Starting a martial art like Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a big commitment to many. This is especially true if this is the first time you are joining something like this. You may feel scared and a bit overwhelmed when you join your first class. You have nothing to fear though. This is perfectly normal and everyone goes through an initial stage of fright. But as you start going to classes religiously, you will notice the tensions fade away. Excitement will slowly replace these feelings as you get more familiar and comfortable with your surroundings and a new routine.
Before you decide to start, we have listed four life-changing benefits that starting Brazilian Jiu-jitsu can provide to give you an idea of what to expect.
Physical Health
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a great activity that promotes weight loss and physical fitness. Each training session is filled with numerous warm-ups, drills, and spars that will keep you in motion for hours. The changes you will notice after a few months of training will be better flexibility, stamina, and physical strength. You may also have shed some pounds and inches to your waistline without even noticing.
Just a side note: No matter how fit and physically active you are, you will get tired when you step on the mats. You can be able to run 100km or do 50 pull-ups in a row, but, if you spar with a blackbelt who can’t even run 1 mile, you will still get tired. So just keep that in mind and take it easy. Learning this martial art is a marathon, not a sprint.
Mental Health
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a thinking man’s game. Many even like to exclaim that this martial are is chess in combat form. A Lot of thinking and quick decision-making is required to perform at an adequate level. A technique or submission may have a hundred entries, as well as a hundred counters. It is your job to choose the best way to the end goal, which is tapping your opponent out.
This is not an easy feat though, as your opponent will be trying to do the exact same thing to you. So it is all about who thinks faster and performs the required technique before the other person can even react. The faster your thought process becomes, the easier time you will have in hunting for those submissions.
Lifestyle change
This martial art promotes a better lifestyle in general. If you are someone who sleeps late(or never gets enough sleep), eats unhealthy food every day, and doesn’t take care of their own body, you won’t be able to perform at an optimal level. And this is seen especially during the sparring portion of your classes.
Once you realize you want to get better at Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, you will be unconsciously making lifestyle changes in the process:
- You may start going to 6am classes because you want to add an extra class to your training schedule. In turn, you will find yourself sleeping earlier in the day because your body is getting used to the routine of waking up early.
- You are starting to eat healthier because you want to perform better in sparring and want more energy to roll.
- You lose and shed all that extra weight because you want to compete and join the lightest weight class that you can. This increases your chances of getting that gold medal.
Whatever the reason, you will soon realize that this martial art steers you to better lifestyle changes that are perfect to incorporate into your daily routine.
Join a life-long community of like minded people
The best thing about starting Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is the people you will meet and train with. There will be people from all walks of life: Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Students, and so on. You will gain life-long friendships which you would not have had doing another sport. The best part is you will have your own community where you can just geek out on jiu-jitsu that people who don’t train won’t understand.
Just a side note: Just like money, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a universal language! You can go to any gym in the world with your Gi, not speak a word of the local language, and still be able to get an amazing jiu-jitsu experience. But always still bring your smartphone with a translator. After BJJ class conversations through google translate is a fun and interesting way to converse and get to know your teammates when you visit another country.
