Frequently Asked Questions

Mastery Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art Academy dedicated to create a positive impact in the lives of kids and adults through the practice of Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Our lineage comes directly from the founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, GrandMaster Helio Gracie and from his second oldest son, Master Relson Gracie, who regularly visits our Academy to give Seminars and award promotions.

We follow the vision of GM Helio Gracie who viewed the practice of Jiu-Jitsu mainly as an art for self-defense to empower the weak and least athletic individuals.

We also practice the sport of Jiu-Jitsu in an environment that prioritize safety, cooperation, camaraderie and respect between all our students. We are not a “kill or be killed”, ultra-competitive type of school.

For us, it’s important that our students learn the values associated with the practice of the martial arts. Many times we see schools that teach the skills without a framework of values, such as camaraderie, cooperation, kindness, team work, mutual respect, leadership, etc. For us, more important to create champions is to help people become the best versions of themselves.

We are the original Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school in Leesburg. We held our first class in December of 2011 and we had a grand opening in February of 2012. Originally called The Basics, we changed the name in 2023 to Mastery Jiu-Jitsu.

Mastery Jiu-Jitsu is family owned and is not part of a big Jiu-Jitsu franchise. We’ve been recognized as Best Martial Art school in Loudoun county by the Loudoun Times Mirror publication since 2020.

We are a family friendly school and offer classes for kids and adults. We also have women only classes. The entire family can practice this amazing art with us.

Over the years we’ve seen the tremendous positive impact Jiu-Jitsu had in our students, kids and adults. They become confident, self-assertive, more disciplined, fit and resilient in the face of a challenge.

We are proud of the work we’ve done and are committed to keep offering top-notch instruction in a professional setting where everybody feels safe, welcomed and supported.

 

Even though we teach basically the same art, every Jiu-Jitsu school is different in many ways and students might find that some Academies fit their goals and needs better than others.

Mastery Jiu-Jitsu is for your kid or you if:

  • You are looking for top notch instruction from certified instructors that present themselves in a professional manner.
  • You are looking to learn Jiu-Jitsu for self-defense first, against bullies or to learn to protect yourself and your family.
  • You are seeking the practice of Jiu-Jitsu as a tool for positive transformation surrounded by people with common goals of personal development.
  • You are not interested in becoming an MMA fighter or sport Jiu-Jitsu world champion.
  • You like learning in an organized way, with a clear syllabus that outlines the path you need to follow to progress through the belt ranks.
  • You like a clean facility where the mats are sanitized in between classes and students are required to wear clean Gis in every class.
  • You are looking for a safe and friendly environment where there is a sense of community, respect and everyone is supportive of each other’s journey.
  • You’d like to learn from instructors that earned their black belts from GrandMaster Relson Gracie, son of GrandMaster Helio Gracie, founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
  • You don’t like a place with big egos and a “killed or be killed” mindset where non-athletic students are neglected.
  • You are looking for a place where the risk of getting injured is minimal because nobody is trying to prove anything.
  • You would like to learn Jiu-Jitsu as part of a healthy lifestyle that will help you achieve your goals of personal growth.
  • You prefer the feeling of camaraderie in a family owned business versus a school that is part of a big corporation.
  • You might not be in the best shape.
  • You like the kids classes to be run by a black belt.
  • Your kid is struggling with self-confidence.
  • Your kid likes to learn while having fun with teachers who understand a balance between playfulness and structure.
  • You like a place where your kid not only will learn a skill but where the teachers reinforce the values that are taught at home such as self-discipline, respect, perseverance, health, courage, leadership, kindness, citizenship, etc.
  • You like a place to have fun after a long day at work.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has proven to be the most effective and most humane system of self defense, the only one in which a smaller person can defend successfully against a more athletic, bigger, stronger attacker. One of the reasons why this is possible is because its unique set of principles based in the philosophy of the founder of the art, Grand Master Helio Gracie.

Yes, our school is affiliated with Grand Master Relson Gracie who is the second oldest son of Grand Master Helio Gracie, one of the founders of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Our school follows the philosophy of teaching Jiu-Jitsu as a martial art for self-defense for children and adults, specially at the beginner’s level.
As the students advance in their journey, we also practice Jiu-Jitsu as a sport. Many of our students compete in local grappling tournaments.

In the early 1900’s Mitsuo Maeda arrived in Brazil from Japan and started teaching Japanese Ju-jutsu. Due to his frail physique, Helio Gracie couldn’t perform the fast and explosive movements of this art. Instead he had to adapt and refine the techniques taught by the Japanese Master to make them work for him. On doing so, he created Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, a new and improved version of the Japanese style based on leverage, timing and natural body movements rather than strength, speed and explosiveness.

