I guess the better question is why NOT Jiu-Jitsu?
Sometimes the universe is speaking to us, and we simply have to pay attention.
That last line is woo woo and kind of bullshit.
As humans, we all have cognitive biases to help us process the thousands of inputs our brain gets every day. One of those is availability bias, which is the use of information that is most available to us at any given time. This is usually the information we have received most recently.
Here's an example: Have you ever bought a new car?
Did you notice that immediately after you started driving it there was a lot of the same make and model on the road?
The person who sold you the car didn't start making a lot of sales the same week you bought your car.
The same make and model you bought was always on the road, but before you bought your car, you weren't thinking about it.
Once you started driving your new car, your brain had the information about your car front and center in your attention. Each time you saw a car similar to yours, your brain zeroed in on a similar car because the information about it was front and center.
That's what happened to me with Jiu-Jitsu.
A few years ago, I can't remember when, I listed to an episode of the Tim Ferriss show with Jocko Willink. Shortly after that, I started listening to the Jocko podcast. If you are unfamiliar with the show, Jocko is a retired Navy Seal who owns a Jiu-Jitsu gym in CA. Listeners to the show regularly hear him talk about Jiu-Jitsu. As I listened, I got curious about it.
At the same time, in my Toastmasters club, I met a guy named Willy. Willy is a Jiu-Jitsu black belt and spoke about it during some of his speeches.
It seemed like everyone was doing Jiu-Jitsu or at least two different people I knew. My brain was primed to see Jiu-Jitsu everywhere.
Because I was primed, I asked Willy if he would show me what Jiu-Jitsu was like. We got together in the gym at his apartment and he gave me an hour or two of instruction. Of course, this was just an intro.
At the same time, I came away with the following impressions:
It’s possible to train Jiu-Jitsu and learn useful moves without spending years punching the air. This is my impression of karate and the other striking martial arts. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but that's how I felt at the time.
There is a low barrier to entry. Find a class, sign up, try it out. If you like it, keep going. If you hate it, don't go.
I would be a total beginner at this and start from absolute zero.
The influences all around me and the ease of starting were what drew me to it.
At the same time, there are a few things about Jiu-Jitsu which were not my motivation:
I do not want to be an MMA fighter. I have no desire to get in the ring. That's a young man's game and I am not a young man.
Getting in shape. So far, I've found class is a good workout, but that wasn't the reason for joining. I'm already in shape. In 2019, I ran a marathon and a half marathon. I go to the gym 4-5 days per week. I mainly lift heavy weights: bench, squats, deadlifts.
Self-defense. I've made it through 45 years of life without needing it. I generally stay out of places where I may need to defend myself - bars and places with lots of people. My job doesn't require me to interact with people who may try to harm me. I'm not a cop or any other profession where I am in harm's way.
Chasing belts and stripes. I don't need to impress people by telling them the color of my belt. In most cases, I don't even tell people I train Jiu-Jitsu (well, except on my website).
That's how I got started.
It's a longer story than that, but I'll save the rest for another day.