What drove you to do Jiu Jitsu...

I haven't been training long, right before I could even really get started some asshole decided to T-Bone my friends car with us in it and injure my back and shoulder in the process. Nothing to serious, but just enough to keep me from signing up at Denny's full time and from going to the gym. From what little I know I can't help but take the necessary steps to come back from this injury, get off my ass and start rolling. I read all these stories and watch these videos and you people just inspire the shit out of me! Each person having their own unique reasons for why they train and live for Jiu Jitsu. My story was simple, I was bullied in school. I started taking Judo in high school to learn how to defend myself and it quickly became something I identified with. I think it hit me the hardest when I rented UFC 46 and saw B.J. Penn choke out Matt Hughes, who many thought at that point was unbeatable. I was immediately inspired, and though I have had to balance several things in my life I always told myself one day you will find your way back to it. I am no prodigy and sure as hell not an athlete but it's a sport that calls to me. I was just wondering when or how did some of you discover Jiu Jitsu was something you wanted to do and incorporate into your lives. :)

I love all art. Music, painting, dance.. So naturally.. I was bound to love martial arts. Got into karate as a kid.. It was all right but seemed mostly impractical. (Even as a kid.. I knew learning to block straight karate punches in slow motion wasnt going to translate too practically into the real world). So I took up boxing, Then got into UFC and wanted to watch them from the start to finish.. Saw Royce.. Looked into Jiujitsu, and decided it seemed the most practical and logical. Then after training for a couple years.. I started wondering why we used the Gi, and how good open guard/wrist control would work in MMA or real life. Right about the time I started asking those questions.. I stumbled across 10th planet. And it was the exact definition of what i was looking for. Like I said, I love art. Self expression in any form. And this style seems to be as open minded as they come. So I liked the idea of being able to learn and get better at something.. While at the same time do it in a way that reflects my own personal strengths and weaknesses. Plus its just one of those things that I think helps your life in general. Because you can watch yourself get better.. while at the same time you are constantly forced to stay humble by the countless people who can smash you when you roll. And yeah.. thats pretty much it :P

I believe that things happen for a reason so my way to Jiu Jitsu was outta nowhere. I was looking for something that Tyler,my son, and I could do together. We lived in TX and the closest gym that had any kind of MMA was a little over 40 miles away. We went over on a Saturday and met the owner/instructor and it just so happened that he had just started training 10th Planet. He showed us a key lock and he talked about Eddie and 10th Planet a little. He showed us the books so after we left we went straight to the bookstore & got both Mastering books. I honestly had no idea who Eddie or 10th Planet was and we both read the books and from the day I opened that book my life has been changed for the better. The mindset has helped me more than I even know lol. I have had many ups & downs and I know that there will be many more on my journey.

Honestly the final push was my health & my daughters. I have always had a desire to train some type of martial art but my mom never had the money or time to take me anywhere growing up. Then after I got married & got a office job I put on about 50lbs of fat, lost at least 80% of my strength & overall was in pathetic shape. One day I was lookin at a pic of myself & asked myself if I would be able to protect my family if I ever had to or if my current health would hinder that. It was a very humbling experience to look in the mirror & realize I could not physically defend my family like I should be able to & it was b/c of my overall health/physical condition. I had gone from a strong worker out in fabrication shops to a draftsman behind a desk eating taco bell & typing on a computer 8-10hrs a day. My confidence took a dive after I admitted this fact to myself but it didnt throw me into depression or anything like that, it sparked a fire under my ass to get in a gym & not just lift weights to get in shape but finally to train in a martial art & learn how to defend myself & my family while getting myself into shape.

Through my course of training it has improved my physical health, mental health, has helped me in my marriage, relieved alot of my daily stresses I use to bottle up, improved my outlook on life & changed some of my opinions that I used to harbor. Overall jits/martial arts has changed my life for the better 100%.

All these stories are powerful and 100% pure inspirational.

I've always enjoyed fighting. Not even because I was angry. I just enjoyed it. Probably because I grew up watching Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Van Damme, Segal, and all the other B action movies that came out during the 80's early 90's. Of all of them, my favorite was bloodsport and all the knock offs that copied the style vs style idea.

