Invisible Jiu-Jitsu
What is Invisible Jiu-Jitsu?
Coined by Rickson Gracie, the son of Grandmaster Hélio Gracie, Invisible Jiu-Jitsu is a concept within MMA & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which underlies all of the techniques that we use every day.
Rickson views BJJ as his father saw it: a tool for empowerment that gives the physically weak individual a chance against the strong; a medium and a means to gain confidence and enrich ones’ life.
Invisible Jiu-Jitsu is a method that always wins over power & strength.
It is really more of a philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu than anything else. Once you start to apply the concepts and philosophies of Invisible Jiu-jitsu to your game, you won’t need to know a thousand techniques.
Many know the basic ideas of Jiu-Jitsu, but don’t know the details of why they work.
It is amazing to see how moving a part of your body just 2 inches changes the dynamics of the entire technique. This is why Rickson’s Jiu-Jitsu is called invisible Jiu-Jitsu: because the details can be so small you don’t notice them, but you can really feel it.
Once you feel it you will never forget it. Once you feel some of the basic positions like side control, mount and closed guard with the perfected basic details (really it’s super-advanced basics), it changes everything; it makes all your techniques more efficient and effective.
It’s all about connecting with your opponent; it is the small details like positioning, pressure, posture and the way you connect your body.
Posture is everything in every position: mount, top, bottom, side control, guard; there is certain positioning that makes everything more effective.
When you understand how to have a connection with your opponent all your movements become so much more effective. It’s almost unbelievable how little effort it can take to do something.
In Rickson’s words, it is the “profound aspect to connect yourself and be stronger from your feet to your hands” in order to achieve efficiency. “Every time you struggle, you’ll figure out where you’re not connected and be able to develop yourself with smooth movements.
It’s that invisible force that you can continue to gain an understanding of. That’s my motivation today – to understand Invisible Jiu-Jitsu, what is there besides what you don’t see.”
According to the master, it’s the understanding of this concept that keeps one efficient even when they’re tired, even when out of shape or gassed.
It’s this principle that will help an athlete, an executive, a woman, or a child use Jiu-Jitsu to protect themselves against a larger attacker. That’s the spirit of Jiu-Jitsu as he sees it – as it was originally intended – not just meant for competition but for life in general so we can learn more about ourselves and discover our possibilities.
So how can one go about learning the ‘invisible’ aspects of Jiu-Jitsu?
Often, the best way to improve your Jiu-Jitsu game is not by learning all of the latest and greatest techniques, it is instead by understanding the mechanics and feel of the most basic ones.
These ‘hidden’ aspects of Jiu-Jitsu can often be discovered by training with those who have a greater knowledge of these concepts than you yourself do.
Try feeling the difference in the way a more advanced practitioner executes a technique and questioning what detail they employ to the basics to make them work – the tilt of the hips, the angle at which they apply pressure or adjusting the position by an inch or two.
One good option to discover these hidden concepts is private lessons.
Private lessons are one-on-one, personalized classes that accelerate your learning and progress.
They are a good option for anyone, from complete novices to advanced students who are looking to learn faster and tighten up their game. In a one on one lesson with an experienced instructor, you will have the opportunity to not only see a technique demonstrated but to ‘feel’ each movement of the technique, to break it down and feel exactly what it is that makes it work.
Once you begin to feel and understand how to have a connection with your opponent all your movements become so much more effective. This is invisible Jiu-Jitsu, and when done right, it is crazy how little effort it can take to do something.