ABOUT
LAKEWOOD JIU JITSU
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Gracie/ Brazilian jiu jitsu self-defense
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Traditional Japanese jujitsu throws and locks
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Verbal judo and de-escalation strategies
LAKEWOOD JIU-JITSU
" Jiu jitsu represents the triumph of human intelligence over brute strength. "
Grandmaster Hélio Gracie
Lakewood Jiu-Jitsu Academy is a school that teaches self-defense based on the principles of jiu jitsu. From the traditional Japanese jūjutsu techniques developed by the samurai, to the innovations of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), LJJA presents jiu-jitsu for realistic self-defense for men, women, and children. Lakewood Jiu Jitsu is further committed to providing a safe BJJ training environment for all students in the Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and Denver, Colorado area. Lakewood Jiu-Jitsu Academy is committed to preparing students to defend themselves in the real world.
Why Lakewood Jiu-Jitsu?
Structured jiu jitsu curriculum based on 100 years of Gracie teaching
Students have access to an extensive video library of ALL Gracie jiu jitsu techniques.
Every Gracie Combatives class is taught to be learnable by even FIRST TIME students
What is Jiu-Jitsu?
The use of leverage and joint locks were a part of Japanese samurai fighting techniques since the 1100s. The term jiu jitsu (jujitsu/ jūjutsu) however wasn't coined until the 1630s. "Jiu" is derived from the Japanese passage, "jū nō sei gō," which translates "Softness controls hardness well." Over the years this translation has been simplified into the English term, "gentle." The overarching idea is that being pliable and yielding can result in being able to control a forceful attack using less energy than the attacker. This is an ideal philosophy for someone defending themselves from a stronger attacker. The advantages of size and strength become a disadvantage when that force can't fully impact the intended victim. The classic example is a willow tree bending in the wind, versus an unyielding oak tree that is uprooted by the same wind. "Jitsu" is a Japanese term for a collection of techniques or a catalog of moves. This has been simplified with the word "art." Jiu jitsu then is the collection of techniques that empower a weaker combatant to avoid being injured or controlled by an opponent, and to then control that opponent with minimal effort, even when that opponent is larger and stronger.
Jiu jitsu teachings started moving to the West from Japan in the early 1900s. By 1915 there were jiu jitsu schools in several western countries. Mitsuyo Maeda is credited for introducing Japanese jiu jitsu to Carlos Gracie in Brazil. Although Maeda originally departed Tokyo as an ambassador of judo from Tokyo's Kodokan, his style of jiu jitsu was much more like the combat oriented jiu jitsu that was being taught at the Butokukai in Kyoto. Mataemon Tanabe, one of the instructors at Kyoto's Butokukai, was extraordinarily skilled at ground fighting, and was training fighters who were consistently defeating the Kodokan's judo students in competitions. This style of jiu jitsu was also being used successfully around the world by "no holds barred" fighters like Yukio Tani. Carlos and Helio Gracie refined Maeda's version of Japanese jūjitsu into the beginnings of today's Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) self-defense as taught at Gracie University by Grandmaster Hélio Gracie's grandsons, Ryron and Rener Gracie.
Many linguistic experts argue that the truest translation spelling of the Japanese characters for jiu jitsu is to spell it "jūjitsu or jūjutsu." This is why in most places on the Lakewood Jiu Jitsu Academy website, when I'm referring to the Japanese style, I will spell it "jūjitsu." The Gracie/ Brazilian variant I usually spell it, "jiu jitsu." These different spellings are academic, and do not refer to two different concepts.