I am pretty sure each practitioner's path to the Gentle Art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_jiu-jitsu is a unique story but I feel it needs to be told so that people know that you don't have to be a killer to get on the path. Being a fat white guy, the tentative steps that lead me to the gym for the first time are probably as unlikely as any but hopefully are worth either a laugh or inspiration for people who are scared to start.
Zeke is a guy who tries almost everything, doesn't really stick with anything too long (because there are other things to discover) but generally is not afraid to fail on the path to discovery. Fatboy is his younger (and larger) brother who never played any sports, was picked last for team sports (Except this ONE time he was picked first but Alyn McCauly -
https://www.nhl.com/player/alyn-mccauley-8462105- when he was 18 for a roller hockey game......gotta give him props for his 15 minutes of fame.)
Fatboy calls Zeke (knowing he spent a few months training Kung Fu.......which is awesome BTW) and says "I am bored of the gym, but wanna stay active, so we are going to take up a martial art." The first guideline we agree upon is that there should be no sparring because we don't need to be beat upon for the sport of the alpha males when we are just trying to get fit and learn something cool. The second one is that there should be no gi involved because there is nothing like a $200 mantle of shame hanging in the closet reminding you how much you suck when you quit.
So, the 2 fat white guys decide to take every free/cheap intro class for every martial art we can find. You can imagine the result. Muay Thai was fun anddeadly but we are awful at jumping rope.....and everything else. Krav Maga (should be called every-dirty-trick-in-the-book) is fantastic and I enjoyed chasing Fatboy around and beating him with a pad. Relatively positive experiences with a bunch of others including Aikido, Taekwondo, karate and kung-fu. Then it comes time for Brazilian Jiu-jutsu.
After suspending the gi and sparring guidelines, we found a club that offered free intro for a month, and also offered Dutch-style kickboxing. In the first class, we we shown how to escape the mount (the WORST recurring nightmare from highschool fights) and taught as submission (Key-lock/americana from the mount) Cool enough and then we were sat at the side of the mats, instructed to "enjoy the fights" and watched a bunch of animals grapple and appear to fight for their lives.
The rest they say is history (though not a very fantastic one but definitely a substantial one for us) and we each have a second generation training. Purple belts now but here is one of the older pics of us (starting a discipline that many 20-year olds have a hard time with at/near40) with a couple Black Belt world champions, and a BJJ hero https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/vinicius-aieta
If a couple of fat white guys can find joy and fulfillment in BJJ, you are golden.
Practitioners like @jiujitsu, @framelalife, @andre-verbrick, @fiber.god, @louiproductions, @heymattsokol, @shinedojo, @danaedwards, @bjjworldtravler and the rest. Surely you had a more glamorous first steps to the club?!
Everybody's story is different, and this one is funny and inspiring. The one thing that always seems true is that these martial arts give us much more than we ever knew they could at the beginning. Budo!
I am also a fat white guy despite having done Muay Thai for quite some time I had a big break for several years and just got fat. Discovering BJJ was like seeing a magican. And I was hooked. I am still a beginner but I am so happy to have discovered that sport.
That's fantastic. I wonder if you ever get to the point where you feel like you are not a beginner.
It doesn't matter so much what breaks happened or what condition you are in when you arrive. Just that you arrived and have taken matters into your own hands.
Plus Muay Thai people are animals!
I don't know but I have noticed if I roll with someone who just started I can get things going and hold myself better against other white belts and some blue belts so there is progress.
I probably skipped the animal part 😀
You know, I honestly took years to start bjj. When I was about 18 or 19 years old I was in the marines and I ran across a bjj school where I was stationed. Back then, I was a whopping 145 lbs, and I remember looking in the window on multiple occasions, and seeing these big strong brutes, many marines, and thinking I can't do this. They were legit rag dolling anyone who they had a size advantage on.
It sucked because this was 1997 and I had watched the first UFC's in awe. As confident as I was in myself as a marine and a young 19 year old man, I just wouldn't take the leap.
Fast forward, 2010, and my gym has a Royce school upstairs. I see the black belts walking in and out, and they were normal looking guys, but always a stern look on their face. One day in the locker room and in walks Royce. I'm like wtf, this is actually Royce Gracie changing in the locker room. Nobody said a word to him, yet most knew exactly who he was. He had a weird smirk on his face, and gave me a nod as he walked past me.
A few weeks later I was introduced to a black belt from this school. He was a neighbor to a girl I was dating. After a few conversations, he invited me to come up for a free intro class. He then sold me an A4 Century gi, which he thought was hilarious, and I'm still pissed about. I wear an A2/A3 and weigh between 170-190 most of the time.
Since then it's off to the races. I'm now 39, pushing 40. I still train constantly, and I love it. My body has def slowed down some, and I have to take some recovery days more often. But I truly plan to train until I'm dead.
You're right. If old, fat, white guys can do it, anyone can. You just have to want it more than anything. You have to love it. Cuz there will be days you question what the hell you are doing on the mats, day in and day out.
If you even think you want to try it. Go for it. You'll love it and stick to it, or be gone before or around blue belt like so many others. Either way you'll learn a lot about yourself!
Haha sage words! I just get off on the reaction people have when I tell them how old I am. "WTF? I thought you were in your 30s maybe!" Fountain of youth and train til you die. Thanks man!