When it comes to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a large part of the culture surrounds regular sparring. In short, this is what BJJ often prides itself on as it’s a way to pressure test your skills. Some martial arts lack sparring which means their practical implications are open to be questioned. However, this is not the case in BJJ where sparring is the norm. For those that are new to the martial art, here’s an outline of how sparring rounds are done in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
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Specific/situational sparring
This is often calls ‘specifics’ and is based on certain positions. For instance, your gym may do one move per day, month, or week that is to be sparred by all. An example of this could be passing and playing the open guard. Here, you would start in open guard and if you’re on top the idea is to pass the guard or submit the opponent. For those on the bottom, the goal is to sweep the opponent or tap them.
Specific sparring can often come with unique rules too. For instance, if there’s a black belt vs a white belt, then the black belt cannot submit their opponent, or isn’t allowed to grip the lower body. The idea of this is to force people into going out of their comfort zone. You may be an expert at half guard, but if you’re starting in spider guard then it changes the dynamic and forces you to think differently.
Usually, specific rounds are roughly 5 minutes in length. This means you’ll be passing for 5 minutes then people switch until everyone has had their turn on the top or bottom. Dependent on the gym, the total time given to specific training can be anywhere from 10 minutes in total to one hour. It really depends on the philosophy of the teacher.
Some argue that situational rounds are the best way to improve, especially for advanced practitioners. Here, you can hone in on certain skills and test and develop things. Sometimes in live, free sparring people are too cautious as they don’t want to spend the entire round stuck in side control if something goes wrong. Therefore, specific sparring gives people the option to go for certain techniques quickly, which allows for an efficient use of your training time.
Free sparring
Free sparring (sometimes called live sparring) is when you don’t start in a set situation and it’s completely up to you and your training partner as to what happens next. Typically, free sparring will start with both people standing. Then, someone will either do a takedown or pull guard. Theoretically, the entirety of free sparring could be spent standing, or it could be completely on the ground.
Some gyms also start free sparring rounds on the floor. Here, people will start from their knees in a combat base, or in a seated guard. The reason for this is if it’s a packed gym. If space is tight on the mat, then having hundreds of people sparring takedowns is a bad idea and can lead to injuries. With this in mind, it’s sensible to start seated. Having said this, usually there’s no excuses for both to start on the floor if the gym is empty and this habit can neglect takedown skills.
Usually, free sparring rounds will last around 5 minutes and again it’s up to the coach to say how many rounds you do. This could literally be one or two, or it could be over five. Usually, you will do more sparring in competition classes that are designed to test your cardio and toughness.
Free sparring is a great way to get rounds in that mimic competition and are good at testing your cardio. Unlike specific rounds, there’s no queue to line up in and wait your turn. In this sense, if you’re tired then it’s on you to try and grapple through your tiredness.
What are the rules when doing BJJ rounds?
Once again, this is completely down to the instructor and differs from gym to gym. Some gyms have strict IBJJF rules and ban heel hooks until black belt. Some allow this from white belt in no gi and allow submissions like wrist locks and toeholds at white belt.
Ultimately, most gyms will have similar rules though and there should always be respect given to the body of your training partner. For the most part though, as they say ‘good grappling is good grappling’ and it’s fairly universal wherever you go.
How long are competition rounds?
This depends on several factors such as age and belt rank. However, for most people these are the way competition rounds are structured in BJJ:
- White belt: 5 minutes
- Blue belt: 6 minutes
- Purple belt: 7 minutes
- Brown belt: 8 minutes
- Black belt: 10 minutes
Kids rules (ages four to sixteen years old):
- Beginner skill level: 4 minutes
- Medium skill level: 4 minutes
- Advanced skill level: 5 minutes
- 16 year old blue belt: 6 minutes
This means you may want to adjust your sparring rounds accordingly. For instance, if you’re a black belt then close to competing, you may want to train with 10 minute rounds to match your future situation. It could be a bad habit doing 5 minute rounds with rest, as you may gas out if the match goes the distance. It should be noted that in some superfight events, some matches can last as long as 30 minutes. However, this is rare and isn’t done by most people.
Conclusion
When it comes to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, rounds will often be shaped by the mentality of the teacher. Usually, individual gyms have their own sets of rules as to what length is correct, with certain rules thrown in too. Typically though, most gyms will do a bit of free sparring and situational – with competition classes too if desired. This means if you’re a BJJ practitioner, you can experience a variety of different sparring scenarios and choose what is best for you.
