31 Comments
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Edwin Ngetich's avatar

Wooow your post about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu reveals the depth of life. It is not about dodging kicks, but building the mental stamina of life generally.

I once read about Bruce Lee and how he turned out to be philosophical, an attribute few are aware of.

I will read more of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Martial arts can definitely lead you down a much more philosophical path, if you're open to it. It takes the right kind of person in the first place, and Bruce Lee was definitely this!

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Edwin Ngetich's avatar

Yes, I know it is about mental resilience and choosing to understand yourself first. One of the quotes of Bruce Lee that inspires me was "Be like water". He says that water is not bothered with external changes. And that it is so soft and yet it can make hard objects crack.

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Stephen W.L.'s avatar

It’s been an absolute pleasure finding the perfect community, Revolution, in which to dive into. Without a doubt- - one of the best paths of which I’ve ever embarked. Daniel, Trey, and yourself have created an incredible community that many of [us] can’t stop talking about! -Stephen

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Stephen! I'm glad you're here.

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Whitney's avatar

A couple of my friends were on our high school wrestling team and I liked watching their matches. I liked watching MMA long ago to see the technical aspects. It was so interesting. Some people used to actually tap out back then. It was about the sport and respect. I noticed that over time, people stopped tapping out AND there started to be a lot more trash talking and BS. I lost interest after that. No drama.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I wrestled in HS! I graduated in '93. How close are we in age?

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Whitney's avatar

Not close at all. I graduated in '89. 😁

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Ha! You think 4 years is a lot given that we're both older than Star Wars?

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Whitney's avatar

Baaahahahaha. I misread your comment. I thought we were 14 years apart. LOL

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Andrew Smith's avatar

You were the cool senior smoking out back, listening to Whitesnake, and I was the nerdy freshman listening to Paula Abdul in the cafeteria.

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Whitney's avatar

Well, I didn't smoke until college and I wasn't especially cool. I did see Whitesnake at the Hampton Coliseum, though. I went to lots of concerts back then. I've always loved nerds.

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Whitney's avatar

A few things:

1. OMG, both of my parents were teachers before they became guidance counselors.

2. Great post. I kept wondering when/how you were going to bring AI into it. LOL

3. I watched MMA pretty avidly about 15 years ago. I remember that the most successful fighters were practitioners of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Oh snap! You might regret telling me that about MMA. The early days of MMA... I probably know more than 99.9% of today's fans. It was really something else.

But the era I hearken back to is 1990-2005 or so. When it got on cable TV and they turned the whole thing into a reality show, I was done. Still am.

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Whitney's avatar

Nope, I don't watch it anymore, either. Too much drama and BS.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I also really, REALLY miss the style-vs-style aspect. When I got into judo and jiu jitsu, MMA wasn't really separated from BJJ in any meaningful way. If you wanted to train, you were training to be able to beat people up, full stop. This was super duper effective, and everything else out there was trash (oversimplified, but certainly sold that way... and a lot of truth to this). I hearken back to those days all the time. Sakuraba, Rumina Sato, even Frank Shamrock and Bas Rutten, all those older fighters! So amazing.

Women's MMA was there for a hot minute in the late 2010s, but it has since been homogenized so every fighter has the same playbook. Zzzzzzz.

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Kristi Koeter's avatar

Really loved this post. I did competitive olympic weightlifting for 7+ years, and I'm privileged to have worked with coaches such as yourselves who have so much love for the sport and for sharing their knowledge. I always wanted to try BJJ, but then I caught the mountain biking bug.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

That's really cool, Kristi! Maybe we could collaborate a bit on your experiences lifting weights. I'm always interested in tapping into folks who are readers and subscribers, and other good writers who are both are a natural fit.

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Kristi Koeter's avatar

That would be super fun

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Rudy Fischmann's avatar

It is probably among the most important thing you could possibly do for the child.

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Rudy Fischmann's avatar

I am disappointed that Daniel did not mention his love and admiration for me as I have guided him to where he is today. It's ok. I'm a humble and gracious mentor.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I will make 100% sure to bring this to his attention.

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