How Jiu Jitsu Changed my Life

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I was born in Lima, Peru, raised in a middle class family, and moved to the USA in 1999. My father, a fan of martial arts enrolled me and my brother in different martial arts styles Karate, kung Fu and Judo. I can say that most of my younger years I practiced more martial arts than playing our national sport called soccer. At the age of thirteen I was going to watch on TV something that will impact in my future. On November 12, 1993, my father and I were watching a show called Ultimate Fighting Championship also known as UFC. This event on TV was about a group of eight fighters from different martial arts like Judo, Karate, Sumo, Kung Fu, Boxing, Muay Thai, Sambo, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, who will fight each other to see who is the ultimate fighter and the best martial art of all (The UFC history). Royce Gracie originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and weighting no more than 170 lbs and five foot nine inches tall. He won every single fight by submission, and was proclaimed the first UFC champion of the world. His opponents outweighed him by more than fifty pounds and most of them were taller than him. We were amazed of how easy and quick he beat them without a single punch or kick. I asked my father if he can find a place in the city where I can train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but at that time he could not find any academy or gym where they teach the art. Nobody knew about that martial art, and the only two places to train were in Brazil and USA. Jiu Jitsu is a martial art originally from Japan. Jiu Jitsu was used as a weapon by the samurais from the 8th to the 16th century, and it was mainly used in the battlefield. Jiu Jitsu means in Japanese “gentle art” because the technique of this martial... ... middle of paper ... ...nt physical exam the result said that I was so close to the limit on having high cholesterol. According to the table My father asked me if I was interested in doing some exercise, so I enrolled at a local gym to lift weights. I was at that gym for one month, but I was lost and I felt like I did not belong there. After a month, I was still 38 pounds overweight and some days even heavier. I started changing my diet, but with no better results I started looking to train something else. I remembered my old interest about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so I started looking for a place to train. This time was different than my search in Miami, because I was able to find a place near my house. This gym was Brazilian Top Team Boston, located in Everett. It is just ten minutes driving from Cambridge and had the best reputation in Massachusetts and New England.

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