Finding Passion in Life Through Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is in many ways is a great escape and diversion from the stress, monotony, and BS of everyday life. For many adults, it is a form of learning and self-expression where one gets to start or continue an athletic career and develop a sense of self confidence and awareness while maintaining a sense of humility. It can become a positive obsession where, we want more of it whether it is instruction, mat time, or knowledge. I have had many conversations with classmates and friends about figuring out ways to make Jiu Jitsu a bigger part of our lives while cutting out the fat of life that we still require to maintain a certain standard or living, status in society, or meeting the expectations of others. Almost all of these conversations are just day dreams, bad ideas, or good ideas that lack the guts and follow through to develop into a reality.

While some talk about their dreams and passions, most do not act upon them and make the sacrifices necessary to make it happen. Only two and half years ago, Kristin Furman was quickly moving up the corporate ladder, working in Pharmaceutical advertising in New York City. At the age of 28, she had graduated from Boston University, received a great job offer out of college, and rose quickly through the ranks of her company. She was well respected by her coworkers, headed a team at her job, and was meeting with executives from Pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey on regular basis. However, the career success and advancement still left her yearning for more.

While growing up in West Chester County, New York, a suburb an hour north of Manhattan, Kristin was very active in competitive team sports including soccer, basketball, and skiing. As a child, she also trained in Tae Kwon Do, before joining a Kenpo Karate school where she achieved the ranked of second degree Brown Belt while in high school.  

 “When I was taking Kenpo in high school, I was working at the school, I was sparring, it was an awesome school, but it wasn’t a competitive school. The Sensai was focused more on self-defense. More practical (martial arts.)” said Kristin. “No one was telling me to compete.  We did demos. I was 100% confident to defend myself on the street.”

Her sense of adventure and attraction to physical activity was not just limited to team sports and martial arts and her original career aspirations were to join the New York Fire Department after high school.

“When I was in high school I was a volunteer firefighter. At one point I was going to be a firefighter,” said Kristin. “When I got into the school I got into, my parents advised me to go to college instead of NYFD.”

While attending Boston University as an Advertising major, Kristin considered pursuing a career in mixed martial arts, but by the time she graduated life and the expectation of what a person is expected to do with their life when they graduate college at the age of 22 took precedence.

Kristin explained “I went to Boston University, and got a great job out of college and was preprogrammed into believing you were supposed to do this like your father did. I was grandfathered into the belief you were supposed to go to college, have an office job and work, and it was hard to transition my life into something like MMA.”

During college, Kristin took a hiatus from martial arts that continued through her post college years as she worked long hours to met the demands of her career. Eventually at the age of 28, the repetitive nature of the day to day grind at work created a sense of restlessness that drove her to return to training martial arts.

Kristin said “When I got into Karate again, I thought, ‘I like punching and kicking things. Why am I sitting in an office.”

She decided to resume taking classes again at the Kenpo Karate school in West Chester that she attended and worked at while in high school. While there were hundreds of martial arts schools in Manhattan, her sense of loyalty to the school she originally started training under remained strong. Her loyalty to her school would pay off and change her life.

 “I went back to Karate, the old school I went in West Chester and they had Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes 2 nights a week and I one day thought well I will give it a try,” she said. “I was immediately hooked and I loved it. I transitioned all of my free time to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. “

Unfortunately, the two classes offered did not fit her schedule. Fortunately, the Jiu Jitsu instructor saw promise in Kristin and offered her free private lessons at 9:30 PM on Monday evenings. The private Jiu Jitsu lessons along with her kenpo classes created a daily logistical nightmare of a commute.

She explained her daily routine  as “I get up 5:15 AM, get to work by 7 AM, work til 8 PM, and that would be enough time to drive to West Chester by 9:30 PM. Getting home 11 or 11:30 PM.”

As time went on she made changes to her work schedule to accommodate her training.

“I changed my schedule and I was in charge of my team so I made some rules so if I met with my team in New Jersey, I would leave there and drive to West Chester. I would have to talk to my team and not schedule meetings during afternoons or do conference calls while on the drive from New Jersey to West Chester."

Keep in mind, the drive from New Jersey to West Chester was a two hour commute in bumper to bumper traffic.

