For the present post, I will be presenting more of the results from the BJJ-specific section of the study. As has been the case in previous posts, however, I will not be presenting the answers to the open-ended questions as these have yet to be coded. For these questions, I am likely going to wait until I have the complete data set. Then, I will elicit help from some folks from the BJJ community who are willing to help me code the responses. In the meantime, I will continue to report the answer to the fixed responses. That said, the latest round of these results can be found below the fold!

Having just spent a lovely weekend visiting my brother and his family in Washington DC (lamentably, I didn't have time to train anywhere), I am now back in Charleston. So, I thought I would publish some more data from the BJJ survey. To date, 800+ people have taken the survey. But I am still just publishing the preliminary results from the first 500. As I said in an earlier post, the results are unlikely to change much between 500 and 800. I will nevertheless make the final results freely available once the study is closed on August 1st. For now, I will keep plugging away at the preliminary findings. For more information about the survey and the earlier results I have published, see the following posts:

Is Your Gym "Leg Lock Friendly"?





Answer % Count Yes 53.35% 271 No 3.94% 20 Only at certain belt levels 42.72% 217 Total 100% 508





What is your preferred style?



[*I meant to say "top control" rather than "pressure passing"--but I think the results are interesting despite this mistake on my part]

Answer % Count Closed guard 25.50% 128 Open Guard 32.87% 165 Pressure Passing 35.06% 176 Leg locking 6.57% 33 Total 100% 502





What is your preferred time to train?

Answer % Count Morning 16.17% 82 Lunch 12.23% 62 Evening 71.60% 363 Total 100% 507

Do you train at gyms when you travel?











Answer % Count Yes 63.22% 318 No 36.78% 185 Total 100% 503

Did you have a background in another martial art before you started jiu jitsu? If so, which one(s)?





Answer % Count Wrestling 15.13% 77 Boxing 12.18% 62 Akido 5.30% 27 Karate 17.88% 91 Judo 12.18% 62 Sambo 1.18% 6 Kick boxing 10.41% 53 Kung Fu 5.89% 30 Muay Thai 12.18% 62 Other 20.04% 102 No previous training 35.56% 181

Does your instructor encourage you to compete?





Answer % Count Yes 90.91% 460 No 9.09% 46 Total 100% 506

Have you competed in jiu jitsu before?





Answer % Count Yes 72.92% 369 No 27.08% 137 Total 100% 506

If you have competed, have you won any of the following medals?

[*The answers to this question are skewed a bit because I accidentally made it a single choice rather than multiple choice answer for the first roughly 100 participants. I noticed the mistake and changed it, but it affected the first 100. The full data set should be better since there will be 700+ people who received the right question/answers]





Answer % Count Bronze 26.46% 118 Silver 34.53% 154 Gold 43.05% 192 I have not medalled 33.86% 151

Do you cross-train other martial arts? If so, which one(s)?



[*Yet another mistake on my part. I didn't ask a S & C question--e.g., do people do Olympic lifting, cross-fit, etc.]





Answer % Count Wrestling 17.18% 84 Boxing 12.68% 62 Akido 0.61% 3 Karate 2.04% 10 Judo 15.95% 78 Sambo 2.25% 11 Kick boxing 11.04% 54 Kung Fu 0.41% 2 Muay Thai 14.93% 73 Other 8.38% 41 I do not cross-train 52.97% 259

Do you do mobility exercises to prepare your body for jiu jitsu (e.g., ginastic natural)?

Answer % Count Yes 44.18% 224 No 55.82% 283 Total 100% 507

Do you do yoga to prepare your body for jiu jitsu?





Answer % Count Yes 27.17% 138 No 72.83% 370 Total 100% 508

That's all the fixed choice questions from section two. There are lots of interesting open questions from this section that are going to take some time to compile, including:

What is your team or affiliation?

Why did you get into jiu jitsu?

What do you like most about jiu jitsu?

What do you like least about jiu jitsu?

What injuries have you had?

In my eyes, these are some of the most important. But it doesn't make sense to take the time to code the answers from the preliminary data set for these items. Instead, I will wait until I close the survey. Hopefully, by then, I will have the 1,000 participants I was hoping for from the outset! For now, I hope you find these results of interest!