So when I was fresh out of high school I decided that I was going to pick up a martial art, at the end of the day it didn’t really matter what it was I just wanted to learn something. I talked to a friend who was a girl and she said she had an interest in the exact same thing. We arranged to meet at the location, the place was called “The Armory” of Jupiter. We decided to take the no-gi class, as it didn’t require the white monkey suits that are associated with most martial arts. So I was going to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) which is a martial art based around ground fighting and submissions, but striking is forbidden. The first class was going over the basics, positions, and a few submissions. The whole thing seemed so imitating because of the large people and at the time everything seemed so simple. I remember the first practice match against the instructor, he just wanted to get me used to “moving on the ground”. I had no idea at the time at how easy he was going and he was a similar size as me. It wouldn’t be till years later that I realized it was like a master chess player playing someone who just learned the game. My friend ended up getting hurt and I was thrown in with the rest of the people to train alone. It was probably one of the hardest things I had ever done, going against people who were better and stronger by years. I’m not sure if they thought I was going to last, I went in three days a week and lost every match. Training wasn’t effortless, fighting pushes you past your known limits. I would leave every time, fighting back the urge to vomit from over exertion. After about a month they gave me the nickname “Skinny”, it was fitting I was 5’11” and 140 lbs. I persisted though and eventually I actually started to win matches, mostly I was allowed to win but I was willing to take anything. Then I started to be able to beat people who were newer then me almost always. It was about this time one of the instructors suggested I get a GI and join the GI class to improve even more. So I went home and bought a cheap gi online and when it came in I went to my first gi class. It was like the first day of no-GI, but this time I was able to hold my own against the other white belts. I loved the gi classes, it seemed more technical and was slow enough to let me grow my skill easier. Years went by with me training, it was a constant in my life. Training was one of the few things I could always count on, it gave me an outlet, and it rewarded me with progress. Of all the things I have ever done training BJJ was probably the most beneficial to me as a whole. I became tougher than I ever thought, so much so that I realized I had improperly defined tough. Practice matches will do that, it wasn’t uncommon to use pain to make people move or distract them. A common example is if you are trapped in someone’s guard to dig your elbow into their thigh, and it is quite painful. The thing is the move isn’t actually dangerous, besides the pain there is no reason to break guard. So you learn to deal with the pain, because you want that win and the pain doesn’t really matter. I have had less skilled people use this move on me and after giving up look me in the eye and say, “Doesn’t that hurt?” my normal response is “Yes, a lot, but I’m not going to do what you want because it hurts”. Besides the toughness I realized the better I got the more I didn’t understand the sport at all. It is a simplistic sport superficially, but a professional moves are so fast, fluid, precise, and give thought to the next move. It is real time chess using your body instead of pieces. It is a difficult concept to grasp but eventually you start looking at what is coming next not what is happening during the fight. It really became something that was integral to me and my identity, although I almost hide the fact that I did it now. In fact the only way to know is to look closely at my ears where you can see the remnants of cauliflower ear, a misshaping of the ears from blood drying in cavities. It was a great adventure one I couldn’t write justice about and one I hope to pick up later down the road.
