Will BJJ Help With Wrestling? BJJ will help with wrestling particularly No-Gi as BJJ is a grappling sport with many similarities to wrestling. In BJJ you can practice your takedowns and pins, also you can learn unorthodox moves that can be effective in wrestling such as reversals from butterfly guard and single leg x. However it is not the most effective way to improve your wrestling due to the rule differences between the sport. If you want to improve your wrestling you should train more wrestling.
What Martial Art Helps With Wrestling?
Martial arts which are the most similar to wrestling will help with wrestling. If you are looking for help with folk style wrestling then the most similar martial art is freestyle wrestling followed by greco-roman wrestling. The next best martial art would be SAMBO which is a Russian version of Judo which still allows leg attacks and athletes wear a Judo Gi with short athletic shorts.
Judo would be the next best martial art, Judo is great for learning trips and throws. Finally BJJ is a martial art that helps with wrestling as it teaches a variety of takedowns and pins.
Should I Learn BJJ or Wrestling?
Whether you choose to learn BJJ or wrestling depends on your goals, access to training and what you enjoy. BJJ focuses on submissions and self defence whereas wrestling focuses on takedowns and is purely a sport. If you prefer submissions then you should learn BJJ. If your goal is to find a new hobby and get in shape then you should learn BJJ as it is less strenuous than wrestling and better suited to hobbyists.
If your goal is to compete in the Olympics then you will have to learn wrestling as BJJ is not an Olympic sport. If there aren’t any wrestling gyms close by but there are BJJ gyms then you should learn BJJ.
Is Wrestling Safer Than BJJ?
BJJ is safer than wrestling. Based on competition injury statistics BJJ is 6 times as safe as wrestling. BJJ has an injury rate of 9.2 per 1000 athletes while based on data from the Rio Olympics wrestling has an injury rate of 62 per 1000 athletes. In wrestling 18% of injuries are severe where as in BJJ only 10% of injuries are severe.
In wrestling the most common injuries were contusions and lacerations which were responsible for 54.5% of injuries. Whereas in BJJ the most injury were orthopaedic injuries which made up 78% of all injuries.
Is Wrestling Harder Than BJJ?
Wrestling is harder than BJJ. Wrestlers have a higher average heart rate during competition than BJJ athletes (183 bpm vs 164 bpm). Wrestling has a lot higher injury rate than BJJ (9.2 per 1000 vs 62 per 1000 athletes). Wrestling is an Olympic sport and has a much higher participation rate than BJJ. This results in wrestling having a deeper talent pool than BJJ making it significantly harder to succeed and win world medals in wrestling than BJJ.
Can You Use BJJ In Wrestling?
You can use BJJ in wrestling. The takedown and pinning techniques in BJJ can be used in wrestling. The most popular takedowns in both BJJ and wrestling are single and double leg attacks. There are many BJJ techniques which you can’t use in wrestling. All BJJ submissions are banned in wrestling. Most guard work in BJJ can not be used in wrestling as it will result in you being scored on or pinned.
Can You Win By Submission In Wrestling?
No, submissions are illegal in wrestling. The only way you can win by submission in wrestling is if your opponent is injured through a legal technique and they are unable to continue or if they decide to quit for whatever reason. Folk style and freestyle wrestling are both based on based on catch wrestling which did have submissions. Submissions were removed from wrestling to make the sport supposedly safer and more fan friendly to watch.
Are Armbars Allowed In Wrestling?
Armbars are not allowed in wrestling as they are considered to be a submission hold. The rules clearly state that twisting the arm past 90 degrees is illegal. The penalty for performing an armbar or any other submission in a wrestling match is disqualification.
Is It Legal To Choke In Wrestling?
No it is not legal to choke in wrestling. Wrestling rules state it is illegal to strangle, push and apply holds that may endanger your opponent’s life such as choking. The rules also state it is illegal to hold the head or neck with two hands, as well as all situations and positions of strangulation.
Dave Schultz use to get away with choking his opponents by applying a twisting front headlock where he placed his forearm across the neck of his opponent and squeezed. Even though this move is illegal the referees were unaware a choke was taking place and mistook the position for a standard front headlock.
Is BJJ Similar To Wrestling?
BJJ is similar to wrestling. BJJ and wrestling are both grappling based combat sports. The goal of both sports is to establish control over your opponent through the use of grappling techniques such as takedowns and pins. The sports differ in that the highest form of control in wrestling is a pin whereas the highest form of control in BJJ is a submission.
In wrestling a pin results in automatic victory whereas a pin only scores points in BJJ. In wrestling all submissions are banned. Due to these key differences the rules of BJJ and Wrestling differ. This results in BJJ and wrestling matches looking dissimilar.
Which Is More Effective BJJ Or Wrestling?
BJJ is more effective in a BJJ competition and wrestling is more effective in a wrestling competition. In a street fight both BJJ and wrestling are effective. BJJ is more effective in ending a street fight due to its focus on submissions such as chokes. However all street fights start standing up and the ability for a wrestler to throw an opponent on a hard surface such as concrete makes wrestling very effective in a street fight.
In MMA both BJJ and wrestling are effective. If you take two athletes, one who only knows BJJ and the other one who only knows wrestling then then the BJJ purist is more likely to win. We saw this in the early UFCs where a wrestling would take a BJJ fighter to the ground only to be caught in a submission.
Wrestling is more effective than BJJ in MMA if the wrestler has a decent understanding of BJJ. A world champion wrestler who is a blue belt in BJJ will be a favourite over a world champion BJJ athlete who has intermediate wrestling. This is because in MMA the fighter on top has a significant advantage over the fighter on bottom and it is very difficult to submit someone who understands how to avoid submissions while being punched in the face and being pinned by an elite wrestling.
BJJ will help you improve you wrestling as there many similarities between the two sports. However if your goals is to improve your wrestling you are better off training more wrestling or if that is not an option opting for a sport which is more similar to wrestling than BJJ such as SAMBO or Judo.
