BJJ For Women – What Are The Benefits
Over the past two decades, there has been an exponential rise in Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes all around the world. As a woman looking for martial arts training, you may be questioning whether is BJJ a good option for women. Is BJJ dominated by men? What’s the culture like?
BJJ is great for women because first, it is quite safe as it doesn’t include any striking as it is entirely grappling-based. Second, it is a highly effective self-defense system that enables a person, especially a woman, to back off physically larger opponents. On top of that, BJJ culture doesn’t recognize any gender differences as both men and women follow the same learning curriculum.
Let’s kick off by bringing you closer to what benefits come with training in Jiu-Jitsu and what you may expect in classes.
Benefits of BJJ For Women?
Following is a detailed explanation of how beneficial BJJ is for women, and how it is going to improve their physical and mental health, as well as their self-defense abilities. Let’s dive right into it.
BJJ is Much Safer Than Most Other Systems
Engaging in any sports activity carries a certain risk of injuries. However, BJJ is known to be among the safest martial arts overall mainly because it doesn’t include any striking.
The system is entirely based on grappling with trips, throws, takedowns, and ground fighting. This makes it much safer than any striking system like Boxing, and even other grappling arts such as wrestling or Judo which both have a higher injury rate.
Of course, injuries in BJJ are also common like hematomas, contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and skin injuries. In the end, it is a hand-to-hand combat sport that includes a lot of pulling on the joints, hard falls, and rolling while carrying the opponent’s weight on you, so you can’t approach it thinking you won’t get hurt.
But most importantly, the injury rate is not high, and severe injuries such as concussions or bone fractures are not that common.
BJJ is An Effective Self-Defense System
Overall, BJJ is widely considered the best self-defense system of them all. Although this remains open for debate, no one can deny that the art of jiu-jitsu is a battle-proven system. Just look at the dominance it showed in the world of freestyle combat known as MMA.
In training, you won’t spend a second doing something that won’t enhance your fighting skills. There are no forms, techniques, or tactics that work only in action movies.
BJJ is practical for women because it is one of the few martial art that allows a smaller and physically inferior person to deal with the bigger attacker. The system primarily relies on technique, leverage, balance, and positioning so even when you get overpowered by a bigger opponent, you can still subdue them by relying solely on technique. Royce Gracie proved this during the early days of the UFC where the majority of the opponents he finished were twice as big as he was.
Considering that women often get attacked by men in the real world, you get why BJJ is so good for women. And on top of that, the majority of people don’t know how to grapple so this gives you a massive advantage in a real fight.
No matter how physically big the attacker is, they don’t know the exact procedure on how to get out of the armbar or kneebar which enables you to seriously hurt them quickly.
BJJ Improves Confidence and Self-Esteem
Training in BJJ is hard, especially in the beginning where you will go through many physical and mental challenges. In the opening months, for instance, you will get absolutely dominated on the mats in every way, submitted hundreds of times, and this will put your ego to the test.
But through overcoming these physical and mental obstacles, you will develop strong mental resistance, and tolerance, and learn how to calm your emotions. In the long run, this improves your ability to deal with stressful situations at work or in relationships. Regardless of the problem you might be facing, you will have the mental strength and emotional stability to assess the situation, keep your emotions low, have an objective look, and most importantly, take action and never give up.
As you get stronger, more agile, flexible, and better at executing techniques, the rise in confidence will naturally follow. Most importantly, being fit and strong makes you feel comfortable and strong in your own body which is something we all strive for. Instead of dropping your head when you are walking, having a poor posture while you are sitting, feeling weak, and experiencing pain each time you get off the couch, you will feel energized and “tight” all the time, which is crucial when it comes to self-esteem.
The next part is related to the technical complexity of the game itself. BJJ is also known as a “human chess match” because there are so many variables and elements to it. In order to win the exchange, you must think three steps in advance, constantly switch between strategies, and make quick adjustments.
This intellectual component requires high focus and concentration the entire time and this will sharpen your mind in the long run. Instead of thinking how difficult something is to overcome, you will instead take control and try to solve the puzzle in the most efficient way possible without any whining.