Then came UFC 1. The real version of bloodsport. And watching Royce Gracie do what he did changed everything for me. When I'd fight, I was slower than most kids so I'd have to grapple them. Most fights I had growing up ended with me in mount. And here is Royce using mount scientifically....but he could also fight off his back? My uncle was a wrestler and would bully me. I landed an armbar from guard and I was in love with BJJ from then on. This was the coolest martial art I've ever encountered. I still feel that way.

Sadly, it took me nearly 20 years to actually become a practitioner. When I wanted to train BJJ when I was a kid, there was no such thing. And I kind of just left it like that. My love for BJJ turned into a love for MMA until I saw a video of Eddie demonstrating the truck. My mind was blown. I had no idea BJJ had evolved so much! Then I started searching 10th planet stuff. Found out about 10th planet rochester and started browsing the forum and PM'ing coach Herzog. At that point my work schedule didn't let me join. Nah, truth is, it was inconvenient and I was still in excuse mode. I don't have a car. I'd have to wake up hours earlier. Winter's going to be tough. Blah blah excuses. Then last year, I wasted a whole summer drinking bacardi 151, eating trash, and getting fat. For the first time in my life I was unhappy with how I felt. And I stopped making excuses and started going to JJ.

Life's been great since then. It's had an amazing impact on my whole life. Seriously. It's helped me be a better man.

My path wasn't as inspirational. I had been boxing for about 2 years and had friends fighting in MMA and would train with them and did what i thought was bjj lol oh man so sad at the things we used to do back in 2006 after awhile i had been convinced to take a fight on about an hours notice sadly i lost but my first fight was against an 7-2 guy that his only 2 losses are now 2 decent pro fighters after that i was drove to get in there again my following 3 fights were also all lost did very good at the stand up game only to be taken down and submitted every time so i reevaluated what i needed to learn and found my way to Brett Sbardella and Spyder Submissions at which time were will known in Central and Northern Michigan as a very good ground school with a very tough MMA team. After about 2 years with these guys i pretty much lost all interest in MMA and fell in love with Jiu Jitsu and had a friend tell me about Eddie Bravo and the 10th planet system i went out and bought a book and got the dvds and just loved it. Showed the stuff to Brett and he borrowed the book and then shortly after the team started training 10th planet now Brett is a blue belt and working hard towards his purple and i'm hoping to get a blue belt soon i love to compete an train just always seems to center me. Pretty much my goals in life now are my son my career and make it as high as i can in my path of martial arts.

I grew up in Peterborough and dabbled in a lot of different martial arts. I did Karate at 2 schools, TKD at at least 2 schools, Judo at one school, and tried some other stuff here and there as well.

I took Combat TKD seriously and trained with 10th Planet coach Stewart Landry. Stew and I have known each other for about 20 or more years now and we are about as close as probably Eddie and Joe. We trained for years in TKD together and got our black belts together. Right around that time there was a bunch of totally political bullshit going on with our club and our TKD affiliation, all based on greed and federation fees and blah blah blah.

Stewart made the transition into combat Jiu Jitsu while I lost interest in TKD and tried Bujinkan, but realized that it was fantasy baloney and basically quit. Stewart harrassed me for years to come out and train with him in BJJ, and my only level of familiarity with it was that it Royce Gracie laying on the ground, clutching a man and not moving much for a long time.

I wasn't interested at all.

So for about 10 to 13 years I engaged in sitting on my ass, chain smoking, drinking, and wakeboarding, playing music, and other non-martial arts related stuff. Then my wife reminded me one night while I was cross-eyed drunk that I am going to be 40 years old soon, and that I haven't done any exercise at all for about 10-15 years. (ish) I was offended that she didn't respect my invincible health and my infallible black belt (Which I know is just the beginning, but I could have been a 3rd dan by the time I quit, long story), and the fact that I had a street rep. lol.

Anyways, I tried going back to TKD and discovered it had become a "Profit before quality" outfit, and looked at Hapkido and decided I wasn't into that either. I was still stuck on striking arts, and not interested in BJJ at all, but I knew I had to get some exercise. Stew invited me again. (He NEVER stopped inviting me: Thank you Stew!)

