Archive for month: November, 2022

Joshua Janis – BJJ Globetrotters

Age: 39
Belt: Black
Profession: Communication Coach with MyOdisee
Started training (year): 2000
City/country:  Milwaukee, WI, USA

 

Main achievements in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:

The main thing I am proud of is creating lasting relationships with practitioners all around the world. In a close second, becoming a megaphone for the Jiu Jitsu hobbyist. We can become excellent at Jiu Jitsu and also train in a painless, precise and playful way.

 

Joshua Janis – BJJ Globetrotters

 

Which Globetrotters camps have you attended:

I have attended Arizona a bunch of times, Iceland, Estonia, Heidelberg, and St. Barths.

 

Which camp has been your favorite so far?

Estonia in Tallinn. It was a magical mix of people in a wonderful city.

 

 

Favorite stories/moments from the camps?

Oh gosh, so many. I’ll pick Three. First, the 12 ft ladder, Jesus take the wheel, back flop into a kiddie pool. Second, rapping karaoke in estonia while having way to many “Free” Mintu shots. Third, finding a hidden club in the basement of a bar we were just in the night before and had no idea. Dancing the night away when I thought I just wanted a night cap.

 

Your favorite class/classes to teach at camp?

I just love teaching, so any really. If you are twisting my arm (Jiu Jitsu pun intended) I would have to pick my guillotine classes as I have the largest breadth of knowledge on the subject.

 

 

Anything else you want to add to your profile:

I have 2 BJJ fanatics videos out with a third being filmed in November.

https://bjjfanatics.com/products/guillotin-glossary-volume-1-by-josh-janis

https://bjjfanatics.com/products/guillotine-glossary-volume-2-by-josh-janis

I have a dojo named White Lotus that my partner Meghan and I own in Milwaukee, WI. We love visitors. Check us out at https://www.gentleartlifestyle.com/whitelotusbjj 

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Joshua Janis – BJJ Globetrotters instructor

 

Where is the gym located?
The best address ever – 420 S 1st street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

How many people train there?
14

Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
The gym is growing really fast. Since we’ve been open for 3 weeks as of writing this, that is 5 students a week :)

What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
Our school is for experienced grapplers, so our lowest is 4-stripe white belts with multiple black belts.

When did the gym open?
September 6th 2022

Some facts about you:

Name: Joshua Janis
Age: 39
Belt: Black
Profession: Interpersonal Communication Coach with www.myodisee.com
Years in BJJ: 19
Other martial arts: TKD as a kid
Currently living in: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Originally from: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA

Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence
Like any good story, it starts with trial and tribulation. After coming out of Covid I ran into some unexpected internal conflict with the gym I had been at for 15 years. Having done a good bit of travelling, watching other coaches, other gyms, and listening to a plethora of different perspectives made it hard for us to fit into any gym’s culture. We felt that there could be a school that focused on the hobbyist, whose culture was a bit nerdy, and where you could focus on learning in a roll instead of winning.

Once we committed to creating a home for us, the universe provided. We found a perfect spot, in the perfect location, for something we could afford. We got to work, putting in the long hours to create a brand that was congruent with who we are as people. Then building the comfortable environment that we felt was super important to our culture.

White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA is different. We cater to the experienced BJJ hobbyist. Our classes are principles-based over individual methods. Our gym is open 24/7 to members and couples as a co-working space. Our lounge allows for a space to come together to watch grappling, fights, Avatar the Last Airbender, or even House of the Dragon.

While it is still very early, I consider ourselves very lucky. It has been an amazing experience to create something with my partner Meghan. Her ability to listen to her emotional voice balances my logical voice perfectly. While it has been a lot of work, I look back at what we have accomplished so far with fondness and pride

Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
One common thread with our students is their open-mindedness and intelligence both in their professional and Jiu Jitsu lives. Mix these traits with helpfulness and pour into classes that encourage discussion on what works for the individual and you have White Lotus.

Why do they train in White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA?
I believe our people start training for many reasons, however they stay around because of the dojo culture. If the dojo culture matches what the student wants then they will stick it out.

What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
In general, it is just like any business. Staying organised, keeping the facility clean, how to handle student challenges, how to get people in the door etc.

We have a very specific challenge in that we are opening as a dojo for experienced grapplers only, which means no white belts (which is normally the blood of a dojo). It isn’t that we are against white belts, it is that we want to teach advanced BJJ principles so you need to have basic methods somewhat understood. This makes our pool of possible participants smaller. We also don’t want to be perceived as “poachers”, so we created an auxiliary membership that can easily be paired with a home gym of students.

White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA

How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
I believe that we are still at the tip of the spear in regards to the popularity of Jiu Jitsu. It is a tool that fixes so many of the challenges we face as a society. When done right, It inspires confidence and develops strong relationships. As people develop their own expressions of the art it will continue to explode both in Milwaukee and all over.

What’s the best thing about White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA?
I’ll answer this from my perspective…

Spiritually: Creating something with my the love of my life.
Emotionally: Watching students interact with something you have created.
Physically: The lounge. It’s so cool to have a place to chill. It’s like a living room in a dojo!

