Training Jiu-Jitsu in New York City provides its own way of life.
Whether its training in a fifth floor walk-up or lugging dirty gis to the laundromat to deal with, city life definitely plays a role.
Here are the seven most commons things that will happen to you if you train Jiu-Jitsu while living in the Big Apple:
1. You might become that sweaty, smelly guy on the subway. Maybe where you train doesn’t have a shower or the line was too long and your morning commute was already calling. Maybe you just decided to wear your soaked gi pants on the trip home to shower later. Whatever it is, you just became the guy who no one wants to rub elbows with.
2. Laundry becomes a whole nother demon. If you think dragging your clothes down the street to the laundromat is a burden, try carrying forty pounds of thick, perhaps wet cotton. It can constitute as a weekend work out between getting it there and transferring it all from washer to dryer. Oh, and the cost will be twice as much since you either pay for an hour in one or divide the gis in separate dryers just to make the process a little faster.
3. Forget the warm-up at the gym. You just ran three blocks from the F train to make it to class on time and used the stairs because the elevator, if you have one in the building, was taking too long.
4. You’ve mastered the ability to carry four bags at once. Between your work clothes, your laptop bag, your gym duffle and your gi bag, your shoulders are solid. You’re ready for anything. Except a shower because you forgot your towel at home.
5. Cutting weight for tournaments is hard. It’s especially hard when your trek to the A train every day involves passing a deli, your favorite pizza place, the best espresso bar in town, a halal cart, hot bagels, frozen yogurt and some Thai food. And that’s just the first street. Good on you for having such discipline.
6. Some of the best clothing to wear during winter doubles as your training gear. Those spats and that long sleeve rash guard you’ve packed for Monday noon training also keeps you warm on your commute to the academy. Layer it all on and no one will ever know that deep down, your true colors are showing.
7. Water bottles no longer need to be bought, thrown away or left behind. Now you can buy a permanent one or claim a plastic one with a marker because New York tap is good enough to drink. Forget the $2 jug every day and sip from the sink.
