Anthony Bourdain

"I will never be young again, or any younger than I am today.
 I will never be faster or more flexible.
 I will never win competitions against 22-year-old wrestlers in my weight class.
 I will never be a Black Belt.
 None of those things will happen, but none of that matters anymore."
-Anthony Bourdain



He is a big-deal chef, and writer, and television personality, who also does Jiu-Jitsu. He gets it.

His training started when he was 59. He recently earned a Blue Belt, and is now the ripe old age of 60. I am the same age as him, having starting back when I was a mere 55, and am now a Purple Belt. I get it, too.

The younger people do not get it. They have no sense of their own mortality.

My parents and grand parents all passed away at around the age of 90, so I might just have as much as 30 more years on this earth. They will not, however, all be Jiu-Jitsu years of the sort needed to progress.

Older people certainly can "do" Jiu-Jitsu at advanced age, but trying to grow through the ranks is a different kettle of fish. It isn't enough to just be there, gently practicing technique, and carefully rolling with a few trusted partners.

The question for any old student of Jiu-Jitsu must be, "how long will I last?"

I read somewhere that Anthony Bourdain trains daily. That's the kind of thing instructors value. Being a celebrity certainly doesn't hurt either. How long will it be between his belts? No way to know.

My version of Jiu-Jitsu has very specific rules for that sort of thing, so my progress can be more easily charted. I am lucky in that I started a few years earlier than Mister Bourdain.

How many years of progress do I have in me? I'm pretty able right now. I feel like this will continue for the immediate future. Let's say that continues until I'm 65. There would also be a period of significantly slowed progress, but still having progress in the right direction. Let's say that I'm be able to pull that off until age 70. Beyond that, not so much.

With that type of training future, Brown Belt rank is a strong possibility, as would the four stripes that can be earned with it. No way a Black Belt rank will get squeezed in.

For Anthony Bourdain, assuming similar rules, and having started later, the situation is harsher. He has an excellent chance of earning a Purple Belt, but even Brown Belt rank will likely be out of his grasp.

He speaks on his victories being survival, not "winning." He is working to get better at that; at being as dangerous as possible to the person trying to submit him. He is fighting to train his body and mind to become increasingly effective more quickly than his body can degrade.

He does this knowing that at some point it won't matter how hard he tries, or how much he trains, that the upward slope of his effectiveness will not only level out, but will begin to angle downwards. This will be inexorable.

He gets it.

I get it, but none of that matters.

We train.