A comparative analysis of male judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners based on motor performance and body build

Abstract

While jiu-jitsu and judo are martial arts that traditionally place an emphasis on mental and spiritual development, a direct fight constitutes their essential element. Today they are largely practiced within the realm of combat sports. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a Brazilian sport that originated by adapting techniques from traditional Japanese jujutsu [1]. Focus has shifted in these fighting disciplines to the recruitment and selection of athletes and deciding which anthropometric, mechanical, and physiological factors are the most important for competitive success [2-8]. It was proved, that among the others, physical fitness with great muscular strength is important factor of success in combat sports [4,9,10]. Other studies have reported that performance and competitive success in combat sports are influenced by body size and other anthropometric variables [2,4,5,11]. These aspects are intertwined with combat sport training, which also introduces changes in the physical fitness and some elements of body build of its practitioners [12,13]. Franchini et al. [2,14] concluded that in the group of the best athletes, the morphological variables do not discriminate performance, but the higher percent body fat is negatively correlated with performance, especially in activities with body mass locomotion. Jiu-jitsu and judo both have a lot of elements of fight technique in vertical and horizontal positions, however, in Bra zi lian ju-jitsu there are more elements of technique which are not permissible in judo. In judo bouts competitors struggle in vertical (tachi-waza) and horizontal (ne-waza) positions. The fight ends when one judoka (tori) performs the throw (on the large part of back, with power and control) and the referee announces ippon [15]. The amount of time of the fight in tachiwaza and ne-waza depends on the rules [16]. In ju-jitsu bouts there are 3 phases: fight in distance (striking), fight with grip (throws) and fight in horizontal position – ne-waza [17]. Bra zilian jiu-jitsu is considered a predominantly aerobic sport [18] with significantly higher proportion of an effort/ pause (ratio of ap proximately 10:1) when compared to judo which have presented an effort-pause ratio of approximately 2:1 [19]. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has more longer combat phases than judo [18].