What made you start training, and what keeps you coming back?

Short answer, the early UFC's. Since I'm in my late 40's now, it's become more about staying in shape.

@rfrazier , you know what's interesting is that I saw the first UFC when I was 13 and the ones after that and it never got me curious about BJJ. I always loved martial arts and wanted to be a Ninja or Karate master lol. I used to take martial arts technique books out in the library when I was a kid.

Then when I was 20, and was able to pay for it my self I found BJJ. At that point I wrestled and I thought it was really cool that it was like wrestling but you could submit people.

When i joined I lost 2 fights that's my Greatest loss remind me to come back every time think about the past and makes train more of me to get better every day some day feel like give up but my mind not

My older brother started karate and tested his skills on me. Had to start karate in 1973. What makes me come back - very good guestion. Maybe I don't know better?

Always did martial arts escrima, karate and Thai boxing. Had a coach that took to the ground and made me look like a toddler on the mats which opened my eyes to the ground game, so I found a bjj gym near me and started and loved it.

The always learning and showing my daughters that hard work and perseverance Of showing up even when I don’t feel like it, is the greatest asset in life.

Fascination with UFC led me to do a white collar charity MMA match - 8 weeks training and a limited rule MMA match at the end. Loved it but ended in a draw so I did it again 6 months later and took the Americana win. Don't particularly like getting hit in the face so I took to the BJJ side. From there I fell into a coaching role early. It became my life and now running a gym of my own with my wife provides much more satisfaction than my desk job.

I started training BJJ with my boys, and shortly after earning my blue belt, I tore my ACL, MCL, and meniscus.

After a long road of recovery, I’m finally back on the mats.

It feels good to be training again and even better to be doing it alongside my boys.

I’m taking it one step at a time, rebuilding strength, confidence, and my game. The goal isn’t just to get back to where I was, but to come back smarter and appreciate every round.

If I'm honest, I needed something to do that didn't include my wife. I do almost everything with her, and I started to feel like I wasn't being myself. I honestly don't enjoy training but I also don't dislike it, however I'm only 2 months in and still feel like I'm just trying to survive and not get tapped (which happens daily hahaha).

I originally got into martial arts for self-defense, but that’s definitely not what keeps me training now. What keeps me coming back is how deep the learning goes. Every time I think I understand something, sparring exposes another layer I need to work on. I also like being able to test what I practice against people with different styles, sizes, and skill levels. Right now, the constant problem-solving is probably what keeps me hooked.

I was lucky enough to always have been into martial arts, I played ninja turtles as a toddler, did traditional jiu jitsu as a child, the ultimate fighter S01 started when I was in grade 10 and I started some Muay Thai and MMA by grade 12 but I played rugby and wrestled and Bjj in college but didn't get consistent training in until later in life.