Quick question...

I’m living in Cincinnati and looking to get into jiu-jitsu. Does anyone know if there are decent academies around here, and if so, where should I look?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thx

Brazilian or Japanese?

I’m not entirely sure what the distinction is, honestly. I haven't even heard of Japan, so I might as well just go with Brazilian.^^

Alright folks, I need a little assistance here...

Swing by the community center in downtown Seattle this Tuesday at 8 PM.
The club rooms are tucked right behind the main gym—you’ll spot the martial arts studio once you get back there.

Grab some training pants and a short-sleeved shirt. Just wash up, get your legs cleaned, and you're good to go for practice.

I'm not looking for judo or karate, I want jiu-jitsu. ^^

Just show up this Tuesday at eight for practice, and you can hammer out all the details directly with the coach.

We run Jiu-Jitsu on Tuesdays and Thursdays—it’s basically the exact same thing as unrecognized, though for some reason, people will probably never wrap their heads around that.

By the way, are you the guy with the dreadlocks by any chance? 🙂

it's tough...

Never mind... so, are you training judo over there or something? If you're feeling generous, toss some more details my way.

(it's the exact same deal as unrecognized martial arts, except people will NEVER wrap their heads around it)

Look, you can't honestly claim they are identical.

wanderingridge said:I wouldn't go so far as to say they're exactly the same...

To an average person, though, karate and Wing Chun are basically one and the same.🙂

Look, I get it, but let’s be real here—BJJ and unrecognized are definitely cousins, right? They share so much DNA, especially when you’re both grinding away in heavy kimonos. It’s a perfect match, honestly. But even so, you can’t just lump them together and call them the exact same thing.

here’s how they stack up:

Winning a fight happens in different ways, but honestly, the mechanics are pretty much identical. In unrecognized, you might slam someone onto their back so hard their shoulder blades hit the mat. In Jiu-Jitsu, you’re looking at chokes, grappling holds, or joint locks—which is exactly what happens in unrecognized too. The core principles are the same; even the names of the throws and submissions overlap. You're basically training in almost the exact same environment.

If I had to point out one actual difference between unrecognized and BJJ, it’s that in unrecognized competitions, leg locks are off-limits. Specifically, we're talking about two types: knee-bars and heel-hooks. We still drill them during regular practice and live rolling, though.

A few more details for you:

Training runs every day except Sunday.
When you're starting out, the most important thing is showing up for the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday sessions. Tuesday and Thursday are at 8 PM, and Saturday is at noon. Those are the critical ones where you learn how to fall without breaking anything and build up some basic cardio. It’s not boring, either—you’ll get a chance to do some light ground work after just a week. Once you’ve put in a month or two (and if you feel ready), you can start hitting all the sessions, which totals eight a week.

You’ll eventually need a gi. You can grab one from the coach for about $100, and it should last you a good year or two. You don't need it on day one, but I’d suggest picking one up sooner rather than later.

I sent you a DM yesterday, did you miss it? Whatever, here's the link anyway:
http://www.judoinfo.com/

Just let me know (hit my inbox if you don't want to post it here) how old you are, what you weigh, and if you’ve done any sports before. If you have, how long were you at it?

Anyway, catch you on Tuesday...

I reckon you’re going to be left staring at nothing, watching ghosts perform miracles that don't exist.
The whole thing feels like one giant, shameless infomercial.
Check out this guy claiming he "hasn't even heard of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu."
Nah, what he actually means is he's only ever heard of Mike Tyson, and since he's convinced that's the peak of human combat, he thinks he can just absorb that power by osmosis.

gentleviper12 said:The only real distinction between unrecognized and BJJ is that in unrecognized competitions, you aren't allowed to use leg locks. Specifically, just those two—the knee-bar and the heel-hook. Aside from that, we practice them all the time in our training sessions and sparring.

I spent my childhood training Judo , and later on, I got a chance to dabble a bit in BJJ. Honestly? I can't bring myself to agree that the difference is that negligible. It’s a bit like someone telling me the only gap between Kenjutsu and unrecognized is that in Kenjutsu, you actually attempt leg strikes. It happens all the time—people take the mastery required for one discipline and try to interpolate it into a related field under the guise of "it's basically the same thing." Now, I'm not casting shade at any specific gym here, but you really have to be careful when people make sweeping claims like that, and even more careful about believing them. No malice intended, just an observation.

Look, I’m agreeing with you here, but the whole point of me pointing out those nuances was just to help the newbie who started this thread understand how much judo actually overlaps with BJJ.

Sure, if you’ve been grinding in both judo and BJJ for ten years, you’re going to notice distinct differences in fighting styles and specific techniques used, but when you're just starting out? It’s pretty much impossible to tell the difference between a judo practitioner and a BJJ guy once they hit the ground.

As for this guy rambling on about how I’m basically running some McDojo PR campaign... man, give me a break. I’ve got way too many posts under my belt and I've been lurking on this forum far too long to suddenly start acting like a shill for the gym I've been training at longer than I've even been surfing these boards!
My only intention was to give the guy from Seattle a quick heads-up on where he could go to get some solid training in.

First off, massive thanks to gentleviper12; you’ve been a huge help.

Moving on... I'll probably swing by tomorrow, Tuesday, around 8 PM to catch a practice session and get a feel for the vibe, though I can't make any promises.
I'm 17. I did Taekwondo for maybe three or four years back in the day, but that was ages ago. Now? I've definitely let myself go and I'm sitting at about 210 lbs. 🙂

Catch ya on the flip side!

Let's go! Did our buddy finally join the club?