Why did you get into Jiu-Jitsu/fighting in general?

[The kza]

mind you that most of you are criminals because you smoke weed

[AJ Camacho]

I'm so incredibly unathletic and horrible at sports. I throw like a girl, my hand stings when I catch a football at 15 yards, I collapse in pain when i get shin checked in soccer, a pop shove it was my best trick.....

whatever.. my whole life i have sucked at sports.

point being, I have rolled with some relatively serious athletes and i have tapped many of them out just because i knew something they didn't. that allure was created by Royce Gracie and it has kept me interested in grappling ever since.

[Jason Hyatt]

Logan: Best thing I've read on the interwebs in a while. I never type "lol" because I rarely *actually* laugh out loud at a post, but yours got me going good. I even got the "what the hell are you reading over there?" look at work. Nice.

I got into watching the UFC because I knew Joe Rogan was a comedian. I LOVE stand-up and I had no idea he did the color commentary until I got his Shiny Happy Jihad album in 2005. I hadn't seen the UFC really except for once and it just wasn't that interesting to me at the time (I hated when guys would just lay on the ground and cuddle. Ha!) Once I found out Joe was the color man I thought I'd watch again. Joe did such a good job of describing what I was seeing that I became a huge fan right away.

Then I saw BJ Penn. Shit, that did it. I didn't just wanna watch anymore. I had to find out what this jiu jitsu stuff was all about. I Googled "jiu jitsu Rochester ny" and Empire Academy came up. I had no idea what to look for in a gym and I did no research whatsoever. At the time, they were still a Miletich affiliate and I recognized the name (Ha!). Coach Herzog had just obtained 10th Planet affiliation but I had no clue what that meant. I had heard the name "Eddie Bravo" on Joe's CD but again, no idea who he was. Once I started training I was hooked immediately. My only experience to that point was slightly less than five years of Aikido which, while enjoyable, had proven itself utterly worthless to me in a confrontation (I'd been in one fight before Aikido and one after "training" for a few years, both with the same result...). I am so hooked on jiu jitsu now it's waaaay worse than crack. I think about it all the time, I study positions and techniques like I'm in school again, and I have an adopted big brother who taught me how to be a better me.

I am still so thankful to this day that I ended up at *THAT* gym and not somewhere else. I am for sure 10th Planet for life!

[Logan Cook]

Thanks for all of the kind words and encouragement guys, i appreciate it!

Enrique: My only writing experience outside of high school and English 101 was something like a creative writing class that i took after completing English 101 in college. Other than those few classes that i have taken the bulk of my writing comes in form of message board posts on various forums, mainly the Underground but some others as well. That being said nothing i have written has been that spectacular in my opinion, especially on the UG lol. I have always had a knack for writing and although i rarely enjoyed it i was fortunate enough to get the highest score out of my entire class on the writing portion of the SATS. Through high school and the short amount of time i spent in college i hated anything that had to do with writing. I've recently realized that my distaste of writing likely came from the fact that i often had to write about things i cared very little about when i was in school. Now i enjoy writing although i experience a lot of resistance when it comes to actually sitting down and writing something.

For many years i led a pretty crazy life. After i dropped out of college i became a heroin addict. During that time in order to feed my monumental appetite for dope i began helping a friend procure and distribute the goods in return for as many baggies of product that he was willing to share with me. This lasted for over two years and as you may imagine i did and experienced some really wild shit. Knowing this and hearing my stories a few friends of mine began encouraging me to attempt to write a book about my experiences. Considering im on house arrest i have quite a bit of time on my hands to attempt such an endeavor but i have yet to discover a way to write my life story down with out it coming off either whiny, braggadocios, or just plan douchey. Despite that fact i try to always write little notes, short stories, ideas for short stories, crazy memories, thoughts about my own bizarre and reprehensible behavior, and funny observations down on my phone when any of these sorts of things come to mind.

In addition to my aspirations of becoming a writer someday another dream i have been experimenting with and incubating until such time arises where i can actually give it a try is to do stand up comedy. I have always been a fan of stand up and i enjoy nothing more than making others laugh. All through my childhood and adolescent years up until the present day my number one goal when hanging out with my friends has always been to make them laugh by any means necessary. Laughter and the charge you get from making someone laugh may have been my first true addiction followed shortly thereafter by beating off. It wasn't until i started listening to Rogan's podcast (along with BJJ the other integral part of what is keeping me relatively sane i might add) that i realized that stand up comedy is actually a real option if i was willing and able to put the work in. In preparation for my eventual first open mic session and subsequent bombing im always writing down jokes, ideas for bits, and ridiculous thoughts and observations on my phone in the hope that i will be adequately prepared when the day comes where i am off of house arrest and can actually go try stand up for myself.

