Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
I learned I would be in Brazil to speak and conduct a workshop at the University of São Paulo for a week in July, just over a month before landing there. As I had little time to prepare for what would be mashed into a working vacation, I did little research into my BJJ exploration Continue Reading
I journeyed to Toronto in Ontario, Canada to be a speaker at an academic conference. While there I decided to take the edge off of speaking among my academic peers versus the business conferences, I usually attend, by venturing into the Canadian BJJ scene. I found a good number of BJJ and MMA academies available Continue Reading
By the time I got to Naples, I was exhausted from BJJ training in Portugal and Spain but still eager to try a class in Italy. I decided to walk the four mile hump to an evening class, after finishing up a 3.5 hour walking tour of Napoli. The route to class seemed a straight Continue Reading
It was after returning home 10 years ago from a trip to Pamplona to attend the San Fermin festival’s run with the bulls that I decided to take a BJJ class with my son and hence initiate my love for the sport. So after running with the bulls again this past year, but with my now Continue Reading
Lisbon, Portugal was originally an eight hour layover on my way to Spain. I identified a couple of BJJ schools close to the airport, that offered an opportunity to train since I was going to try to catch some site seeing between flights. Because of my timing in the city I booked an inexpensive Airbnb Continue Reading
How else could I make a recent relaxing getaway to Colonial Williamsburg, VA, known for its serene walkways through historic towns, ferries along the James River, and cozy pancake shops, uncomfortable better than by visiting a BJJ school? Well, I still enjoyed the strolls through history, ate an obscene amount of pancakes, and got in Continue Reading
My brother and I decided to meet up this summer for yoga, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, comparing life’s notes, and beer. I immediately turned to some BJJ schools I wanted to visit before the pandemic quarantine and found a few had either closed or relocated out of town without notice. A school closing is sad for the Continue Reading
During the last few months of the COVID-19 quarantine, I took advantage of my early vaccination and remote working status to visit Utah. Yeah…Utah seems random as hell, but Utah is an amazingly beautiful state that I wanted to explore a bit more than driving through it provided a few years ago. I decided to Continue Reading
When I was a kid, a popular television show aired about a community bar in Boston, “where everyone knew your name.” The show’s name was “Cheers,” and I can’t remember the bar’s name, but it might as well have been called Westside Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Do your soul and Jiu-Jitsu practice a huge favor, and stop Continue Reading
A friend recently asked if I had only one pair of jeans? I laughingly responded that I had more than one pair; in fact, I had six pairs. She apologetically explained that she only ever saw me wear one pair, and she was just curious. I turned to her and smiled. I told her that Continue Reading