I asked him: "Are your warmups good? ...because I am not interested in grappling at all, so I would primarily be joining just for the warmups and exercise"
"Oh, I think they're pretty good" he replied.... LOL.

I couldn't fucking walk for a week and a half after the first class. I got tapped out by a 12 or 13 year old that night as well, after having the mats wiped clean with me constantly by all the other guys over 18 years old. It was an embarrasing ego-check that made me realize that just because I had wicked kicking game in the past, it didn't mean shit.

I was gassing out after 45 seconds of rolling, and getting tapped pretty much every 10 to 15 seconds. I had no idea what to defend against or what to watch out for. All I knew is every single person in that class could dominate me, and that made me re-evaluate my level of confidence. I was an experienced street fighter as a youth, but those days are behind me. I hate the idea of street fighting now, and I'm a family man, but I was deluding myself with my past and experience, and until I went to 10th planet PTBO, I thought I was still just as tough and just as capable as I was 15 years ago. lol. Even after chain smoking and heavy weekend drinking.

As cheesy as this sounds, I have a family to protect, and that first night at 10P showed me that I just might not have teh required skills anymore.

Anyways, my ego has always been something I can manage with humility, and I knew right then that 10thBJJ is the absolute best and most effective form of defense for ground game that can be found anywhere. After only a few classes, my attitude changed from being there "just for the warm up" into being a technique-hungry beast. I am addicted now. I don't think I can stop. Now the warm ups are a tool I use to push myself as hard as I can for toning up and building strength, and I jog to class every class (And quit smoking almost 7 weeks ago) but the REPS are what I look forward to most.

I'm still getting my ass kicked during sparring, but I'm OK with that.

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

And I stopped making excuses and started going to JJ.

Life's been great since then. It's had an amazing impact on my whole life. Seriously. It's helped me be a better man.

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That's it. I can relate. I am not the first person to say this, for sure, but BJJ saved my life.

(I can say this with certainty because I just about dropped on the mats at the club when my heart went into fibrillation on me, twice, prompting me to quit smoking finally. It was scary as hell. Stewart was there and can attest to the the freaky nature of the fibrillation. I honestly thought I was going to drop rigth there.)

It's a third chance at life for me.

the love of the game

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Originally Posted by Kurzy

That's it. I can relate. I am not the first person to say this, for sure, but BJJ saved my life.

(I can say this with certainty because I just about dropped on the mats at the club when my heart went into fibrillation on me, twice, prompting me to quit smoking finally. It was scary as hell. Stewart was there and can attest to the the freaky nature of the fibrillation. I honestly thought I was going to drop rigth there.)

It's a third chance at life for me.

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I relate to you as well as far as the family defense thing. I'm getting married soon and already have a kid with my wife to be. But the benefits for family extend beyond just defense. The humility JJ gives has translated to my relationship and made me a better communicator. My endurance helped me keep up with my little girl during our family's disney trip...while carrying a 30lb bag around all day. Getting subconscious bio-instinctive aggression out on the mats makes me a calmer individual. I could go on and on, but tiny things that BJJ forces you to do has helped me a ton.

for me it was royce choking out all those giants, and as an artist, jiujitsu is truly the artist's martial art, i write music, & that's my main art. but jiujitsu is another fun creative art for me. i could never get into other martial arts because there not as creative as jiujitsu.

Thanks Jay :)
For me it was because I never wanted to be a fat rock star ....

i remember when i got into it all. ther was a big boxing match on a few years ago in new zealand. everyone watched it and was a big thing and so therefore the next day when im getting my hair cut i bring it up with my hairdresser, not expecting at all that she would know a thing about fighting. then she starts going on about how she loved this combo here and there etc. we kept on talking and eventually she mentioned her husband trained with "a few guys" out on their farm. id be welcome anytime, heres the number and so on. it took me a coupl month to finally get around to it but from the start of being choked and armbarred, i got hooked. i started coming once a week as it was all i could manage and fell in love with all the passes sweeps and moves. i started hearing some names and yeah learnt a few things like lockdown but nothing much, then i moved to germany and after trying a bit of german ju jutsu which wasnt for me. i started to roll with a friend at his houe, we quickly found submissions101 and one night, it just clicked, and i became obsessed with 10thplanet. rubber guard new york, sorcercer etc. and then we were on the internet one day and i found that there was a real 10th planet here where i was living. never looked back. ever. now im in the best shape of my life, stronger and better cardio not to mention more flexible. and everything 10th planet has done for me is amazing. im never going to stop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

