Why Has Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Been So Popular Till Now?

It is an undeniable fact that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the fastest-growing combat sports in the world. Specifically, among fighting arts, this is dominating one for a number of years. Its popularity is increasing with rapidly specially in the United States.

We have seen people of all ages (kids to 90-year-old adults) adopting this discipline. Complementary to that, a question that arises in the mind is, “what is making this sport more and more popular over time while other games of the same category are left behind?”

To make you understand, here are some of the key reasons that have made BJJ so popular.

People love BJJ as they find it to be a continual course for learning. It is a technical sport that provides them something new to learn every time. As you cannot be perfect in all aspects of BJJ even after spending years in training, there is always something productive to learn at every moment in this sport.

Grandmaster Williams considers it a long-term learning process. He said that “BJJ will never end unlike other types of martial arts as it provides you with hundreds of new techniques every day to counter your opponents”.

It is a never-ending knowledge-gaining process that encourages people to stick to this sport. This learning process of BJJ keeps people engaged and lets them dig deeper into the sport.

Every day, new techniques in BJJ are being introduced in one part of the world and eventually, the same techniques will be practised in other parts of the world. The fact that it’s now a globally renowned and practised martial art guarantees its survival for years to come.

Self-defense is one of the most prominent benefits of Brazilian jiu-Jitsu that also plays an important role in the increasing popularity of this sport. When you ask BJJ learners about the primary reason behind practising this sport, they will mention self-defense as their primary goal. And this answer is not wrong at all.

BJJ teaches you how to protect yourself in hard times. Having this skill, you can control even bigger and stronger opponents. Master Carlos Gracie and Master Helio Gracie are the perfect examples in the support of learning jiu-jitsu. Both of them were small in stature but were able to beat bigger and stronger opponents due to their techniques.

This inspiration has a great role in luring people toward BJJ for over a hundred years.

Another reason for the dominant existence of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is that people consider it as a lifestyle rather than a sport.

According to Guillaume Huni (Head Instructor of Kimura Academy and BJJ Black Belt) for a vast majority of people, jiu-jitsu has become a passion and has a prominent role in life.  Every training session provides you with something new to learn and experience.

Similarly, the principles of BJJ are also applicable in daily life. For example, In Jiu-Jitsu fighters are taught principles such as using techniques over strength, maximum efficiency with minimum effort, don’t leaving things for later, and seizing opportunities.

And these principles are also effective to solve problems in daily life. It also has an impact on the eating and sleeping habits of people.

There is no age constraint for learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Whether it is your 70^th birthday or you want to reduce your weight, you are never late to start jiu-jitsu. People from the age of 9 years to 90 and from beginners to the level of elite athletes, everyone can adopt this sport.

Master Carlos Gracie and Master Helio Gracie trained in their 60s and 90s respectively. From this example, you can understand that age is just a number when it comes to learning and training BJJ.

According to BJJ professionals, age does not have any major implication when it comes to learning technical skills, however, you cannot ignore it at all. On the physical side of BJJ, the age factor has a role to play. It can impact physical aspects of training such as physical ability, conditioning, and recovery.

 Most of the people remain limited to the technical side of the BJJ, so age is just a number for them. This is the reason you can see the growing number of BJJ lovers all around the globe.

Lack of confidence is a major problem that people face due to the fear of the unknown. To overcome their fears and improve their self-confidence, a lot of people engage in practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu professionals also find it beneficial as Bill Jones, a black belt and the owner of Top-Level Martial Arts, believes that improvement in self-confidence is the prime benefit of learning BJJ.

In fact, this sport helps people in resisting the fear of the unknown. It also helps people facing challenges in real life.People train their kids in order to boost their self-confidence and prepare them for future challenges apart from professional competitions.

Another aspect that differentiates this sport from other types of martial arts is that it is less concussive. A concussion is a traumatic injury that causes unconsciousness, pressure in the head, dizziness.

In other words, concussions harm brain functioning and have chances of death. But when it comes to BJJ, the ratio of such incidents is low in comparison to other combat sports.

Concussions occur due to the repetitive hitting of the head. While in BJJ, unlike MMA and Boxing, punching is not involved. However, being a combating sport, you cannot ignore the risk of concussive injuries at all.

These reasons can help you understand the major cause of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s increasing popularity to date.