Something has happened in the last year and a half. Jiu Jitsu has changed my life. I wanted to share the many reasons I’m grateful for Jiu Jitsu. I’d love for you guys to share your stories as well.
Reason Number One: Losing myself
I started BJJ in June 2010 and at that time I had thighs that were 28 inches [71 cm], and a butt that was 48 inches [122 cm]. I weighed 205 lbs [93 kg]. Now, in November 2011, I weigh 170 [77 kg] and I have 24 inch [61 cm] thighs and a 41.5 inch [105.4 cm] butt. What does that look like? I’m glad you asked.
- This is the difference between a 41.5 inch butt and a 48 inch butt. Seriously – DAMN!
- And this is what a sexy, 24.5 inch thigh looks like in relation to a 28 inch thigh.
Do you know what did it? Jiu Jitsu and diet. Jiu Jitsu was my major form of exercise. I also did a few important things in my diet: started eating more whole foods. Stopped eating rice every day. Stopped eating ALL THE FOOD. 
I feel incredible. It’s so weird to think that I was so much bigger only a year and a half ago.
You see, I started to get SO EXCITED about Jiu Jitsu that changes started happening. I stopped watching quite as much TV. It became more than just a hobby – it became a way of life. I even started doing pushups to gain more strength FOR BJJ!
I got into BJJ in order to lose weight. Even if I had never really improved in skill, it would have been okay because my original goal was to get my butt off the couch and start moving. EVERYTHING was an improvement. I started with a black belt in tv watching. I’ve improved more than I ever thought I could. When I started, I couldn’t do most of the warm ups – I could barely move my body. Everything felt monumental. So I enjoyed the small victories – like landing on my feet, not my butt when I roll over. Any negative days I would have I’d focus on my first goal and say – today was a SUCCESS – I got off the couch and MOVED MY BODY! In that way, I won EVERY time I walked into the BJJ gym.
Because I can’t do BJJ right now, staying in shape isn’t as EASY as it used to be, but I’m still actively keeping in shape. The biggest help in the past was Jiu Jitsu, but sadly, watching BJJ doesn’t burn even close to as many calories as doing it. So I’ve been relying on Fitocracy. I know I mentioned it before, but I want to encourage you to get your butt over there. A ton of BJJ bloggers are over there, including MegJitsu, CupcakeArmbar, Kintanon, Slideyfoot, and more! If you want to join us, you can click to join the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu group, or the BJJ bloggers group. I’m JiuJiu on Fitocracy – add me!
Why do I love it? Well, first there’s this awesome pic that Cupcake posted:
- MOST AWESOME BJJ DESCRIPTION EVER
Second, it taps into that nerdy gamer side of me – my inner nerd athlete side who is obsessed with leveling up. And yes, one day I did decide to do extra exercises – just because I wanted to level up.
Just like in games, you have X points per level. I’m currently level 8 and have 815xp out of 1750 required for level 9. I earned 489 points for doing: 500 squats, walking up 3 flights of stairs, and my physical therapy exercises. Oh yeah – did I mention that I did 500 squats. BOO YAH!
Third, the people: People give you props, you have incentive to do just a little bit more, you have public accountability, etc. I love it. I even decided to be a paying member – which makes me a “Fitocracy HERO!”
If you had shown 2-years-ago me that this is what I looked like and these were my passions, I would have thought you were nuts. I truly lost myself in Jiu Jitsu – both literally and figuratively. And in doing so, I found a much healthier, happier person.
How has Jiu Jitsu affected your health? Did it also cause lifestyle changes for you?
Tomorrow’s post: Grateful for Jiu Jitsu Reason#2–Getting Involved
Exercises are the best way to improve diet results. As soon as possible I will return to my dietary re-education. Realy in the need of weight reduction here… 105 kg for 1,83m.
First I tryied to lift weight for no reason and run to nowhere in the gym… to much boring without company. Then I just kept playing football (yeah, I’ll gonna write Brazil with Z, and not Brasil, but I refuse to say soccer instead of football) with friends…
In jiu-jitsu we have a goal to achieve, and we have the friendship (they are a huge source of encouraging) that I find in football, it’s far more adicting, and wakes up my nerd side, it’s like playing BF2… without badges and ribbons jumping in the screen… and… with a little more pain…
=]
BJJ IS SUPER AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! \o/
It is so amazingly life changing (god we sound like cultist but hey can’t help it BJJ is rad!)
PS Forgot to thank you for introducing me to Fitocracy cause seriously that stuff is ADDICTIVE.
I feel like I got to know you best through Fitocracy
BJJ is indeed awesome, although if I was honest, I’d probably have to say that on balance it hasn’t made me more healthy. I was already doing martial arts before I switched purely to BJJ (even five years in, BJJ is still less than 50% of my total training), so I couldn’t claim to have had a dramatic weight loss or jump in fitness.
Injuries are probably a bit better though, so that’s an improvement. So far in BJJ, I’ve never injured myself badly enough that I couldn’t train at all, which is great. Before BJJ, there were two long periods off training due to injuries, which were harder to train around (as I was doing a striking style). Even though I’ve had a few injuries that took a couple of months to heal (like my knee and currently my neck), I can still get on the mat and roll, I just have to avoid certain positions/techniques and pick my partners carefully.
Lifestyle-wise, BJJ is important to me in that it is easily my favourite hobby. I think it’s more immersive than many other martial arts. There is a particularly vibrant and intelligent online community in BJJ, especially compared to the obscure kickboxing/kung-fu thing I did before (Zhuan Shu Kuan, which almost nobody even recognises, let alone discusses), so that’s made a big difference.
You’re incredibly lucky about not having had any major injuries through BJJ. My doctor friend said – with BJJ it’s not about IF you’ll get hurt – it’s about WHEN you’ll get hurt.
Oooh – I like that description about BJJ being more immersive than other martial arts. I actually wonder what would have happened had the Internet been SO WILDLY POPULAR when I was doing TKD. Actually it was in 1994 and I was part of the Robert Jordan boards on AOL – the “virtual tower” and I remember posting about testing for belts and what not, but I never connected with any other tkd people.
I think the community is so important – HENCE reason number two
Although I do sometimes wonder if it is just because I’ve scoured the internet for BJJ, so it seems like there is a unusually massive community online. It could well be that if I was into, say, running, climbing or indeed tiddlywinks, I’d discover there are just as many people online who love those hobbies too, talking about the best way to improve, swishest equipment, training methods etc.
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Great read! It is truly amazing how much Jiu Jitsu can change you on so many levels in your life.
Agreed. I NEVER thought it would affect me this much when I joined.
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