Great Stress Relief
Daily stress has, unfortunately, become an integral part of everyday life and in order to protect your physical and mental health, it is crucial to find a way to relieve a better part of it. BJJ training, in particular, is known as a great stress reliever that will make each of your bad days much better. Ask any woman or man who trains in BJJ and they will tell you it is the best mood converter and the reasons why are quite simple.
Like in most other intense physical workouts, engaging in Brazilian jiu-jitsu supports the mind to release serotonin, a hormone that makes us feel happy and relaxed. No matter how stressed or angry you may be when walking in through the front door, you will feel relaxed and calm afterward.
As long as you work hard on the mats and stay disciplined, biology will do its thing. And that feeling of you sitting exhausted on the mats with a smile on your face is the moment we all live for. It’s addicting, like a drug, and you simply can’t get enough of it. Much better than sitting on the couch watching TV sublimating stress on your relationship or hiding it deep inside. Or even worse, drinking alcohol or using some other substances to “feel good”.
Whenever you feel stressed, anxious, or angry, hit the gym. Do not bother trying to solve all the issues because you won’t find a rational solution in this mood. Instead, go to the gym, work hard, enjoy the post-training buzz, eat something good, get a cold shower, and a nice sleep. The solution to all of your problems will be there in the morning.
A Great Way To Socialize And Grow
Brazilian jiu-jitsu subculture is widely known for its supportive environment and friendly atmosphere where there are no mistakes, only lessons to be learned. Each training academy, at least the ones that embrace BJJ values, includes friendly instructors focused on passing down the knowledge in a non egoistic way. To be a part of the team, each student must be respectful, and friendly, take care of the others during the roles, and be ready to help and give advice to less experienced students.
This friendly atmosphere is probably the best thing about BJJ and why it is so popular around the world. Being open, kind, and respectful enables you to open yourself to others and unleash your full potential without worrying about getting beat up, yelled at by an angry coach, or being insulted. Instead, each woman in BJJ will grow in a judgment-free environment full of positive energy. There are also segments of training like open mats where students interact with each other without coaches or following a plan to spar, discuss techniques, joke, and make friends.
Men and Women receive the same treatment
The next positive thing is the fact that BJJ doesn’t recognize gender stereotypes. As a result, men and women train together in the same groups and everyone is equal on the mats. Each student is judged by the amount of work they put in, and the coaches treat both genders the same in terms of teaching methods. Women and men do the same workouts and often roll against each other and all women are treated with respect. Downplaying women in BJJ in any way is strictly forbidden in all schools.
As a result, a lot of women join BJJ solely because of its supportive community where both genders are treated equally and there are no stereotypes.
BJJ Female Athletes Are Super Strong
Many women sign for BJJ classes to improve their fitness and develop functional strength. Instead of doing the same workouts and exercises in the gym that quickly get monotone and boring, they join BJJ where apart from fitness, they develop proper self-defense skills and become a part of the strong community.
On top of that, BJJ classes are dynamic because there are always new techniques to be learned, and each sparring session is different so things rarely get boring. You really need to be a maniac and train two times a day, seven days a week to get oversaturated.
In terms of fitness, BJJ is considered a full-body workout. While rolling on the mats, you activate every single muscle group in your body which burns a lot of calories and builds functional strength. You won’t develop big muscles as you would by weight lifting, but you will rather find that ideal balance between slow and fast twitch muscle fibers only the finest athletes have.
Since there is a lot of grabbing, pulling, and falling, expect to increase your grip strength as well as the core. And the best thing about it — you will improve your overall fitness and flexibility while having a lot of fun.
Speaking of flexibility, expect to do stretching exercises before and after each workout, even the morning ones at home. The concept of BJJ techniques heavily relies on flexible hips, arms, and legs to the point you can’t execute certain techniques or perform the right way without being flexible and agile. In fact, you will have a much easier time progressing through the beginning stage if you put your focus on doing stretches right from the start.
