Judo vs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu...

So what is the difference between Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu? Like everything else in life it just depends...but as a practitioner of both arts I can give you some generalized differences that I see between the two of them. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. I will address these both based on the experiences that I have had in the course of over ten years of constant training in these type arts.

First let me give you some background on my training.. I started training in 1995 at USM with Christian Shoemaker in Tang Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do. It was very informal but I did began to learn kicks and how to work angles. I started training in an official Tang Soo Do Dojang in 1997 approximately 5 or 6 months after I graduated from USM. I trained there under Master John Magee and Mr. Michael Langhart for about 3 years. In 1998 or 1999 I met Master Steve Kincade who was a 5th dan in Hanmudo under Dr. He Young Kimm. I started training with Master Kincade 6 months to a year after I met him. I had already earned my 1st Dan in Tang Soo Do and was working on my 2nd Dan material.

Master Kincade became my primary instructor for a while then from him I was able to start training with Dr. Kimm... Dr. Kimm is a 8th or 9th Dan in Yudo, a 9th Dan in Hapkido, and the founder of Hanmudo. Dr. Kimm taught us many of the basics of Yudo or Judo. In 2004 or 2005 Master Frank Caracci started teaching more grappling sessions at the Hanmudo seminars. I began to pick up what I could from him. In 2006 Master Caracci, Master Mike Reed, and myself traveled to Las Vegas to meet Master Carlos Machado at the Martial Arts Super Show. We began to train with him from that point forward. (Master Machado is the nephew to the founder of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Carlos Gracie). I have been an official Machado representative since February 2007. Sensei Vincent Fernando started teaching me Judo sometime in 2007.

So to reinterate my lineage: I have been taught Judo by Dr. Kimm, Vincent Fernando, and now I am trying to learn from Sensei Robert Harvey. My Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training has been under Master Frank Caracci and now with Master Carlos Machado.

The Judo I was taught from Dr. Kimm was old school judo from the 1940's and 50's. The Judo I was taught from Sensei Vincent was from the 1980's and early 90's. Sensei Harvey explained to me and Sensei Vincent that the Judo we were doing was old Judo, not modern Judo as it has evolved over the last 20 years or so. So we are having to make some minor modifications...

The Brazilian Jiu-jitsu I am learning is modern RCJ Machado Jiu-jitsu as it has evolved over the last 20 or so years from the Machado brothers and their students. The BJJ that I have seen Royce Gracie teaching is older BJJ and is not as evolved as Machado Jiu-jitsu... No offense to Royce as he is responsible for popularizing BJJ here in the USA but I'm calling it as I see it. Some of the guard passes he is teaching are not effective today against experienced grapplers and most of the white to blue belt techniques are much more basic than the Machado requirements.

So what are the differences between Judo and BJJ? Well the intent and purpose is different for starters... In Judo you want to finish the guy as soon as possible. In BJJ it is expected that you are fighting a larger, stronger, and younger opponent, so you want to wear them down on the ground until they become tired and give up an arm, neck, leg, or whatever... You allow them to exhaust themselves on the mat trying to escape your guard, mount, side control, or whatever position you have. Judo has evolved quite a bit in the last 30-40 years and BJJ has advanced mat work and grappling tremendously in the last 80 or so years.

Judo is all about speed, power, and execution. BJJ is all about control, setups, angles, and execution. There are more similarities then there are differences but I think that most BJJ schools will have far superior mat work and most Judo schools will have far superior throws... I think all BJJ schools should incorperate Judo to improve their takedowns and I think all Judo schools should incorperate BJJ to improve their mat work.

Here at Epic we are working on bringing you the whole enchilada... Superior throws combined with superior mat work, supplemented by excellent striking. All this is topped off by project based leadership training, Verbal Judo, Diabetes education, and top notch instruction.

Peace

Chris Holmes-Master Teacher