Andrew McKishnie

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art developed by the Gracie family, most notably Hélio Gracie (pictured). It is primarily a grappling art (i.e. no striking), in which submission holds such as chokes and joint locks are used to force your opponent to tap.

Hélio Gracie devised a system with which a smaller opponent could defeat a larger, stronger opponent through the use of leverage. The effectiveness of this system was put to the test at the very first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where Hélio's son Royce was crowned the champion despite being one of the smallest, weakest athletes in the field. Today, BJJ is exploding in popularity as both a sport as well as a means of self-defense. In addition, BJJ is an essential part of a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training regime.

BJJ is a very intense martial art that is not only demanding physically, but mentally as well. Matches are extremely fluid and require not only careful planning, but also many on-the-fly adjustments and recalculations. A big part of what I love is that not only is BJJ good for my body in terms of keeping me in shape, but I also find that it keeps my mind very sharp as well due to the very cerebral nature of the sport.

I began training in Ottawa, ON and after a couple of years I received my blue belt from Rodrigo Gorga and Sam Lok at Neak Ta. When I moved back to London, I began training at Adrenaline MMA under Professors Jesse Gough and Rowan Cunningham. After growing immensely under their guidance, I was awarded my purple belt in Spetember 2019.

I have had many amazing experiences that are derived from having had the opportunity to train at such a high quality gym. The first is that I have been given the priviledge of being part of the fight camp for MMA fighters as they prepare for their fights. This has been a surreal experience to go from watching these people compete on TV to being there in the training room with them, helping them to prepare and investing myself in their success. It has been an eye opening experience to see how these high level athletes train for such a high stakes competition.

The second big opportunity that I have been able to take away from my time at my new gym has been that I have been able to transfer my love of teaching from lingiustics to BJJ. I currently teach a weekly BJJ Fundamentals class on Tuesday nights at Adrenaline MMA. I have found that bringing back basic techniques into my consiousness and poring over the details of those technuques as I prepare to teach them has sharpened up my technique. Additionally, the feeling that I get from being able to share my love with the sport with people who are just beginning is extremely rewarding. BJJ has a very steep learning curve and a very high attrition rate for new students for several reasons (it's very complicated, it takes a long time to develop competence, it can be very physically demanding and uncomfortable, etc.), and as such I take my role as many students' first experience with BJJ very seriously, and do my best to remain positive and supportive while also teaching very precise technique. It's a great opportunity to develop both as a BJJ practitioner and as a person through this leadership role.

Yoga

I began practicing yoga shortly after I began training BJJ. In many ways, I find yoga and BJJ to be perfect complements of one another. They both require a great deal of breath control, body awareness and concentration. Yoga is an essential part of regular maintenance, as well as a big part of my prepatation before any BJJ competition.

In addition to the obvious physical benefits from practicing yoga, I have found many mental and emotional improvements. Yoga has been a large part of my journey to develop more patience and calmness, which I had been lacking in my life. When I was younger I was a very reactive person and prone to mood swings. However, through my practice of meditation through yoga I have been able to develop strategies to cope with these emotions and been able to reflect upon myself as a person to be able to address their root cause. Through this, I have become a much more well-rounded, thoughtful and considerate person.

I think that what allowed me to develop these attributes is that yoga acted as a bridge between my mind and body. I had always been very in tune with my physical body, having played sports extensively from a young age, but did not have the same control over my mind. Yoga allowed me a way to begin to exert more control over my thoughts through movement, something I was already familiar with. Using my body as a means to guide my mind into a medidative state has been a key to me growing in many ways as a person and developing many character traits which I had struggled with in the past.

One of the things that attracts me most to yoga is the ability for the practice to be adaptable to my current physical state. This means that I'll be able to continue my practice vey late into my life. In addition, this type of regular physical maintnenance will also be crucial in extending my longevity on the BJJ mats.

Music

While I spend a lot of my free time with physical pursuits, I have also recently become interested in music, specifically playing the guitar. I didn't have much opportunity to learn to play music growing up, and have found my way to it later in life. It's given me a whole new perspective on something that I have always enjoyed listening to and being entertained by, but it's a whole new experience to be involved in the creation aspect. I am particularly interested in music theory, how notes relate to each othe in such predictable ways- something that shouldn't be too surprising given my lingusitics background!

While I sadly will probably never realize pop stardom, playing music is a great way to connect with friends, or just spend a relaxing evening alone while working on the artistic side of my mind, which is somewhat absent from my other pursuits in life.