Why And How Did I Get Into Jiu-Jitsu?
I blame Ronda Rousey. No really, I do.
but first… it started with Karate, aged 11 and continued for 3 years, but it just didn’t stick.
Fast forward to 2016 and Rhonda Rousey before her loss to Holly Holm and then to Amanda Nunes. Rhonda did something that no other woman did before: sell fights better than men in the octagon. (there’s a whole nother conversation to be had about Rhonda’s contribution to the UFC but that’s at a later stage).
Ok, so I saw Rhonda’s fights, especially the Miesha Tate ones and the famous armbars. Rhonda destroyed her opponents with her judo and finished them with the armbar — I was mesmerized, but I didn’t have the courage to start a new martial art and to learn how to do armbars. I had researched a gym near my house but didn’t join it until a year later.
How did I start?
One day, out of the blue, I picked up the phone and called this gym. I spoke to a guy on the phone and asked if I could join as a 27-year-old with no experience, aside from regular gym-ing.
So then on a Friday evening, I walked to this gym with weak knees and stomach cramps — I was nervous. My mind kept going “What are you doing? Turn around! Go home” as I rang the entrance.
Inside, I saw a group of shirtless henched guys working out on the mat. I took a seat on the couch as I got ready for my very first MMA workout.
The warmup had started and I clearly remember running out of breath after the first lap (what the fork?!!?). But this was only the beginning and later in the session when the only other girl in the group practiced her choke on me I was hooked: I knew this is what I wanted to be able to do myself: choke and armbar people.
Despite picking up different types of injuries, I kept on going to this gym, kept training, 2 to 3 times a week and even quit my normal gym routine to only do MMA. But in January 2018 I realized that no matter how good my striking had become in MMA, my ground skills were 0 and if during sparring I would end up on the mat, it would be game over for me — I had no jiu-jitsu skills whatsoever.
Something needed to change, I had to improve my ground game if I wanted to progress with my MMA: so I decided to join the jiu-jitsu classes at my gym. The same story repeated itself: me going in with weak knees and a funny stomach, but I went in, introduced myself to the coach and joined my very first class (luckily some of my MMA mates had already transitioned to jiu-jitsu and made my intro a little easier).
Technically speaking, jiu-jitsu is another monster to MMA starting with the warmup, with the terminology and use of energy.
I was a mess: I didn’t physically understand how to roll, I couldn’t keep up with my team even in warmup and I had no idea what a “guard” was: so I did the next rational thing on the list: I bought a gi with a white belt and showed up to the next class.
And the next after that. And the one after that too.
And now, almost 1 year after I joined the StrongerBJJ team I’m still going strong, practicing 3 to 4 times a week and setting high goals.
Why do I do it?
I started MMA and Jiu-Jitsu to train my mind and then my body. To test myself and see how far I can go without quitting. To become stronger mentally and to regain my confidence. Have I found all the answers to my problems? Nope, but I’m on a journey to solving them and I’m enjoying the hell out of this journey.
Best of all? I didn’t quit.