I've always enjoyed fighting. Not even because I was angry. I just enjoyed it. Probably because I grew up watching Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Van Damme, Segal, and all the other B action movies that came out during the 80's early 90's. Of all of them, my favorite was bloodsport and all the knock offs that copied the style vs style idea.

Then came UFC 1. The real version of bloodsport. And watching Royce Gracie do what he did changed everything for me. When I'd fight, I was slower than most kids so I'd have to grapple them. Most fights I had growing up ended with me in mount. And here is Royce using mount scientifically....but he could also fight off his back? My uncle was a wrestler and would bully me. I landed an armbar from guard and I was in love with BJJ from then on. This was the coolest martial art I've ever encountered. I still feel that way.

Sadly, it took me nearly 20 years to actually become a practitioner. When I wanted to train BJJ when I was a kid, there was no such thing. And I kind of just left it like that. My love for BJJ turned into a love for MMA until I saw a video of Eddie demonstrating the truck. My mind was blown. I had no idea BJJ had evolved so much! Then I started searching 10th planet stuff. Found out about 10th planet rochester and started browsing the forum and PM'ing coach Herzog. At that point my work schedule didn't let me join. Nah, truth is, it was inconvenient and I was still in excuse mode. I don't have a car. I'd have to wake up hours earlier. Winter's going to be tough. Blah blah excuses. Then last year, I wasted a whole summer drinking bacardi 151, eating trash, and getting fat. For the first time in my life I was unhappy with how I felt. And I stopped making excuses and started going to JJ.

Life's been great since then. It's had an amazing impact on my whole life. Seriously. It's helped me be a better man.

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Yeah unfortunately when I got the calling for Jiu Jitsu, I was only a 16 years old kid with no car, phone, job, money of my own and father who was sick with cancer and had medical bills and couldn't afford to pay for it even if I wanted to, and the nearest Jiu Jitsu place was in the heart of Oakland where any skeptical white mother won't take her kid to do night classes since I had homework (which I rarely did anyways), so instead of begging and pleading for my mom to let me take my chances with the gangbangers (which I later found out the area in which it was in was not terrible at all, fuck stero-types), I rolled over and sought out other outlets while I was dealing with bullies and douchebags at school. In my sophmore year I discovered there was a dojo at my school, no not a wrestling room, a no shit DOJO headed up by the man Sensei David Quinonez a 4th Degree black belt in Judo under the local and martial arts legend and found of Small Circle Jujitsu Wally Jay. I have really bad A.D.D so I was encouraged by a family friend that it would help me focus. It did. Mostly on martial arts, but it helped me get in great shape, make some new friends, and eventually my grades improved too. Me and my friends were always there first and would beg our teacher to let us stay and watch the dojo till his night class. Which being a bad ass motherfucker and trust his students, he did! It was at this time my friend introduced me to boxing (he is a black belt in Kook Sool Won), and again our teacher let us do it under his roof and lot's of boxing matches later I soon found MMA, as a fan I was hooked I was taking boxing lesson at the gym I was going to and Judo at school, but still I was always looking for a Jiu Jitsu school. It wasn't till after I joined the military that I reconnected with martial arts. Been chasing the dream ever since :D

That's awesome Kyle.

