You’re probably thinking “well duh, I’d want to win every fight I knew I was in” and I think that goes without saying..but what about the fights you didn’t know you were in? Or the fight that you maybe don’t want to admit you’re in?

I found Jiu Jitsu when I was 21 and on a decision making path that was not conducive to my future. I guarantee if you ask anyone who knew me from age 16 until 21 they can tell you how much of a horrible person I was. By the time I was of legal drinking age I was already a self-proclaimed expert of “sipping and cruising.” I was living a life that was not only embarrassing, but volatile as well. Several times in my young life I was only a step or two away from some horribly bad, life altering decisions.

I was tough, at least I thought I was..I had won a handful of pretty tough fights but I was losing the only fight that mattered. That was the fight of my life, the fight for my future and becoming the person that deep down, I knew I wanted to be.

The fight that I needed to win had absolutely nothing to do with violence nor did it have anything to do with another man as my opponent. My fight was solely with myself and my inability to make good life decisions.

I was at a relatively low place in my life in January of 2013 when I walked into my first Jiu Jitsu class (which was actually an open mat where I ate one of the larger pieces of humble pie I had been served in my young life).

After that day, something in me changed.

I’m not going to tell you I had spiritual translucent vision of my future and knew that this was going to change my life but I will tell you I loved it, and it was really fun. Gradually, I found myself positively changing things in my life to improve my ability in my newly acquired hobby. This meant less craziness on Friday nights so I could do better at Saturday morning open mats, reducing and stopping my alcohol intake so I could recover better in between classes..the list goes on.

It wasn’t overnight, and I would still give into unproductive desires from time to time however, the more I trained, the more scarce these slip ups became.

Eleven years later, I’m running my own successful Jiu Jitsu academy surrounded by people who are trying to make their lives one percent better every day. I’m a doctor of physical therapy. I’m married to the perfect woman and I have a beautiful daughter with one more child coming in June. I have an amazing circle of people around me who want to see me succeed as much as I want to see them succeed.

I see everything in my life through the lens of discipline facilitated through years of training in Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu also taught me the humility I needed to see that without God, none of this is possible.

Jiu Jitsu helped me win the most important fight of my life that, at the time, I didn’t even realize I was in.

With or without Jiu Jitsu, I hope you win your fight.

-Josh