Why every woman should consider doing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

Every woman should know basic self-defense

As an assault victim many years ago, and as someone who simply knows that bad things happen more often to women than they do to men, I'm a firm believer that every woman or girl should know how to defend herself. The sooner, the better. I'm so convinced of it that I would make it mandatory in schools, if it were up to me.

Kids learning BJJ at age 5 and up

According to UN Women;

It is estimated that 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives. However, some national studies show that up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime .
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It sucks to be a woman sometimes, so what are we going to do about it?

We could take hormones and bench press until our biceps are as big as a man’s, or we can find a way to use our bodies to our advantage. I personally found the answer in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Obviously, nothing guarantees you to be 100% safe from an attack, especially if your attacker is armed or knocks you out before you can do anything (not even a gun!), but it is still reassuring to know that you can learn to move and react appropriately, if someone tried to have their way with you.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for self-defense

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There are 2 types of BJJ being taught in martial art academies around the world. One is more competition oriented (focusing on points systems and fancy techniques), and the other one, which is more old school, is focused on self-defense.

I much prefer the latter, as the whole point of learning a martial art is being able to defend yourself. This is the BJJ that was taught by the late Helio Gracie and his sons to this day. Royce Gracie even said in an interview (see below) that if a technique doesn't work in the street, he won't teach it

The other reason why I don't like to do competition BJJ is because I'm not really a competitive person. I just don't see the point of fighting another woman of my weight category. As I mentioned earlier, the world pretty much sucks for us women, mainly because of men, no offense to you guys if you are reading this! You rarely (if ever) hear about a woman attacking another woman, so I definitely prefer to focus my training on defending myself against a man first and utmost. That being said, I very much enjoy training with women at the gym!

Why BJJ for women?

• It will teach you to turn a potentially dangerous situation to your advantage, by applying a set of techniques that don’t require the use of force, until your opponent submits. BJJ uses a whole range of joint locks and chokes that can disable a person within seconds. This means that it allows a woman to overpower and control a bigger, stronger opponent, which is usually the case in a man vs. woman situation.

• Most fights end up on the floor, and this is where BJJ players are the most comfortable. The average woman or girl is not a professional Muay Thai boxer, and therefore defending ourselves with fancy kicks and punches is pretty unrealistic for us. I’m a skinny girl, and if I punched someone, I’d probably risk breaking my own wrist before I could inflict some damage to someone else. So why not play weak, let someone take you to the ground and then break some joints instead?

• It will make you physically fit and flexible!
  Even if you don't think you need the self defense aspect of the sport, and are just looking to get physically fit, there is no sport that is more complete than BJJ to get in shape fast. It will help you develop your cardio, your muscular strength and endurance. To give you an idea, a 2 hour training typically starts with a warm up which consists of a little bit of running to get the blood flowing, followed by a series of strength and conditioning exercises (push-ups, burpees, abdominal exercises, and squats). After the warm up, the class usually continues with a series of drills which are meant to develop muscle memory. A drill is an exercise during which you repeat a specific movement over and over (usually part of a technique or submission), and until it becomes automatic. These drills can be pretty draining, and you will definitely burn lots of calories. Once the body is warm and tired, the teacher usually teaches one or 2 techniques per class. Last but not least, a training session usually ends with what we call "rolling" or "sparring". Basically you fight with your training partners, in 3 to 10 minute rounds (depending on your gym) during which you will be able to test yourself and apply the new techniques you’ve learned.

• It will make you more confident. This is true on the mats, but also in everyday life. BJJ teaches you to to survive and be at ease in a very uncomfortable situation. It teaches you not to panic, and to think of a strategic move to get out. It will change your mindset in everyday life, and help you acquire problem solving skills which you can apply at work and in your personal life. This is why BJJ is also called human chess. Just like in a chess game, you'll have to anticipate your opponent's moves, and challenges won’t look so scary anymore.

• You become a better version of yourself. BJJ is the only martial art that will allow you to test your skills in each class while sparring. With BJJ there is no cheating or fooling anyone, and your main opponent is your ego. It will humble you in ways that you can’t imagine. You constantly test your skills against your teammates, and your shortcomings will become apparent to you immediately. Other martial arts that are more individualistic, such as kung fu, taekwondo or karate, will not have that aspect of self-awareness, because there is no real life testing of your abilities. I've seen many people get frustrated (including myself) and leaving the class feeling disappointed. It's all part of the growth process. During the sparring sessions, you can give it your all against the bigger guys and see how successful or flawed you are.

• It will allow you to relax and completely forget about anything else outside of training. In that sense, it works pretty much the same as meditation for me. Only during practice, am I “in the now”, whereas I usually always think about what I should do next. It allows me to disconnect from the world and to focus only on one thing: my next move.

• It’s great couple therapy. If you are training BJJ with your partner, your couple must be very solid. I believe it’s very healthy to be able to choke out your better half every once in a while (anywhere outside of the dojo this would be considered illegal!). So take advantage of it but don’t let it become the cause of your breakup (remember the ego issue!)

• It allows you to create friendships that will last a lifetime. BJJ has a way of creating bonds between individuals who share the passion of this art, and you can travel anywhere in the world, and be welcomed with open arms when you train while on vacation. These mats have something magical about them. It very much reminds me of the scene in the movie "Fight Club" where the members recognize each-other the next day at the office. Even here on Steemit I can feel the solidarity among us BJJ players, and this invisible bond is something I've never experienced elsewhere.

Why most women unfortunately won’t sign up

When I try to convince other women to learn BJJ, they typically tell me that they don’t find rolling on the floor with sweaty dudes very enticing. I thought so too before trying it myself, but you know what? It doesn’t matter as you are going to be a pretty disgusting mess yourself. Sometimes I can’t stand my own odor after training, but while I train, I 'm so focused, that I don’t even think about that at all. You can take my word for it =)

Are you training a martial art? If yes, please tell me the reason why you signed up and why you like doing it. I would love to hear your story!

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