Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a grappling sport which means there is no punching or kicking and you win by gaining dominant positions or submissions such as chokeholds or joint locks.

What Makes BJJ Different?

BJJ is the “broadest” sport I’ve done. It feels like math in the sense that you have so many distinct, but related, concepts to learn and problem-solving to do. In tennis or basketball, I felt like after building up the basics, I was repetitively honing small details to eek out 1-3% improvements (which can definitely still be fun). In BJJ, there are black belts who are still not familiar with many positions. There is definitely still lots of practice spent honing details of specific moves, but it feels like there is more pure learning (compared to refining) going on. Given any move or position, you can break it down into broad principles, details, counters, and counter counters. It’s a lot like physical chess.

This giant state diagram I used to keep track of moves from each position illustrates of the breadth I’m talking about. I gave up soon after because there was too much as well. There are many of these online but the massive oversimplification also icks me out a little. So much of the instinctual little details can’t be expressed in these diagrams.

Knowledge transfer is also very easy. In almost every roll with higher belts, I can learn by observing/feeling their techniques and asking them about them afterward. This also lends to extremely fast feedback loops. I will often get tapped out by a move, ask a bit to learn the details, and tap someone else out with it during the next few rolls. A powerful thrill.

My BJJ Experience

The owner of a BJJ gym gave a talk at my high school about the importance of physical health which I wasn’t listening to at all, but afterwards we went to the gym and he showed us some body lock moves. At the end, I asked him if he could choke me out (it’s safe) and he put a rear-naked choke on, squeezing a little bit but not enough for me to black out. He told me to go to his gym and sign the waiver and then he’ll do it. I showed up the next day and trained 6 days a week for the next six months.

During the first week I would get completely beat up, but by ~two months I could consistently beat most the white belts.

I was in London for a month last summer and trained regularly at London Fight Factory. LFF is a much higher level gym and humbled me many times. I remember 2-3 hour sessions where I didn’t tap a single person and just felt broken. I was also exposed to leglocks for the first time!

Funny story: during my first visit, I unknowingly went to an advanced no-gi class and felt the hardest foot sweep I’ve ever felt. I later learned he is a pro-MMA fighter.

I picked up ideas much faster in BJJ compared to other sports I’ve played and some instinctual things like wiggling out of positions also came naturally. After half a year, I could occasionally tap some blue belts. Being good at something makes it a lot more fun!

I have never competed before which I hopefully will do in 2025. I was planning to do ASJJF last August which was perfect timing but had to cancel last minute sigh.

Ever since I got to UCSD, I haven’t been training as much (~twice a week) which is ironic since San Diego probably is the best jiu-jitsu city in the world with Legion and Atos. There is a BJJ club here though it was basically dead during the fall quarter. I co-started an underground Fight Club-type BJJ group because of this.

  1. BJJ is impossible to watch if you haven’t trained extensively before. My dad watched tennis for 20 years without ever playing before. In BJJ, you won’t understand anything if you haven’t practiced somewhat regularly. I still understand very little of what’s going on when watching leglock positions.
  2. Many competitions have different rulesets which makes the sport near impossible to be standardized into something like the Olympics.
  3. This is mostly vibes, but I think that
\[\frac{\text{people watching BJJ}}{\text{people practicing BJJ}} << \frac{\text{people watching [other sport]}}{\text{people practicing [other sport]}}.\]

I have tried converting many friends to BJJ but have only partially succeeded for one.

Is it dangerous?

I’ve recently had some mental blocks with being scared to go hard during training because of this as well, but BJJ is not very dangerous if you have good training partners and a good coach. Be sure to learn good practices and you’ll be fine. I haven’t gotten hurt at all other than a sprained pinky and thumb and more recently a slight pop from an armbar (my own fault 😭). It’s the safest way to get the thrill of combat sports! I can’t say much about the physical effects of BJJ on a 10-20 year time scale though…

You also run the risk of cauliflower ear. I have a teeny bit of it on my right ear and I’m pretty sure it’s permanent unless I get some sort of surgery which kind of sucks. It’s not noticeable unless you look for it closely. I also realized that Lex Fridman, which I’ve watched for many years, also has some cauliflower and I’ve never noticed it. If you get cauliflower, drain immediately (and safely)! Some people wear it as a badge of honor but I think that’s stupid.

Conclusion

All this to say, I am just a one-stripe white belt and am very new in the grand scheme of things. There is still lots to come! Hope this ad was convincing and as maybe if you try it out, you will enjoy BJJ as much as I do.

Thanks to Grant Slatton for some commments.