I became interested in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) through watching re-runs of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Bravo in 2005. What initially seemed to me to be brutal and violent, quickly became my favourite spectator sport. I had long since tired of watching football. I used to love football when I was at high school. I was the goalkeeper on our first team and used to train twice a week, with a match day on either Wednesday or Saturday. At the age of 16, my father bought me weights bench and bodybuilding became my main hobby. My interest in football waned as I dedicated myself to developing my arms and chest muscles through lifting heavy weights.
I continued in this vein until the my second year of University. Regular viewings of the UFC made me realise that the mainstream perception of two mindless thugs beating each other to death in a cage, was false. The ground fighting in particular was highly technical. My father had made me watch boxing from a young age during the golden age for British Middleweights in the early 1990s. My favourite fight is still Nigel Benn's Super Middleweight title defence against Gerald McClellan in 1995. The ground fighting, which seemed commonplace in the UFC, was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I first discovered the Gracie legacy from researching the first UFCs. Royce Gracie won the first UFC tournament submitting all of his opponents with ease. It seemed that the Gracies proved that BJJ was the superior fighting style: Royce was the smallest man in the tournament (175 lbs) and brushed aside a boxer, wrestler and karate fighter.
I did have a background in martial arts, having reached brown belt level in karate when I was a kid. Although I had not trained in combat sports for 8 years I knew that I wanted to indulge my curiosity in BJJ. If anything, I wanted an outlet for my weight training. I first started attending classes whilst at Sheffield University at the local Gracie Barra club. The club was about 4 stops away on the tram. During the first term of university my attendance was sporadic and hence I barely improved and got my ass handed to me each lesson. However, once the workload eased up (I chose a couple of easier legal modules in the second semester) I started attending three times per week. Training at Sheffield was fun and by the time I graduated I had three stripes on my white belt.
When I returned to Essex and started looking for a job I joined a new Gracie Barra club. The head instructor there was Marc Walder, who at the time was only one of three British black belts. To put this into context my instructor in Sheffield, Jon Goldson, was a purple belt. Under Marc's tutelage I improved rapidly. He awarded me my blue belt in September 2007 (about two months after I joined) and my game came on leaps and bounds. Marc encouraged technique over strength and I really benefitted from relaxed rolling and leaving my ego at the door. There were a number of purple and brown belts in the class who could also offer advice. I entered my first competition at the Seni Martial Arts Expo in London in April 2008, losing my first fight via advantage. I had cut 20 lbs in seven weeks to make the under 76kg limit which I believe sapped my energy levels during the fight. I had to go vegetarian in the last two weeks to make the weight.
Since then I make sure that I never exceed 170lbs so as to not endure another difficult weight cut. I won Marc's interclub tournament in October 2008 in the blue belt division and then reached the semi-finals of the absolute weight class later in the day. It was with great regret that a promotion in my job forced me to relocate to West London, which meant that I could no longer train at Marc's. I was a 2-stripe blue belt when I left the class and I felt that with my rate of improvement it would only have been a matter of time before I advanced to purple.
I started training at the Carlson Gracie club at the start of 2009. It was only a five minute drive from my house which seemed ideal. The standard at the club was very high, although I felt that I could more than hold my own with most of the other blue belts. I had been warned that they trained balls to the wall at the club and this proved true when I tore the meniscus in my right knee in my second week of training there. This tear caused my knee to lock and was excruciatingly painful. I was out for 6 months during which time I saw a knee specialist and had an MRI. I was told that there was nothing they could do due to the fact that the tear was so deep in the meniscus. The tear could be healed, although to do so would have required the removal of about 85% of my meniscus. Whilst this procedure would take care of the problem in the short term, the expert predicted that I would develop arthritis in that knee within 10 years. Thus he would not perform the operation on ethical grounds.
I returned to training in July but heavily strapped my knee with weight-lifting straps. Although my knee did lock on occasion there was no pain when it happened and it only took me about 10 seconds to unhinge it and carry on fighting. However, within two months of training I obtained another injury in my right rotator cuff. This injury actually affected my sleep patterns as the throbbing pain woke me up two or three times a night. The last time that I trained was in August.
This morning I decided to resume my BJJ training. I had been flirting with the idea of training at Andy Roberts' class in Farnborough for a while and feeling surprisingly fresh when I awoke I made the trip there in my car. Andy Roberts is a two-stripe brown belt under Mauricio Gomes who is the father of Roger Gracie, the world's best grappler. The advanced class was very relaxed being mainly populated by fellow blue belts and a smattering of high ranking white belts. In spite of the fact that my grappling fitness is not where it needs to be (my lungs were screaming during the warm up) I enjoyed myself and felt that I held my own against most of the guys. Compared to Carlson's the students are more relaxed when the roll and this is better for a person with existing injuries like myself. My right knee was stiff and locked a number of times. However, I am positive that with regular training it will loosen up. I sat out the last 20 minutes of the 90 minute lesson due to my exhaustion but I feel good now. In my opinion there is nothing better for fitness than combat sports. Looking at myself now my muscles are sore but look more vascular than they had this morning.
My reflection in the mirror also reveals a few bruises: a couple of purplish splotches on my chest and a small, but noticeable red gi burn on the left hand side of my face near my forehead. I have to admit that I do like having bruises and the lack of training over the last five months has made me miss them somewhat. This might sounds strange but I think that bruises and cuts are the mark of a fighter. I wear them with pride, although I do concede that they are not especially attractive to women.
