What is difference: Gracie Barra JJ & Gracie JJ

[BADmrFROSTY]

It's finnally time for me to start learning some BJJ. I wanted to make sure I was getting the best possible instruction for my buck. I'm thinking about going to a Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu school. I've always wondered what exactly "Gracie Barra" means and if its the same as a traditional "Gracie Jiu Jitsu" school. My Gracie Barra school is just Jiu Jitsu (well they do hold a few MT classes late at night). To put it simply:

*What is the difference between the two if any.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

They are different associations.

If the school identifies solely as "Gracie Jiu Jitsu" it tends to be affiliated with Helio's line, primarily the Gracie Academy in Torrance, CA. The instructors may have trained under one of Helio's sons, probably Rorion or Royce if they're using the GJJ name, or under Rener or Ryron. There's also a chance that the school only has a loose affiliation, as the Gracie Academy does their whole seminar and certification thing, where you train a little bit with those guys and you're certified at a certain level. In which case, I would say look elsewhere.

Gracie Barra is an enormous worldwide association, and the name stems from the other of the two Gracie schools when they were still in Brazil. "Barra" (pronounced baha) refers to the area where the school was located. Gracie Humaita was affiliated with Helio (the Gracie Academy is an offshoot of that, and Gracie Humaita affiliation is currently run by Royler and Rolker Gracie). Gracie Barra was Carlos' school, and the affiliation is currently run by Carlos Gracie Jr. The original crop of instructors from GB would have trained in Brazil under the likes of Carlos Jr., Renzo Gracie, the Machados, and many many others, who have since left to form their own schools. Most of the GB instructors nowadays are probably another generation removed, and may have received their black belts from the crop of instructors I was just talking about.

In other words, what I'm trying to say is that they're two different affiliations. If they're saying "Gracie Jiu Jitsu" you should closely inspect the instructor's credentials, because of their affiliate system. Those schools probably won't focus much on MMA or sport grappling, and will claim more of a self defense focus, and an old school feel to their techniques. Gracie Barra has a fundamnetals class where they teach self defense stuff, but they are much more sport oriented, and I don't mean that to say that it's less effective. Probably more effective if you're pitting a student from one school against the other. In other words a sport oriented school is training to grapple against primarily other BJJ practitioners. Doesn't mean one is better than the other, it comes down to the instructor.

If you actually post the names of the schools, we can help you much more, since there are members of this forum who are all over the world and probably know about the schools in your area.

 

[BADmrFROSTY]

the head instructor at my gracie barra trained under Master Carlos Gracie Junior and received his black belt from him in brazil. It also says he's a 3rd degree black belt.

 

[Alaskantkdkid]

Philosophy. Gracie Jiujitsu as taught at the Gracie Academy has more of a self defense related approach, while Gracie Barra isn't as focused on self defense.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

the head instructor at my gracie barra trained under Master Carlos Gracie Junior and received his black belt from him in brazil. It also says he's a 3rd degree black belt.

Sounds legit, what's his name? Or better yet, where do you live?

I'm not trying to call the place out, or anything like that, I'm genuinely curious. Based on your description, he's probably known in the community, and maybe someone on here can give you more info about training with this guy.

 

[BADmrFROSTY]

http://gbdownersgrove.com/

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

Looks legit. The instructor is a black belt world champion (2002), and that is verified by the IBJJF (just looked it up on their website). I don't know of him personally, but his credentials and background suggest that it's definitely a quality place to train. And honestly, I think that's even more of a good place because you don't live in a major urban area, and it's not that common to find a black belt world champ teaching outside of a big population centers.

 

[KarateFist]

I would sign up for the GB school

 

[nyne]

3rd degree black belt world champion under Carlos Jr? Sounds awesome go for it !

 

[snoop dogg***]

gracie barra= primarily focused on competition
gracie JJ= primarily focused on self defense

 

[Uchi Mata]

I'd do it. I train under a (non-affiliated) GB BB, and he's probably the most technically knowledgeable guy I've ever trained with.

 

[viniciusfs]

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is how Gracie family call his jiu-jitsu style, that is known around the world as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Its also the name of association managed today by Helio Gracie' sons. They are focused on self defense jiu-jitsu as developed by Helio Gracie. Sometimes refereed as Gracie Humaita, has the famous yellow logo with two guys grappling in the middle of a triangle.

Gracie Barra is another association from Gracie family, was created by Carlos Gracie Jr and evolved in a large worldwide chain of schools. They are focused on sport/competitive jiu-jitsu. Gracie Barra's logo is red, also very famous.

Barra and Humaita are the names of neighborhoods were gyms were founded here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

I don't think is good to use Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to refer about Brazilian jiu-jitsu because there is a non Gracie lineage from master Oswaldo Fadda. The famous Rodolfo Vieira is from Fadda lineage. And me too!

"All you need is one Fadda to show that Jiu-Jitsu is not the Gracie's privilege" by master Helio Gracie himself after losing a challenge between Gracie and Fadda associations.

 

[Deltafarce]

The beggining curriculum is very similar just like others have said. You can go wrong with either.

It's sport vr street. Although for the most part if you are good a sport bjj you are going to be fine on the street if you tweak your game a little and are aware of a few things.