The Gracie family, responsible for developing the style known as Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is a big family…a very big family.

The founders, Carlos and Helio Gracie, had many children and all the boys were trained in Jiu-Jitsu from an early age. Carlos had 20 children and 13 of them earned black belts. Helio Gracie had 9 children and 7 of them became black belts.

However, the descendants of Carlos and Helio Gracie did not spread Jiu-Jitsu as a united front. To the contrary, all the sons of Carlos and Helio Gracie started their own Jiu-Jitsu organizations independent from each other and with their own particular interpretations of how to teach Jiu-Jitsu.

There are Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academies affiliated to Renzo Gracie, others to Royce Gracie or to Rickson Gracie, Ralph Gracie, Carlson Gracie, Relson Gracie, etc. And even though they are teaching the same art, they are all different and they can all call themselves Gracie schools.

Some Gracies will name their organizations with a particular name: Rorion Gracie organization was called Gracie Academy. Ryron and Rener Gracie (sons of Rorion Gracie) call their organization Gracie University, Royler Gracie’s organization is called Gracie Humaita. The organization founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. is called Gracie Barra, etc. They all run their network of academies in different ways, some are focused on Sport Jiu-Jitsu, some on Self-defense, some are intended for athletes, some are dedicated to non-competitors, some prioritize high performance, some lifestyle, etc.

As you can see, not all Gracie schools are created equal. On top of that, even within the same organization some of their academies are better managed than others depending on their owners.

Mastery Jiu-Jitsu can’t attest to the kind of business other Jiu-Jitsu schools in the area are conducting.

The one thing we can say with certainty is that Mastery Jiu-Jitsu has been offering top quality Jiu-Jitsu instruction in a professional, clean, friendly and safe environment since 2011.

The community has selected us Best of Loudoun since we entered the contest in 2020 and for 5 years in a row. We are proud of our service to the community and will continue to be giving our best. Our reputation and results speak for themselves.

We’ve seen the positive transformation in our students, kids and adults, through the practice of Jiu-Jitsu at our school for over a decade and will offer 3-free classes to all new students in the area to come and see for themselves what we are all about.

All martial arts are important and contribute positively in the education of people. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu’s approach is just different than the more traditional systems. There is a difference in the teaching methods, mindset, strategy and the techniques used in a self-defense scenario.

Karate and Tae Kwon Do are striking arts that teach punches and kicks. Jiu-Jitsu is primarily a grappling art, similar to Wrestling.

We don’t teach the kids to punch or kick the bully, we teach them to neutralize the aggression and once in control there is no need to punch or hurt the attacker.

Some traditional martial arts focus on katas or breaking boards and don’t offer a context in which these techniques are to be used. At our school we teach practical moves that will work against a resisting opponent. Since day one kids practice with a partner, and we recreate possible scenarios and offer solutions to each case, starting with verbal commands and de-escalation methods.

Many traditional martial art schools have become closer to daycare facilities than schools to teach kids how to defend themselves. Our priority is to instill real confidence in our students through the practice of effective techniques, build their character through our martial talks and contribute with their personal development.

We believe in the efficiency of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu because its approach had been put to test by the Gracie Family and proven successful many times either in real street fights or in events where no rules and no time limits apply.

No. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is one of the styles that professional fighters have blend with other fighting arts to compete in Mixed Martial Arts events such as the UFC, which after its first editions decided to include rounds, judges, weight categories and points system to be more appealing to the general public.

At Mastery Jiu-Jitsu we don’t train fighters for mixed martial arts events, we teach regular people to defend themselves in real self defense situations.

Some of them are:

-In a fight instead of exchange strikes one should learn to manage the distance to stay safe from potential knockout punches.

-The goal of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner is to achieve a dominant position where he can control the fight, but also should be ready to remain calm and successfully survive in the worst case scenario.

-When facing a bigger, stronger opponent, the Jiu-Jitsu practitioner must not worry about defeating his adversary. Rather, he/she should learn how to defend properly to avoid defeat at all cost.

-Gracie Jiu-Jitsu teaches that the only way to defeat a stronger opponent is by saving one’s energy and forcing the attacker to spend all of his in the process.

-The students should develop reflexes that will help them react instinctively in a real self-defense situation.

These and others basic principles along with the techniques that enable them are taught and discussed in our programs.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu had been put to test by the Gracie family for over 85 years in countless real street fights and challenges against other martial arts.