In addition to the long commutes, there were sacrifices and financial costs that came with this training schedule. She paid up to $400 a month for parking in New York City so she could commute to West Chester and joined the Church Street Boxing Gym in Tribeca so she could work out on days she could not make it up to West Chester. There were thoughts of joining Marcelo Garcia or Renzo Gracie’s gym, but her loyalty to her original school was too strong. Her newfound passion for Jiu Jitsu, career, and other circumstances had her rethinking her priorities and goals in life.

“I was doing so much to prioritize Jiu Jitsu and it was the only thing making me super happy. So I always wanted to own my own business and I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. You know what, how can I create a lifestyle where I can still be successful and still do more of what I want and build a life that works for me. It was killing me. I was doing Jiu Jitsu all the time. I would be on the train writing notes, practicing moves in my head. I would be on the bus and train, taking notes on what I learned the night before. The benefits of living in New York are not outweighing what I want to do.”

Many people ponder dramatic changes in their lives, but very few actually pull the trigger. Since discovering Jiu Jitsu, Kristin’s goals and priorities shifted. The day to day grind of the daily commute in New York City and long work hours had lost its appeal. She had several reasons to make a change and relocate from New York to Los Angeles.

“My brother and sister lived out here and as I started learning how big BJJ was out here, I thought it would be better out here. Also, I had an autoimmune disorder I got a few years ago when I am in anything cold, I lose circulation in my hands and fingers and toes so I can’t physically be in the cold,” she explained. “All of these reasons, moving out here Is the best thing I ever did.”

Along with the relocation from New York to Los Angeles came changes in her work and life schedule. Jiu Jitsu would become a bigger priority in her life. She joined 5 Star Martial Arts in Los Angeles and started to train under Renzo Gracie Black Belt Shawn Williams. Her training volume increased from one private lesson per week to training multiple times a day. In order for her to have more flexibility in her work schedule, she would need a job that would accommodate her training hours. Luckily, her years of experience in the Pharmaceutical industry would make her very marketable.

She said “I had a friend out here who owns a social media agency and wanted to get into the pharmaceutical industry and so I started consulting with him and it kept going and building and its been awesome. It gives me the flexibility to live the lifestyle I want to live and building out the business.”

The flexibility found in her new career as a consultant also allowed her time to pursue a business endeavor that was spawned from a problem she had when she first started Jiu Jitsu. When she started training in Jiu Jitsu back in New York, she found that there weren’t many apparel options for females training in NoGi. The apparel being worn by many female Jiu Jitsu practitioners were designed for other activities such as running or yoga and not the physical rigors of Jiu Jitsu. Much of the apparel that was available and designed just for women was limited to pink and flower designs.

“I love Jiu Jitsu. I wanted to pursue something that was my passion besides training. When I started training, I started to look out there at the gear available for women and was disappointed the only things I found was super pink or covered in flowers. It is nice to have options,” she said. “I saw an opportunity there and I thought I should jump on it. I had gone through a bunch of ideas through the years. I have had a zillion hobbies. I was always trying to think of how to make a hobby I loved into a business. When I stumbled upon this idea, I thought ‘wow,’ this is a legit opportunity since it was not done before. I just didn’t hesitate.”

In between Jiu Jitsu training and consulting, Kristin was writing a business plan for her line of women’s NoGi training apparel called ‘Detales.’ She started learning about textiles and fabrics, sketching designs for her apparel line, and purchased a sewing machine to create prototypes off of her designs.  She was creating her vision of what the ideal compression shorts, tights, sports bras and rash guards should be. Some of the apparel worn by women in the sport were made for yoga and running and not Jiu Jitsu. Therefore, the performance of some types of apparel for Jiu Jitsu was not up to par. The material could stick to the mat, hindering ground movement. The tights and rashguards might come loose and either come up down during drilling or rolling since they were not designed for grappling. Also, many apparel lines designed for women, were pink and featured flowers, which may not appeal to serious female Jiu Jitsu players. Kristin took these gaps in the market place into consideration while writing her business plan and designing her prototypes.

“Performance wise the fabric fits to the whole body. Most girls in NoGi don’t wear shorts and prefer tights,” she explained. “ The fabric is very important in not getting stuck to the mat and sliding easily. The rash guards are softer athletic fabric staying on you without coming up on you. It stays on your skin without feeling sticking. It is a polyester mix that is better than apparel that you purchase at TJ Maxx or other apparel stores. Options (in the market place) are limited. A lot of things were made stereotypical that are girly with pink and stitching.”

