Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes taking an opponent to the ground and utilizing ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds also found in numerous other arts with or without ground fighting emphasis. The premise is that the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somewhat negated when grappling on the ground.  It is a style based more on leverage than strength, so it appeals to people from all walks of life and both genders.  Sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu focuses on submissions without the use of strikes while training allows practitioners to practice at full speed and with full power, resembling the effort used in a real competition. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a slightly modified version of the art, developed in Brazil by Helio Gracie where more emphasis is placed on takedowns and ground-grappling.

Training methods include technique drills in which techniques are practised against a non-resisting partner; isolation sparring, commonly referred to as positional drilling, where only a certain technique or sets of techniques are used, and full sparring in which each opponent tries to submit their opponent using any legal technique. As always with Training Ground Classes, physical conditioning is also an important part of training.

Curriculum and lineage is extremely important to Training Ground.  We believe that a student should be able to trace the knowledge of your instructor through generations to ensure that your instructor’s claim of knowledge is self supporting and that they are not a “self appointed” instructor.  To ensure the highest level of instruction, Training Ground has teamed up with Nova Uniao, World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champions. They are setting the standard around the world for the best competitors and coaches and this is seen in results both locally and internationally. Whether you are doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for self-defence, fitness, personal development or to compete, who better to do it with than the best?

In the early 1990s, when competition jiu-jitsu was starting to become popular in Rio Brazil, the city was divided between the North and the South.  Meaning “New Union”, the Nova União Jiu-Jitsu Academy was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1995 when the Mello Tenis Clube Jiu-Jitsu, headed by Wendell Alexander, (a black belt from Sebastião Ricardo, who in turn was a student of the Master Oswaldo Fadda, one of the few people to train in Brazil under Sensei Maeda of Japan) joined with Andre Pederneiras, (Carlson Gracie’s star pupil, 5th degree black belt in jiu-jitsu, judo, and well known for his development of one of his star pupils BJ Penn…UFC and MMA legend).