Early Love

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

Rory Miller discusses his early love of judo:

I loved the strategy, the feeling of flight and even the impact. I loved the work out, the exhaustion. Going to muscle failure in my hands and abs several times a night. I loved, loved, loved the sensation of finding the perfect moment and sending a bigger man through the air and I loved dominating big guys on the ground.

Here’s where judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu are very similar:

I dabbled in other things, but one of the things I liked about judo was that it was exactly what it was. Rokyu or godan, you were going to get on the mat and you couldn’t just say you were good. You either were or you weren’t and everyone knew. You couldn’t lie to yourself.

There was no mysticism — my instructors didn’t know mysterious secrets that I didn’t know, they were simply better at what I knew. And I have seen things presented in internal martial arts as deep truths about structure that were just basics in judo — how to rest while groundfighting and how to not use muscle are big parts of effortless power and using tendon and bone instead of muscle.

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