What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym ?
Depends on the time of year. Summers in Milwaukee are perhaps the best in the country. We have huge music festivals, we are the home of Harley Davidson, and if you have never seen Lake Michigan it will take your breath away. In winter, the best part is our winter BJJ camp :)

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Thanks for sharing! If you’d like to visit White Lotus Jiu-Jitsu, USA you can find them here.

 

Age: 45

Belt: 4-stripe white belt

Profession: I identify mostly as a full-time mom. All legal work experience, telco business, and investments feel kinda irrelevant compared to parenting.

How many years in BJJ: 6

Other martial arts: I started with MMA after my 4th child was born. I guess I was a bit overwhelmed with the chaotic life with kids at home and I was looking for a place where I could release some stress (sometimes moms need to kick something for their sanity). A 3-month introductory course for beginners seemed just the right thing, because I thought 3 months is doable and by that time I’ll have gotten the stress out of my system. However the club also had a 3-month follow-up course, and as a young widow I had new reasons to keep going. During MMA classes I sometimes saw people doing BJJ on other mats. BJJ looked awful, sweaty, and embarrassing. Not for me, I thought.

Where do you live: Tallinn, Estonia

Where are you from: I was born and grew up in this lovely town Pärnu, where this year the BJJ Globetrotters beach camp took place.

Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I like real letters and postcards. I have a penpal in Finland with whom I’ve exchanged handwritten letters for 32 years. I was on a school trip to Finland and a girl asked my address when we were visiting a local school. The next time I saw her again in person was 27 years later during another trip to Finland.

A few years ago I discovered postcrossing. This is also a cool way to send and receive postcards from all over the world.

Marju Kern – BJJ camp in St. Barts

Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
I think the first time I read about BJJ Globetrotters camps was on social media, when someone from Estonia shared her experiences. I was immediately mesmerized by this – imagine that! The two best things combined: travelling somewhere and training with friendly like-minded people! Then Priit “defensivebjj” Mihkelson started participating in camps and was very un-priitly happy about that. As a curious person, I wanted to go and see in person what it’s all about. Finally in the summer of 2020 the planets were all correctly aligned and I could go to my first abroad camp in Iceland.

Participating in a camp is an excellent chance to squeeze more training hours into a smaller time period. At home I can go to the gym 2-3 times a week, if I’m lucky. At the camp I can take 3 classes a day, plus open mat time. Accordingly it’s all win-win for me. I can see new places or familiar places from new angles and have more mat time. Plus hopefully there are more people of my size to train with.

Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
The last one was the Faroe Islands Camp. I arrived a couple of days earlier because I wanted to look around. The nature in the Faroes is breathtaking and it’s worth taking time to enjoy that.

A trip that I’m looking forward to next August is a 10-day expedition to Greenland on a sailboat.

Marju Kern – BJJ Globetrotters

What are the things you enjoy about travelling?
I enjoy being in a new environment, where everyday chores don’t haunt me. New tastes, different smells, light from different angles, different landscapes – when travelling I notice more details around me and that changes the perception of time. Days feel longer and that in itself is really uplifting considering how regular days tend to slip away too fast.

Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
Here I can only tell about travelling to BJJ Globetrotters camps, since those are my only training destinations – at least so far.

When travelling to a camp I always have this feeling that I get more local inside info on what to visit and what to do. For example, I hadn’t heard of summer tobogganing before the family camp in Austria, and that was really fun to try with kids.

Of course, travelling to Caribbean Camp pays off price-wise. The camp is the cheapest option to stay on this wonderful island for a week.

What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
The most colorful experiences are definitely from trekking trips to remote places like Kamchatka and the Kuril islands (far east of Russia) or Torres del Paine in Patagonia. Apparently I am very naive and I believe everything they write in ads. I went to my very first trekking trip with a small organized group to Kamchatka. It was said that no special skills are needed, only that I have to be morally prepared to walk 8 hours a day while carrying supplies for 1 week in my backpack. There were moments where I cried (inside) and would have definitely preferred to have had certain mountaineering skills. The lesson I learned from there is that when there are no other options I am able to do so much more than I ever thought.

Surprising experiences in random order:

• How many steep and slippery cliffs I can climb (without any safety ropes).
• How easily you are given a gun in Russia when you have to wait in the woods and there is high probability to meet a bear. No questions ever asked about whether you know how to use it.
• How my body feels after a 10-hour boat trip on a heavily crowded boat, sitting on a hard bench when legs could be moved only when the entire row of people moved their legs together.
• How many midges are in Scotland in a quiet morning.
• How rainy the rainforest is during raining season.
• How friendly people are everywhere and how many interesting stories they have.

Marju Kern – BJJ Globetrotters

Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Not so much. At my age I prefer comfort and I’m not looking for the cheapest options possible. I usually don’t have the liberty to wait until last-minute cheap offers or discounts pop up.

If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
Pack less and see more.

Thank you to Marju Kern – BJJ Globetrotters for making this interview!