Growing up I was never into sports, or anything that involved any physical activity whatsoever. I was always playing video games, reading books, or watching TV. Until I was about 10 or 11 years old is when I realized I LOVED music. I still do! Anybody who knows me knows that I am one of the nerdiest guys when it comes to music. What really got me into my love for music was Metal music. Not so much any of the subject matter, but because of the sheer musicianship needed to be able to do all these amazing sounds. What always caught my attention was the drumming. Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Mario Duplantier (Gojira), Joey Jordison (Slipknot), Tim Alexander (Primus), all drummers who absolutely blew my mind anytime I heard anything they played! The way they can keep time, rhythm, and has this crazy sort of ambidextrous ability for all of their limbs baffled my mind. When I got my first drumset I knew I wanted to learn how to do all these things, and boom now I had a hobby! Trust me guys, you could ask my mom, (bless her heart, those things are LOUD) I played drums every dang day for as long as I could, up until I moved outta my moms house. Quickly I was making my own bands, making my own songs, playing shows and doing everything a performing artist would do! It was a sweet time in my life and I hope to do more of it once I get my black belt. Now obviously this blog post isn't about me being a musician, or how much of a nerd I was with music. It is about how my musicianship made my transition into Jiu Jitsu training a little easier. For anybody who has done any sort of Jiu Jitsu training realizes very quickly that it is a FULL BODY Martial Art/Sport. You are moving your hands one way while moving your legs another, you learn quickly your head is also a limb that can be used when grappling, you are sore in muscles that you yourself didn't even know you had! I find a lot of these parallels in music whenever you are learning how to play any sort of instrument. Jiu Jitsu and Martial Arts in general are so interesting to me because of all the hand eye coordination you need, and ambidexterity needed just to pull off any move! A basic side control for example causes you to not only use your arms to frame, your hips to shrimp, and your legs to reguard. The thing we don't really think about until we are forced to is thinking about what my rolling partner/opponent will do next. I have to use a lot of brain power AND muscle power to think about my next move. Playing an instrument requiers you do to the same thing. A good Musician (music genre) can play anything and that is what is so apparent when it comes to using your mind and body to achieve what you are trying to do! The closest thing I can think of being similar to a live Jiu Jitsu round is playing a live song on a stage. It's hard! I know for a fact that I am not the only who thinks about this correlation between Music and Jiu Jitsu. Professor Tony always uses music as a example when showing a move that is like a similar one. I know for a fact I am not the only musician-turned-jiujitsu person, there are countless ones. Maynard James Keenan (Tool) is probably the most prevalent one. Matt Heafy (Trivium), Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) Sacha Dunable (Intronaut), Igorr Cavalera (Sepultura) the list goes on. I can not tell you how many concerts/shows I have been to, it honestly must be in the thousands, and end up finding out at least one of the musicians onstage is also a grappler! Check out this cool article to read more about it!
Coach,
Eric