Basic BJJ terms

[Shaolin]

Hi,

I am mainly a kung fu practitioner (8 years) but a friend recommended i try a BJJ class - I really enjoyed it - was like a totally different world to what i was used to and got schooled all over again. Will be sticking with it!

I just wondered what terms/move names i should learn. I dont need descriptions as i can google the words but i dont know what words to google at the moment.

I have come across some and they look Japanese - is that the case for all or are some movements named in Portugese?

Many thanks

[Jiu-fu fighter]

weird, in my bjj class, we just called all the moves by english names

I can remember my first move on my first day, one of the most useful too.
the "rear naked choke", basically choking the guy from behind and wrapping your legs around his front and locking them in.

ummmm.... another good one, the old school arm bar, put your legs across his chest on each side of his arm, pull his arm and lock your thighs on it, lean back, and start to hyperextend the arm.

the kimura is another popular move, hard to explain but you can look it up.

also guards and mounts , and half guards....etc...

you will learn these things the more classes you take.

so what was it like to take a martial art for so long than get schooled by a pro in another? enlightening, no? thats why it is good to do a variety of arts and take what you can from each

good luck!

[Sinnerman]

Hi guys -- In Belgium we call all the moves in French or in English.

G.

[Penance]

The only foreign names that I've come across regularly are omoplata and kasa gatame. One is a shoulder lock done with the legs/hips and the other is a modified side control position.

[DJColdfusion]

Hi,

I am mainly a kung fu practitioner (8 years) but a friend recommended i try a BJJ class - I really enjoyed it - was like a totally different world to what i was used to and got schooled all over again. Will be sticking with it!

I just wondered what terms/move names i should learn. I dont need descriptions as i can google the words but i dont know what words to google at the moment.

I have come across some and they look Japanese - is that the case for all or are some movements named in Portugese?

Many thanks

Worry about the positions first: Guard, half guard, mount, knee ride or knee on belly, scarf hold or Kesa Gatame, Back mount, turtle, closed guard, open guard, butterfly guard

Here in the USA most of the terms are in English; however, there are some in Japanese and many in Portugese. The Rear Naked Choke mentioned earlier is also known as Mate Leo (kill the lion). Rear Naked Choke is the English translation of the Jpanese (read JUDO) term for the choke and refers to the fact that the choke is performed from the back of you opponent and that you are NOT using cloth.

Other terms like "butterfly guard" became "butterfly guard" here in the US. In Brazil the "butterfly guard" is called the "hooks guard"

And sometimes an instructor just has a name for a position that he has used for years. I know one instructor who refers to his X-Guard game as "clamp guard" and he has been doing it for more than a decade, long before anyone told him about X-Guard.

Just go find a good school and train, the terminology will come to you.

[Hardball]

Most schools don't require you to know the terms until brown belt. All of those terms mentioned above are Japanese. eg. Kesa gatame. Gatame means hold and garami means entanglement--both Japanese. I know a ton of Japanese terms but Unlike my spanish I never really studied them--they just came naturally after years and years of training. And that take home brown belt exam. Train hard!!!

[aseepish]

It's probably enough to know the names of the techniques in your native language, and the names that your particular club uses. However, if you plan on training with people from other clubs/styles, or in other countries, knowing other names for things can come in handy.

An armbar is an armbar regardless of whether it's from BJJ, Judo, Silat, Ninpo-taijutsu, or Hapkido. But they all call them different things. Since BJJ and Judo are close cousins, knowing the Judo terminology can be helpful.

http://judoinfo.com/techjudo.htm

I found this glossary - it's a bit strange, I hadn't heard/used a lot of the stuff on here, but it might clear a few things up. http://valerieworthington.com/7.html

Portuguese terms are here. http://www.geocities.com/global_trai...vocabulary.htm

Good training!

[sad_sack01]

Hi,
I am pleased I have come across this topic as I too am interested in a meaning of BJJ.

A lot of people call this BJGAY. I do not know the reason for this, as i see no harm in grown sweaty men in pyjamas hugging and going for submissions such as the triangle choke where the opponents head is very close to your crotch area.

Can someone please enlighten me to this.

Thank You,

A very confused Sad Sack

[Tom Yum]

I do not know the reason for this, as i see no harm in grown sweaty men in pyjamas hugging and going for submissions such as the triangle choke where the opponents head is very close to your crotch area.
A very confused Sad Sack

Sure.

