Differences in the Gracie Jiu Jitsu Schools

[LoneRider]

I've been training off and on for six months with the Gracie Barra affiliates in San Diego and Chino Hills whenever I have time off at Fort Irwin (in California's Mojave Desert) and I've enjoyed my experience so far. I'm curious is there any substantial differences between Gracie Barra and the other Gracie type schools in case I wind up stationed somewhere where there are no Gracie Barra affiliated schools.

[LuckyKBoxer]

I can not answer this with certainty.
I am basing this on what I have seen, what I have learned, and what I have gotten from talking to other people.

The basics in Brazilian based Jiu Jitsu are pretty much standard regardless of where you go.. I mean an arm bar is an arm bar, a rear naked, omoplata, americana, knee bar, etc.etc. are the same.

The big differences are going to come along when you have people of different styles teaching classes based on their own style..
meaning that some people will be half guard geniuses, and will have set ups, and manuevers that range from basic to extremely intricate in set up.
Others will be favoring the mount, the spider guard, etc.etc.
I know some instructors will lean heavily towards competitive sports jiu jitsu, either gi, no gi, or both... so will slant towards MMA, some will have a combative slant to their teaching.
I think that one thing I like that Gracie Barra does is it standardized its fundamentals programs, for beginners, intermediate, advanced, Gi and No Gi so that its students all over are given a strong grasp of the basics. I know that some of the other big organizations have similar programs, and I have to assume they are probably fairly close depending on the skill or belt level of the class they are teaching.

my advice would be to keep hammering the basics, start developing a game, and when or if you move and have to choose make sure you ask the options you have available what their mission is, if they teach to your game, or another game, and then take some classes and get a feel for them.

[msmitht]

I have trained at both Gracie Barra and the Gracie academy. Both are good. The only real difference I saw was in the way the moves were taught. A mount escape from GB was against a collar choke while the GA did the same, but against a mounted punch.

[Pyrock]

I have been wondering the same question for a long time and have asked people such as Ralph, Rilion, and Roger Gracie. This is what I've heard:

There were originally two schools of thought in early BJJ history. Helio and Carlos Gracie had some fundemental differences not so much in their philosophies of BJJ but in there physical abilities which ulitmately led to their teaching methods. Helio was small and somewhat sickly so he focussed on leverage and how a small person would overpower a larger person. He also relied on winning by attrition with no real time limit as dictated by modern BJJ tournaments. Carlos, while still relatively small, wasn't as focussed on the little frail guy overpowering the bigger guy...at least not to the same extent of his smaller and sickly brother, Helio. Consequently, Carlos' techniques were more aggressive and less passive as his brother Helio. I mention their differences because the two brothers came to form the two major schools in todays BJJ community. Helio is the founder of the Gracie Academies along with his sons and immediate nephews while Carlos founded Gracie Barra along with his sons and immediate nephews. These differences are definitly not huge by any means since you will see family members from each side training closely together such as Renzo (Gracie Barra) and Royler and are very good friends. I think the differences are more related to who your immediate instructors are rather than their lineage.