Jiu Jitsu has been an interesting adventure for me since I started training in 2012. I've had several minor, and major injuries, but overall it's helped me make a lot of positive changes in my life. In order to better understand what it's done for me, I'll need to go back to 2009 when I first started training in Judo.
At that time in my life I was a very angry person, and stressed out all the time. I was overweight, often depressed, drinking a lot, completely inactive, and generally unhappy with my life. In reconnecting with a friend of mine from elementary school, the topic of getting into Judo came up. He told me that he got into it a few months ago, and said I should start going with him. Judo was something I had done when I was a teenager, but due to being raised by a poor family, and having a lazy alcoholic father, I couldn't afford to keep going to it. It was something I had always to get back into but over the years of working at call centers and whatnot, the thought of it had fallen to the way side. Now that I had a full time job and could afford to train I was extremely eager to get back into it.
The first class I went to was on a Sunday, and Sensei Shane even gave me a gi I could use for free. I was set! This was my first time doing anything active in a number of years so I found it very difficult, but fun as hell. I could barely move the next day, but was eager to train again. I made it to a second class after that, and then a third. The night before the third class however, I was out drinking and partying all night. I woke up feeling perfectly fine, had something to eat, and went to class. Big mistake... Once we started running around and warming up, it hit me: I was definitely hungover, and had to run to the bathroom.
After losing my breakfast I got back onto the mats to keep training. At the end of class we started doing Randori, which is stand up sparring in Judo. I was going against a younger guy at that time named Colton. I thought I was doing alright against him, until he threw me and I landed sideways on top of my arm. I didn't break fall properly, I didn't land properly, and my ribs hurt like hell. Being the genius I am however, I decided to keep training, but with a much larger opponent, and started from the ground. I quickly realized that this was a bad idea when I could barely breathe and was writhing in pain. I went home that night and put ice on my ribs, took some ibuprophen, and hoped I'd be ok in the morning. I wasn't. The pain was still there, and now it hurt every time I took a breath, or even moved a certain way. Hours later at out patients they told me I had bruised ribs, and prescribed pain killers. I thought my Judo training was over at that point, and so did my Sensei; he thought I was never coming back.
The next couple of months were agony. I had trouble sleeping properly, getting around, lifting anything, and breathing was absolute hell at times. My days off work at that time were full of painkillers, and beer; not a smart decision by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn't care, I just wanted the pain to stop, both physically and emotionally. I had fallen back into a pit of despair.
The friend of mine who got me back into Judo eventually came by apartment a few times to see how I was doing. He kept trying to convince me to come back to Judo, and sure enough, once my ribs were partially healed, I got back to training. I couldn't do much, and certain movements still hurt, but not nearly as bad as when I was first injured. We trained at the baseball field in Cameron Bowl, practicing foot work and conditioning at first, breakfalls, and once I felt I was healed enough we began doing some basic throws (Ippon Seio Nage, and O-Goshi I think). We had to be careful with the throws because we were tossing each other onto the ground afterall, with no protective mats or gear, not to mention the fact that I was still injured. Sometimes people that were walking by the area would stop and watch us like we were a couple of mad men. We didn't care though, and kept training. Even the police who drove by would turn their heads twice at us, but they left us alone. We continued training this way throughout the summer and once the new Judo season started in September, I was back on the mats. Our Sensei had heard about the training my friend and I were doing throughout the summer, and within a week of being back at the club he awarded me my yellow belt. I wasn't expecting that at all, but was very gracious and proud of myself. Funny story - somehow I had gotten blood on my white belt in a few places, and while I was receiving my yellow belt an alarm went off on my cell phone which played "Raining Blood" by Slayer.
Training throughout the summer had got me back into an active lifestyle, something that had been lost to me since High School. Back then I was always active. I used to bike everywhere, run all the time, and hit the weights on a somewhat regular basis. Going to college and having my student loan money available had made me lazy though, and set me on the path to an inactive lifestyle. Working in call centers for a number of years had only added to this lazyness as well.
After I got that yellow belt though, things began to change. I decided that if I was going to become better at Judo and advance through the ranks I would have to start eating healthier, and drinking less alcohol. My friend gave me a few tips about eating more vegetables, driking more water, etc., and I was on my way. Once I lost 20lbs. and everyone started noticing, the initial spark that had got me into a healthier lifestyle had become a raging wildfire. I wanted to eat even better, train harder, look better, and most of all, get my next belt in Judo! I was making it to Judo class on a regular basis, even doing extra training after classes, and on the weekends. Occasionally I'd make it out the club in Sydney as well, on night's my club didn't have classes. I stopped drinking as much, and spent a lot less time in front of a computer screen playing video games. Judo had reawoken my desire to be fit; something that had been lost to me for far too many years.
