Warning: Non technical blog ahead.
I've been a huge fan, advocate, and practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the last 6 years and think a lot of people that work in tech(and don't work in tech) would find a lot of benefit and enjoyment through training regularly.
Why people in tech?
Working in tech, Ive noticed the field caters to people who think either creatively, analytically, or both.
I cant think of a better physical activity for someone who enjoys solving problems. You constantly need to be solving problems that your partner presents. The interesting thing is when your partner changes their position, you need to reorient your solution to the problem. This is super unique to problems we solve at work, because the problems in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are dynamic and change multiple times within seconds. No two sparring sessions(or live training) will ever be the same.
Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, BJJ has been compared to human chess by people like Joe Rogan. Its analytical, creative, and something physical you can do with like minded people. Some of the best people I have ever met have been at BJJ gyms.
Why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
Reason #1
This is just my personal experience and I am a bit biased but I tend to lean towards grappling sports like BJJ, Wrestling, Sambo, Judo etc because you can do them at higher intensities without getting hurt (when done correctly and safely with partners you trust). In addition, this ability to train at high intensities safely allow you to replicate real life scenarios using empirical data, not just theory, which makes it great for self defense.
Reason #2
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is great because its a sport you can do regardless of how in shape or how old you are.
Reason #3
BJJ has become pretty popular and it's fairly easy to find a good gym in your area.
Reason #4
Building self confidence. This one is huge.
Having a beginner mindset with something new.
Depending on where you're at in your career or in your life, it's hard to find something new where you can show up to everyday learning something different. I think its important to have something where there is no end, just like product, design, marketing, engineering or any craft you do as a profession and you take it seriously enough to keep growing. Just showing up everyday, learning something new, getting better, day in and day out.
How do I get started?
Given the climate in the world right now, BJJ gyms are most likely closed. So when they open and you feel comfortable, look for a good rated BJJ or MMA gym in your area by simply checking on google or asking around.
There are multiple facets and a lot of things I am not going to cover in this post. BJJ Gym vs MMA Gym, Gi vs No Gi, competition focused school vs not etc. But feel free to comment below and ask any questions and I will do my best to help out and answer your questions.
Thanks for reading!
Scott
Top comments (5)
Doing BJJ for 12 years and just got my black belt recently. Have to disagree on the "higher intensity without getting hurt", because grappling is very demanding. I do agree that BJJ has a lot of parallels with life.
Our gyms opened already, but the situation is still unstable... I hope it normalizes soon.
Thanks for sharing and congrats on your black belt!
Thats a great point, "higher intensity without getting hurt" is definitely relative but i think if you pick the right training partners, once your body gets used to it, it becomes much less demanding than striking sports. It also depends on training style etc. (I shouldve been more clear about what I meant)
Again thanks for reading and congrats on your black belt!
Thanks, Scott!
I've spoken about this with other wrestlers and strikers, we've all concluded that grappling is by far the most injury-prone sports. Anyone who's done years of striking didn't experience even 1/10th of the nagging pains and injuries that a grappler has. Most common things in striking: nose, head, legs. In BJJ, you get stacked, choked, slammed, thrown, your fingers give out, your elbows hurt, shoulders get popped, too tight armbars and kimuras, and what not.
I used to believe BJJ is the safer option until I actually went and did striking for a year or two. Only thing hurt was my shin from a sparring match once.
So then we get the choice of partner: this is crucial and the very reason people get injured :D They go too hard. I believe though, if all things considered equal, grappling will be the more injury-prone sport.
Yet, it's very cool that BJJ has this "availability" around itself. Because where have you seen people of over 40 and 50 join and train? :)
But in any case, it's good that you're on the journey :)
This is how I feel about rock climbing, minus the age part. Idk many 80+ year olds that go rock climbing, I've seen some dedicated 70+ though.
Awesome thanks for sharing! Ironically I climbed all through college and I feel like combat sports are easier on my body :) Thank you so much for sharing and reading the post!