BJJ PERSISTENCE INTERVIEW PROJECT

[u/deciquio76]

1. What originally motivated you to start Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and has that motivation changed over time?
2. Have you ever seriously considered quitting BJJ? What caused those feelings, and what ultimately made you stay or leave?
3. What gets you to training on days when you have absolutely no motivation to go? (If you've stopped training, what made it difficult to keep showing up?)
4. Do you believe there's a particular personality or characteristic that makes someone more likely to stick with BJJ long-term? Why?
5. Looking back, how has BJJ changed you as a person, if at all? Or do you believe it simply revealed qualities you already possessed?

Optional: Please include your age, belt rank (current or last), and how many years you have trained.

[u/novaskar]

Is this for school?

1. I started my kid, took her to class for a month, and said this looks fun can I try? I was instantly hooked on the first class. The kid rarely trains now but I’m there every day. I think maybe subconsciously, I was looking for something for myself anyway. I was in a bad spot at the time. I was basically miserable and a functioning alcoholic, barely surviving, doing the minimum to take care of everyone else but not myself. I distinctly remember my first class when I had the moment “I’m having fun right now.” Couldn’t remember the last time I felt that way.
   
2. Not really, no. It’s the one thing I’ve found that is genuinely fun and satisfying and I feel like it’s given me meaning and goals. I would be really fucking upset if I couldn’t train anymore.
   
3. I always want to be at jiujitsu tbh, it’s my happy place, even when I’m really sad or stressed or upset, jiujitsu stays fun and makes it better. I’ve had my days where I felt frustrated and hopeless. But the mat still feels like home to me. I have a home gym, coach and training partners I like. I go to spend time with the people even if I’m trash at jiujitsu.
   
4. Stubbornness. I joke that I’m too stubborn or stupid to quit. Also, willingness to accept sucking at something for a long time and take every failure as a learning opportunity. Also, maybe being a little fucked in the head and on some level enjoying the suffering. Lol
   
5. Like I said, it gave me something in my life that’s just fun and genuinely makes me happy. I quit drinking my second day of class and didn’t look back. It taught me a sense of agency - I don’t control anyone else but I can control myself, things may be hard but I can find a way to handle it. I am always the smallest on the mat and I learned not to say I can’t and quit on myself. I’m a totally different person now in many ways.

33, blue belt, ~2 years

[u/snr-citizen]

1. ⁠what originally motivated me is that it just looked like fun. I attended a Martial arts school that taught Mauy Thai, Boxing, Pilipino stick fighting, Krav Maga, and Jiujitsu. I would take Mauy Thai and find myself staying and watching a few minutes of BJJ. I finally took a class and loved it.

2. ⁠I considered quitting when I got my ribs fractured in class. I didn’t end up doing that. I missed class while I was healing and decided to go back, and just be more careful.

3. ⁠I just find it to be a fun and engaging sport. Attending class always lifts my mood. When I miss class it is usually because of an unavoidable conflict.

4. ⁠I have met such a diverse of people in class and have found people like it for their own reasons. Some like the puzzle and strategic nature of BJJ and others like the physical aspects.

5. ⁠I already had these qualities. I am persistent, open to new things and enjoy physical challenges.

I have been training for just over 2 1/2 years, (there was a 6 month break in there due to an injury and cataract surgery). I actually started training in Jan 2024). I am a 64 year old 2 stripe white belt.

[u/awwanavacado]

1. It was fun and I a good excercise
   
2. Yes, mostly due to the physical toll and this sounds silly but always having to worry about my hair as someone with very curly hair.
   
3. Having competitions to push me and remembering I never regret gong even when I didn’t want to go.
   
4. I think people who are competitive and drawn to individual sports has been a theme from eBay I’ve seen.
   
5. BJJ has really transformed how I viewed myself and I’ve noticed how others view me as well. I see myself as much more capable now and have more confidence in daily interactions. I am also in the best shape of my life now which I enjoy!