I grew up in a family where fighting was the only way to solve any problem. My dad and brothers are known as some of the toughest and most badass people in our local area. Also atleast 90 percent of my family that i have met are on heavy drugs. Growing up i thought the only way to live was to get drunk and fight all the time. Dont get me wrong, i still love my Dad and all my family with all my heart, i dont believe that just because someone is addicted to drugs it means they are a bad person. My Dad is the nicest guy i have ever met, everyone is constantly suprised with how nice he is, considering his reputation.
Growing up even as a little kid i was always in fights, if some other kid stared at me i would just start punching them. I have had anger management and councilers work with me from the age of 7 until a few years ago.
At the age of roughly 11 is when i found out my dad was addicted to speed, and soon after that i realised my brother was addicted to speed, ice and anything he can get really.
A year later just before i turned 12 i started drinking straight vodka by myself in a little bush out the back of my house until i would pass out. Then i started hanging out with a bunch of older people about 18-21 and started getting into gang voilence, by the age of 13 i was triple dropping LSD and E. Not long after that i shot up heroin for the first time and ODed.
It was after that, my dad sat me down and had this heart to heart talk about his regrets in life and for the first time in my life i saw my dad break down crying. I ended up moving from my mums into my dads house for a few years. My dad was a golden gloves boxer when he was younger so he started teaching me some boxing stuff, and my eldest brother was doing judo at the same time, so he showed me some throws.
My dad ended up convincing me to join a local BJJ school when i was 16 and i loved it, thats when my whole outlook on life changed.
It humbled me so much. I stopped fighting on the streets unless someone started on me.
After about 4 months of training there we moved away and i stopped training.
I couldnt stand not training so i looked on youtube and started drilling with my mate in my room. Thats where i found submissions 101 with Ari teaching the twister, as soon as i saw the twister i researched it, it looked so cool haha.
At the time i thought it was a black belt level move that i wouldnt never be able to do haha
I ofcourse found information on Eddie Bravo, so i bought the Mastering the Twister, Mastering the Rubber Guard DVD.
I studied them and watched alot of interviews and stuff with Eddie and he become my idol. He is the first person i have ever actually looked up to like i do. I noticed how chilled and humble he is, and the fact he has no ego problem at all and that has honestly made me such a better person. Today i avoid any confrontation possible, i dont like voilence. I love fighting as a sport, but not street fighting.
The only thing that stopped me from joining a school was that i developed agoraphobia, so i couldnt leave my house. I was too scared. Roughly 4 months ago i was put on Anti Depressant and Anxiety medication and a month later i joined a gym about 15 min from where i live. I mentioned the 10th Planet style and everyone instantly had a go at me,they were all traditional GI style. I decided to try another gym out that was a bit over 2 hours away from where i live. My first day my instructor noticed some scarson my wrists and we ended up having a deep conversation about things for hours. He told me about his families history with drugs and stuff. I later found out he grew up in the house i currently live in. I mentioned Eddie and 10th Planet and all he said was lay on your back, i done so. He got twister side control on me and rolled me into the truck. He told me he teaches a bit of the 10th planet stuff in his classes. I was so happy, so i decided from then that this would be my school.
I was never able to get my lisence because of my anxiety so now i catch a bus to the train station and then catch a train and then walk 25 minutes to my Bjj school 3 times a week, and i couldnt be happier!!
And really i owe a huge thankyou to Eddie for creating this system and being so open minded with it, also to Ari for being kind enough to put those free Submissions 101 videos up,and really to the whole 10th planet family for keeping this whole thing going.
Thankyou

Holy shit i didnt even realise how big of a post that was
Im sorry for that, im sure pretty much no one will read it, but it feels good just to have it out there for some reason. :)
Im hoping i dont get too many negative comments about it

I grew up with abusive parents and I was bullied in school.
When I was bullied I never backed down from any confrontations, but for some reason I was still a target. All of the bad things from my childhood always haunted me. I was angry all of the time and I took my anger out on others, I drank all of the time, I committed a lot of crimes, and eventually I got into some trouble with the law. I hated who I was becoming and I hated myself for making it that way. My senior year in high school a friend of mine that I was on the wrestling team with invited me to a school that his dad taught at part time. My parents forbid me to go, but twice a week I would sneak out and go to the classes anyway.

At first I only knew how to wrestle, so I got worked over by the good guys. It gave me a new challenge; something to look forward to. It became my safe haven. It was where I could go to get out all of my problems and all of my anger. It wasn't until my skill level began to increase that I truly stared to be able to express myself through jiujitsu.

