Progressive Martial Arts Blog A Modern Martial Arts Blog

You Are a Minority!

By David Corrigan

Most of us have been in the majority for our entire lives. You might not have realized it, but training martial arts makes you a minority! This past week, Felipe Costa and his wife Ana, came to Knoxville, TN to spend some time with my family. While he was here, we naturally discussed Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition. When you love a sport like many of us do, we follow the sport, know the names of our favorite athletes, and watch some matches on YouTube. However, my dad taught me a great lesson when I was younger that I want to share with you all -

Many times because of the people we surround ourselves with, the websites that we frequent, and the amount of time we spend thinking about martial arts, we forget that only a very, VERY small percentage of the population is like us. For example, name the top 3 swimmers at the last Olympic games, or how about the top 3 runners. Most of you probably thought, "ooh Michael Phelps..." or "Usain Bolt!", but couldn't name any more. Swimming and running are probably one thousand times more popular than Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but we cannot name the top 3 in the world! Unless, you are one of the people that really follows swimming, visits swimming websites, and watches swim meets on YouTube.

Sometimes because of the growth of the UFC and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, we get a false perception that many people are training martial arts. The truth is, the population that understands the difference between Karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is growing because of the UFC, but is still extremely small. The amount of people that actually have trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is even smaller. And finally the amount of people that have ascribed to the "Martial Arts Way of Life" and consistently train is miniscule.

How does this work to your advantage? If you are training to learn to defend yourself, do not fall into the trap of thinking your attacker will attack you the way your partner in class rolls with you. The average bully on the street will not have any real training, and will resort to many of the "classic" attacks such as haymaker punches, headlocks, and pushes.

If you are training because you love the sport of Jiu Jitsu, enjoy the fact that you are in an elite club! I am lucky enough to call one of the most successful competitors in BJJ, Felipe Costa, my close friend and teacher, AND to have my 56 year old (later this month) Dad as my number one training partner and teacher, providing me with this kind of insight day in and day out.

Now to prove my point, go ask 5 random family members and friends who the two people are in the picture above!