With much time and effort, Detales launched its initial line of apparel and website in May 2014. Kristin operates as a one woman show, overseeing the design, production, marketing, website development, public relations, social media, business development, and order processing for Detales. Since her launch, she has leveraged social media, partnerships with female Jiu Jitsu events such as seminars, and features in publications like Jiu Jitsu Magazine to promote Detales.

When she is not working as a consultant or building Detales into the top female Jiu Jitsu apparel company in the world, she is training up to 4 hours a day at 5 Star Martial Arts located in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. When she first started training in Jiu Jitsu back in West Chester, she learned that adults competed in Jiu Jitsu competitions. When she considered pursuing Mixed Martial Arts while she was in college, she thought it was an all or nothing pursuit and did not realize there was a competitive avenue like Jiu Jitsu tournaments where she could compete in a physical combat sport without getting punched or kicked in the face. The thought of competing in Jiu Jitsu helped quench her desire to compete in mixed martial arts with the reduced chances of walking into business meetings with a black eye and fat lip.

When she initially moved to Los Angeles, Kristin lived in the Hollywood, which was a short commute from the academy. She has since relocated to Santa Clarita, a suburb of Los Angeles that is 30 miles north of the city, after becoming engaged to her fiancé who owns and operates his own martial arts and fitness center in Santa Clarita. Her years of commuting around New York City, New Jersey, and West Chester for work and training made this commute easy for her. While there are several top level Jiu Jitsu schools around the San Fernando Valley, she has maintained the sense of loyalty that first lead to her discovering Jiu Jitsu and remained loyalty to 5 Star and her coaches.

The long commute to training and her obligations to both her consulting career and Detales has not made her days any shorter than the long work days she had while living in New York City. Her weekdays still start early when she wakes up at 5:15 AM. By 5:45 AM, she is on the computer working on her consulting projects and Detales until 10:45 AM. From there she hops in her car and commutes an hour south to Los Angeles for noon training sessions. She will often use the commute to schedule conference calls. On Mondays through Wednesdays, she will head to a coffee shop or her sister’s house in Hollywood at 2 PM after training to continue working until 6 or 7 PM and then return to 5 Star for another 2 hour training session. After the session wraps up at 8 or 9 PM, she will then return home, arriving at 10 PM. On Thursdays, she will return back to her home after the noon training session, and work before heading to her fiancé’s gym to train grappling with him and his students. Friday is an off day, while Saturday consists of a 2 hour competition training class.

The difference between the long days in Los Angeles versus the long days in New York City is the terms they are under and what the days are filled doing. In New York City, there were long hours working in a field that where she lacked passion and was going through the motions doing what she thought she was expected to do with her life. While in her new life, her hours are spent pursuing her passions in Jiu Jitsu and building a business built around Jiu Jitsu.

“It is not as easy as a 9 to 5 and having everything set up for you. It is a different level of stress, but it lets me do what I want.”

While her days are long and her plate of responsibilities is full, she maintains a very level head in regards to her priorities in life.

“My priorities are my fiancé and family. Second priority is my training,” she said. “I don’t want to sacrifice that to make a great shirt, but I want to be black belt world champion one day. I want to make sure I can sustain the rigid structure I have in my schedule to do both.”

Her next step to becoming a Black Belt World Champion started at the IBJJF American Nationals at Cal State Dominguez Hills on September 6^th and 7^th. The two-day tournament features both a Gi and NoGi division and kicked off the Fall Schedule of major Jiu Jitsu tournaments held in Southern California that is highlighted by the NoGi Worlds on October 4^th and the Masters Worlds on November 1^st and 2^nd.  Kristin goal is to win Gold in both events and like many, she used American Nationals as a warm up tournament leading up to NoGi Worlds and Masters Worlds.

American Nationals is also the tournament where Kristin made her competition debut a year earlier, earning a Silver medal in her first compeition. Her success at American Nationals kick started a successful run where she won Gold at Grappling X, Five Grappling, and the Las Vegas Open. During this run, she had to overcome a back injury which at times hampered her ability to train on a consistent basis. Her White Belt career in Jiu Jitsu culminated this past June with a 2^nd place finish at the IBJJF Worlds, which is the most prestigious Gi tournament in the Jiu Jitsu community that draws competitors at all levels from around the world.