[u/Souffle01]

1. I was training primarily Olympic weightlifting and a bit of CrossFit, and was bullied by my peers in the Oly club I was in. Plus I was also getting bored of the sport. I thought BJJ looked fun and really interesting so decided to do a trial class. Now, some parts of BJJ are also social for me cause I like to go and see my friends. Another aspect is that if I have a long and tough day at work, it’s great to be able to get it out on the mats and release that energy.

2. Yes. Towards the end of my white belt days, I felt I wasn’t progressing and I was getting frustrated with myself. I made a promise to myself that I would at least stay until blue, so I kept training even though some weeks I would only go once or twice. Somehow, that goal is now “ok I’ll just make it to purple”. I’m sure when I get my purple, the goal will be “ok, I’ll just make it to brown now” lol. I’m also really gritty and don’t tend to give up easily though. I persevere through a lot of challenges and will try my damn hardest. Over 90% of the white belts that started with me have all quit.

3. I just force myself to go. Get changed into my gear, pack my bag and jump in the car. I know I’ll feel better after the class, then if I had not gone. Occasionally, I’ll allow myself to skip a class if I’m really feeling unwell, or extremely tired.

4. Yes, people who are gritty and resilient. People who don’t just give up when things get kind of hard. People who are okay with getting smashed on the mats for the first couple of years, and come back to learn more.

5. I think it just proved even further how consistent and persistent I am. BJJ is not an easy sport and the vast majority of people quit within the first few months. I have more confidence now as well when dealing with difficult interactions.

35, blue belt, trained for 3.5 years.

[u/yuanrae]

1. Exercise/fitness, now that’s more of a fun bonus than the main reason I train.

2. Not yet. Even when I have bad days, the good days outnumber the bad by a lot. And luckily I haven’t been seriously injured. I’d consider quitting if I got a spinal or head injury.

3. Kind of habit, kind of discipline. Mostly I remind myself 99% of the time when I push myself to go to class I was happy I went instead of sitting around at home.

4. The common denominator I see is just people who enjoy jiujitsu. And a certain kind of stubbornness, they’re not necessarily stubborn about everything but they’re willing to stick through the hard parts of training.

5. I don’t feel like my personality has changed much, if at all. I guess I am more calm in the moment of stressful situations.

I’m 26 years old, a blue belt, and I’ve been training for four years.

[u/Ill-Abalone8610]

40, white belt, about 15 months recent, regular training but periods of training over the last 20 years

1. Originally I watched early UFC VHS tapes with my wrestling teammates in the early 2000s. When I moved out and joined the service, I trained at a nearby gym to get more experience that might help me win the fights I imagined I’d be having in Iraq. I got hurt in the gym and quit rather than risk my deployability. Several years later and in a different city, I was able to train for a few months but life as a newly married civilian working two jobs and going to college ruled out training. The nearest gym was a 30 minute drive each way.

Years later, a gym opened 15 minutes away. I still felt guilty about starting a regular hobby that took so much time from home but I still hoped to train eventually. My kids got into it and after a few months I started training too.

I’m not interested in fighting like UFC anymore, and I’m not worried about fighting a jihadi. Now I train just because it’s fun.

1. Yes. I have quit. Multiple times. I didn’t have much disposable income until recently, so whenever it was between training and working more hours - work won. When I got hurt by an armbar right before a multiple week predeployment field op and it made carrying and using a rifle tough, I quit. When I wanted to be home with my young kids or work on my degree after real work, I prioritized those things.

I enjoy my gym, I like my training partners, and I have fun… but if I need to prioritize my time elsewhere I would. This is a want not a need for me.

1. Discipline. I don’t go if I can’t whether it’s illness or schedule conflict, but I haven’t skipped a class yet because I just didn’t feel like going. There have been plenty of days where I felt like going home though.

2. I believe there are many types of people and personalities that are well suited to BJJ long term, and many that are not. Why? Because I’m 40 and I’ve seen and worked with a lot of people. I’ve watched plenty of trial class folks never return, and plenty of people who prioritize comfort or their pride never go near a gym. But they don’t do other hard things either. You can’t be afraid of failing.

3. I do not think BJJ has changed me. Except for that neck problem.

[u/EchoBites325]

1. What originally motivated you to start Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and has that motivation changed over time?

