Self Defense is our focus

Relson Gracie's jiu-jitsu is focused first and foremost on street usable self defense. Over the years jiu-jitsu has infiltrated its way into a variety of sports, from Mixed Martial Arts competition to Sport Jiu-Jitsu.  Without saying this to demean anyone in any way, we feel that this has often resulted in the watering down of the orginal focus and techniques Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was created with. This is not someting you will ever experience at a Relson Gracie academy, however. Relson was proving the effectiveness of his family's jiu-jitsu long before the rise of sport competition jiu-jitsu, as a result his tecniques were forged and proven in the mean streets of Brazil.

Our Self Defense portion of our jiu-jitsu training at Denver Jiu-Jitsu deals with a potential fight by focusing on diffusing dangerous situations, promoting a calm mindset that displays control of anger and emotion, and arming you with the purest techniques as taught by Grand Master Helio Gracie himself for dealing with the fight once it happens.  Generally one class each week is devoted specifically to this area of our Jiu-Jitsu training, so that all our students are proficient in the most important aspects of our art.

Our approach to Brazillian Jiu jitsu and other martial arts training is about much more than self defense and actual physical conflict. Our philosophy is best demonstrated by the following passage from The Book of Five Rings:

"Yet there will be people in the world who think that even if you learn martial arts, this will not prove useful when a real need arises. Regarding that concern, the true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful in all things."--Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings