Jiu Jitsu Training for MMA Fighters - By: Santiago Padilla

In the world of combat sports, Mixed Martial Arts or MMA seems to be the current trend these days. This is an arena wherein only the best get to compete. In as short as three rounds, you would see who the better fighter is. Muscle-packed and testosterone-pumping as MMA is, it is a sport which the male population dominates.

True to its name, MMA employs different moves and techniques. One of them is the art of jiu jitsu. More of self-defense, it can be translated as yielding and moving away from danger and then taking action!

What are the risks when you engage in jiu jitsu training? When the training is non-competitive and for exhibition purposes only, your practice sessions are relatively safe. The moves are just as energetic and calculated but they are less injurious. However, when you compete it jiu jitsu as a combat sport, it will involve some dangerous throws and potentially fatal moves especially during the act of grappling. You also need to know how to break your fall when you are thrown.

As the other popular form today, Brazilian jiu jitsu is less risky. This is where you see a select group of women who participate. More for sport, the training integrates a lot of grappling in its ground fighting.

More traditional and more scientific in approach, the art of Japanese jiu jitsu is performed from a standing position. The difference between the Brazilian type and the Japanese form is that the latter does not permit leg locks.

Unlike Japanese karate, its fighting techniques involve less of striking the opponent. It doesn’t employ as much striking and kicking as Chinese kung-fu does.

Like judo, it stresses on throwing the opponent from a standing position down to the ground. However, unlike judo, jiu jitsu emphasizes more on immobilizing the opponent while on the ground. This involves exceptional skill in pinning and locking an opponent. Choking and strangling techniques are also applied.

As a combat sport, jiu jitsu is both a skill and an art. There are five main techniques you learn through training. To master the art of self-defense, you first have to learn the art of blocking. This will be your primary defense against any attacks. Next, in two possible ways, you will be taught how to perform as well as receive a throw. Once you’re adept at this, you will be trained in the art of escaping your opponent. This is while you being grappled, pinned, locked, and choked on the ground. Upon mastering all of these, lastly, you will practice in the art of striking, this time on the offense!

As a whole, the most admirable aspect of MMA is that it is not the bigger fighter who wins but the better one. It does help however to have a long reach and to have great kicking style in order to bring down an opponent. Other than that, a smaller but more skilled fighter can defeat a much bigger and heavier opponent by using the right leverage and all the proper techniques.

About the Author

Santiago Padilla enjoys writing about the intricacies of self-defense and martial arts as he does on fitness training. Along this same topic, the website jiu jitsu training.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Santiago-Padilla/106782

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