When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, but what about when life gives you threatening scenarios? Find out how to react to aggressors of all shapes and sizes, flip around like a ninja, and defend yourself against pretty much every scenario you can think of at the MIT American Jiu-Jitsu Club!
American Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art focusing on practical self-defense. It covers everything from strikes, to chokes, to throws, to groundfighting, to defending against guns and knives; all with the goal of preparing you as well as possible to keep yourself safe on the street. American Jiu-Jitsu is also designed such that a practitioner can still use it to defend effectively against larger and stronger opponents. This is done by exploiting anatomical weaknesses, basic physics, and (sometimes) by using the attacker’s own momentum against them.
During semesters in which pandemics are not ravaging the globe*, we have instructor-led classes every week on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9-11 PM, and on Sundays from 3-5 PM, in the duPont wrestling room in Building W32. We have no attendance requirement, so missing classes is completely fine, and there is no need to come all four times a week if you don’t want to. All experience and fitness levels are welcome!
Feel free to contact self-defense@mit.edu with any questions. Additionally, check out the club’s page on Facebook.
*While useful for self-defense purposes, jiu-jitsu is sadly not, to our knowledge, particularly effective against pathogens.
[Photo captions]
Clockwise from top left: a “major hip throw,” a stick-fighting drill, driving an opponent to the ground with a forearm armbar, finishing off an opponent with a downward elbow strike.