Self-defense

What jiu-jitsu really trains outside the gym, where it stops working, and what the data says once you actually check it.

• 

  BJJ and self-defense: what actually works and what doesn't

  Brazilian jiu-jitsu was born calling itself a self-defense method, and it's also the subject gym marketing shouts about the loudest. This page separates what the training actually gives you from what people selling courses promise.

  Read
• 

  Self-defense for women: what BJJ teaches and what else you need

  BJJ is pitched to women as a self-defense solution more often than any other discipline. Part of that promise holds up, part doesn't, and the difference is worth knowing before you sign a membership.

  Read
• 

  Self-defense: what the data actually says

  “Ninety percent of fights end up on the ground.” It's the line that sold jiu-jitsu to the world, it comes from a real study, and it doesn't say what everyone repeats. Here are the numbers, the sources, and the limits of each.

  Read