American Top Team Fort Lauderdale offers Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & MMA - Mixed Martial Arts training serving Ft. Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Oakland Park, Lauderhill, Hollywood, Plantation, Davie, Tamarac, Sunrise, Pompano Beach, Hallandale, Aventura, Miami, North Miami Beach, South Miami Beach, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Parkland, Delray Beach, Lantana, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach. American Top Team Fort Lauderdale training gym teaches: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muy Thai, Thai kickboxing, Submission Wrestling, Kickboxing, Cardio Kickboxing, kids MMA, MMA fighter training and bout preparation, personal training, women's classes and more.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - BJJ has become widely known in the last twenty years via MMA - Mixed Martial Arts competitions. It has become such a critical component of the MMA repertoire that one should not be without this skill set. It is said that a fight may have three stages: striking, grappling, and ground. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu focuses on the grappling and ground portion of a competition. It has gained fame especially after Royce Gracie fought in the early years of the UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship. There are many moves to perfect in the study of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and it may take many years of consistent training with a professional level instructor to master it. American Top Team Fort Lauderdale's Rafael Dias is the chief instructor and a black belt in BJJ. Sensei Rafael teaches men, women, and children with patience and care so as to avoid injury yet still being able to practice what one learns. For the more advanced fighter or competitive/professional fighter Rafael teaches and prepares students for amateur and professional MMA - Mixed Martial Arts bouts or strictly Jiu Jitsu tournaments.
*Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. The art was derived from the Japanese martial art of Kodokan judo in the early 20th century. It teaches that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using leverage and proper technique - most notably by applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the other person. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training can be used for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self defense. Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in traing, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition, in relation to progress and ascension through the grades/belts.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu came to international prominence in the martial arts community in the early 1990's, when Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Royce Gracie won the first, second and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships, which at the time were single elimination martial arts tournaments. Royce fought against often much-larger opponents who were practicing other styles, including boxing, shoot-fighting, karate, judo and tae kwon do. It has since become a staple art for many MMA fighters and is largely credited for bringing widespread attention to the importance of ground fighting. Sport BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity worldwide and have given rise to no-gi sumission grappling tournaments, such as the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.
You can try one week of unlimited MMA classes at American Top Team Fort Lauderdale with owner / instructor / professional MMA fighter Rafael Dias including Boxing, Kickboxing, Muy Thai (Thai Kickboxing), Submission Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, kids MMA, and cardio kickboxing all for $9.95! Call Now! 754-423-5765
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes taking an opponent to the ground and utilizing ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds also found in numerous other arts with or without ground fighting emphasis. The premise is that most of the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somewhat negated when grappling on the ground.
BJJ permits a wide variety of techniques to take the fight to the ground after taking a grip. Once the opponent is on the ground, a number of maneuvers (and counter-maneuvers) are available to manipulate the opponent into a suitable position for the application of a submission technique. Achieving a dominant position on the ground is one of the hallmarks of the BJJ style, and includes effective use of the guard position to defend oneself from bottom, and passing the guard to dominate from top position with side control, mount, and back mount positions. This system of maneuvering and manipulation can be likened to a form of kinetic chess when utilized by two experienced practitioners. A submission hold is the equivalent of checkmate in the sport, reflecting a disadvantage which would be extremely difficult to overcome in a fight (such as a dislocated joint or unconsciousness).
Ground fighting BJJ is most strongly differentiated by its greater emphasis on groundwork than other martial arts. Commonly, striking-based styles spend almost no time on groundwork. Even other grappling martial arts tend to spend much more time on the standing phase. It is helpful to contrast its rules with judo's greater emphasis on throws, due to both its radically different point-scoring system, and the absence of most of the judo rules that cause the competitors to have to recommence in a standing position. This has led to greater time dedicated to training on the ground, resulting in enhancement and new research of groundwork techniques by BJJ practitioners.
Along with BJJ's great strengths on the ground comes its relative deemphasis of standing techniques, such as striking. To remedy this comparative lack, there is an increasing amount of cross-training between the sports of BJJ and wrestling, Judo, or Sambo, as well as striking based arts such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing.
