Dec 10, 2025
Jiu Jitsu changes lives. I know that because it changed mine. I showed up with a body that does not always listen to me and a condition that most people forget I have because the symptoms are invisible. Jiu Jitsu gave me structure, purpose, and a place where I could be competitive again. It gave me something steady to hold onto when other parts of my life felt unpredictable. It gave me a community and a reason to keep pushing. In many ways, it helped me rebuild myself.
But I also watched people walk in looking for their own version of that transformation. Some stayed long enough to feel it. Most did not. The attrition is everywhere. People disappear after a month, sometimes after a single hard round. We celebrate the ones who stay and rarely question why so many leave.
Is this something we should be embarrassed about?
Is our high attrition rate something we need to fix?
Or is it part of what makes this art what it is?
There is a common belief that the struggle is the gatekeeper. Jiu Jitsu is uncomfortable and humbling. It forces you to confront the limits of your ego and your body. I know the feeling well. There are days when my leg feels like it belongs to someone else. Days when fatigue hits out of nowhere. Days when simply showing up is the win. Maybe that discomfort is supposed to filter people. Maybe only the people willing to face themselves in that environment are meant to stay.
But here is the other side of it. If Jiu Jitsu helped me when I needed something to anchor me, then how many people could have had that same experience if we guided them a little more carefully. How many were one conversation away from staying. How many left because the environment felt overwhelming. How many were dealing with their own invisible battles and needed someone to say that it is normal to struggle in the beginning.
I am not asking to soften the art. Jiu Jitsu should stay difficult. It should stay honest. Those qualities are exactly why it helped me. But difficult does not have to mean unwelcoming. Honest does not have to mean cold. We can protect the roots of the art without closing the door on people who might have thrived with a little more support.
So the question remains.
Would making Jiu Jitsu more accessible ruin what makes it special.
Or would it allow more people to experience the same growth and sanity that so many of us have found on the mats.
There is no perfect answer. But it is a question worth asking