Guys like Joe and Eddie and many of the regular "Deathsquad" contributors have been huge inspirations to me in a pretty dark time in my life. They have all helped me realize many valuable things about myself and life in general along with helping me find a direction to take my life in where i might actually be able to succeed without having to sell my soul and/or suck Satan's cock in the process. I am very grateful for the shit that guys like them have done and their actions and beliefs have undoubtedly changed my life for the better. Hopefully one day i will be able to thank them for everything that they have done in person.

I'm glad you guys liked my story. Thanks again for all of the kind words and responses. I will try to continue writing some short stories and what not to share with you guys, that is if i can motivate myself to do so. Writing is a strange thing haha.

[Brent Smith]

I was training Wing Chun Kung Fu and wanted to test myself so decided to fight in a local mma show. Well I got submitted by triangle in less than a min. I ought again a month later and got nailed with a RNC. At that point I decided I should prob develop a ground game. Haven't stopped thinking about jiu jitsu since.

[HerbChao]

I got into jiu-jitsui/wrestling once I started watching UFC a year ago and saw the importance a ground game had (regardless if you wanted to be a standup fighter or be a grappler) and around that time saw Eddie's RG book read the back bio and from there was drawn to the 10thpjj system. I like the different exercise it gives compared to my TKD/Jean Claude Van Damme striking background (albeit we did do a yr of WWE style wrestling in my backyard).


Logan, great story. I admire u both for hooking up with that girl, and also standing up to a guy who had 20lb+ on you. I might've chosen to go with a jumping sidekick first or some sort of left kick open palm strike to the chest first, but your punching combo approach isn't too far off either. Glad u made it out ok and have been hooked since.

[Isaiah Mendoza]

[Isaiah Mendoza]

LOL shit I thought this was the hip hop thread

[Stephen Rae]

I was training Wing Chun Kung Fu and wanted to test myself so decided to fight in a local mma show. Well I got submitted by triangle in less than a min. I ought again a month later and got nailed with a RNC. At that point I decided I should prob develop a ground game. Haven't stopped thinking about jiu jitsu since.

I wonder, do you see Wing Chun as an actual, viable fighting art, or is it like Karate, and Tae Kwon Do?

[Trez "Rat" Reyna]

I actually have always wanted to train in jiu jitsu. I saw UFC 1-3 when they first came out and Royce amazed me. I was a youngin then haha. I live in a small shitty town of 27k so jiu jitsu classes were not around too much. Ive always wanted to join but I could not afford a 150$ gi or the tuition. So I forgot about it for a long long long long time. then about 2 years ago my brother who lives in San Antonio decided he wanted to start training and fighting. Naturally anything he does I do my best to learn everything there is to learn so I could help him out. Ive always loved boxing and mma and, I didnt really wanna fight but I wanted to be his corner man and coach. I wanted to know the best techniques and training programs there were to make him a monster evern though we live 2 hours from each other. At the time I didnt know the difference between gi and no ig. So I researched everything I could cause I really want to be a trainer. I love helping guys develop their skills. I dont have much experience fighting wise but Im damn good at analyzing things and breaking them down on my own so it comes natural. My brother is a big 250 lber and he was tappin experienced guys out quick. One day before I new anything about 10th planet my brother came down for a holiday and asked me if I wanted to roll. At the time I didnt understand jiu jitsu terminology so I was like roll? where we going haha. Then he explained the term and I was like how are we gonna roll we don't have gis. Then I got Schooled on 10th planet jiu jitsu. I watched Ari's videos on the basics and I was hooked. I studied the system as much as I could. I wanted to have the terminology down because I had no mats or training partners and the only school here in town did jiu jitsu 1 day a week and was taught by a gracie barra guy who is one bad dude. I started rollin when my brother would come down with his mats and for some reason it was like second nature to me. I felt like I should have been doing this for a long time. So I got my income tax bought a whole hayabusa package learned how to hold the pads right then I bought some rinky dink golds gym mats for your exercise equipment, recruited some goons to teach and havent looked back since. The best part of the whole thing is finding out how fucking awesome the 10th planet family is. That is the one factor that makes me stick like glue cause I am a family oriented person. I smoke alot too. So I found a place where I can be the person I am and everyone will still welcome me with open arms and take care of me. The fundraisers we do and the tight family is what keeps me going. Now I eat, sleep, and smoke 10th Planet all day and I got other people hooked also. One of my dreams has always been to get ranked in a martial art even if its just past white belt. So Im busting my ass and Im coming for my blue belt haha. Thank you eddie for creating this family. Im honored to be apart of it