How to convince the jiu jitsu doubters??

Ok, so I know the initial reaction to this thread is gonna be something like "who cares what other people think, we know jiu jitsu is awesome!", but I'd still like to know some arguments you guys have used that work...

No matter how I present jiu jitsu to certain people in my life (my family, mother in particular, past gfs, etc) they reject it outright without listening to anything I say. I try to explain how passionate I am about 10th planet and jiu jitsu in general and all i get are responses like "you wont be so passionate once you get hurt!" or "why can't you be this passionate about something worth while?!" Now I don't consider myself a momma's boy or anything, but it pisses me off that my family just can't understand why I love it, and they're constantly discouraging my grappling. Of course no matter how they feel I'm going to continue training, but it would be really nice to somehow get through to them.

So any suggestions or first hand experience with convincing someone that jiu jitsu is the most amazing sport in the world? Thanks guys!

nod and move on, i know it's hard when you love the sport so much, i feel like an inuit sometimes when i think of the words to describe jiu jitsu and the feeling it gives, as if it were snow or something. lol but seriously, they prob. won't get it. it's rare to find an activity hobby or life that your passionate about. just be glad you found yours. and pity the ones who didn't.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/64126562.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/64126562.jpg/ was trying to put this in, but failed

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Originally Posted by AndyK5

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/64126562.jpg/ was trying to put this in, but failed

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classic

Tourney medals and highlight vids. Success can move through doubt like no words can.

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

Tourney medals and highlight vids. Success can move through doubt like no words can.

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yeah like in the begining of x guard book where marcelo's parents didn't get it till he came back from adcc w/ a ford focus for his ol' man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sXGz...e_gdata_player

i normally laugh at them. every one around me are football n hockey fans n truly people need to learn there's more respect discipline and competition in sports such as jiu jitsu and mma. people drive me crazy around here like half the people who go to hockey games only care about if a fight breaks out and that against the rules then they get a penalty and every ones happy. i prefer one on one sports that involve real competition. i like competition thats real to not no game running high jump swimming marathons mma n jiu jitsu those are all things that if u can get a gold medal in all of those u are one talented individual. if u were in the woods u would more then likely out survive any one else u could prolly beat them up and or choke them out or u could run away real fast jump high objects theses are sports that one day can really help u im pretty sure if your living in the woods during Apocalypse n some guy comes to rob your shack i beat that gold medal in hockey will become real useful so really just tell them to stop being so closed minded leave ideas n thoughts on the table look at things in life threw a different prescriptive also just use the line "im taking jiu jitsu so if some one bigger then me trys to take advantage of me ill know how to defend my self what would u do if a 200 pound man jumped on u then said hes going to rape u? me id choke him out " maybe then people around u would realize hey jiu jitsu can be helpful in so many ways getting in shape having active life style i doubt the people who are doubting u live a super active life.

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Originally Posted by Christopher Piper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sXGzFuoF8g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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holy shit!

Some people will never get it. Others it just takes time.

The problem with parents is that they usually have no idea what they are talking about. For example, I had friends that were in bands and their parents would marginalize it as a hobby often using removal of their practice time as leverage against them. Many of these guys went on to college and became audio engineers and are still currently pursuing music while working in the industry.

Their parents had no idea what an audio engineer was let alone having realistic expectations that it would be a valid career option. Any "dream job" or idealized goal is surrounded by an industry and every industry consists of periphery jobs.

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Originally Posted by Karim Graham

holy shit!

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What, u don't like it :-P

When I run into people like that I explain that I am in the nursing field( very few male nurses around) and I need to be nice and calm all day long( no matter how bad I want to strangle a few people at work(co-workers not residents). so this is a controlled environment were I can let my frustrations out and still be a kind person at work.but don't worry about convincing other people because this sport isn't for everyone .

It's one of those things that USUALLY someone has to experience to get. Yes, you can convince some people to see and then feel the beauty of our sport, keyword "some." So feel free to keep trying. Those people who you help to discover the beauty are lucky. Also, some people live their whole lives never loving anything as passionately as we love jiu jitsu.

It seems this is less about explaining the beauty of the art, but rather about explaining the importance of the art to you. Frankly, I just tell my loved ones that it helps me with my ADD (I don't have ADD). They don't understand jiu jitsu but they're glad I found something keeping me around the shady local boxing circles..

I don't even think there's a way to explain how beautiful jiu jitsu is to a candid listener. To me, in order to "get" it, you have to sign up for training. Roll around with people around your own level for a month or two. Once you start hitting some moves on dudes and think you know jiu jitsu, roll with higher level guy. Even with a high level white belt, you'll be humbled. I think at that moment is when a person "gets" jiu jitsu.. When even with all your efforts put towards executing the same techniques the other guy is doing is not enough and you're tapping out every few seconds. How many people will go through all that just to understand a certain art? Not many that I know..I'm just thankful that I did

some things cant be explained bro, jiu jitsu is one of them.
as far as injury goes, i got hurt alot more playing softball than i do in jiu jitsu
my wife found out fast that jiu jitsu calms me down and im alot happier at home when i train so she learned thru time and experience.

