Popular fitness personality Dr Mike Israetel has just been promoted to blackbelt in BJJ by Josh Vogel at The Jiu-Jitsu Company. He is one of the most well-respected experts in the fitness world right now, and he’s one of the few who has a legitimate academic background in the sport with a PHD in Sport Physiology. Israetel also has with a deep understanding of nutrition, sports science, and coaching; and has been a competitive bodybuilder as well. He’s a man of many talents though, and for a number of years BJJ has been a big part of Israetel’s training regime.
Although he isn’t necessarily a motivational speaker specifically, many people have found both motivation and inspiration in some of the things that he has said during his media appearances. Dr Mike Israetel actually shared something that will likely resonate with many BJJ enthusiasts not long after he received his black belt:
“I’m bad at almost everything I start. I’ma slow learner. I stumble a lot. I get frustrated easily. I think about quitting constantly. I feel like I’ll never improve. I stick around and do my best. I find some shaky ground. I improve. I master. I innovate. I teach others. Then I find something new to suck at.”
This wasn’t aimed specifically at Jiu-Jitsu and in fact, Israetel said that ‘the best example of me doing this is my culinary career’. Regardless, it’s easy to see the parallels between that and the journey that most people will go on as they progress through the belt ranks in BJJ. Although there are plenty of celebrity BJJ enthusiasts these days, few will come into the sport with the same elite physical background that Israetel has. More importantly though, nobody will reach the level that he has without being able to separate out any physical advantages from the pursuit of technical development.
Dr Mike Israetel announced the news that he had been promoted to black belt in BJJ in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
