In essence, real Jiu-Jitsu is a non-violent, non-aggressive art of self-defense. An art of non-resistance based on the principles of balance, leverage and momentum. It can be safely practiced by anyone regardless of age, gender or level of fitness. Properly supervised regular practice will provide practitioners with mental and physical benefits like better flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning, body awareness; increased self-esteem, attention span, concentration, self-discipline, balance and stress relief.

Jiu-Jitsu makes it possible for a smaller person to defend against a stronger attacker while causing the threat of attack causing minimal or no harm at all. The art’s ideal technical refinement peaks when the practitioner is able to control the aggressor, removing any threat, without the need to punch or kick, while safeguarding their own physical integrity.

Jiu-Jitsu is an elegant and sophisticated art that adapts to individuals of any body type and does not demand that the people who practice it to be a gifted athlete or fighter. It is the ideal style for the men and women of modern times because brute strength is not required or necessary and due to its easy learning style and high degree of safety.

LX Jiu-Jitsu is an International Association based in Sugar Land, TX. It was founded in 2,000 by world-class black belt Leonardo Xavier. The Association is currently expanding globally and has affiliated academies in Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas; it also has an academy in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Although our students have been successful in many of the largest tournaments of the country, displaying their refined and elegant technique, we do not prioritize tournament competition or focus in developing professional fighters.

The LX Jiu-Jitsu Association’s objective is to bring the benefits of this art to the people who have not tried it already, due to a distorted or mistaken view of the art by showing a non-violent and non-aggressive jiu-jitsu that is essentially defensive in nature.

Our classes take place in a traditional environment that demands our students maintain the values, education level and culture of the community we are based out of.

The Jiu-Jitsu that is taught and practiced in our Association is ideal for people who wish to learn a highly technical style focused towards improving the overall quality of our student’s lives. It’s practiced in a traditional, family-friendly environment where proper etiquette, discipline, respect and friendship are the fundamental elements of the lessons taught in our Association’s classes.

According to the late Grand Master Helio Gracie, “the roots of the Jiu-Jitsu tree were said to have originated in the mountains of India 2500 years ago. They supposedly stretched throughout China, and about 400 years ago settled in Japan where they found the soil to grow strong”. There is evidence that points towards the development of Jiu-Jitsu having originated more than 5,000 years ago. A third millennium B.C. era Babylonian copper stand which depicts a Hip-control technique used in Jujutsu as proof of the art having existed so far back. The exact origins of what we refer to as Jujitsu; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s grandfather, is unknown and largely debated, but amongst the members of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community, it is agreed to have started in India.

Traditional Japanese style Jiu-Jitsu or Jujutsu flourished during the Japanese feudal time period and was used by the Samurai during battle when weapons use was not feasible. In its earliest incarnation Jujutsu employed techniques that ranged from striking and eye gouging to joint locks and biting. Some of these techniques were not flashy or, by today’s standard sportsman-like but absolutely necessary since combatants were, literally fighting for survival on the battlefields. With industrialization came the fall of feudal Japan and the need for the Samurai class, but the art remained. The etymology of the word “Martial” traces back to the Roman god of war, Mars. Martial arts can be defined as the acts of Mars. It is through this analysis that we can define martial arts as acts of war. The feudal samurai and their application of jujutsu best exemplify this definition of martial arts, in the context of warfare. Many of the techniques present in Jujutsu were too dangerous to practice on training partners and were slowly discarded to decrease the risk of injury. Some disappeared all together while others remained only in Kata, Though still vastly effective, modern-day jujutsu is a fragmented version of its original incarnation, and, at the turn of the 19th century, considered an outdated martial art by the Japanese. Amongst the people that adhered to this train of thought was the father of Jigoro Kano.

Kodokan Judo was founded by Kano Jigoro (Japanese form) in 1882. Kano was a maverick and visionary who adapted the form of jujutsu he learned to include more Randori or live sparring. He adapted and combined the ideas that he felt worked from all the different schools he studied from: fusing the throws from one school with the pins and chokes of another rival academy, borrowing elements from western wrestling and incorporating sumo aspects that he learned earlier in his life. Through his meticulous study of Jujutsu he was able to create its first successful offspring: Kodokan Judo, which would eventually gain such notoriety and mainstream acceptance that it would be included as an Olympic sport.

Jigoro Kano was the teacher of one of Judo’s best products and one of the first mixed martial artists; his name was Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Count Koma and Count Kombat. Maeda was one of the people sent by Japan’s emperor to aid in a Japanese immigration colony in Brazil. Grandmaster Helio Gracie states in The Master Text that his father Gastao Gracie, a Brazilian businessman and politician, extended his influence to help Maeda in his colonization efforts, and in return, Maeda started to teach Gastao’s oldest son Carlos the art of judo. This is of particular noteworthiness, because at this time, it was not an accepted practice amongst the Japanese to teach the arts to westerners. Grandmaster Carlos Gracie started to learn judo from Maeda in 1917, Judo as an art was barely 35 years old.

Helio Gracie, an asthmatic child, stopped attending school during the second grade because of the frailty of his health. He was the only one of the five Gracie brothers not allowed to participate in training or teaching Judo at Carlos’ academy. It is only by fate and chance that Carlos would run late for an appointment, and his 16-year-old brother, Helio would offer to teach the waiting student the private lesson he had scheduled with Carlos. The student was so pleased with Helio’s depth of knowledge and teaching style that he requested to continue his studies through him, not Carlos, from then on. This day marks the inadvertent birth of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, created by the Gracie’s smallest member. As stated before, Grandmaster Helio was a weak and frail child marred with health issues. Judo was an art designed to take advantage of speed, strength and explosiveness thus presenting Helio with problems in properly executing some of the techniques he learned from his older brother who was trained as a Judoka. Helio’s body type (5’6”, 140 lbs.), coupled with his competitive drive, genius and resiliency forced him to adapt the movements to his capabilities and lead him to base Brazilian Jiu-jitsu’s philosophical foundation on the principles of leverage, momentum and good technique. Grand Master Helio Gracie would spend the rest of his life developing refining the principles of the martial arts system that he created: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His brothers learned and assimilated his adaptations to Carlos’ Judo and they all dedicated the rest of their lives to developing the art that revolutionized the way we look at combat sports today. A lifetime of careful study, experimentation, trial-and-error and battle testing had lead Helio, assisted by his family, to create one of the fastest growing and most widely recognized self-defense systems known to date. It is important to make note that Helio Gracie followed the blueprint of Kano’s success in order to create a new and exciting martial art. Kano took all the ideas and techniques he felt would work from jujutsu and adapted them to his teaching philosophy and style. Helio would then do the same to the Judo his older brother Carlos learned from Count Koma. By adapting Judo to shift the focus from speed and explosiveness to leverage and momentum; Helio created a way for physically weaker people to be able to apply the techniques successfully. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the evolution of judo, which in turn came from traditional jujutsu. All three terms are mutually exclusive and though elements of the original two systems are present in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it is a freestanding martial art.