It confirmed its superiority against other systems in 1993, when in the first 4 editions of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) the smaller fighter, Royce Gracie (Helio Gracie’s son) macbuspop over to these guyswildflower phone casesget it by, defeated bigger opponents from more traditional martial arts in a series of fights with no rules and no time limits.

Royce Gracie vs Kimo

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t rely in flashy kicks or “deathly” punches like we are used to watch in the movies. Instead Jiu-Jitsu relies mostly in grappling techniques using timing, leverage and natural body movements to apply takedowns, joint locks, chokes and minimal strikes. This is the most realistic and effective way to protect yourself and even have complete control on the level of damage you can inflict on the attacker.

The Gracie family from Brazil adapted Japanese Ju-Jutsu and developed their own version of this art.
After teaching it for many years as a martial art for self-defense (since the 1930’s), a sportive version was created and Jiu-Jitsu competitions were born.

As the sport grew in Brazil in the 70’s and 80’s, a new wave of Jiu-Jitsu champions arise, some of them members of the Gracie family but also non-Gracie champions and coaches gained notoriety as more and more people started training,

The popularity of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu exploded worldwide when in 1993, Royce Gracie won the first two and the fourth editions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) defeating representatives of other martial arts (Wrestling, Boxing, Karate, Kung-fu, etc.) in this no-holds- barred or “Vale tudo” events, proving the effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu.

Shortly after, due to a high interest from the public to learn this style, many Jiu-Jitsu schools started opening all over the world, some of them run by members of the Gracie family and some by Jiu-Jitsu black belts from Brazil who did not have an affiliation with the Gracies.
Since they could not use the name Gracie, they began using the term “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” to refer to their style.

In short, they both share the same origin.
However, a difference can be mentioned in that Gracie schools would still teach techniques for self-defense versus Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools that would emphasize entirely in teaching Jiu-Jitsu as a sport from day one and disregard the martial application of the art.

At Mastery Jiu-Jitsu we teach beginners (kids and adults) techniques to defend themselves against untrained attackers first. Once a student is proficient in self-defense, we will teach and practice the sport aspect of Jiu-Jitsu.

GM Helio Gracie did not create a sport that only the young, athletic and strong can practice. He himself was not an athlete, so he developed a martial art with a set of techniques that anybody regardless of size, age or physical condition can perform. Besides, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu’s unique teaching methodology has been perfected by three generations of the family, so we can guarantee that everyone can learn and execute the techniques.

You don’t need to get in shape before coming to Jiu-Jitsu, you get fit on the mats. We have many testimonies of students who got in shape by doing Jiu-Jitsu.

There is nothing to be afraid. Although every sport carries an inherent risk of injury, here at Mastery Jiu-Jitsu we take all the precautions to provide a safe training environment.

After each technique is presented the students would drill the technique with a cooperative partner (not a fully resistant opponent), because the idea is to build the reflexes and give the opportunity for the student to experiment with each position. The instructor will supervise that each drill is performed in a very controlled manner ensuring the safety of the practitioners. We encourage the students to help each other and to give each other feedback so they all can learn together and benefit the most from the class.

We believe that Jiu-Jitsu besides being a great martial art it’s also, and maybe even more important, a tool for self-improvement.
In Jiu-Jitsu we learn to defend against an external attacker but maybe the most challenging enemy is within, our own ego.

The principles used in Jiu-Jitsu to defeat and external threat are the same ones we can use to defeat our inner fears.
Once a student adopt Jiu-Jitsu as a lifestyle and consistently train his body and mind to use patience, resilience, perseverance and positivity; they’ll be on their way to achieve their goal of self mastery.

In recent years, where the cases of bullying in schools has become more notorious, we believe that teaching martial arts as part of children’s education will help do away with bullying. Jiu-Jitsu offers a set of effective techniques that rely more on ways to defend, restrain, control and neutralize the attacker rather than using violent strikes. The child will gain enough self-confidence to stand up for themself and avoid the need to fight altogether.

More important, the confidence that can be passed to a child through Jiu-Jitsu will without a doubt transfer onto everything the child does. Most children lack the confidence to face a bully so chances are they will lack the confidence to face future bullies or life obstacles. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is a gift they will be grateful for forever.

No. You don’t have to stay and watch. You have the option to stay or leave.

Yes. We offer discount for families where the second member gets 15% off and the third member 30% off!
We also offer 15% discount to Military, Law Enforcement and First Responders.