At first I hurt a lot of people, and was just a dick. I projected my anger onto others and didn't care if I hurt anyone. I will never be sure, but I think my instructors could tell that I had problems outside of the gym. They never hurt me or were mean to me, they just showed me the right path. If they had decided to "teach me a lesson", I'm sure that I would have never continued to learn jiujitsu. For that I will be forever grateful.

Jiujitsu has completely changed who I am as a person. The things that I did in the beginning of my journey, I could never imagine doing now. Jiujitsu has humbled me, and made me into the man I am today. I practice jiujitsu 6 days a week, and I could never imagine my life without it. The path in jiujitsu is a never ending one, and whenever I think about that it makes me excited for what tomorrow will bring. My life will always have jiujitsu.

Great stories. It really shows how powerful this art can be.

Personally, I just didn't want to get fat. I'm mexican, and us mexican's can get crazy gut fat. Our legs stay the same but our gut and arms just grow and grow. Something about my families metabolism takes a fucking nose dive at 30 so I knew I had to find something physically demanding to do at 29.

Once I started training though, it was exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It was sort of like skateboarding but without the fear of slamming my skull into concrete. Relatively speaking, it felt like safe chaos. Like a nerf fight, or a video game with unlimited lives. If shit got too hairy, I could just tap out and restart. Rolling is kind of like a drunken fun dream for me. I don't think rationally, I just go and my body thinks on it's own, adapting to what my opponents do and planning against what they have done.

It's probably the only moment in my day to day life where my mind and body literally operates on a synchronous level and I'm always astounded at some of the crazy shit my body does despite who I am. That lucidity is just pure fucking joy for me. No stress, no self conscious fears, no ego, no social anxiety... just lucid action.

To put it simply, I'm driven towards jiujitsu because there's nothing funner than grappling.

It's transformed me so much that I don't even identify with who I used to be. I've tried to explain it several times on this forum and dayum was I all over the old rantin my ass off as well. It's actually easier to answer now because I can be completely honest with myself. Ever since childhood we are asked " What do you wanna be when you grow up?" and told things like " You can become anything you want to be." We soon learn to adapt and conform our answers to fit either societies or our guardians standards. A ninja turns into a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. Well, I wanna be a fucking ninja. Always have. I didn't want the choreographed smoke and mirrors(although I ate that shit up) I wanted to actually be able to go from the first to tenth floor of a building and kick everybodies ass along the way. Jj gave me a huge tool to realize my true dream. To be a fuckin ninja. Sorry mom..

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

It's transformed me so much that I don't even identify with who I used to be. I've tried to explain it several times on this forum and dayum was I all over the old rantin my ass off as well. It's actually easier to answer now because I can be completely honest with myself. Ever since childhood we are asked " What do you wanna be when you grow up?" and told things like " You can become anything you want to be." We soon learn to adapt and conform our answers to fit either societies or our guardians standards. A ninja turns into a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. Well, I wanna be a fucking ninja. Always have. I didn't want the choreographed smoke and mirrors(although I ate that shit up) I wanted to actually be able to go from the first to tenth floor of a building and kick everybodies ass along the way. Jj gave me a huge tool to realize my true dream. To be a fuckin ninja. Sorry mom..

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Powerful. I read your story before Bobby, total dedication to the game. Lot's of people can learn from your determination.

Probably one of the better threads I have read. Great input from everyone. Inspiring.

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Originally Posted by Kurzy

Probably one of the better threads I have read. Great input from everyone. Inspiring.

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Yeah it's awesome to hear everyone's stories and see what got them into such a great sport and lifestyle.

For me, it was partially about getting into shape. I've been trying to exercise and get in better shape fora few years now, but because I didn't do any sports, I would always reach a point where I'd get frustrated with training, and feel that it was kind of pointless, because I had no real reason to train hard.

Another part was just a desire to learn a martial art. It's something I've been wanting to do for years, but could never decide on any specific one, because I knew very little about martial arts.

Fast forward to last year, I started getting really into UFC, and simultaneously into watching a lot of standup comedy. Joe Rogan showed up in both, and I got to listening to his podcast. There I heard him and Eddie talking about BJJ, and their descriptions and praise really drove it home for me. I signed up earlier this year, and I'm having a blast.