Lodi High School student gets jiu jitsu promotion

Lodi High School student gets jiu jitsu promotion

Lodi High School student Tyler Ruffino got a jiu jitsu promotion Thursday. After training for about 1 year, Ruffino was promoted to yellow belt by Professor Chris Savarese, Ruffino’s instructor. Savarese is the owner and head instructor at the Academy and one of the 1st Americans to earn a black belt in BJJ from Royler Gracie. Tyler has made a ton of progress in recent months, including testing himself by entering the New Jersey Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (NJBJJF) tournament last month and walking away with the GOLD medal in his very first tournament! He is one of the most popular guys in the Academy because of his great attitude. Tyler has the perfect attitude for BJJ and is getting better every week! Congrats Tyler and keep up the great work!

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or BJJ, is a grappling martial art that looks like a mix of judo and wrestling. Jiu Jitsu started in Japan, but became popular in Brazil after Mitsuyo Maeda,  a Japanese immigrant in the early 20th century, taught it to several local men including Carlos Gracie and Helio Gracie. The Gracie brothers, in turn, taught it to their sons who continue to show the world the art today. BJJ became popular in the USA in the early 1990’s after Helio Gracie’s son, Royce Gracie, used jiu jitsu to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Since Royce’s dominance in the early UFC’s, BJJ has become an essential skill in Mixed Martial Arts.

BJJ is the also most effective martial art for self defense. The reason is that it focuses on real life positions and situations and employs techniques that work against a resisting opponent or an attacker. One of the basic beliefs of BJJ is that once the techniques are learned, they can be used to defeat a larger and stronger opponent. This is because BJJ is based on technique and leverage as opposed to weight and strength. For the same reasons, jiu jitsu is also the best self defense martial art for women.

Anyone who would like to try a BJJ class at Savarese BJJ Academy in Lyndhurst, please call 201 933-5134 for a free class.