If our students gather any wisdom from what we teach here at Balanced Bodies, I hope they understand that our intention here is less is more. The majority of people are overstimulated, overstressed, and overworked. The philosophy of what we do here – in the massage room, in Yoga, in Jiu Jitsu, on and off the mat – is that when we exert less, we get more out of our experience.

We know, you're an experienced grappler and you like to roll a lot. You think warm ups are stupid because instead of running around the mat you would rather be drilling live or rolling, right?

Wrong. Muscle activation is a real thing, that helps in many ways to strengthen and correct muscular imbalances. But wait, you want to roll forever right? Longevity is as much of an art as the pajama scramble, and it only comes to those who take the extra time to ensure it.

Back injuries are the most common problem in our sport, caused by poor posture during the day, and the absence of the proper muscles doing their share of the work. Our posture in jiu jitsu can compound this problem, especially if your dominantly a guard player or love the berimbolo or rubber guard or just get stacked a lot.

A little background on me. I’m a 36 year old guy who, up until BJJ, had never taken any martial arts classes. In fact, I had never been very active. I didn’t wrestle, play football or baseball, run, or enjoy swimming, and I hated mandatory phys. ed. throughout school. I never got in a fight, and though I was constantly teased and picked on, I never had a mindset for revenge.

I grew up in the era of The Karate Kid, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc., and late night reruns of kung fu movies. Love or hate them, stars like Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and even Chuck Norris set a lot of the standards for how kids my age thought about martial arts. Lots of my friends took Taekwondo and Karate, and Jeet Kune Do was referenced regularly as the greatest of the martial arts (presumably based more on the superstar nature of Bruce Lee than actual knowledge about JKD). When I was in high school, I was fortunate enough to attend UFC 4 here in Tulsa, where Royce Gracie continued his quest to show the world the merits of his family’s art. As with many people, this was my introduction to BJJ.