Training methods
Sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's focus on submissions without the use of strikes while training allows practitioners to practice at full speed and with full power, resembling the effort used in a real competition. Training methods include technique drills in which techniques are practiced against a non-resisting partner; isolation sparring, commonly referred to as positional drilling, where only a certain technique or sets of techniques are used, and full sparring in which each opponent tries to submit their opponent using any legal technique. Physical conditioning is also an important part of training at many clubs.
Primary Ground Positions
During the ground phase of combat the BJJ practitioner strives to take a dominant or controlling position from which to apply submissions, these positions provide different options.
Side Control
The practitioner pins their opponent to the ground from the side of their body. The dominant grappler is across the opponent with weight applied to the opponent's chest. The opponent may be further controlled by pressure on either side of their shoulders and hips from the practitioner's elbows, shoulders, and knees. A wide variety of submissions are initiated from Side control.
Full Mount
The practitioner sits astride the opponent's chest, controlling the opponent with their bodyweight and hips. In the strongest form of this position the practitioner works their knees up under into the arm pits to reduce arm movements, limiting their ability to move or counter the submission attempts. Full Mount is mostly used to attack the arms or apply choke holds.
Back Mount
The practitioner attaches to the back of the opponent by wrapping their legs around and hooking the opponent's thighs with their heels. Simultaneously, the upper body is controlled by wrapping the arms around the chest or neck of the opponent. This position is commonly used to apply chokeholds, and counters much of the benefit an opponent may have from greater size or strength.
You can try one week of unlimited MMA classes at American Top Team Fort Lauderdale with owner / instructor / professional MMA fighter Rafael Dias including Boxing, Kickboxing, Muy Thai (Thai Kickboxing), Submission Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, kids MMA, and cardio kickboxing all for $9.95! Call Now! 754-423-5765
Guard
In the Guard, the practitioner is on their back controlling an opponent with their legs. The practitioner pushes and pulls with the legs or feet to upset the balance and limit the movements of their opponent. This position comes into play often when an opponent manages to place the practitioner upon his or her back and the practitioner seeks the best position possible to launch counter-attacks. This is a very versatile position from which the BJJ practitioner can attempt to sweep (reverse) the opponent, get back to the feet, or apply a variety of joint-locks as well as various chokes.
The three main types of guard are Open, Closed, and Half. In closed guard, the bottom grappler has their legs around the opponent's trunk and has their ankles closed together to provide control and a barrier to escaping the position. In the open guard, the legs are not hooked together and the bottom grappler uses their legs or feet to push or pull in a more dynamic fashion. In the half guard, one of the top grappler's legs is being controlled by the bottom grappler's legs.
Submission
The majority of submission holds can be grouped into two broad categories: joint locks and chokes. Joint locks typically involve isolating an opponent's limb and creating a lever with the body position which will force the joint to move past its normal range of motion.[3] Pressure is increased in a controlled manner and released if the opponent cannot escape the hold and signals defeat by submitting. Opponents can indicate submission verbally or they can tap out (i.e. tap the opponent, the mat several times. Tapping one's own body is dangerous because the opponent may not be able to tell if his or her opponent is tapping.) A choke hold, disrupting the blood supply to the brain, can cause unconsciousness if the opponent does not submit soon enough.
A less common type of submission hold is a compression lock, where the muscle of an opponent is compressed against a hard, large bone (commonly the shin or wrist), causing significant pain to the opponent. These types of locks are not usually allowed in competition due to the high risk of tearing muscle tissue. This type of lock often also hyper-extends the joint in the opposite direction, pulling it apart.
