Possibly a silly noob question . . .

[AndrewKFM]

Greetings,

I've been training a lot Taekwondo for some time now. I've recently begun regular Karate training, and Aikido on school breaks. As a side note, I'm dappling in Tai Chi as well.

That's all wonderful and nice, but I want to be well rounded, and BJJ seems like the ground game for me. I remember a friend teaching me some BJJ basics and an armbar in a hour-or-so training session, and I was able to submit my TKD instructor the next day in seconds.

So, as I research where and how to begin my BJJ training, I wonder: Are there different styles? Or is "Brazilian" the style of "Jiu-Jitsu"? Or are the several styles of the Brazilian style of Jiu-Jitsu?

I hope that makes sense.

Obviously, different schools and different instructors will vary slightly, but is BJJ the same everywhere?

Thanks, I apologize for my ignorance.

And I did google it briefly, but I decided to just ask you kind fellows. =]

 

[BloodMoney]

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an art, and theres different lineages and flavors to it, in the same sense that theres different schools of thought on certain Wing Chun principles etc, but yeah BJJ is its own thing. Very different from Japanese Jiu Jitsu etc. Generally speaking, yes BJJ is the same everywhere...you will learn the same basic moves and counters that every other BJJ practitioner is learning. Different schools and instructors will of course teach different counters, or put more emphasis on certain aspects of a move etc, but yes its all the same really.

If your looking for a ground game BJJ is THE answer in my opinion. If something beats it on the ground id like to know what so I can train it! Aikido is good for BJJ, I used to train it myself and a friend is very accomplished and you can tell, his movement is awesome and weight distribution etc is good despite only just starting out. Training Karate and Tai Chi at the same time is....interesting, but each to their own!

 

[AndrewKFM]

Great answer! Thank you very much!

And it's a very unique shade of Karate, and I'm barely training Tai Chi. Karate is in a Dojo regularly, Tai Chi is following the occasional video on YouTube. =]

Thanks again!