Like so many others I got brazilian jiu-jitsu evangelized to me endlessly by Joe Rogan back in the early ’10s. Unfortunately I never gave it a try as it’s so far out of my comfort zone. To be frank it’s disgusting how sweaty you get and you can not be in any closer physical contact than during a grappling match. I’m a very sweaty person and was self conscious about that for a long time so i always stayed away.
After the covid lockdowns, I was desperately in need of structured physical activity. I stopped powerlifting when they closed gyms and I didn’t really want to go back to powerlifting because the thought of having to grind back all the strength felt Sisyphean. I think the pandemic itself plus the loss of some loved ones during that time made me realize that life is too short to not explore potentially interesting things, so I decided to take a bjj trial class. I’ve stuck with it since then and today I am a bjj blue belt. For reference, the ranks in bjj are:
- White
- Blue
- Purple
- Brown
- Black
In my view, a blue is still a beginner belt, and I’m happy to stay here. I’m not a very competitive person, and there is inherent competitiveness in any combat sport. In addition bjj has a hierarchical element where, barring extreme differences in physicality or talent, upper belts should be able to submit lower belts.
In contrast, I don’t take my training too seriously. Bjj is the most fun I’ve ever had exercising, and I want to keep it that way. However I know I’ll eventually get promoted, a slightly larger target will get put on my back, and i’ll be inspired to train more / harder, pushing my skills forward once more.