Joint Locks
While many joint locks are permitted, most competitions ban or restrict some or all joint locks involving the knees, ankles, and spine. The reason for this is that the angles of manipulation required to cause pain are nearly the same as those that would cause serious injury. Joint locks that require a twisting motion of the knee (called twisting knee locks or twisting knee bars, or techniques such as heel hooks, and toe holds) are usually banned in competitions because successfully completing the move nearly always results in permanent damage that requires surgery. Similarly, joint manipulations of the spine are typically barred due to the inherent danger of crushing or mis-aligning cervical vertebrae. Leglocks are allowed in varying degrees depending on skill level, with straight ankle locks being the only leglocks allowed in the beginner division, or white belt level, straight kneebars being allowed in the intermediate division, or blue belt level and toeholds with the pressure applied inwards are allowed in the advanced division (purple, brown, black). Some competitions also ban submissions involving the crushing or compression of muscle tissue. However, most joint locks involving the wrist, elbow, shoulder or ankle are permitted as there is a great deal more flexibility in those joints and those locks are safe to use under tournament conditions. Also, some fighters practice moves whose sole purpose is to inflict pain upon their opponent, in the hope that they will tap out. This includes driving knuckles into pressure points, holding their opponent's head in order to tire out the neck (called the "can opener" or kubi-hishigi) and putting body weight on top of the sternum, floating ribs, or similarly sensitive bones. These moves are not true submission moves - they are generally only used as distractions mostly in lower levels of competition. They are avoided or aggressively countered in middle to upper levels of competition.
Chokes and strangles
Chokes and strangles (commonly but somewhat incorrectly referred to as "air chokes" and "blood chokes" respectively) are a common form of submission. Chokes involve constriction of the windpipe (causing asphyxia.) Strangles involve constriction of the carotid artery (causing ischemia.)[17]
Air chokes are less efficient than strangles and may result in damage to the opponent's trachea, sometimes even resulting in death. By contrast, blood chokes (strangulations) cut the flow of blood to the opponent's brain, causing a rapid loss of consciousness without damaging any internal structures. Being "choked-out" in this way is relatively safe as long as the choke is released soon enough after unconsciousness, letting blood back into the brain before oxygen deprivation damage begins.[18] However, it should not be practiced unsupervised.
The Gi
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner's uniform is similar to a judogi, but often with tighter cuffs on the pants and jacket. This allows the practitioner to benefit from a closer fit, providing less material for an opponent to manipulate, although there is a significant overlap in the standards that allows for a carefully selected Gi to be legal for competition in both styles. To be promoted in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the wearing of the Gi while training is a requirement, but recently with the growing popularity of "no gi" Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, instructors have been giving out belts to no gi practitioners (e.g., Rolles Gracie awarding Rashad Evans a black belt). The term kimono is sometimes used to describe the outfit, especially in Brazil.
Grading
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ranking system awards a practitioner different colored belts to signify increasing levels of technical knowledge and practical skill. While the system's structure shares its origins with the judo ranking system and the origins of all colored belts, it now contains many of its own unique aspects and themes. Some of these differences are relatively minor, such as the division between youth and adult belts and the stripe/degree system. Others are quite distinct and have become synonymous with the art, such as a marked informality in promotional criteria, including as a focus on a competitive demonstration of skill, and a conservative approach to promotion in general.[20][21][22] Traditionally, the concept of competitive skill demonstration as a quickened and earned route of promotion holds true.[20][21][22] Some schools have placed a green belt for adults between the white and blue belt ranks due to the long periods between advancement. The amount of time it takes to achieve the rank of black belt varies between the individual but the average time frame is between 8 and 10 years with a consistent training schedule of 3 to 4 times per week.
American Top Team Fort Lauderdale offers MMA - Mixed Martial Arts training serving Ft. Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Oakland Park, Lauderhill, Hollywood, Plantation, Davie, Tamarac, Sunrise, Pompano Beach, Hallandale, Aventura, Miami, North Miami Beach, South Miami Beach, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Parkland, Delray Beach, Lantana, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach. American Top Team Fort Lauderdale training gym teaches: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muy Thai, Thai kickboxing, Submission Wrestling, Kickboxing, Cardio Kickboxing, kids MMA, MMA fighter training and bout preparation, personal training, women's classes and more.
You can try one week of unlimited MMA classes at American Top Team Fort Lauderdale with owner / instructor / professional MMA fighter Rafael Dias including Boxing, Kickboxing, Muy Thai (Thai Kickboxing), Submission Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, kids MMA, and cardio kickboxing all for $9.95! Call Now! 754-423-5765
*from Wikipedia