After years of doing bjj and judo. I see bjj as the opposite side of judo. Or if you do bjj the same going the other way around. (Gi is required for this side of my opinion, no gi goes the way of a folk/freestyle wrestling approach on takedowns in the us)
Judo focuses on teaching big forward throws and a few pins to start (teaching an educational system focused on a sport of throws til shodan) traditionally was more expansive.
Bjj focuses on escaping pins and how to do submissions from bottom to top(Building a guard player to purple belt) traditionally was anti striker/wrestler street judo newaza, now working towards the sport pipeline like most established martial arts (gotta pay the bills)
With more experience in either the script reverses due to diminishing returns in either direction. But that is limited in most programs since a respectable level in opposite sports is only touched upon to the equivalent of intermediate skill levels for their opposites.
Bjj black belt in elite levels may need up til a high school state level or upper colored belt level in a competitive sense for judo to manage against their competitors. But hyper specialists can skip that(a lot just don’t see the point of spending 5+ years for forcing an advantage on the ground)
Same for judo Olympic players they need the equivalent for a purple belt on the ground of bjj. If they seek to survive maybe brown belt to be offensive. (I’m looking at pure skill not level of athleticism, think combination and sequences) also same for ground work 5+ years and this really only is useful for people at the upper national level or above since it’s a 10-30 second battle that doesn’t allow intricate sequences.
But think these are elites in their respective sports. Most of the general art never needs to be that good. Mostly novice, beginners to intermediate level for the greater portion of practitioners before they quit in their respective art of choice.
This is just my opinion I enjoy many different martial arts. They are just a specific direction for an individual to take their close quarters skill sets. Anything practiced against resistance will become useful for self defense. But I always do them for fun and fitness, improvement is the point.
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u/Spiritual-Target-108 yonkyu Jun 07 '25
After years of doing bjj and judo. I see bjj as the opposite side of judo. Or if you do bjj the same going the other way around. (Gi is required for this side of my opinion, no gi goes the way of a folk/freestyle wrestling approach on takedowns in the us)
Judo focuses on teaching big forward throws and a few pins to start (teaching an educational system focused on a sport of throws til shodan) traditionally was more expansive.
Bjj focuses on escaping pins and how to do submissions from bottom to top(Building a guard player to purple belt) traditionally was anti striker/wrestler street judo newaza, now working towards the sport pipeline like most established martial arts (gotta pay the bills)
With more experience in either the script reverses due to diminishing returns in either direction. But that is limited in most programs since a respectable level in opposite sports is only touched upon to the equivalent of intermediate skill levels for their opposites.
Bjj black belt in elite levels may need up til a high school state level or upper colored belt level in a competitive sense for judo to manage against their competitors. But hyper specialists can skip that(a lot just don’t see the point of spending 5+ years for forcing an advantage on the ground)
Same for judo Olympic players they need the equivalent for a purple belt on the ground of bjj. If they seek to survive maybe brown belt to be offensive. (I’m looking at pure skill not level of athleticism, think combination and sequences) also same for ground work 5+ years and this really only is useful for people at the upper national level or above since it’s a 10-30 second battle that doesn’t allow intricate sequences.
But think these are elites in their respective sports. Most of the general art never needs to be that good. Mostly novice, beginners to intermediate level for the greater portion of practitioners before they quit in their respective art of choice.
This is just my opinion I enjoy many different martial arts. They are just a specific direction for an individual to take their close quarters skill sets. Anything practiced against resistance will become useful for self defense. But I always do them for fun and fitness, improvement is the point.