Marcus Soares Words of Wisdom – 45 Years of Studying “The Art of BJJ”

Marcus Soares Words of Wisdom
45 Years of Studying “The Art of BJJ”

Jiu-Jitsu was created over 2,500 years ago, by the Monastery Monks with very deep knowledge of the anatomy of the Human Body.  They developed techniques of self defense to protect themselves against aggressors with no intent to hurt them.

The art travelled throughout China to Japan, where it became more violent, and it was used by the Samurai’s as a form of combat in wars.

Later, Jiu-Jitsu started to develop a different focus as a competition sport, since the late 1800’s in Japan.

Jiu-Jitsu nowadays is spread all over the world, and it’s an art that has a very solid structure and offers to the practitioner a good sense of self defense, auto confidence, and self-control.  The reason is because man is afraid of what they don’t know, and Jiu-Jitsu can prepare you to defend yourself against any kind of aggression, and you won’t be surprised by any form of attack.

Jiu-Jitsu gives to you the confidence and the necessary calm to face any kind of adversity in a physical contact situation.

The effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu can help you when you have a solid knowledge about the basics.  The importance to have an instructor with a good reputation is essential, because you need to learn properly all the basics with the little details in each technique to avoid to develop bad habits.  Jiu-Jitsu is an art that will teach you how to feel comfortable in uncomfortable positions and to defend yourself against bigger opponents, since it is based on leverage.

The main goal of Jiu-Jitsu is to defend ourselves and to control and submit the opponent.  Taking the opponent down, and to stay on top is the first step to have a supremacy position in the fight.  After the take-down, your goal is to pass the guard and to stabilize in one of the 4 dominant positions (Mount Position, Back Position, Side Mount Position, and Knee on the Belly Position), to control your opponent and end the fight by submission.

The “evolution” in any kind of Martial Art or physical contact sport such as (wrestling, boxing, etc.) will happen though out the years, but the essence of the basics, it will never change.   In Jiu-Jitsu,  we can see new positions (not techniques) being used, but we can also see how it’s not effective  against fighters that have the “Old School Style” at the fight scene today, such as Roger Gracie, Kron Gracie, Rodolfo Vieira, Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida, Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza, just to mention a few.

The importance to fight from the top cannot be overstated, as the fighter on the bottom has two elements working against him, the real opponent and gravity.  Being on top helps the fighter to dictate the pace of the fight, crush the opponent, control the fight and look for the submission.  As we can often see, the fighter on the top will always be putting the pressure, when the fighter on the bottom will be in a defensive situation.  That’s what we usually see when the fighters have the same skill level and weight.

My advice:  “FIGHT FROM THE TOP, BE CREATIVE, BUT STICK WITH THE BASICS.”

Marcus Soares

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