Returning to BJJ
BJJ is what I've spent the most recreational time investing in and thereby paying returns to myself. Climbing might be a close second, but a lifetime ago and one could argue that you can take the fighter out of the cage, but never the cage out of the figh
 Originally Published 5/31/19
Once Upon a Time...
... in 2010 I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitus and MMA.  Whilst I started with the pursuit of competing in MMA (which I did), I quickly fell in love with BJJ (and competed there also – as well as in boxing).  To make a long story short, I found myself in a life of dramatic change.  I had moved to a new sate (in 2012) for graduate school and had no known family or friends in the area – until I found a new niche in rock climbing.
My last logged training session of that era was 9/25/13. Â Grossly glossing over the huge dividends climbing has paid to my life (friendships, adventures, and hardships alike), I had been training jiujitsu for less than three years and was "off" for almost 6 years. Â That last 2013 training year was quite spotty at best due to finances and no shortage of drama on the local scene.
Don't Call it a Comeback...
...I've been here for years. Â The rest of your life starts today. Â In January of 2019 I donned a Gi and rolled (pun intended) into a new academy. Â Pictured above, I posted it to Instagram with the caption that the bravest thing you may ever do is start again. Â
Starting in the first place takes courage, though there's nothing to compare yourself to except your own expectations. Â Those expectations only grow when you stop training for twice as long as you were in the first place.
Let me rewind for a minute though. Â In December of 2018 I did some serious review of what I wanted to accomplish in life and what I wanted my life to look like 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Â Simply put, I didn't want to make any more excuses... I wanted to get back into BJJ. Â The rocks would, as they have for a millennia, always be there.
The process started with getting my weight in check.  While I had been on the paleo scene for quite a while, this was my first foray into keto(genic territory) and when I kicked off my interest in "bio hacking" – or really just doing my own homework and quantifying my own health.
Those expectations I mentioned... I humbled myself and resigned to YouTube and watching videos of literally things I teach to Day 1 White Belts (now). Â Yes, there were also injuries. Â "Body hardening" is a real thing. Â My fingers and grips were tough as nails from climbing. Â The rest of my body, not so much. Â As with my weight, I wasn't "out of shape" per se, but combat sports require something much more of you.
I was also fortunate to have a co-worker who had trained in a variety of martial arts and a roommate (at the time) willing to participate in some Sunday shenanigans to help he knock the rust off – and there was a lot of it!
Back to the Future:
So it went, I found myself at an existential ultimatum. Â At the root of it though, my climbing gear wasn't going to wear out just sitting there and the mountains sure as hell weren't going anywhere. Â I had developed a new (again, at that time) passion and skill for dog training, but I could do that any time.
It was time to seize the day and sign up with a new BJJ academy. Â Climbing, competitive dog training, and combat sports are all beautiful artistic endeavors in their own right. Â But, at the end of the day, I'm not a spindly iron spider "cut from the cloth" for climbing. Â I'm more of the wolverine type you'd expect to be wrestling bears rather than scaling walls.
Of the new academy, it was 7 a.m. in Atlanta and still dark outside when I met Ranieri Paiva – a mountain of a  man and 3rd degree black belt at the time.  There was a gaping hole in the wall where someone had tumbled (or been thrown) through the drywall.  As I chugged my last bit of coffee, R.P. queued the speaker and blasted Master of Puppets.  I knew I had found a home.
All Road Lead to Rome:
As it turns out, some of my (now closes fiends) who I had trained with in the 2010's era also parted ways from the old academy. Â Interestingly enough (as I don't believe in coincidences), Dave and Kyle had opened an academy under R.P. and both received their black belts from him as well. Â
I still joke with them that I've got a lot of catching up to do and need to keep my @$$ in gear!  On a serious note, I (have to?) tell myself that the time away from the mat was just that – time off, though certainly not time wasted.
Isn't This a Training Post?
Forgive me, just like my father and his father before him, we're a family of storytellers. Â So, let me hold back and just throw up a few bullet points:
2010: started training
2013: last documented training session before becoming a mountain hippie
2019: started training again at new academy
2020, February: earned purple belt
2021, July: earned brown belt
100 Days of Training:
I don't think there's a secret to the above process other than that you have to put in the hours (work).  There isn't shortcut or time frame to that, it just has to get done – something I'll have a later post on.
One thing that I did find helpful, long before the "new normal" of lockdowns and pandemics, was that I viciously searched YouTube for solo-drills to practice at home since I was driving an hour to the gym 3-4 days / week.
I still preach this message to white belts today. Â Pavel and Dan John called it "greasing the groove." Â If I wasn't at the gym, I'd do at least 20-30 minutes of solo drills right there in the living room. Â In part, I needed this to wake my body back up into grappling mode. Â The other benefit was that my brain proverbially shut off at some point and my body / brain were always in grappling mode.
For 100 days I did some sort of grappling movement / training every day. Â This was on top of (gradually decreasing) climbing training and dog sport activities. Â However, you get the idea. Â Instead of another cat video, look for something useful. Â Then stop planning and do.
So, the punchline of this article isn't to toot my own horn. Â It's to advocate for doing the damn thing! Â As Dan Gable said, "If it's important, do it every day." Â Oss.