Starting the journey

I arrived at BJJ's doorstep through a rather circuitous route. You see, in one way or another I have always been involved in combat sports. I wrestled throughout high school, been slammed to the mat thousands of times as a judoka and punched in the face more times than I care to remember during my stint in Muay Thai - perhaps this explains a few things. When I arrived in the great white north, I was looking for something to fill the void. I was also overweight - a condition that felt severely awkward given my previous sports obsessed life. But, this is what happens when under the stress and time crunch of a demanding PhD programme. Those 4 years of my life (basically) involved waking up, going to the fridge, watching some horrible programming on tv while downing some equally horrible breakfast cereal, sitting at my desk writing for hours, realizing I'm hungry, going to the fridge, sleeping... My life and body paid severely for the inertia. Although I was not entirely sedentary during this period - I played golf... I'm not complaining or regretful - I have a (sometimes) wonderful job, wonderfully understanding wife and two fantastic children for the effort. But I was neglecting something tremendously important - my body. While my mind was becoming increasingly acute, my body was becoming rather substantial. 

Quite literally, I woke up one day and looked at my kids and Joanne, and then down to my rapidly expanding abdomen (where there was once a 6 pack) and decided I needed to do something ... I was tipping the scales at an oh so impressive 230 lbs. (I'm 5'10 ish). Toward getting back to some kind of fighting shape, I went back to Muay Thai for several years. This got my rather lethargic golfer's ass in gear and (re)awakened my competitive spirit. But something was missing. Although I was getting rather proficient at punching, elbowing and especially kicking, I wanted something more. 

While driving to work everyday I routinely sped passed a place advertising Mixed Martial Arts. After 2 years of driving past the sign and telling myself that I should really drop in, I finally did just that. Not only did this gym offer Muay Thai, but BJJ. ... 

There is much more to this story which I will offer as time goes on. But, suffice it to say for now that the mats are my home away from home and I weigh in at a healthier 170 lbs.. I've never been happier (is it weird that choking people makes me happy?)!

Bryan

bjjstudy@gmail.com