Difference between Machado JJ, BJJ, Gracie JJ, etc?

Just wondering about any differences between the different lines of "BJJ" if indeed there are any.

Danke.

BJJ (Brazillian Jiu Jitsu) is the term for all style of jiu jitsu from Brazil. Gracie, Machado, Caique etc. jiu jitsu are the same basic types of styles but have taken on the individual philosophies, tactics, and strategies of the individuals who are teaching them.

KF - thanks. Can you generalize a bit between them, or does it really depend on the instructor?

There's a Machado-affiliated instructor near my house I'm seriously considering hooking up with. Just wondering if there is enough difference between the different BJJ's that I might prefer one over another.

Braden:
Whatever BJJ style you choose, you can't go wrong. As a general rule, the Machados tend to emphasize tournament/sport BJJ over vale tudo, or anything goes type fighting. If your goal is learning real fighting, it doesn't take too much to figure out which moves can only be done for sport and which are more applicable to real encounters.

Thanks again.

I'm really interested in learning positioning and escapes on the ground; not so interested in submissions and less so in takedowns (and, like you guessed, more interested in realistic than sport approach). Other than that, it's just pretty fun, so I wouldn't mind doing it regularly. :)

Might be a moot point though since the only good-looking BJJ school I can find in town is Bob Carver's Muay Thai Academy (Machado-affiliated).

Braden I knew you would come around. ;)

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"It's not really NHB because they won't let me bring a platoon of Navy SEAL's with Blackhawk fire support into the ring!"
-Watchman

I'm learning BJJ from John Machado of the Machado brothers. The guy is a great teacher and you address him as "John," not Sifu or whatever, which is refreshing. Sometimes it's evident that what we're being taught is from a tournament standpoint - for example, grabbing the the thick edges of the gi to do a choke. But then, in addition to that, he teaches what to do your opponent doesn't have a gi, or a more hardcore approach ... the kind you'd encounter in the street. So it goes both ways.

[This message was edited by David DeVere on 06-28-01 at 01:58 PM.]

Oh oh, found out. I knew I should have posted this under a different name. ;)

David - it's nice to hear from you, I LOVE your site. My bagua teacher is very informal too. We train in sweats and he'd flip if I called him anything but his first name. I don't know if I could be happy any other way!

Hey Braden, how's it going? Thanks for the props on my site. :) My xingyiquan teacher is like that too. Although we address him as "Gong Lao Shr" - "Lao Shr" meaning teacher (I think) and "Gong" his name (he speaks no English) we practice in a park and wear whatever clothes we show up in. I've found as a general rule the more down-to-earth and informal the teacher, the higher his skill tends to be. Take 'er easy!