Chokes and strangulations are taught in jiu-jitsu as a way of ending a fight with bare hands. If your opponent can't breath (or looses blood flow to the brain) for a few minutes, he will pass out. Longer than that and your opponent risks permanent brain damage (or death).

The neck is one of the most exposed parts of the body. When you are on the ground (no matter how you got there) and your opponent is there too, the neck is even more exposed.

Triangle choke: When your opponent is on top of you (for whatever reason - slipping and falling during an escalation, he tackles you etc.) and is extending his arm (trying to strangle, punch - whatever) you can snap on a triangle choke by wrapping the crook behind your knee against the exposed side of his neck, using your other leg to catch the other foot and tighten the "noose" around his neck.

The choke looks like a triangle from the choker's point of view.

Does that make sense, sack?

[Shaolin]

Thanks all for the tips and links. I am aware of english terms such as arm bar etc. It was just when i come across names liek kimura i wonder the meaning - probably because of teh chinese martial art where i try to learn teh names and meanings of moves - where they are quite obscure - golden dragon flies through the clouds - and so on!

[sad_sack01]

Sure.

Chokes and strangulations are taught in jiu-jitsu as a way of ending a fight with bare hands. If your opponent can't breath (or looses blood flow to the brain) for a few minutes, he will pass out. Longer than that and your opponent risks permanent brain damage (or death).

The neck is one of the most exposed parts of the body. When you are on the ground (no matter how you got there) and your opponent is there too, the neck is even more exposed.

Triangle choke: When your opponent is on top of you (for whatever reason - slipping and falling during an escalation, he tackles you etc.) and is extending his arm (trying to strangle, punch - whatever) you can snap on a triangle choke by wrapping the crook behind your knee against the exposed side of his neck, using your other leg to catch the other foot and tighten the "noose" around his neck.

The choke looks like a triangle from the choker's point of view.

Does that make sense, sack?

Thanks for that Tom, the choking aspect now makes sense to me and i understand why it is called a triangle choke. I google searched it after i posted and found that it does indeed look like a triangle from the chokers perspective.

With that in mind, i do not understand why some people would call it BJGAY. Surely having the ability to choke someone with either their hands or legs should be considered quite manly and not gay.

Are these views purely from BJJ haters?

[Shaolin]

Honestly, I can see why some would call it gay - thankfully its not my way of thinking.

2 men getting very close on the floor/sweaty/intimate body parts rubbing etc.

Most dont realise that in that position you are not trying to get turned on and erotic but actully trying to hurt the person buy snapping a limb or cutting off air or blood supply.

Many types of wrestling have existed for many years and without authority i would say that most male practitioners were/are straight.

If someone feels that it is gay then fine and maybe it is not art/sport for them.

If a practitioner is gay thats cool but if they feel doing BJJ is gay that may be a problem due to arousal and the feelings of other members.

If someone can get past the 'its gay' stage and see it for the very difficult technical application of submissions that leave the opponent unable to move then get down to the mats and give it a go! See for yourself that when you are being choked/strangled or your elbow is about to pop through the wrong way that it is not possible to think 'hello sailor' but only AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

[Shaolin]

Honestly, I can see why some would call it gay - thankfully its not my way of thinking.

2 men getting very close on the floor/sweaty/intimate body parts rubbing etc.

Most dont realise that in that position you are not trying to get turned on and erotic but actully trying to hurt the person buy snapping a limb or cutting off air or blood supply.

Many types of wrestling have existed for many years and without authority i would say that most male practitioners were/are straight.

If someone feels that it is gay then fine and maybe it is not art/sport for them.

If a practitioner is gay thats cool but if they feel doing BJJ is gay that may be a problem due to arousal and the feelings of other members.

If someone can get past the 'its gay' stage and see it for the very difficult technical application of submissions that leave the opponent unable to move then get down to the mats and give it a go! See for yourself that when you are being choked/strangled or your elbow is about to pop through the wrong way that it is not possible to think 'hello sailor' but only AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

[Jiu-fu fighter]

lol.... I was on the ground and told my friend, to get on top of me and try to submit me (he has not done any martial arts), he was like ewwww... this is so gay, but he did it anyways, he did not have the time to think about the gayness of it, as I applied a triangle to his neck, much like being talked about earlier,

throw his one arm out of the way, pull his head towards you, throw the leg over his head, grab your ankle, lock it in with your other knee, pull back on his arm, apply armbar and choke..

yep, he didn't think it was so gay after I totally mandhandled him