The martial art style of Brazilian Jiujitsu was started by the Gracie family. A japanese in brazil tought the Gracie family Japanese Koshen Judo and Jujutsu. From this basis, they developed Garcie Jiujitsu or Brazilian Jiujitsu, BJJ. BJJ is especially well-known for its groundfighting skills. This however overlooks the fact that a lot of training time is also devoted to stand-up defense skills and takedowns. Gracie Jiujitsu has a clear strategy. If it is possible take care of the attacker standing up with joint locks, chokes, side-kicks to the knees, elbows to the face, takedowns with heavy falls onto a pavement.

If none of the above is possible because the attacker is much stronger, more athletic or more skilled, then take the fight to the ground. If possible use a takedown to start from a position of side-control (a very dominating position), and if not start from the guard. Most people, however strong or athletic they may be will be totally lost on the ground if they do not know how to move their hips, elbows, and other parts of the body on the ground. Such a person will be totally disoriented. The Gracies proved this in the early UFC Challenges. Because realistic defenses against takedowns were not properly trained, it was always fairs easy to take the fight down to the ground. Some people like Bas Rutten, who train defences to takedowns very seriously are able to resist many takedown attempts. However most trained fighters do not train these defences well, and a talent like Bas Rutten's is needed to make them work properly (he also knows groundfighting). Once on the ground, professional fighters who were literally twice the size of Royler Gracie and outweighed him by over 40 kilos were quickly defeated. If you are a small person and want a serious and realistic defense against a big person in a fight take a serious look at Gracie Jiujitstu. You will have at least one place where the chances are you will be able to beat them unless if they have trained groundfighting seriously. If you are big, it goes without saying that you will become almost invincible. BJJ is also extremely strenghtening for the body, particularly the abdomen and upper body. If you want to strengthen the legs as well, look for a cclub where they also train takedowns seriously. In this case you will get a very full workout. BJJ Training normally consists of: Defenses to grabs and strikes Stand-up elbows and side-kicks Takedowns Ground fighting techniques A big part of the class is devoted to free sparring. Techniques are normally not agreed beforehand. Depending on the level of the practitioner and the club, sparring normally begins standing up, on the knees, or from a particular postition like the turtle position (in this position one player sits like a turtle letting the other player take his back before trying to get out). BJJ has a clear hierarchy of positions on the ground. Half-guard, full guard, side-control, mount. There are others such as the scarf-hold or the north-south position but these are less essential than the others. A BJJ Practitioner goes through the positions until he gets to the mount. From the mount he is in a very advantageoue position to his opponent. There is a big disagreement in the Jiujitsu world about the use of the Gi or Kimono in training. Proponents claim it helps develop a good understanding of the body. Exponents claim that it trains something unrealistic. Most notably Eddie Bravo, who claims that BJJ People rely heavily on the guard due to Gi Training but that this position is not the best.