A about a year ago a very short and frightened latina walked into a place that I would now call a warriors dream club house. My Boyfriend had been taking classes at the Jungle Gym in Yonkers for some time and he always went on and on about how amazing the coaches and his fellow JG teammates were. Naturally being upset that something had taken his attention away from MY awesomeness I wanted to investigate.  I asked, repeatedly if I could go and at least watch, he said no, repeatedly, telling me that his time training was "His Time" and he liked that. I would love to say I left it alone...but well..I couldn't. The worst thing you can ever tell a woman is that she can't be a part of something, I was determined to get there.

       One day he actually invited me to watch! Eureka! All those subliminal messages must have finally worked!! I went, I watched....I was scared out of my mind! I thought "Oh my God these guys truly are animals!" They trained harder then I had ever seen and did so relentlessly. No pain or injury  was ever acknowledged, they would just push through. I had never seen anything like it. I came from the typical workout background, you know, treadmill, abs, weights and call it a day, and in that world when you get hurt you don't train like a bunch of pansies! "ouch I got a cramp! guess I'm out of the gym for a week" boo hoo! These guys dislocate things and come back anyway. Some might call that dumb but that to me is a warrior spirit!

        I soon started taking the Muay Thai class - no it's not a drink! it's a martial art! for the love of God educate yourselves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai-  I loved it! It was like an effective version of all those useless -but great for cardio- kick boxing and Tai Bo classes.  I had found my comfort zone, that was, until I was asked to spar for the first time. I couldn't imagine punching anyone in the face, which is why I got punched in the face, very hard the first time I sparred, I remember the coach yelling "what are you doing she's a girl "and I was thinking "yeah I'm a girl" but I took it like a champ. However, I quickly learned I didn't like sparring, but it was part of the deal. One day while I was about to leave one of the coaches (lovingly known as scarecrow, everyone gets a nickname, I haven't gotten mine yet, although one BJJ buddy did call me "Hollywood" which the DIVA in me LOVED but you don't really get to pick your own nickname) said "Gina Where are you going? get on the mat!" That meant I was staying for Jujitsu! I had never really said anything but I had always wanted to try the BJJ class (Brazilian Jujitsu) so I felt like I had been invited into an elite club. I was, once again scared out of my mind.

        I have to be honest, the thought of rolling around on the floor with a sweaty partner might sound like horizontal hookie pokie fun but in BJJ your opponents' job is to make you miserable and everyone who trains at the Jungle Gym knows that and executes it brilliantly. My first day was tough, I came home with bruises in places I didn't know could get bruised! But I couldn't wait to train the next day. I have now been training in BJJ for a while and in fact just came home from class not too long ago. I have to say that the feeling you get when you really start to grasp BJJ as a whole is just incredible and the amazing camaraderie is unbeatable. At the Jungle Gym in Yonkers, the place I proudly say I train at, you learn a lot more then just BJJ and other mixed martial arts, you learn the respect a fighter has for the MMA it's self, the coaches and his/her comrades.

       We don't just train together, we go through life together. There is no other place like this. Deep down there is a fighter in all of us, should you ever feel inclined to release your inner beast,  you have to do it at The Jungle Gym, where warriors are made!