I'm curious, is Judo pretty much the same as BJJ without the locks? For example, in BJJ we take down an opponent by hooking or flipping them, but then we learn to follow up with the mount and put the opponent in an American Lock or Arm Bar. In sportive Judo I think the points are given for the takedowns, but I don't know about following up with locks...? It makes BJJ great for self defense but Judo and BJJ have many similarities. Seems like the fine line between Judo and BJJ is Judo is typically sportive and BJJ has always had a more 'NHB' attitude since Helio Gracie's early days.
In Judo points are awarded for throws, hold downs and submissions (armlocks and strangles only), so there is groundfighting in Judo but not the huge emphasis put on it in BJJ. This is quite debatable. Is it really a good idea to go to the ground with an opponent in self defence? In a one on one situation a trained groundfighter will be able to win this way, but there are no such assurances in real life. If they guy has a friend, he might spot you taking his mate to the ground and hit you with a chair while you're busy on the ground. If you stay standing you have a much better chance of being able to react to this second attack, and can still finish the fight with the guy you just put down (there was a thread in general discussion a while back on finishing downed opponents). Take into account the fact that most people can't breakfall and you have the usual situation, which is that people are ill-prepared to defend themselves after being flung into a hard floor. If your throw is decent you shouldn't have to take the fight to the ground, and if your throw isn't quite that good, follow it with a strike or a standing lock to quickly end it. Groundfighting skills are (in my opinion at least) an emergency set of techniques to use if you get taken to the ground and need to get back to your feet.
Judo appeals to me for a couple of reasons. 1) I like Kano's philosophy as it just makes sense and has good reasoning. 2) Judo is powerful, probably under-estimated by the general population of non-martial arts people. 3) Judo is very much to-the-point, ie. no wishy washy moves. 4) There is plenty of competition and randori. Judo can be used at all levels whether it's local, state, national, international, Olympics, or Pride, it's all good. It's what you make of it, right? Some other Martial Arts are not as diverse. They are stronger in one area but lack in the other. I'm just looking to expand my horizons a bit. I won't sit here and say BJJ is better than Judo, or Karate is better than TKD. My biggest issue is that I have ADHD so I get impatient easily if I'm feeling bored. When I watch the Karate class down the street from my house they spent so much time on things like doing sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, sometimes doing very little form. When they do practice form it's Kata which reminds me of shadow boxing. I really believe that for someone to enhance self-defense skills and know how to handle other people you need personal interaction or randori. I love sports, competition, and also learning self-defense. Karate and TKD seem to leave it up to the student on how to compose yourself off the mat. Judo, while sportive, gives you enough open-sparring with other people frequently enough that you wouldn't freeze up like a deer in headlights if someone grabs you from behind. I'm not saying any martial art will preapre you 100% for the street, but Judo seems to give the best of both world - competitively and preperation for surprise attacks from somebody. While BJJ does offer some competition it's nowhere near the mainstream of Judo. I like my BJJ but as I mentioned before the philosophy of Judo is just plain awesome and it's a widely compeitive sport that doubles as a good base for defense. BJJ is good defense too but doesn't double for a good sport compared to Judo. Am I making sense? Am I right about this? I'm speaking from what I've observed and researched. I could be wrong.
From what I've heard, BJJ is as competetive as Judo, with sparring/randori every lesson in addition to learning techniques. I may be wrong, but with the number of people telling me BJJ has more competition in it than just about anything, I'd be surprised
It depends. At the Machado school in my city they teach people sportive BJJ..as in always starting on your knees and staying on the ground for 5 minutes while sparring. Judo does not start on the ground just like self-defense situations in the real world, but you will get training for ground submissions if it goes there. Judo is an Olympic sport, BJJ is not. Whether learning Judo or BJJ most people see value in learning Boxing, Kickboxing, or Muay Thai for striking as BJJ has almost none. The Gracie school I attend is unique from the mainstream in that we learn BJJ in the form of combative street defense. Our "sparring" is starting on your feet, not the ground. We are tested in ways that is different from other BJJ schools including other Gracie schools. We learn to defend against multiple attackers and we also learn to box. Reylson Gracie is unique from the normal BJJ world but this is why I attend. -c
BJJ = ground style of jujitsu with throws and takedowns. Judo = standing style of jujitsu with ground work. Best to do both.
Creeper, First please allow me to say that I really appreciate your approach and objectivity about the disciplines. In Judo the arm-locks and shime-waza (I can`t remember the English term) are as important as in BJJ. If the skills of two judoka are about the same level, most often ground fight is decisive. Any Judoka or sensei who neglects the groundwork is doing a fatal mistake, in my humble opinion. You can come across many Japanese sensei who also practiced traditional ju-jutsu styles (which is also the source of BJJ). In judo there are actually leg-locks and many nasty techniques that are prohibited in the competition and not included in Kodokan list. So, I suggest that you find a dojo which does not ignore classical traditional judo, just for the sake of competition judo. I would also like to remind you that after Kano Sensei founded Judo, all the jujutsu styles agreed to subscribe under Kodokan Judo and they together with Kano sensei formed a council to formalize and systemize Kodokan techniques. Regards, BuRu 武流