First thing, stop being such a momma's boy. Second thing, choke your mom out. That will teach her to doubt BJJ.

Anytime u try to pursue something in life that may seem a bit out of the ordinary people will always say something. One thing to remember is that if u believe in what u're doing, and as long as it's legal moral ethical and u're not hurting anyone then that's fine. I usually nod my head ask them why they feel that way, give a couple points to try to address their thoughts and if I see it isn't going anywhere I wish them well and try to focus on my next task.

I say you slap a rear-naked choke on em, and when they wake up ask them if they still doubt jiu-jitsu's effectiveness. If they do you should probably just give up.

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Originally Posted by Christopher Piper

What, u don't like it :-P

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no, its awesome.
made me really think for a while :)

This goes for martial arts training in general. Martial arts is like having an umbrella, its something that just sits in the same place day in day out. But on the day it rains well brother I bet you are glad you have an umbrella.

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Originally Posted by JordanSilva

This goes for martial arts training in general. Martial arts is like having an umbrella, its something that just sits in the same place day in day out. But on the day it rains well brother I bet you are glad you have an umbrella.

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Great analogy.

Ask them if they care about you why would they want to discourage you from doing one of your favorite things in the world, and if they bring up injuries explain that everything has the potential to harm you. Way more people get injured or killed on their way to work at a job they don't even enjoy. I bet if you quit your job your parents/girlfriend wouldn't be too thrilled.

step 1: get in noticeably better shape. if they say anything just show them your abs that develop from just rolling and ask where are theirs...

step 2: win shiny medals, people like those things.

step 3: bring out athletic nay sayers for a nice arse woppin on the mats, shuts them up. make sure you actually wup that ass though, don't need any half way/being nice on these people.

step 4: do mma, win money and obtain some sort of local celebrity status.

If you do these 4 or really any 1 or 2 out of 4, people will give you a little slack. Now if I can just get everyone in real life to stop asking when i'm fighting next as the first topic of discussion

One conversation in particular that I remember going a long ways towards acceptance was me inviting my Grandfather to a smoker "exhibition" grappling match we held at my gym. His response was something along the lines of "to go watch you get killed?" and my response was "no...to go watch me live." ever since then I believe it kind of clicked.

EASY!
tell them youll ONLY use BJJ and THEY cannot strike you
use your BJJ and embarrass the hell outta them by just HOLDING them in guard/closedguard or taunt with openguard
then
move your way to mount, see if they giveup their back, hold them from backmount til they BECOME a believer
they can escape anyway they want JUST NO GROIN SHOTS , BITING, ETC

Thanks for all the great responses guys! I will mention tho that in my particular situation, nobody in my family is willing to get on the mats, and it'll probably take some serious convincing to even get them to come to a training session or tournament, I think my best bet in showing them how great the sport is through experiencing it is probably getting them to watch a video of me in competition. The problem isn't so much as they doubt the effectiveness of jiu jitsu as a martial art, it's that they don't support training martial arts at all. Like I said before I'm going to continue training anyway but itd still be nice to not get the "dont you care about anything else???" look when i start blabbing about jiu jitsu. I'm sure you guys can relate. :)

Well, an important question to ask/answer is: what do they consider worthwhile?

Most hobbies aren't "worthwile" to the practitioner. They're just a means of self challenge and self expression. In that sense, in the sense that it centers you, makes you better, improves your life; in that sense, what would they consider more worthwile to your life? Antiques? Stamp collecting?

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

Tourney medals and highlight vids. Success can move through doubt like no words can.

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I used to be a rapper. Nobody in my family took me serious until I started booking gigs and they saw the turnouts. Any success, even marginal success, usually gets people to support you.

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Originally Posted by WilliamGunter

yeah like in the begining of x guard book where marcelo's parents didn't get it till he came back from adcc w/ a ford focus for his ol' man.

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That right there is swag on a million. Didn't know that. Awesome story.

listen, THIS is what you do...

...you explain to the 'rents how its a COMBO sport

#1 it teaches you how to defend yourself / self-defense
#2 great way to stay healthy/exercise/lose weight
= take a photo of ROY NELSON NOW then! find a photo of roy when he was at GRAPPLERS QUEST vs FRANK MIR (he looks
180lbs) show the FAT ROY first THEN show them AFTER HE DID BJJ HE LOOKS LIKE THIS then show them THIN ROY :D

win win!