What is bJJ?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

The core principle of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a martial art is that a smaller, weaker person will be able to defend themselves against an untrained, stronger, more athletic opponent using leverage and weight distribution.

This is achieved by taking the fight to the ground and subduing the opponent by using holding control positions and a variety of joint locks and strangles. Modern jiu-jitsu has developed more into a sport than a fully-fledged martial art, but BJJ training can be used for both sport and in self-defence situations.

Jiu-Jitsu Republic Oxford’s goal is to bring this style of BJJ training to Oxford in an accessible, friendly and fun way. BJJ is a great martial art for women, men and children.

Belt system

BJJ uses a belt system to signify a person’s technical knowledge, practical skills and length of time training. There is no formal syllabus or set standards that determine when a bjj practitioner is ready to be promoted to the next belt. You are assessed on how well you do in your everyday training and awarded a belt in a normal class rather than in a specific ceremony.

Adult belts:

Why BJJ?

There are many benefits to doing BJJ, but the main reason why people do BJJ is simply the fact that they enjoy it. BJJ is an incredibly fun sport to learn with many different aspects to it. Each individual will develop their own way of doing things and come up with different solutions to problems based on their own body type, athleticism, flexibility, mindset and other physical/mental attributes.

Although there is a individual element to BJJ in developing your own style, there is also a very large team element to the sport as a whole. You get to know your teammates as individuals and quite often develop good friendships that extend outside of the sport environment.

The team element to the sport is most obvious if you choose to compete. You will normally have your teammates and coaches at your back, cornering you and spurring you on; celebrating your wins and consoling you if you lose. After your first comp, it’s these moments that really make you realise that your peers are your teammates and training partners rather than competitors within the gym.

Blue

This belt bridges the gap between beginners level and intermediate level. A blue belt will have learned a large range of fundamental techniques as a white belt and will be able to deal with a bigger, more athletic novice.

The blue belt is the belt of knowledge accumulation and applying the techniques that work for you.

Purple

This is the intermediate adult ranking. The IBJJF requires you to have spent a minimum of two years as a blue belt to become eligible to receive a purple belt.

As a purple belt you have a wealth of techniques available to you. Now is the time to fully develop your specific game, linking your game together in logical sequences.

Brown

As you already have a good sense of what works for you, brown belt is considered a level for refining techniques and practical skills.

That’s not to say that you won’t be adding any new techniques to your repertoire, as brown belt comes with the extended rule-set which includes knee-bars and toe-holds

The IBJJF requires that a student has spent a minimum of one and a half years ranked as a purple belt to be eligible to receive a brown belt.

Black

Black belt denotes an expert level of technical and practical skill.

The IBJJF requires that a student has spent a minimum of one year ranked as a brown belt to be eligible to receive a black belt.