Hyderabad: It has all it takes to change you and enhances your willpower. Some have even described it as pure magic. Brazilian jiu-jitsu – the ‘gentle art’ – has enthralled celebrities all over the world, the most recent being Meta CEO Mark
Zuckerberg.
“It’s inspiring to see someone so well-known challenge themselves in a new arena,” Dave Camarillo, Mark Zuckerberg’s coach, posted. “This goes to show how amazing the art of Jiu-Jitsu really is,” he added.
Of all the disciplines in Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian JiuJitsu (BJJ) stood out the most for Zuckerberg, who saw smaller fighters taking down much larger opponents. In his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament, he won gold and silver medals.
BJJ, also known as ‘the game of human chess,’ has gained popularity around the world as one of the best martial art forms, for being less of a display of brute strength and more of a strategic one. It is based on grappling and ground fighting, with an emphasis on the ability to control one’s opponent through submission techniques. “As a grappling art, we know how to pin a person and immobilise him, giving us enough time to either escape or verbally deescalate the situation. Even when chokes and locks are used, the opponent always has the option to submit and give up, or to go ahead and allow himself to be hurt. In contrast, if I throw a punch or a kick, there is a chance my opponent will be seriously injured,” says Lahari Sri Krishna, fitness expert and co founder Spiral’s BJJ Studio.
“BJJ practitioners can deescalate or neutralize the situation without creating unnecessary damage, unlike other arts where you might end up hurting the other person seriously,” reiterates Yoshi, Lahari’s partner BJJ is not only the fastest-growing martial art in the world, but also one of the fastest-growing competitive sports, due to its effectiveness in real-life situations and the increasingly popular mixed martial arts world.
Siddharth Singh, who gave up a lucrative career in Scotland to pursue his passion for martial arts, is now India’s torchbearer for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and his mixed martial arts academy consistently produces some of the best fighters. He says, “BJJ is a unique martial art because most people associate martial arts with punching and kicking, whereas BJJ does not include that. It’s a type of grappling martial art. Grappling is when you have complete control over your opponent and use technique and leverage to completely disable them.”