Eventually my first Judo club went out of business, due to financtial reasons, and since I had no car at the time it would be difficult to make it to the club in Sydney, the next town over. It was around that time that I had began supplementing my Judo training with Boot Camp classes, which were taught at a Taekwondo School not far from where I lived at the time. I became friends with the instructor and he convinced me to try some of his Taekwondo classes. He let me try a few classes for free, since I was supporting his Boot Camp classes and helping attract new people to it. Once my Judo club closed, I had a decision to make: Judo or Taekwondo? Since it was much easier to get to Bobby's Taekwondo club, and more financtially feasible, I decided to put my Judo training on hold and train in Taekwondo. His father, who handled the business side of things, made me an awesome deal too: If I paid monthly for Taekwondo classes, I could go to Boot Camp classes for free, and train 7 days a week. Who could pass up an offer like that? Especially when kicking the shit out of things was fun as hell! I trained there for about a year and got my yellow belt, though Bobby said I was good enough to be a green belt at the time.
In April of 2011 I was offered a position with the Canadian Forces, something I had been thinking about since I was 16 years old. At the time I was working for a local cable company. Most of the people there were great to work with, and I'm still good friends with some of them, but the job had lost it's meaningfulness to me. It became monotonous, and the new owners who took over were making too many drastic changes. The shifts they had me working were insane, and incredibly stressful. I'd be working over night from 12am - 8am three nights in a row, have two days off, then have to work a "mid shift" which was from 12pm - 8pm. Some days during those mid shifts I'd have to drive to a different office entirely out of my way just for "wireless training" I could have easily gotten from reading the manuals, which is all I'd do out there half the time anyway. It was a complete waste of my time. I decided that since I was in much better shape, I would apply for the Forces, and thankfully I got in shortly after. My martial arts training would have be put on hold yet again however. It wasn't until about a year and a half later that I would start training again, this time in Newfoundland. The first club I looked into was called MUN Judo. They seemed to have a decent group but their prices were insane! They wanted me to pay for classes 6 months in advance, and their training schedule conflicted with my school schedule. I thought I'd have to wait even longer to get back into training.
One night at a military party in one of the buildings at Hillview I met Robert Barker, and we started talking about different martial arts. He told me about another club in the area that was just down the road that did both Judo, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Hell yeah, sign me up! I almost immediately bought a new gi and started training there with him. That's when I first transitioned from Judo to Jiu Jitsu. I had always thought I was much stronger on the ground than standing up, so learning to improve my ground game was going to be awesome. I loved that there was a good mixture of ground work, and standing throws, although me being a big Judo nerd wished that we practiced throws more often. Throughout a year or so of training there I earned my earned my first two stripes when Jeff Joslin came down to teach seminars. Stripes and belts weren't really important to me, I just wanted to train, so I was completely surprised when he called my name for a stripe the first time.
Once I graduated my course in Newfoundland and got out to the West coast I started training at Fierce Studio. After my first few classes I knew there was something very different about this club. There were different rules about training, hygiene, belt stripes & progression, and they have something called "grapple hour", which is a full hour of ground sparring. The rules and whatnot aside, there was still something else very different here. I'm not a religious or spiritual person at all, but there's a positive energy at Fierce that began to hit me like a tidal wave once I put in some serious hours there. Every person I've trained with has been friendly, has a desire to learn the techniques, and almost everyone always has a smile on their face. It's an addictive feeling that makes me feel like family, something incredibly rare to me given the dark history of my parents. It's a feeling that makes me want to be a better person, to live a better life, and to pass on these teachings to anyone and everyone I meet. In the past fives months while training at Fierce I've lost 15lbs, bringing my total weight loss over the past five years to 75lbs. total. I've also quickly earned my third, and fourth stripes, with hopes of getting my blue belt in the Fall, or Spring. I've made dozen of friends while training in Jiu Jitsu at Fierce Studio, and have no doubts I'll make dozens more throughout the years to come. Tonight actually marks my 123rd class at Fierce since starting on March 17th, 105 of them in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and 18 of them in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. Clearly I'm hooked :)
So, when asked what I'm grateful for it's easy to see why I chose Jiu Jitsu and Judo. They have been an incredible influence in the past few years, and I'm very grateful for everyone I've had the pleasure of training with during those years. If you've never tried either of these sports, I can't recommend them enough; they've completely changed my life!
OSS!
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