MMA or BJJ: Which Blast MMA program is right for you?

If you're thinking about starting martial arts at BLAST MMA, one of the first questions you'll probably have is: Should I train MMA or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Both are great ways to train. Both will challenge you. And both will teach you skills that you can continue developing for years. But they're also very different training experiences.

At BLAST, we've found that the people who gravitate toward MMA and the people who gravitate toward BJJ are often looking for different things.

MMA: For People Who Want the Full Fight

MMA is the most complete combat sport you can train.

You're learning to strike, wrestle, fight in the clinch, control someone on the ground and put all of those skills together. It's also physically demanding.

MMA training involves a lot of movement, wrestling, striking, conditioning and hard rounds. You're constantly switching between different ranges and different physical demands. That attracts a certain type of person.

A lot of our MMA students are younger, competitive and athletic. They're looking for a challenge. They want to push themselves. Some want to compete. Others just like the idea of becoming as complete of a fighter as they can possibly be.

If the idea of spending an hour working on your striking, wrestling and grappling sounds like a great way to spend your evening, you're probably going to love MMA.

But there's a tradeoff. It's hard on you. And the older you get, the more you notice that.

BJJ: Still Hard Training, Just Different

One of the biggest misconceptions about BJJ is that it's the "easy" version of martial arts.

It isn't. BJJ can be incredibly physically demanding. You're still going to sweat, struggle, get tired and have someone trying to choke you or attack your limbs.

The difference is how you're using your body.

BJJ allows you to rely more on technique, leverage, position and efficiency.

You don't have to be constantly explosive. You don't have to absorb strikes.

You can spend a lot of time developing your ability to control another person without needing to win every exchange through athleticism.

And that's a big reason why BJJ tends to attract a different crowd.

We see a lot of guys in their 30s and 40s who still want to train hard but have a job, a family and a lot more responsibilities than they had when they were 22. They haven't stopped wanting to challenge themselves. They just don't necessarily want to spend every training session getting their body run through the washing machine.

BJJ gives them a way to keep training seriously while making martial arts something they can realistically do for years.

You Don't Have to Be in Your Prime to Train Hard

I think this is an important distinction. Getting older doesn't mean you have to stop doing things that are difficult. It just means you have to be smarter about how you do them.

Maybe you can't recover from 5-6 days a week of hard MMA training anymore.

That's okay.

Maybe you have three nights a week and want to spend those three hours doing something that challenges you physically and mentally.

That's okay too.

You can still train hard. You can still learn something difficult. You can still get better every week. And you can still roll with people who are younger and more athletic than you and figure out how to make them miserable with technique.

That's one of the things I love about BJJ.

What If You're an Ex-Jock?

BJJ is also a great fit for people who used to compete in sports.

Maybe you played football, wrestled, boxed, did judo or played another sport when you were younger. You still miss the feeling of training for something. You still enjoy competition. You still want to see what you're capable of. But your life has changed.

You may not have the time or recovery capacity to train like you did when you were 20.

BJJ gives you a way to keep that part of your life.

You can walk into the gym, work hard, learn something new and test yourself against another person. You don't have to give up the competitive part of yourself just because you're getting older.

You just have to change the game you're playing.

So Which One Is Right for You?

If you're younger, competitive, athletic and want the challenge of learning the entire fight, MMA might be exactly what you're looking for.

If you're still competitive but want something you can train hard and sustain alongside your career, family and the rest of your life, BJJ might be a better fit.

And if you're somewhere in the middle?

Try both.

You may find that you love MMA. You may discover that BJJ is exactly what you've been looking for. Or you may end up doing both. There's no rule that says you have to choose one. The important thing is that you find something you enjoy enough to keep doing.

Because martial arts isn't just about what you can do right now.

It's about having something that challenges you, keeps you moving and gives you a reason to keep getting better.

You don't have to be in your physical prime to train hard.

You just have to find the kind of training that fits the life you're living now.