Being a BJJ athlete means always seeking to improve your athleticism, technique, mind, and spirit.
Makes You Develop Healthy Habits
Living an unstructured lifestyle and training hard is never going to work in the long run and this is where BJJ will change your life for good. Women in jiu-jitsu know well how much of an impact bad eating and sleeping habits have on their performance in the gym. They quickly realize that, in order to grow and learn, they need to change their lifestyle a bit, in a good way of course.
The first major change most women who train in BJJ make are eating habits. Each training session is cardio-intense and exhausting so expect to be hungry and thirsty all the time because your body will burn calories both on and off the mats.
As a result, you will start planning your meals ahead and cooking well-balanced meals. Instead of eating processed street food, most BJJ students focus on the diet rich in proteins, healthy fats and carbs, fruit, and vegetables. Some snacks every now and then are also fine because you are burning a lot of calories in training.
Giving your body the right food to perform will make you feel more energized, and motivated, and it also impacts the way you recover from training and some minor injuries.
The next important aspect is sleep, and the more you get it, the better it is. Most BJJ students aim at having 8 hours of solid sleep, which is just about the right amount of time for your body to recover.
Partying until late at night and then going for a session while running low on sleep is both hard and dangerous. Our bodies and minds recover while we are sleeping so in order to stay healthy and avoid injuries, be sure to get to bed early.
BJJ for Women is Great Because Size Is Not a Big Factor
What makes BJJ for women so great is that the entire system is designed to help physically smaller and weaker people to effectively defend against bigger and stronger attackers.
The grandmaster Helio Gracie, one of the founders of BJJ, was heavily focused on developing techniques and tactics that would allow smaller and weaker practitioners to stay competitive against larger opponents.
Yes, physical size and athleticism play a big role in modern jiu-jitsu, especially in competition. But these are not decisive factors in self-defense situations because smaller practitioners can make up for the lack of physicality with high-level technique.
So in jiu-jitsu schools, you can often see women beating much larger opponents, usually men, by focusing solely on technique and leverage. Yes, women may generally have lighter bones, weigh less than men, and have less muscle mass. But they can compensate for this as long as they have better technique.
Is BJJ Hard for Women?
BJJ is quite challenging for any beginner, regardless of the gender. Experts often say that your focus should solely be on surviving the opening months and not losing the motivation to train. On the other side, your life on the mats will become much easier as you get physically stronger and more flexible, improve endurance and cardio, and get better at executing techniques.
BJJ is not beginner-friendly because it is such a complex martial art that you need to spend many months on the mats before you can make any progress at all. During this time, you will be exhausted each time you step on the mats, your body will feel sore each morning and in pain, your muscles inflamed, you will have bruises all over your body, and on top of that, your ego is going to be destroyed as you will get submitted dozens of times in each training sessions.
The crucial thing to remember is that the ones who manage to keep the ego low and accept all the struggles as a part of the learning process will stick with BJJ for the rest of their lives.
Who Are the Best Female BJJ Athletes You Should Know?
Mackenzie Dern — is one of the most talented grapplers in history and the former number 1 ranked IBJJF competitor. Her accomplishments are legendary as she managed to win world championships in all belt levels and is the only female BJJ competitor to win a gold medal in all five highest IBJJF Gi tournaments. After winning everything there is in jiu-jitsu, she transitioned to MMA where she became a successful UFC fighter.
Yvone Duarte — will go down in history as the first woman to achieve the rank of black belt in jiu-jitsu which makes her an inspiration to many female grapplers worldwide. In 2021, she also became the first female coral belt in BJJ history. As a competitor, she was undefeated for almost 10 years during the 1980s and she deserves a lot of credit for popularizing the sport in Brazil.
Beatriz Mesquita — is one of the greatest BJJ competitors of all time and it is really hard to argue against her accomplishments. She has probably the best competitive record with 24 titles at the black belt level in both gi and no-gi. With 10 gold medals, she holds a record for the most IBJJ World Championship titles and is also a member of the Hall of Fame.