I intend to train at least twice a week at Andy Roberts' this year. Whilst I am currently in good shape, the BJJ training will improve my cardiovascular fitness and harden up my body. As long as I pay relatively strict attention to my diet and continue to lift weights I expect to be sporting razor sharp obliques within the next few months.
I continued in this vein until the my second year of University. Regular viewings of the UFC made me realise that the mainstream perception of two mindless thugs beating each other to death in a cage, was false. The ground fighting in particular was highly technical. My father had made me watch boxing from a young age during the golden age for British Middleweights in the early 1990s. My favourite fight is still Nigel Benn's Super Middleweight title defence against Gerald McClellan in 1995. The ground fighting, which seemed commonplace in the UFC, was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I first discovered the Gracie legacy from researching the first UFCs. Royce Gracie won the first UFC tournament submitting all of his opponents with ease. It seemed that the Gracies proved that BJJ was the superior fighting style: Royce was the smallest man in the tournament (175 lbs) and brushed aside a boxer, wrestler and karate fighter.
I did have a background in martial arts, having reached brown belt level in karate when I was a kid. Although I had not trained in combat sports for 8 years I knew that I wanted to indulge my curiosity in BJJ. If anything, I wanted an outlet for my weight training. I first started attending classes whilst at Sheffield University at the local Gracie Barra club. The club was about 4 stops away on the tram. During the first term of university my attendance was sporadic and hence I barely improved and got my ass handed to me each lesson. However, once the workload eased up (I chose a couple of easier legal modules in the second semester) I started attending three times per week. Training at Sheffield was fun and by the time I graduated I had three stripes on my white belt.
When I returned to Essex and started looking for a job I joined a new Gracie Barra club. The head instructor there was Marc Walder, who at the time was only one of three British black belts. To put this into context my instructor in Sheffield, Jon Goldson, was a purple belt. Under Marc's tutelage I improved rapidly. He awarded me my blue belt in September 2007 (about two months after I joined) and my game came on leaps and bounds. Marc encouraged technique over strength and I really benefitted from relaxed rolling and leaving my ego at the door. There were a number of purple and brown belts in the class who could also offer advice. I entered my first competition at the Seni Martial Arts Expo in London in April 2008, losing my first fight via advantage. I had cut 20 lbs in seven weeks to make the under 76kg limit which I believe sapped my energy levels during the fight. I had to go vegetarian in the last two weeks to make the weight.
Since then I make sure that I never exceed 170lbs so as to not endure another difficult weight cut. I won Marc's interclub tournament in October 2008 in the blue belt division and then reached the semi-finals of the absolute weight class later in the day. It was with great regret that a promotion in my job forced me to relocate to West London, which meant that I could no longer train at Marc's. I was a 2-stripe blue belt when I left the class and I felt that with my rate of improvement it would only have been a matter of time before I advanced to purple.
I started training at the Carlson Gracie club at the start of 2009. It was only a five minute drive from my house which seemed ideal. The standard at the club was very high, although I felt that I could more than hold my own with most of the other blue belts. I had been warned that they trained balls to the wall at the club and this proved true when I tore the meniscus in my right knee in my second week of training there. This tear caused my knee to lock and was excruciatingly painful. I was out for 6 months during which time I saw a knee specialist and had an MRI. I was told that there was nothing they could do due to the fact that the tear was so deep in the meniscus. The tear could be healed, although to do so would have required the removal of about 85% of my meniscus. Whilst this procedure would take care of the problem in the short term, the expert predicted that I would develop arthritis in that knee within 10 years. Thus he would not perform the operation on ethical grounds.
I returned to training in July but heavily strapped my knee with weight-lifting straps. Although my knee did lock on occasion there was no pain when it happened and it only took me about 10 seconds to unhinge it and carry on fighting. However, within two months of training I obtained another injury in my right rotator cuff. This injury actually affected my sleep patterns as the throbbing pain woke me up two or three times a night. The last time that I trained was in August.
This morning I decided to resume my BJJ training. I had been flirting with the idea of training at Andy Roberts' class in Farnborough for a while and feeling surprisingly fresh when I awoke I made the trip there in my car. Andy Roberts is a two-stripe brown belt under Mauricio Gomes who is the father of Roger Gracie, the world's best grappler. The advanced class was very relaxed being mainly populated by fellow blue belts and a smattering of high ranking white belts. In spite of the fact that my grappling fitness is not where it needs to be (my lungs were screaming during the warm up) I enjoyed myself and felt that I held my own against most of the guys. Compared to Carlson's the students are more relaxed when the roll and this is better for a person with existing injuries like myself. My right knee was stiff and locked a number of times. However, I am positive that with regular training it will loosen up. I sat out the last 20 minutes of the 90 minute lesson due to my exhaustion but I feel good now. In my opinion there is nothing better for fitness than combat sports. Looking at myself now my muscles are sore but look more vascular than they had this morning.
My reflection in the mirror also reveals a few bruises: a couple of purplish splotches on my chest and a small, but noticeable red gi burn on the left hand side of my face near my forehead. I have to admit that I do like having bruises and the lack of training over the last five months has made me miss them somewhat. This might sounds strange but I think that bruises and cuts are the mark of a fighter. I wear them with pride, although I do concede that they are not especially attractive to women.
I intend to train at least twice a week at Andy Roberts' this year. Whilst I am currently in good shape, the BJJ training will improve my cardiovascular fitness and harden up my body. As long as I pay relatively strict attention to my diet and continue to lift weights I expect to be sporting razor sharp obliques within the next few months.
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