Gracie Jiujitsu? Legit or not?

SAMURAI SPIRIT

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Hi, I am in an area where BJJ schools are requiring a very long drive to get to them. I do live close to a Gracie affiliate where they have a visiting black belt instructor but most classes are run by a Gracie BJJ Purple belt. I left BJJ as a blue and Covid caused a lot of schools to shut down. I am not sure if Gracie Jiujitsu would be worth the investment. I am not in this for tournaments but more to get a good roll, make good friends and learn something that has a direct self defense application. Some people have said that Gracie academies are more suited for that then BJJ.

Has anyone trained in a Gracie affiliate school? What was your experience like?
 
Go to the school closest to you
Go to a school with a larger student base (different skills/bodytypes)
Go to a school with a higher ranking belt
 
Don't judge a school by its affiliate status. Schools have to pay money to have that affiliate recognition and it often is needed for the school's instructor to continue to advance in belt, advertise the school, get big names in for seminars etc...but schools change affiliations and the actual school can vary tremendously regardless of the affiliation they have at any given time.

Ultimately you should ask around and try out the school.
 
The only word of advice, Go to the school and give their trial class a try, Also do not be afraid to ask questions to the instructor and owner of the school.

Your spending your hard earned money for a service.
 
and learn something that has a direct self defense application
I don't know why this bothers me so much.

If you're a good blue belt in BJJ training BJJ for "self defence" is dumb.

I train BJJ because I love the art, it's a great workout, and I find the path to mastery to be deeply fulfilling. But if I was really worried about self defence at this point, it would make far more sense for me to learn how to box and (properly) wrestle.

By all means, there are massive self-defence gains you will make from being a fresh white belt up to blue belt. But once you attain a certain level of competence in BJJ, the marginal returns on self defence application are infinitesimal.
 
I’ve said this countless of times here on the subject of self defense: if a blue belt lands on top of someone who never grappled before than barring some big physical difference that fight should be over.

Not saying BJJ is the end all for self defense but the grappling arts in general really take people out of their comfort zone.
 
I would be less interested in belt rank and affiliation and most interested in teaching methods, the group (partner pool) and whether the philosophy of the instructor was open to you learning at other academies.
 
I'd go to the one that is nearest to me. Also, check out some reviews on Google or Yelp. I know there are tons of fake reviews out there, but it's better than nothing. But as they say, shop around and see how you feel about the gyms.
 
I'd give it a shot, some Gracie Barra schools are a hit, or miss. Over here, some of them are awful, but there are a few good gyms - although, not very popular. You will learn something and it is far more comfortable in terms of travel.
 
Thanks a lot fellows. As for self-defense emphasis, I have rolled with a lot of technical purple belts as well as brown belts who were tiny compared to my 210 lbs. They KILLED me in a strict BJJ roll over and over. If we were going all out from stand up with punches and kicks, Id knock the living day lights out of them.

In order to fight for real, the first thing you need to learn is how not to get hit from stand up position. Secondly, how to take a fighting opponent down who is not eager to be on the ground as another BJJ competitor. If you can do that then BJJ skills (whatever belt level you are at) come next.

Gracie Jiujitsu has a lot more emphasis in the above area then BJJ. From what I have seen, they incorporate concepts like "closing the gap" etc. Secondly, they assume striking on the ground so anything that opens you up for ground and pound is not in there. It is pretty basic stuff compared to what modern world understands as "BJJ."

This is why I asked about Gracie Jiujitsu specifically because it is not a question of affiliation. It is the style itself.
 
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If your goal is to be a better competitor, what counts the most for your academy is how intensively students grapple against each other. All styles of bjj came from judo and they more or less share the same knowledge and method. What makes definite difference in training is length of hard fought spar.

If you want to take it easy and be a happy attendee with normal social/physical life expectancies, you need a school that focuses on slow drills and deep breath and learning defense.

Gracie jujitsu helps plan B and they'll keep you from developing gang mentality and being drown in info flood.
 
Gracie Jiujitsu has a lot more emphasis in the above area then BJJ. From what I have seen, they incorporate concepts like "closing the gap" etc. Secondly, they assume striking on the ground so anything that opens you up for ground and pound is not in there. It is pretty basic stuff compared to what modern world understands as "BJJ."

This is why I asked about Gracie Jiujitsu specifically because it is not a question of affiliation. It is the style itself.
While this viewpoint is internally logical, the problem is that "GJJ" self defence involves a lot of bullshido.
 
While this viewpoint is internally logical, the problem is that "GJJ" self defence involves a lot of bullshido.
What bullshido are you talking about?
No sarcasm, I'm legitimately asking.
 
