PROGRESSO JIU JITSU
PLANO TX

While there is of course always a potential risk of injury for any sport or physical activity that a person engages in, we do our absolute best to provide the safest possible training environment for our students. Since Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a grappling art and doesn’t involve striking, the risk of injury is dramatically minimized compared to many other martial arts such as Karate or Taekwondo, especially when it comes to head injuries. The most important thing is to train with people that you can trust, and that you know aren’t training to hurt you during training, which is something we have a big emphasis on teaching our students here at our academy.

Our Kickboxing classes are “non-contact”, meaning they don’t include sparring – so you don’t have to worry about getting punched or kicked, or showing up to work with a black eye! You’ll learn correct punching and kicking techniques and combinations, footwork, and how to block and avoid strikes. You’ll get a great work-out, burn calories and improve your cardio as well as your overall health.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is widely considered the world’s most effective martial art. Jiu Jitsu was brought to Brazil from Japan in the beginning of the 20^th century, by a man by the name of Mitsuyo Maeda, who at the time was traveling around the world doing challenge matches against other martial artists. In Brazil, the art was further developed, through so-called ´´Vale Tudo” (“anything goes” in Portuguese) fights, where the practitioners of different martial arts would challenge each other to no-time limit fights, either in big arenas, or inside academies behind closed doors.

Eventually a sport was created, with the first official World Championships being held in 1996. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a grappling art, and strikes are not allowed during training or in competitions. But since the art was developed for self-defense and no-rules fighting, many of the concepts and principles behind the techniques and positions utilized in today’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, are based on what would work in a real-life situation.

Jiu Jitsu means “the gentle way” in Japanese, as the focus is on having maximum efficiency with minimal effort, rather than relying on physical attributes such as speed and strength. We use leverage, correct weight-distribution and positioning, to be able to control our opponent, and to finish them using joint-locks or strangulation techniques, without having to strike and cause unnecessary damage.

Because Brazilian Jiu Jitsu doesn’t include striking, we are able to train at a higher intensity compared to other martial arts where you can’t really go too hard because of the risk of concussions. That makes the training more realistic, as you will learn to perform the techniques against a resisting training partner, while learning how to control your breathing and use technique over strength to conserve your energy.

In our Kickboxing classes, though they do not include sparring, you will learn how to effectively strike and how to defend against strikes, which is a great complement to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and very useful in a self-defense situation.

As we are a still a new academy, the majority of our students are beginners. All of our classes are open for all levels, meaning that everyone can join them regardless of their skill level and experience. The class are structured in a way so that students who are brand-new to the sport, as well as more advanced students, will benefit from the training, and will be able to understand and executed the techniques taught during class.

We focus on teaching our students strong fundamentals, along with basic concepts that the students will be able to apply in many different situations. New students will receive extra attention during class to make sure that they have a good experience, and everything will be explained in detail, from the warm-up exercises, to the concepts behind the techniques being demonstrated.

New students will be gradually introduced to the art, and we advise them to wait with participating in the Live Training (our sparring which doesn’t include strikes), until they have a basic understand of the techniques and feel comfortable.

Most people don’t start Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the intention of competing. Competition is not expected, but students are encouraged to try it out at least once to get the experience and see if they like it. The great thing about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments, is that competitors are not only divided in weight and age categories, skill levels, according to each person’s belt rank. Competitors will therefore be matched up with people of similar size, age and experience, which makes the experience much better for everyone.

Competing is a great way of not only testing your skills and improving your Jiu jitsu, but also of improving your ability to keep calm and stay focused in stressful situations. You’ll learn how to control your breathing and to be able to think clearly with nerves and adrenaline, which is useful not only in a potential self-defense situation, but in many aspects of life, such as exams, job-interviews or other situations where we get nervous or anxious. The main goal of competition shouldn’t be on winning a certain title or tournament, but to work on yourself, both as a Jiu Jitsu practitioner, and as a human being.