The ability to watch different Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes online by instructors today gives the opportunity to observe the teaching methods of other teachers and the practices of their students. With one click on the app of a smartphone, I am given the chance over a span of time to observe what white, blue, purple, brown and black belts are doing at the famous XYZ academy in the United States. In 1976 Isao Okano in his book Vital Judo: Grappling Techniques wrote about the ideal Judoka. “The Judo man must be as good at throws as he is at grappling and as good at grappling as he is at throws. In other words, anyone seeking true judo proficiency must strive for skill in both kinds of techniques.” Sadly because of different Sport Rule sets, curriculum designs and training norms, Judokas lack ground grappling (Newaza) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructors/students Jiujiteiros lack standup grappling (Tachi-waza). Some readers will say that both groups are improving while other readers agree or point out that things are getting worst. Okano in 1976 subscribed to the latter. The purpose of my writing is to look at why this is in the BJJ/Judo community, look at a few reasons that plague growing and such the idea of the Permack Principle with a little revision to the opening warmup to improve the areas of needed study for Judokas and Jiujiterios.
Dr. Jigoro Kano founded Judo in 1882. In his book, Mind Over Muscle, he explained that in the learning curve newaza is much easy to learn and quickly perform in resistance sparring (randori) compared to the amount of time and skill it takes to throw someone (tachi waza). I tend to agree with this idea from personal experience as a student, competitor and professor of jiu jitsu from Brazil. Also, there are several issues with BJJ academies improving Tachi Waza:
The BJJ community believes that students will get hurt during throws – My original thoughts of Judo and learning throwing techniques came from my studying of Gracie Jiu Jitsu and one night at the Center City Philadelphia YMCA at a Judo class I took after 4 months of Jiu Jitsu training. First, I was always told by my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teachers that we practice on the ground most because many fights end there in a real fight and also the reason for safety. “A lot” of students get hurt during the throw or takedown. Reading this now you are possibly questioning why you start rolling on your knees in the Jiu Jitsu academy? Well, you do this for several reasons. One already explored the fear of getting hurt when applying the throw incorrectly or being thrown. The second reason is one of space. Many of the academies in Brazil are much smaller than in Japan or the United States. Not having space in the jiu jitsu academy and resisting Japanese judo influenced curriculum development in such a way that in the ’90s students and teachers focused on Self-Defense, Fighting, and Ground Fighting. The techniques of Judo were not in the curriculums or very neglected much like they are today.
The misguided narrative that you can get hurt doing Judo is over. Judo needs that to be said. It is too easy to say, “You will get hurt doing something.” With reflecting on mutual benefit, “What if one day Jiu Jitsu had this type of narrative where you can get hurt doing it, so we will not practice it?” I will take it a step further in the direction of how to practice and learn Judo techniques more safely and can be practiced/added to Jiu Jitsu curriculums. There is a very real opportunity to grow Judo and the study of it.
The BJJ community does not wish to spend time training skillsets that are not valued in their tournaments- The third reason you as a BJJ student are rolling from your knees to start sparring is because of rules sets. If you want to separate judo and jujutsu further with curriculum design, you can do much for in the distancing by having two different rules sets for the sport. The development of the sport of Judo has pretty much killed off Judo around the world since the 1950s and ’60s. Judo in the early days where the United States Air Force brought back the techniques spread around the States; Karate was another art that was up there in popularity as well. Sports and rule sets have also revised the training curriculum for Jiu Jitsu from Brazil in the past 20 years. In my lifetime, some students are only learning the sportive techniques of Jiu Jitsu and are not learning how to use Jiu Jitsu for self-defense.
The BJJ community prefers to run in circles during warm-ups, practice wrestling in a jacket and/or use this time to practice newaza speed drills. There is a time at the beginning of a group class to warm up the body and sweat. This will help technique practice afterward and prepare instruction. What has always struck me as ineffective with my use of time and skill development in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has how so many of us warm-up like a track meet. At the very beginning of class, BJJ instructor will stand at the side of the mat while the students run around in circles. Originally, in the 90s, we started class with self-defense techniques as a warm-up. As time when on the sport of jiu jitsu Brazil grew, our classes moved to this run-in circles competition warm-up. Today some academies never learn anything different. It is here in these moments that Judo dojo and Jiu Jitsu academies can benefit from each other’s knowledge of best practices. During the warm-up, each style’s specialties can blend into each other for much-needed improvements. One day it will be nice to see BJJ instructors practice effectively tachi waza techniques instead of wrestling in jacket practices on takedown nights.
If only Judokas and Jiujiteiros used the Premack Principle. The Premack Principle is a theory of reinforcement that states that a less desired behavior can be reinforced by the opportunity to engage in a more desired behavior. The theory is named after its originator, psychologist David Premack (www.thoughtco.com). Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructors need to add just a few minutes to the warm-up period to give a student the real foundational skills of tachi waza by finally saying “If we do this before we do that, we will be more…” Judo senseis, likewise, need to say the same thing for newaza.
It is not difficult to look at the warm-up period as a problem to address and solve. We can continue to run in circles and cram neglected training skills before a competition. We continue to say, “We will get hurt.” Or we can do something now before we do what we like. We can use the Premack Principle to work on the simple skills of tachi waza as a BJJ student during the warm-up of a group class. My original thoughts on Judo when I was 15 years old and how I missed out throughout my jiu jitsu journey were based on being nervous that I would be injured; however, knock on wood, I am not getting injured practicing and learning the art of Judo solidly for the last 5 years. The challenge the BJJ and Judo communities are to use the Premack Principle. If you are afraid of getting hurt during the takedown, why not:
Learn how to grip the gi better against stronger opponents. Improve your stance and footwork. Why not, start learning how to off-balance your training partner more? Why not practice Uchi Komi and many different ways to do that by yourself or with a partner in a dynamic way? You can improve your distance management for defensive and offensive movement. Develop grip fighting skills…Or RUN IN CIRCLES BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOUR INSTRUCTOR’S GENERATION DID.
You might start to like it and start learning the classic throws of Judo or even learn to break-fall. Most importantly, all of these training drills can be done without worrying about getting hurt during the takedown because you have not even thrown your training partner yet. In a small way, you might help someone else or another art grow in a positive direction. This might be an excellent way to reach a higher level in your personal development of Jiu Jitsu or Judo techniques and technical expertise overall. So I say to the Judoka, “Warm-up using the Premack Principle!” And to the Jiujiteiros, “Warm-up using the Premack Principle!”
– Prof. “little” Tony Pacenski
Yokota Air Base – Tokyo Japan
www.tonypacenski.com
