What do BJJ, Judo, and Wrestling specialize in?

[Oily Dragon]

My understanding is that many Judo schools have followed the trend from Judo competitions, which are much more restrictive regarding ground work. When I trained, we spent a good bit of time on ground work (even working some basic collegiate wrestling scenarios), but that seems to be less the case now, and might not have been the norm even then.

YMMV. I'm starting at a new judo school soon that focuses on a lot of newaza because there's a local BJJ school and they interact and have co op seminars.

And the idea that BJJ schools don' train throws, standing sweeps etc, just look at the 4 billion BJJ throwing videos online. Every BJJ class I've walked on mat or observed did plenty of throwing drills and sparring on their feet.

I always felt this was a reaction from the fact that early GJJ wins were largely on the ground, BJJ has this rep for being a "ground fighting" art. It's a lot more comprehensive, IMHO, and the closer to GJJ the better. I know GJJ guys who are killers, the elevation level of the fight doesn't matter

 

[Tony Dismukes]

nd the idea that BJJ schools don' train throws, standing sweeps etc, just look at the 4 billion BJJ throwing videos online. Every BJJ class I've walked on mat or observed did plenty of throwing drills and sparring on their feet.

I always felt this was a reaction from the fact that early GJJ wins were largely on the ground, BJJ has this rep for being a "ground fighting" art. It's a lot more comprehensive, IMHO, and the closer to GJJ the better. I know GJJ guys who are killers, the elevation level of the fight doesn't matter

Unfortunately, there are plenty of BJJ schools where 90+% of class time is spent on ground work. IMO, the remaining 10% or less of class time spent on standup just isn't enough to develop a significant degree of proficiency in throws and standup skills, at least not for lower ranks. It's by no means a universal phenomenon, but it's not that rare either. (I will say that just about any BJJ black belt I've met has at least functional takedown skills, although sometimes they achieved that through cross training.)

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I consider the arts practically the same in terms of spirit, even though there's some variation in different people/lineages. That's normal, also in Kung Fu, FMA, even boxing.

In my view, BJJ, Judo, Collegiate Wrestling, Sambo, Catch Wrestling, etc ... heck even Shuai Jiao and Sumo ... aren't really separate arts. (At least not from the perspective that views them as martial arts and not just sports or cultural artifacts.) They're all just facets of close quarter grappling, with different cultural flavors and adaptations for different competition rulesets. The same fundamental principles underlie all of them and experience with one will just make you better at the others. Sumo and BJJ are about as far apart as you can get in the grappling arts, and I use my BJJ experience all the time during Sumo practice.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

YMMV. I'm starting at a new judo school soon that focuses on a lot of newaza because there's a local BJJ school and they interact and have co op seminars.

And the idea that BJJ schools don' train throws, standing sweeps etc, just look at the 4 billion BJJ throwing videos online. Every BJJ class I've walked on mat or observed did plenty of throwing drills and sparring on their feet.

I always felt this was a reaction from the fact that early GJJ wins were largely on the ground, BJJ has this rep for being a "ground fighting" art. It's a lot more comprehensive, IMHO, and the closer to GJJ the better. I know GJJ guys who are killers, the elevation level of the fight doesn't matter

I'm glad to hear there are still Judo programs out there spending real time on newaza. The art feels more complete (including in its principles) with solid newaza practice.