Are you looking for a martial art that can help you get in shape and teach you to defend yourself? Then BJJ is exactly what you need in your life. BJJ is a grappling based full contact martial art. It is like wrestling but with submission holds. It is time to break down why Jiu Jitsu is the perfect martial art for women.
Why should women train BJJ?
Women should train BJJ because it is an effective self defence martial art which was designed to allow smaller, weaker practitioners to overcome bigger attackers. BJJ is a great fat loss tool (burn up 700 calories an hour). BJJ is an amazing way to make friends due to the close contact nature of the sport.
Here are the top reasons why every woman should do BJJ:
1) Self Defence
Do you want to be able to effortlessly defend yourself in a self defence situation? BJJ will turn you into an assassin within 2 years of consistent training (averaging 3 days per week).
Helio Gracie (founder of BJJ) was a small and sickly man. He designed the BJJ curriculum to allow him to easily defeat much bigger and more athletic attackers.
In BJJ you use leverage, your attacker’s momentum, body mechanics to control and dominate larger and stronger attackers. It is very common for a big strong untrained man to drop into a BJJ school and end up being ragdolled by a BJJ athlete half his size. It is actually shocking if the big untrained athlete is able to put up any sort of fight.
This makes BJJ the perfect martial art for women who are looking to learn self defence. In most self defence situations a woman will be attacked by a larger, stronger man. To overcome this physical deficit women will have to rely on superior technique.
As BJJ is all about using technique over strength you will quickly learn how to defeat aggressive men.
Many women talk about the fear being grabbed and pinned down in a self defence scenario. Women are scared of being helpless and trapped as they are controlled by a stronger attacker. Fortunately, BJJ is all about teaching you how to overcome any grappling situation.
BJJ will give you the tools that you need to prevent any man from taking control of you. BJJ will ensure you are comfortable in a contact fight scenario so you won’t have to worry about freezing if you are attacked. Your BJJ instincts will kick in and you will quickly defeat any would be attacker.
Within a couple of months of training Jiu Jitsu you will learn how to take an attacker down with multiple techniques. You will learn how to pin an attacker so they have no chance of escaping, you will also be taught how to escape if someone is attempting to pin you.
Finally you will learn how to finish a fight by choking an assailant unconscious or breaking their limb with a powerful but easy to finish joint lock such as a Kimura or Arm bar.
BJJ is all about getting you as good as possible. There is no waiting months before the instructor allows you to spar or practice certain techniques. In BJJ on your first day you will start learning all of the most effective techniques and if you want you can spar.
Another great thing about BJJ for self defence is it gives women the ability to defend themselves without hurting their attacker. If you quickly choke out an attacker you have won the fight and they won’t suffer any serious damage.
The last thing you want to do is seriously injure or kill someone during a street fight and have to deal with the legal and emotional fall out of that situation.
Once you experience the true power of BJJ you will be coming to class everyday.
2) Get In Shape And Lose Weight With BJJ
Let’s face it we could all benefit from improving our fitness and dropping a few extra pounds. Who doesn’t want to get a bit healthier and be a bit prouder of their body?
Sticking to boring workout routines and strict diets is a recipe for failure for most people. Spending hours on the treadmill and eating celery is not a long term solution. The data is pretty clear this method of weight loss is ineffective. 80% of Americans who are currently trying to lose weight say they have unsuccessfully tried diets.
Exercise combined with a satisfying healthy diet is the most effective way to lose weight. The problem is many people get bored of exercising and quickly give up.
Lucky for you BJJ does not have this problem. BJJ is such a fun sport that you will likely become addicted. You won’t even think that you are exercising, you will think of BJJ as play, or a strategy game. It is very common for BJJ practitioners to love the sport so much that they are on the mats 4 to 5 times a week and wishing they could train more.
BJJ isn’t just great fun. It is also an intensive form of exercise. In just one hour of BJJ training you can expect to burn up to 700 calories. With the average class lasting 1.5 hours everytime you turn up to training you could burn over 1000 calories.
If you attend BJJ class 3 times a week and you combine that intense level of exercise with a healthy diet and a moderate calorie deficit the excess weight will melt away and you will be left with a seriously impressive physique.
BJJ won’t just help you lose any unwanted fat, it will also make you extremely fit. During sparring BJJ athletes maintain an average heart rate in the 80% + range which is ideal for making cardio gains. During the average BJJ class you will do 4 to 6 rounds of sparring each lasting 5 minutes. This amount of time spent in the training zone (80% of heart rate max) will supercharge your cardio.
3) Make Long Lasting Friendships On The BJJ Mats
As an adult it is not always easy to make new friends. It sometimes seems like everyone has their own established social circles and are too preoccupied with their own lives to make new connections.
Well you won’t have this problem at BJJ. BJJ gyms are renowned for their friendliness and openness. On your first day of training your new teammates will come up to you and introduce themselves. They will help you out and answer any questions you have.
Within a few months these teammates will turn into great friends on and off the mats. Due to the close contact nature of the sport, the intimacy of fighting and the sheer amount of time you spend with your BJJ teammates it is inevitable that friendships will develop.
BJJ gyms often have a built in social aspect to them. It is likely your gym will have team events which can be great opportunities to meet new people and form new connections.
Many people have met their new best friend or even future husband or wife on the BJJ mats.
