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Comment by sgtcodeboy | Hacker News Reader

Certainly can't speak for everyone, but the most effective form of exercise that I have found is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Couple of reasons. First: The deeper you get into it the more you learn its primarily an intellectual pursuit - its just hidden in a very physical endeavor. When I'm doing Jiu Jitsu, I have to actively think, engage my problem solving skills, I can't go on auto pilot as I do in other things - rowing machine for instance. Second: Anyone can do it, at nearly any age with any body type. If you're older and not super athletic, your Jiu Jitsu will be different than say a 20yo who is very athletic. But that in no way means your Jiu Jitsu or experience will be any less effective. First time posting on HN. Hope this helps someone.

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I agree. BJJ brought me to a place of happiness that was amazing. I felt completely connected with my body.

Then I hurt my back three years ago doing weight lifting. I haven't been able to practice BJJ ever since, and I've been suffering with constant anxiety for the past three years. Every day since has been a struggle, with some really bad days, and some better ones.

This seems to be all the rage right now but there is a significant risk of CTE with BJJ. Concussions are normalized to an alarming degree among all BJJ practitioners I’ve spoken with.

It all depends on how you train. WRT CTE/Concussions, I can't speak to that. No one I've trained with has had that issue, maybe that's more of an MMA thing - ie striking. If you go 100% full competition all the time and never want to tap out - then yes I would agree there is significant risk of injury. But that's true with any physical endeavor. If you instead train with the long run in mind, pick and choose your rolling partners, and tap out when you're not in a good situation then you can mitigate those risks quite successfully. Having weight trained, ran track and trained BJJ, I've had far more injuries in weight training + track despite having far more time on the mats than weight training and track by a very large margin. We're taught in my academy - you are accountable for your own safety. Just tap, come back another day. Fully understand and admit not all schools are the same.

Two years into the sport and I’ve never had a close concussion call or seen anything close. Heads could hang into each other on a crowded mat I suppose but that risk is darn low if you are paying attention.

It is funny how there is this bell curve of intellect in the arts. At first you know nothing but this allows you to just do things without hesitation, then you learn a lot and it becomes all intellect and skills, but then you become a master - one that does something with all the intellect but without thinking at all.

Like when you see a master of some art, they do not stop and hesitate to do something, they just do it and it looks so effortless and yet it is an amazing thing they have done.

They do say that you learn more and more throughout the belt levels of Jiu Jitsu. But once you reach black belt, it starts all over again. So pretty much exactly what you're saying, just that the master has to find new ways outside of trained pathways to accomplish goals. In the end, its an continuum I figure. I've always viewed it - Jiu Jitsu - as a video game with infinite levels.

> Anyone can do it, at nearly any age with any body type

This is 100% false. I trained for about 3 years and the number of people that had to drop BJJ or stop training for periods of time due to injuries was high, including myself. It's a sport where you accumulate a lot of minor injuries, especially if you roll at a semi competitive pace. This doubled for people who would come in from non-athletic backgrounds (as in white collar professionals not on TRT)

That said it was the most fun i've had with sports in my life

if you're not male, or are an older man (like >35), or are a child, being a BJJ novice looks like it must be a fun and welcoming environment. I think back before the boom times it may have been fun and positive for everyone.

if you're a younger man, it's a much more competitive environment. since MMA has become popular, there are a lot of guys coming in who did high school wrestling or maybe a little combatives in the Army -- so purportedly novices but in fact already quite skilled and fit. some of these have big macho attitudes and enjoy kicking your ass if you're an actual untrained beginner.

Being a good jiu jitsu teacher doesn't necessarily mean you're good at handling this dynamic. Some gyms handle this well, and BJJ gyms often have informal ways of "encouraging" this kind of guy to cool off but I noticed people don't always bring them out on behalf of a younger guy getting slammed around. So you either have to be a very fast learner or willing to be knocked around and embarrassed a lot more than the other students.

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