When asked about her achievements as a white belt and if it exceeded her expectations, she responded, “It is not that I expected it. I wanted it. I don’t expect to win, I want to win. I want to work hard and make my team proud. And make myself proud. I want to try my hardest. I don’t think it is something you can plan in advance. I am certainly proud of my accomplishments especially with my back injuries and I was out for a while. I definitely don’t expect it. I train looking for it and want it, but I don’t feel entitled it.”

A month after Worlds, Kristin received her blue belt from Shawn Williams. For some competitors, a belt promotion equals a sometimes rough transition period at tournaments since the quality of competition improves dramatically. Some have instant success, while some struggle and need time to grow and adapt to the higher level of competition. In order to prepare for her Blue Belt debut and a competition schedule that will consist of up to seven competitions over a nine week period, Kristin has worked with her coaches to develop a game plan, altered her diet and focused heavily on drilling during her training sessions. The jump in belt divisions hasn’t changed her approach to preparing to competitions.

“I would say 90% of it is my mind. I would say for me it is mental. If I go in there feeling confident about what I want to do and how I want it to go down and I go for it without any hesitation and I believe in my Jiu Jitsu then I have great results,” she said. “If I doubt myself or second guess myself at the last minute then that is where I find I could of done better. I get myself in the mindset that I am ready for this, I deserve this, I am as good as anybody else, I have worked hard for this, and I am going to do what I want and make this go my way. I have to think like that for me.”

When I arrived at American Nationals at 9:30 AM on September 6^th for the Gi portion of the event, I saw Kristin warming up in the competitor bullpen where competitors weigh in and wait to be called to the mats for their matches. She was ready to go for her scheduled 10 AM match, listening to music on her headphones on and sporting a clear, emotionless expression on her face as she warmed up by doing squats and running in place. She was focused and in the zone, which carried over to when she stepped on the mats for her first match. She executed her game plan and finished her opponent within the first 45 seconds.

After high fiving and accepting congratulations from a handful of friends and teammates supporting her, she returned to the bullpen and resumed jogging in place and pacing around as she awaited her next match which took place 20 minutes later. In her second match she was matched up against a competitor who finished 3^rd in the 2013 Masters Worlds and trained at the famed Cobrinha school. Within seconds of the match starting, there was a double guard pull where both competitors sat down on the mats at the same time while holding each other’s gis. Kristin then scored the first two points of the match sitting up from this position and standing in a kneeling position over her opponent. Then like a seesaw, her opponent caught Kristin off balance and reversed positions and with Kristin swept onto her back with her opponent kneeling over her. A scramble ensued and Kristin managed to recover her full guard position where her legs are wrapped around her opponent’s front torso. For the next minute, Kristin is trying to control her opponent from breaking and passing her guard while looking for potential submission opportunities. Roughly 2 minutes into the match, Kristin swivels her hips and catches her opponent in a submission and her opponent taps out quickly. Kristin is moving on to the finals with two matches down and one more to go while spending only 3 minutes of time on the mat.

In the finals, Kristin is matched up against an opponent from the Mendes Brothers’ Art of Jiu Jitsu school in Costa Mesa, California. The school, which opened in 2012 has become one of the hottest schools in not only Southern California, but the world. The head instructors, Gui and Rafa Mendes have attracted some of the top Jiu Jitsu talent to their schools. In some cases, students have left their schools in search of greener pastures and richer Jiu Jitsu knowledge through the Mendes Brothers. Kristin’s opponent is coming off a double gold medal at the Las Vegas Summer Open in August, where she won both her division and the open weight division.

Ten seconds after the match started Kristin gives up 2 points to a judo trip and retained an open guard and proceeded to fend off her attacking opponent. She attempted a tripod sweep, sending her opponent to the ground out of bounds causing a restart on their feet in the center of the mat without any sweep points scored. Kristin was taken down again with a judo trip and was trying to retain her guard while down 4-0. For the next 3 minutes, Kristin worked on setting up submissions and sweeps from the closed and open guard while fighting off pass attempts from a very game opponent who was not content riding out the match with just a 4-0 lead. Eventually, Kristin’s guard broke with a minute left in the match and her opponent moved to side control and then mounted Kristin to finish the match with an 11-0 victory.

While she did not win the Gold, she has proven that she can compete at the Blue Belt level in just her first competition. While most struggle in their initial matches at a new belt level, Kristin’s debut that included a submission victory over a competitor that placed in the Masters Worlds shows that she can compete and win now rather than later and bodes well for her medal hopes at Masters Worlds in November. Usually, after a tournament, most celebrate with food and drink after weeks of training and following a strict diet to make weight. Any celebrating will have to wait since she still needs to rest, recuperate and make weight for the NoGi tournament 24 hours later.

