How I fell in love with Jiu-jitsu
Before I start converting you into a Jiu-jitsu fanatic like yours truly, let’s do a short primer (courtesy of Wikipedia) :
Jiu-jitsu is a martial art and combat sport system which focuses on taking the fight to the ground, and then applying joint-locks and choke-holds to defeat your opponent. It promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves or another against a bigger, stronger, heavier assailant by using proper technique and leverage.
Our journey begins when a four-eyed nerd watched The Karate Kid on cable for the first time. No, not the Jaden Smith crap, I am talking about the wax on, wax off guy. Now, I am not gonna lie, I am guilty of searching “How to learn karate at home for dummies” on YouTube while the movie credits were rolling in the background, which was all for naught. Coincidentally, my high school had just started karate lessons as one of the sports. It was like the stars had aligned. Logically, I signed up. I was in the 7th grade back then. You could spot my over-enthusiasm from a mile away because I was the only kid who came wearing a Gi. It was fun, for a while, until I realized that throwing a few kicks in the air just an hour per week isn’t gonna do shit. It took me almost a year to realize that (I wasn’t the brightest).
Fast forward to my sophomore year at university: I’m 20 now, and after trying out a bunch of different sports, I never seemed to find my niche. Shooting hoops was one, but my 5’7 high physique presented an impenetrable skill ceiling. I was even into e-sports for a while (ah, the age-old “e-sports are also a sport” debate), but I left it for good. Not only did sitting in front of my laptop for hours on end screw up my back and eyesight, the toxic community and my obsession over ‘elo rankings’ really took a toll on my mental health. And don’t get me started on the monotonic and soul-killing realm of bodybuilding, pumping your body full of air like a bag of chips is, in my opinion, the dumbest shit ever.
I had been following Conor McGregor at the time ever since his fight with Aldo, so I had started developing an affinity for the sport. In the summer that followed, during my unfulfilled quest of finding my niche, I started looking for MMA gyms in my neighborhood. I ended up enrolling in this cute, humble gym near my crib. I started with some regular kickboxing, which I spent hours training for. A few days in, my coach decided to introduce me to grappling. I was to spar with this 12yo kid who had been training there for just over a year. I didn’t worry too much about it, simply because the kid was half my size. As soon as the fight started, I went in for his legs to take him down. This kid jumps on me like a goddamn spider-monkey and wraps me in a guillotine, having me gasping for air in just a matter of 8 seconds. We rolled again and again. I tapped over a dozen times that day. Sometimes, when my strength and size advantage started working for me, he pulled out some other trick from his arsenal and found a way to tap me out. While it can very demoralizing and ego-shattering for most people to get completely dominated by someone who has a bedtime, I got hooked.
I started spending a few more hours at the gym, learning the ins and outs of the game. At the time, all I wanted was to get one tap. After almost a month of training, I did get it. I felt ecstatic for a few seconds, but then what? I got what I wanted. I could have gone back to pounding on the heavy bag or getting my face punched in, but it was always just one more lock, one more takedown, one more tap. Before I knew it, it’s three months later and I am rolling with the head coach trying to get him to tap to my kimura (he never did though).
Ever since then I’ve had the chance to explore this complex sport a lot more. It only takes 3 minutes to learn a new move, but mastering it, it’s a whole other thing. You replay it in your head over and over, until your body reacts faster than your mind. You do it over and over, until every movement you make, every spot you put force on, every slight rotation in your hip, works together to get you in the position you want. This flow of successive movements to control not only your own body but also another body on top of you is simply — beautiful. I like the analogy that Eddie Bravo uses on The Joe Rogan podcast, which goes something along the lines of:
Think of the game as a huge puzzle. Every single move you master, grants you a piece of that puzzle. Like every puzzle, you need to join the pieces together, so you need to master how the different moves connect to each other. This grants you a chain of pieces, which needs to be connected with other chains like itself. That’s what the game is all about
If you haven’t heard of Eddie Bravo, I highly recommend you check him out. The way he articulates his words to describe the little intricacies of the game, is captivating, to say the least.
That’s enough from me. This is the first piece I have ever written, I didn’t expect it to be this long. If you enjoyed the read, or if I pushed you even a tad bit to try jiu-jitsu out for yourself, then drop me a response!
Ciao
