Over the years, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu became popular and widely known as the most effective martial art. Most of its fame it’s because of the early days of UFC when Royce Gracie shocked the world by submitting and choking out opponents twice his size. Almost 30 years later, BJJ still generates doubts. For example, a lot of people already asked me the following: can you kick in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Well, here’s the answer.
As a general rule, you can’t kick in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, whether it’s a competition or a training session. However, in traditional BJJ schools, students receive self-defense lessons where they can learn some types of kicks, kick defenses, and counter-attacks with BJJ techniques.
As what most people are used to see as Jiu-Jitsu in competitions or MMA are chokes, takedowns, and arm-bars, they can think that this is all that BJJ is about. And don’t get me wrong, that’s a fundamental part, but there are a lot more things involved in the scope of this amazing super effective martial art, including basic striking lessons to teach you how to combine kicks with Jiu-Jitsu and how to defend from kicks.
Can You Kick In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
BJJ is a martial where the main goal is to overpower your opponent in a fair, clean way using leverage and pressure to attack joints and sensitive areas with twists and chokes. It’s a beautiful concept, as in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you give the chance for your opponent to give up without getting hurt. However, BJJ has also strong roots in self-defense to empower an average person with the abilities and the confidence to defend himself and others in case of need. In this sense, it’s possible for you to learn important striking skills, such as kicks, in legit Jiu-Jitsu schools that teach self-defense.
Kicks In BJJ: Self-Defense Techniques
As self-defense is one of the main reasons why the Gracie Family started teaching their variation of Jiu-Jitsu (what is know now as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Gracie Jiu-Jitsu), in traditional BJJ schools teaching students how to defend themselves and others in situations of urban violence and aggression is an important part of the curriculum of techniques taught to practitioners, especially for beginners. As far as kicking techniques are concerned, there are some specific cases in Jiu-Jitsu that can be used in different moments of a real fight situation.
Kicks For Distance Management
Kicking for distance management is an exceptional way to control the damage that an opponent can inflict on you in a real fight situation. The reason is simple: if your aggressor can’t reach, he can’t hurt you (in a fair fight, not considering weapons). So in BJJ, we learn to use front kicks to manage the distance. For an experienced BJJ fighter, there are two safe distances: far from the opponent (out of the reach of striking blows) or super close, to connect, takedown, and overpower with the right techniques. This way, safe kicks are very useful, either is to push away the adversary (and run or try to talk out the situation) or to gain some time to connect and immobilize the aggressor more safely.
Kick Defenses
More important than using kicks to attack is knowing how to defend against opponents who strike by kicking. The destructive power of a kick to the face or joints is immense, and can even kill. Especially if it’s a kick to the head of an opponent that is on the ground, but we’ll talk about this in the next section. Well, in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, more than kicking to attack, students learn how to defend themselves from kicks. Kick defenses in BJJ are used to prevent traumatic damage and counterattack. Usually, the counterattacks to kicks are takedowns and immobilization techniques once the opponent is on the ground.
Kicks From The Ground
Kicking from the ground can be the difference between life and death in a situation where an aggressor is trying to hit you. Literally the difference between living and dying. I mean that because, as a said before, receiving a kick (or a stomp) in the head while you are on the ground has a devastating impact that can easily lead to death. In BJJ, one of the fundamental movements that you learn right in the beginning is called “Technical Lift”. This movement is used in a lot of different contexts in a BJJ fight, and in self-defense classes, it can be used to stand up safely when an opponent has thrown you to the ground. Combined with a kick from the ground, this technique is a great example of how kicks are used in BJJ. You can check this technique in the video below, explained by the world champion Marcio Feitosa in the Gracie Barra Fundamentals DVD:
Related Questions
Does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Have Kicks? Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does have kicks and other striking techniques that are taught in self-defense classes, one of the pillars of this martial art. However, in a competitive BJJ fight or a sparring session (called roll), you are not allowed to kick or punch.
Are You Allowed To Punch In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? You are not allowed to punch in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fight or training session. But as BJJ is a martial with strong roots in self-defense, in some classes students learn how to kick and punch to defend and counterattack in real-life combats.