On Sunday morning, it is another early start for Kristin on day 2 of American Nationals as she is warms up for at 9:30 AM for another 10 AM start. Today, she will have her fiancé Mike and one of her coaches Dane Molina, a black belt under Shawn Williams in her corner. Both were absent yesterday since they both had to teach Saturday morning martial arts classes at their respective schools. Also in attendance are Kristin’s brother and sister and a handful of teammates from her school. Her teammate Cody Bitler is also competing this morning and his second round match starts on the mat next to Kristin’s just as her match starts. This creates a challenge for Dane as he tries to coach both matches at the same time.

Kristin’s opponent traveled with several of her teammates from Maryland and had also lost to the Mendes Brothers competitor who beat Kristin in the finals of the Gi tournament the previous day. The match is a struggle for Kristin as she gives up 2 points from a sweep and is fighting to score or submit from her back for the better part of the match. With roughly 90 seconds left in the match, both Kristin and her opponent are sitting in a 50/50 position where they are both sitting down, facing each other with each person having one of their legs in between the other person’s legs. This is a prime position to sit up and get points for the sweep or go for a potential leg lock. In this situation, legs can get tangled and Kristin’s opponent attempts to come up while her leg is in an unusual twisted position underneath Kristin’s leg. Kristin’s opponent’s attempt to sit up caused one of her knees to get cranked in an awkward position causing her to scream. In Jiu Jitsu, screaming is the same as a verbal tap out and the referee ended the match in order to ensure her safety. Two medics run over to attend to her and it quickly becomes obviously that she will not be able to continue. She was assisted by the medics over to a medical area where there was a examination table where she received further treatment. Despite being up 2-0, she will not be able to continue due to the verbal tap and knee injury. You could tell by the look on Kristin’s face that she took no joy or sense of accomplishment from this win. It was a close match where Kristin was losing, prior to her opponent’s the verbal tap. Kristin walked over to the medical area a minute after her match ended to check up on her opponent.

The next match was for the Gold medal against an opponent from the CheckMat team. Her opponent was an experienced blue belt who had won the Pan Ams as a Blue Belt in 2012, as well as the 2012 and 2013 Blue Belt NoGi tournaments in her weigh division at American Nationals.. This would be a match up of a green as can be blue belt making her blue belt debut against a very ripe blue belt who isn’t far from her purple belt. On paper, this match up heavily favored the more experienced and decorated competitor from CheckMat.  The match starts with a lot hand fighting from the competitors while they are standing  and attempting to set up their game plans to take the match to the ground.  Both competitors are parrying each other’s hand movements, and attempting to lock up to set up takedowns. 40 seconds into the match, Kristin slips and quickly gets back up before pulling guard 10 seconds later, with her opponent nearly passing her guard before Kristin turns into a turtle position. Kristin was face down on the mat resting on her forearms and knees like a turtle in a shell while her opponent was facing Kristin and putting her weight down on Kristin while attempting to spin around Kristin to take her back. Kristin managed to cut off the back take attempt by going to her back and recovering her half guard. She was still far from a secure position as her opponent gets and head and arm cross face on Krostin and places her shoulder into Kristin’s jaw as she tries to pressure pass Kristin’s half guard. As her opponent attempts a knee slide, Kristin scrambles and is able to recover full guard position where she submitted two opponents the previous day. Kristin goes to work attempting a high guard position and other submission setups, before finding an opening for an arm lock causing her opponent to tap out immediately. Kristin’s supporters cheered and clapped and you can see the look of shock and disappointment on her opponent’s face. Later her opponent would be on the floor with a training partner and coach reviewing what went wrong in her match with her training partner playing the role of Kristin.

With the 2^nd place finish in the Gi and 1^st place finish in NoGi, Kristin has put herself in position to contend for the Gold at both the Masters World and the NoGi World tournaments this Fall. Kristin’s accomplishments in both Jiu Jitsu, business and life are a testament to her work ethic and drive. The role of Jiu Jitsu and martial arts in her life make me think of a line from Joe Rogan’s black belt speech were he said “Something that my tae kwon do teacher told me when I was a little kid that I never forgot was that martial arts are a vehicle for developing your human potential.” This holds very true for Kristin as she works toward both her short term and long term goals in all aspects of her life.

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