I would say go GJJ first if it's available, many people are missing out on the basics

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

I would say go GJJ first if it's available, many people are missing out on the basics

I'm not 100% with you on that. GB has a fundamentals program where they focus on basics and do self defense moves. Furthermore, I've heard mixed things about schools that claim to be "Gracie Jiu Jitsu" affiliates. I've heard of schools being run by blue belts and the like, or guys that teach other martial arts primarily but have a "certification" in GJJ from some program they attended, and then call themselves a Gracie Jiu Jitsu school.

Focusing on basics and self defense early on is great, but quality matters as well.

 

[Soz]

Wow, Escorrega has a very high reputation in the jiujitsu community, lucky.

Ryo is also very good and a really cool guy.

 

[lts5025]

I'm not 100% with you on that. GB has a fundamentals program where they focus on basics and do self defense moves. Furthermore, I've heard mixed things about schools that claim to be "Gracie Jiu Jitsu" affiliates. I've heard of schools being run by blue belts and the like, or guys that teach other martial arts primarily but have a "certification" in GJJ from some program they attended, and then call themselves a Gracie Jiu Jitsu school.

Focusing on basics and self defense early on is great, but quality matters as well.

This. Just because something is "self-defense" instead of "sport" doesn't necessarily make it better. There is a Gracie certified school in La Jolla, CA that is run by a TKD instructor with a Gracie Combatives blue belt. This certified training center is literally a 5 minute walk from Clark Gracie's academy. I would take any of Clark's competitor blue belts against this Combatives instructor in sport jj, vale tudo/MMA or street self-defense.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

This. Just because something is "self-defense" instead of "sport" doesn't necessarily make it better. There is a Gracie certified school in La Jolla, CA that is run by a TKD instructor with a Gracie Combatives blue belt. This certified training center is literally a 5 minute walk from Clark Gracie's academy. I would take any of Clark's competitor blue belts against this Combatives instructor in sport jj, vale tudo/MMA or street self-defense.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Quality should be the first consideration.

There are also Gracie Jiu Jitsu affiliates that I'm sure have an extremely high level of instruction as well, and claim to be true to the self defense and fighting roots of BJJ. I mean nobody would doubt that Rickson is qualified. Yet he would be claiming to teach Helio's original style of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, just like the place in La Jolla that you're talking about. It comes down to the instructor.

 

[BADmrFROSTY]

Thanks for the great feedback, I'm going to check out the school soon. The instruction and teachers sound very promising.

It looks like the first 16 weeks will be fundamentals. Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this within the GB system? Do we spar at all, or is it just technique, drilling, and defense? It doesn't matter one way or the other to me, just curious.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

I don't have first hand knowledge, but I remember people describing it on here. It's mostly technique, drilling, and defense. They focus on fundamentals of movements, techniques, basic escapes and positional work, basic throws, self defense stuff. I think there is some sparring involved, but it's not emphasized as much as you'll find in a normal class.

Maybe someone who trains at a Gracie Barra can chime in.

 

[Aprentice]

I train at an MG in Brazil, very competition oriented and only sport jiu jitsu. I love it

A few months ago i went to the US California and trained at a bunch of different places, including, 10th planets, ralph gracie, kron, etc... one of the academies i trained at was the Gracie Academy headquarters in torrance.

I trained at the gracie academy 2 days. One day was no gi, and there was a lot of real life self defense situations, boxing sparring, etc... anyway, things that are not really jiu jitsu but that they say is necessary if you want to bring the fight to jiu jitsu in real life situations. On that day, i thought it was really interesting and i learned alot of new stuff about clinches, takedowns and self defense. Not to mention that i got to chat with Rorion for like 20 minutes!!!

the other day was a GI day. When i got there, Renner was at the reception and he asked me what training I had. I said that I am a whitebelt, who has been training a lot for about a year. He asked me this because I was going to a beginners class. He told me that this was really extremely beginners class and that I should go to the other class for blue belts and up that would start after. I stayed for both.

My overall impression was that since they spend so much time working on other stuff like clinching and drilling defending from punches, etc, when it came to doing a normal jiu jitsu roll they werent as good. I remember sweeping blue belts and them being like "thats cool, teach me" and it was a really basic sweep really ( felt it would be rude to say that though). I also remember rolling with a brownbelt and him using strength and sort of wait for my mistakes, instead of just playing with me like brownbelts from everywhere else do.

But im sure that these blue belts that i dominated easily in a jiu jitsu roll could very well dominate me in a normal fight, since i dont dedicate any time to normal fighting or real life situations. All my energy is toward competition jiu jitsu

SO i guess it all comes down to whether you want to be a great jiu jitsu player and competitor, or if you want to be able to defend yourself in real life situations. A great jiu jitsu player will be good at self defense, of course, but this is a matter of SPECIALTY.

That being said, If i lived in LA I would not train at Gracie Academy, i would train at a "normal" jiu jitsu place, like at Kron Gracie... But this is a very personal choice that has to do with the fact that I want to specialize in competitive sport jiu jitsu.

SO what is the real pure jiu jitsu? I don't know. But i feel like i am exploring more of jiu jitsu by focusing on sport jiu jitsu. But someone could argue that the real true jiu jitsu is the one that you can apply in a real life situation... This is a good talk for a bar tabel




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