90’s in this country. While many other arts and combat sports also flourished in the commercial Martial Arts boom of that period Taekwondo schools and masters seemed to be on every corner selling promises of martial mastery character development and enlightenment all to be accomplished over the course of a multi-year program enforced by a legal and binding contract. While a good number of folks may have achieved their ambitious goals in this regard many others came to see that Taekwondo is a Martial Art a fighting system a sport and an examination of Eastern thought and culture not a form of Magic.

Towards the close of this commercial Karate and Taekwondo boom a new no-nonsense player emerged into this equation Gracie Jiu-jitsu.

That there is no distinction between Gracie Jiu-jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu will be quite apparent to anyone who does even a modest bit of research. With this said what distinctions are there between Japanese Ju-jitsu and Brazilian or Gracie Jiu-jitsu

BJJ LANDSCAPE
BJJ competition

EVOLUTION OF JIU JITSU COMPETITION

These early Vale-Tudo matches gave way to the Gracie-sponsored Ultimate Fighting Championship which clearly demonstrated to the entire fight-world the importance of ground-fighting skills and the unbelievable effectiveness of the Gracie-method of Jiu-jitsu.

Nothing in life remains stagnant and fighting is no exception. Modern MMA or Mixed Martial Arts competition as typified by the UFC Strike Force and Bellator Fighting Championships showcase fighters of various disciplines including Greco-Roman Wrestling Muay Thai Kickboxing and of course Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Rather than BJJ remaining a singularly-dominant method of achieving victory in MMA it has become an aspect of the larger fighting elemental recipe alongside boxing wrestling kicking and takedown defense.

BJJ training is usually conducted in three manners:

Sport BJJ- This is the most traditional type of BJJ practice and involves wearing a “gi” or Judo/Ju-Jitsu uniform. Very similar if not nearly identical in many respects to the Judo practice of Ne-Waza.

of the Martial Arts.

No-Gi Jiu-jitsu- As the name suggest this is BJJ practiced minus the dynamics of the gi. This type of grappling practice is nearly indistinguishable from the American designation of “Submission Wrestling” as most widely exemplified by the NAGA or North American Grappling Association and its regularly hosted events which are open to grapplers of any style.

BJJ for MMA- The inclusion of striking techniques drastically alters the concerns of the Jiu-jitsu artist but not entirely so. The strategies utilized by a BJJ fighter remain essentially the same though necessarily modified to address the concerns of striking while grappling. It is this variant that is the most relevant to the MMA-fighter and in fact may be seen as simply something to defend against rather than use offensively as in the case of a fighter such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson who while very difficult to submit rarely attempts any sort of Jiu-jitsu finishing technique.

Anyone interested in this incredibly effective art who is in the South Florida area will invariably come across the name American Top Team. This team is the largest and winningest team in the entire sport of MMA worldwide. The Blackzilians service the entire South Florida.

I hope this brief dissertation has been helpful to you when you are looking for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Schools in Lake Park, in Palm Beach County.

Call or stop by our state-of-the-art BJJ school today, and allow us to guide you in your pursuit of martial proficiency. Begin training in this dynamic and effective art today, and see for yourself why Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has revolutionized the entire world of the Martial Arts.

BJJ competition
BJJ FOR WOMEN

Jiu Jitsu For Women

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes for girls in Lake Park are a very important part of self defense for women of all ages. The reason is because typically women do not get into too many fist fights. Usually when girls get attacked it is a man trying to kidnap or pin to the ground.

Striking Martial Arts are important. However if they are attacked by a larger or stronger person, a woman may cause more harm to her self. Learning the body mechanics of wrestling is more important in this case because the use of leverage rather than strength becomes the main focus. If a person is studying Jiu Jitsu for women in Lake Park and they get attacked by someone trying to wrestle them to the ground, they will be able to defend them self more successfully.

Whether it is by merely holding off the attacker until help arrives, or seriously wounding the attacker.  Knowing Jiu Jitsu focuses mainly on using leverage and body weight, a smaller defender will be more successful because they are not injuring their limbs by striking a stronger target.

 

Girls Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is also a fun way to lose weight and get into shape. Also for women who may want to learn Mixed Martial Arts, BJJ is an important element to add to their game.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes for men are important for similar reasons explained above. Men that are interested in Mixed Martial Arts must have a strong ground game. Russian Sambo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are arguably the best ground fighting arts in the world.

BJJ classes are more common than Sambo. For self defense purposes, men fist fight most of the time. Now because the Martial Arts are becoming more popular, you will start seeing other elements of fighting on the streets. Back in the day it was rare to find someone on the streets who was merely trained in boxing, now Mixed Martial Arts is so popular that you could very well run into an experienced MMA pro-fighter at the local grocery store.

This is why you need to be very careful who you engage in a confrontation with. Besides street fighting and Mixed Martial Arts practice, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a fun and exciting way to lose weight and get in shape.

BJJ FOR WOMEN
BJJ FOR kids

Jiu Jitsu For Children

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes for children in Lake Park have a very different purpose than for an adult. Children need structure in their lives. Classes in Jiu Jitsu offer that, plus self defense, self control, self discipline and respect.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes for children have a very different purpose than for an adult. Children need structure in their lives. Classes in Jiu Jitsu offer that, plus self defense, self control, self discipline and respect.

Those life skills are not very exciting to learn for young children, however hidden in the fun and exciting art of kid’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu  it becomes reality. Children who like wrestling will easily get hooked because they already like the sport so when they are threatened with the possibility of losing it, they will quickly conform.

Lake Park Kids Jiu Jitsu classes  will help children remember to clean their room, be nice to others, listen to parents, listen to teachers at school, and understand the meaning of goal setting.

I suggest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes  to any family interested in embarking on a journey that the whole family can enjoy. The Blackzilians are the leader in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes for men, women, and children.
BJJ FOR kids
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