Martial Arts Gave Me Something to Wake Up For
I didn't start martial arts because I thought I was going to become a professional fighter.
I definitely didn't start thinking I would eventually fight in the UFC.
I originally got into martial arts because I was trying to lose weight.
But something happened once I started training.
I found something I genuinely looked forward to.
I wanted to learn.
I wanted to get better.
I wanted to see what happened if I kept going.
At that point in my life, martial arts also helped steer me away from making some poor choices. Instead of having nowhere to put my energy, I had training.
There was always another practice.
Another technique.
Another challenge.
Another opportunity to improve.
Eventually martial arts became much more than exercise.
It gave me purpose.
It gave me discipline.
It gave me confidence.
It introduced me to people who helped shape my life.
And somehow that journey eventually took a kid from the Marianas all the way to the UFC.
But this isn't really an article about becoming a UFC fighter.
Because most people who train martial arts will never fight professionally.
And that's completely fine.
What interests me now is what martial arts can give the person who walks into the academy after work.
The mom who wants to feel strong again.
The former athlete who misses competing.
The child who doesn't believe in himself yet.
The teenager who needs somewhere positive to put his energy.
Your journey doesn't need to look like mine for martial arts to change something in your life.
Maybe it becomes the thing that helps you lose weight.
Maybe it helps with stress.
Maybe it gives you a group of people you look forward to seeing.
Maybe your child starts standing a little taller.
Sometimes something that starts as “I'm going to try one class” becomes much bigger.
That's exactly what happened to me.
And that's one of the reasons Sarah and I built CRANK Martial Arts.
We want people in Guam and the Marianas to have a place where they can discover what martial arts might become in their own lives.
You don't have to know where the journey ends.
Sometimes you just need to start.