What bullshido are you talking about?
No sarcasm, I'm legitimately asking.
Pretty much the entire GJJ self defense curriculum is bullshido.

Even if the techniques themselves are not entirely useless, I have only ever seen them trained against unresisting opponents.

And then you have stuff that is pretty much quintessential bullshido, like Rorion apparently trying to intercept a bat (timestamped) being swung by Royce:

 
I love how he starts that bat / baton defense sequence at ultra close range with the weapon above Royce's head instead being in front of Royce's center line.

Hardest part about any of that is closing the distance on someone with a weapon while you're unarmed.

If you can close the gap to get inside to a wrist control on the weapon hand, that's 90% of the battle right there.
 
Pretty much the entire GJJ self defense curriculum is bullshido.

Even if the techniques themselves are not entirely useless, I have only ever seen them trained against unresisting opponents.

And then you have stuff that is pretty much quintessential bullshido, like Rorion apparently trying to intercept a bat (timestamped) being swung by Royce:



The standing defense to chokes, bearhugs and headlocks they teach works really well against resisting and significantly stronger opponents, I can attest that for personal experience.
They should be trained with resisting opponents, but I would not call bullshido techniques that actually works.

The weapon defense stuff is bullshido garbage tough, I have always wondered if the Gracie's really tought that crap was legit or if they were purposefully trying to fool people lol.

Anyway when people talk about GJJ I believe they refer to the modern Gracie Combatives program, whose main focus is managing the distance to avoid strikes when you go for takedowns or when you are on the bottom, which is something obviously legit and very useful, and not to the outdated stuff you posted.
 
Hi, I am in an area where BJJ schools are requiring a very long drive to get to them. I do live close to a Gracie affiliate where they have a visiting black belt instructor but most classes are run by a Gracie BJJ Purple belt. I left BJJ as a blue and Covid caused a lot of schools to shut down. I am not sure if Gracie Jiujitsu would be worth the investment. I am not in this for tournaments but more to get a good roll, make good friends and learn something that has a direct self defense application. Some people have said that Gracie academies are more suited for that then BJJ.

Has anyone trained in a Gracie affiliate school? What was your experience like?
Seems like convenience and getting along is the strongest motivator here so give it a try and see if you like it.

If you get hooked and want to advance quicker then go train at the other gyms too. You are only limited by your resources.
 
Pretty much the entire GJJ self defense curriculum is bullshido.

Even if the techniques themselves are not entirely useless, I have only ever seen them trained against unresisting opponents.

And then you have stuff that is pretty much quintessential bullshido, like Rorion apparently trying to intercept a bat (timestamped) being swung by Royce:



this is absolutely not true.

the whole SD choreaphic techniques, yeah pretty much, but the way GJJ has been trained in most gjj affiliates is not, proof of that are the gracie in action vids. Yeah they were facing most of the times just tough dudes wanting to fight, but they were all pretty much using Gjj strategy, which as a matter of fact is what gjj is, a fighting strategy.

Also, the new combatives are pretty awesome for sd.

that rorion vid though was pretty lame.
 
this is absolutely not true.

the whole SD choreaphic techniques, yeah pretty much, but the way GJJ has been trained in most gjj affiliates is not, proof of that are the gracie in action vids. Yeah they were facing most of the times just tough dudes wanting to fight, but they were all pretty much using Gjj strategy, which as a matter of fact is what gjj is, a fighting strategy.

Also, the new combatives are pretty awesome for sd.

that rorion vid though was pretty lame.
I am all for realistic training of closing the distance against a striker, and understanding how to deal with ground and pound from the guard. There is a continuum of quality in GJJ self defence from extremely effective, to total garbage.

The GJJ punchblock system is a perfect example of high quality self defence:

 
I don't know why this bothers me so much.

If you're a good blue belt in BJJ training BJJ for "self defence" is dumb.

I train BJJ because I love the art, it's a great workout, and I find the path to mastery to be deeply fulfilling. But if I was really worried about self defence at this point, it would make far more sense for me to learn how to box and (properly) wrestle.

By all means, there are massive self-defence gains you will make from being a fresh white belt up to blue belt. But once you attain a certain level of competence in BJJ, the marginal returns on self defence application are infinitesimal.

Kind of agree on that last point. For self defense all you need is one take down, side control to mount and thats basically it. All that you should be able to do by blue belt. Anything else past that is overkill against an untrained opponent

Disagree about wrestling or boxing being better for self defense though. Keep in mind thr legal aspect these days. Hitting someone will get you in a whole lot more trouble than sitting on them
 
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