Sport Ju Jutsu

**Nefron** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 3:48pm

Well,last week i started training sport ju jutsu.There is no other grappling oriented club in my town so i gave it a try.
Standup has been quite irritating:only open handed strikes to the side of the head,no low kicks,no axe kicks (or anything with the heal) and "lets play tag" point sparring.Kind of like watered down Shotokan.
Throws are teh pwn.I am rly starting to love Judo and ground work is good also.
Any opinions on this style?

**1point2** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:00pm

I don't know what you're talking about. Details would help.

**Fuzzy** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:17pm

Oh gods, I fought in the SA sport ju jitsu Nationals last year (only standup, couldn't grapple at the time due to a back injury) the ruleset is awful, at least for sparring, the grappling section appeared to be dominated by BJJ and other pure grapplers.

The sparring rules are a disaster, as striking contact is so restricted as to totally castrate a striker (I lost due to penalties for repeatedly punching my opponent in the nose), but any throw is allowed, I saw someone get yama arashi'd onto his head, fall flat on his face and have the opponent come down with both elbows on his spine. The thrower won.

Overall what I've observed is that the style is just Judo with Shotokan half assedly attached.

**Nefron** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:18pm

Heh.Im not really sure what its called.Competition rules are:

Striking:Only open handed strikes to the side of the head,kicks to the body or the head,no heel kicks,no low kicks(sweeps only).A blow scores one point.Light contact.When you score the fight is restarted.

Clinch:There is no striking in the clinch,only judo throws and locks.A throw scores 1-3 points.

Ground:Once the fight hits the mat you can score points by pining your oponent.If you made him tap the fight is over.You can use chokes,leg and arm locks.No neck cranks or spine attacks.

Cleared it up a bit?

**Nefron** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:21pm

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The sparring rules are a disaster, as striking contact is so restricted as to totally castrate a striker

Yeah,it really iritates me as a kickboxer.Im constantly forgeting the rules.Axe kicked a guy today,i felt like a jackass.

**Fuzzy** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:26pm

Nefron: do your rules limit time one the ground or in clinch? I got stopped mid-armbar because my 10 seconds were up.

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 9/18/2008 4:41pm

We use SJJ rules (sort of) for sparring in goju-jitsu, difference is no time limits on the ground leg kicks allowed and you can strike closed fist to the head just not the immediate face area (medium /hard contact no full contact allowed)

because of Bullshido I have also done some CSW (combat submission wrestling) Muay Thai and BJJ right now I am focusing on BJJ more than anything else

Pros re SJJ

It gets you used to moving around and dealing with with strikes throws and submissions.

Cons - limitations in striking. A good club can deal with this through really good pad work and other sparring methodologies, many however do not.

The grappling is very Judo oriented with heavy emphasis on the top game. And the style is good for learning to set up throws with strikes.

The cons with that is it's gi oriented so it's not that applicable to MMA

The biggest con with SJJ is that it's a jack of all trades style and master of none methodology, while good for developing a practical working martial art its ok, the reality in serious competition, someone who has better striking or better jiu jitsu will probably beat you.

So that people who have really good kickboxing and some TD defense ca win, or superior takedowns and grappling.

Personally I think it's better to get really good in one area and then work the others.

To me SJJ can be a good training tool for certain people who want to practice all ranges of fighting without doing full MMA

but....

the competition side of it and competition training can ruin it.

So to sum up, it depends what your goals are in training.