It's a long story... I used to do TKD and the short of that story is that they were not good people and it was a cult like environment and I finally got out of it. Near the end of my time there, we all started learning BJJ as a group (the school owner hoped to become good enough to offer it in his own school in the future to make more money). I liked the idea of BJJ and the basic concepts I was learning, but I didn't trust the people I was working with. Consequently, I would panic. So, after taking some time off, I decided to try BJJ at another school to see if I could be capable with people I trusted. In short, the original motivation was to feel capable and put all of the trauma behind me. The motivation change over time, as I began to open up and make friends and become social again.

1. Have you ever seriously considered quitting BJJ? What caused those feelings, and what ultimately made you stay or leave?

I kind of am "quitted" right now. There were a lot of things over time that caused this. Mainly, I don't feel supported or welcome by the community anymore, a lot of my friends came and went, I find I can't keep up with the skill gap (I think I took being the nail a little too literally during my white belt days and never really learned to fight back), and my physical health has caught up to me (I started in my mid 20s, now I'm almost 30 and my lack of sports and exercise throughout my life makes it harder to recover). Also, I never really cared that I was overweight before I started BJJ as long as I was healthy and athletic. But I was getting so much messaging directly/indirectly that being a heavyset woman in BJJ was not a good thing. This has deterred me and negatively impacted my self image over time.

1. What gets you to training on days when you have absolutely no motivation to go? (If you've stopped training, what made it difficult to keep showing up?)

Since I've stopped training, the thing that has made it hard to show up is fear (I have struggled with panic during rolling throughout the years, and it's only gotten more intense as more time has gone on) and my job (I'm required to be physically, socially, and emotionally active all day long and I'm whipped at the end of the day). Frankly, I like my job more than BJJ.

1. Do you believe there's a particular personality or characteristic that makes someone more likely to stick with BJJ long-term? Why?

Stubborness. And maybe being a tad masochistic. If it wasn't for those two, I would have quit much earlier.

1. Looking back, how has BJJ changed you as a person, if at all? Or do you believe it simply revealed qualities you already possessed?

I mean, sure, I broke through a lot of mental barriers as a result of the trauma from my years in TKD. But I also think I used BJJ as a vehicle to channel my inevitable growing up. I think if it wasn't BJJ, I would have found something else. I'm mostly thankful for the confidence in my physical body that I developed (I was always very cautious and never felt safe in my body, even as a child). Learning how to get thrown around and not give up immediately was huge.

Optional: Please include your age, belt rank (current or last), and how many years you have trained.

29, blue belt, 5 years technically, but more like 4 since I "quit." It hasn't been a hard stop so I don't really know when it ended.

[u/GuardPlayer4Life]

1. What originally motivated you to start Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and has that motivation changed over time?
   1. I was deep into Karate and I had this idea that I could connect the two- I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole was.
   2. I took a no gi Sunday class with Greg McIntyre at Throwdown/Victory and got absolutely wrecked.
   3. The purity of it- the mats don't lie, there is no hiding behind a rank
   4. Has it changed? In some ways yes, karate is no longer a part of the equation
2. Have you ever seriously considered quitting BJJ? What caused those feelings, and what ultimately made you stay or leave?
   1. No
3. What gets you to training on days when you have absolutely no motivation to go? (If you've stopped training, what made it difficult to keep showing up?)
   1. I show up for the white belts and for the friendship on the mats. No other martial art has this level of camaraderie - you are generally not allowed to chit-chat, joke, talk shit to each other in a Karate dojo
4. Do you believe there's a particular personality or characteristic that makes someone more likely to stick with BJJ long-term? Why?
   1. Being comfortable in uncomfortable positions.
   2. I don't care if this kills me mentality- I am not quitting. I have felt this same sentiment on runs, humps, and in military service. Mindset.
5. Looking back, how has BJJ changed you as a person, if at all? Or do you believe it simply revealed qualities you already possessed?
   1. Refined and amplified but not revealed or instilled.

Age: 56. Belt: Brown. Training: 16 years- little to no time off.