Personal trainer Mark Ottobre tries Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the first time at Immersion gym, rolling with instructors who teach him the guard position and why tapping early prevents injury. They explain how modern academies now combine jiu-jitsu with Muay Thai, wrestling, and judo, and stress that beginners should prioritize technique over strength.
Hi, my name is Mark Ottobre. I am the owner and founder of Enterprise Fitness. I've trained world-class athletes and thousands to transform their physiques. I wanted to see what makes other superhumans tick, and I've always been fascinated at the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu ever since Royce Gracie declared that it was the apex martial arts by winning the UFC, the first UFC. What's up?
We are at Immersion.
Uh, I'm about to get my ass kicked. Let's go. Hello. Oh, already here. How you going, mate? How you going?
Welcome.
Come, come, let me give you the grand tour of the place.
Do I need to take off my—
No, on the match you do, so shoes, socks off.
Otherwise, that's it, man.
So you sure you're good?
You feel safe?
No, I don't.
How you feel? Okay.
All right. So jiu-jitsu, yeah, just really, it came from a real self-defense. Now it's heading towards more of a sport. As well, which is great. But coming back to what we're saying is, yeah, on the feet, 9 times out of 10, usually fights end up on the ground. And then it's what to do when you're on the ground. So in jiu-jitsu, what's a really important position? It's, you might have heard in the UFC, it's called a guard. And that's where 80% of jiu-jitsu is played. So there are injuries in jiu-jitsu which are preventable, but trial and error is how you're going to do it. And unfortunately, the error can cost you a lot. If that, yeah. So yeah, I reckon as soon as you're stuck in something, tap.
What's the hardest fight that you've had in your career so far?
That's actually a great question. There's been a few. Yeah, I think some of the ones where, like, there's one dude I'm yet to beat him, and we've versed each other at blue, had a match at purple. So that one's probably the one where it's not that— it's— I'm assuming it's going to be the hardest because I have him in November again. So we've managed to organize something in Sydney where I'm going to fly up and I'm going to verse him because He's someone that I've always been chasing and he's always just got the better of me.
He's the same belt as you as well?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's someone that I've—
You kind of come up together almost.
Yeah, so from blue we met, competed, but we're great, we're good friends. Like, it's not like there's any animosity between us.
Made each other better. Steel makes steel stronger.
Yeah, definitely.
New person trying jiu-jitsu is tap early, tap before you feel the need to, because sometimes by the time you feel like you need to, it's too far gone. I reckon as soon as it's locked in, tap. Once you feel pain, sometimes the second you feel the pain to injury is too long before you can tap. If that sort of makes sense. Yeah.
So have you been choked out? Have you like, what's—
I've been choked out once as a white belt. I remember being in a choke and I was like, I know I'm okay, I'll escape. I'll see if I can hit on you later. And then I remember just waking up and then being like, what? Man, it's a great feeling. I don't know if you ever want to experience it, but getting choked out cold is— it's like having a nap. You know when you wake up, you've got that like, whoa, what time is it? Even though it's only been like 10 seconds you're out, it feels— yeah, it's got a unique sort of sensation to it.
But I don't—
yeah, I wouldn't do it all the time, but yeah, yeah, you want to try? Thank you.
Nice. I feel like, yeah, you let me waste a lot of energy and probably like, I'd say like halfway through, I was like, oh fuck, I need to not expend as much energy.
Definitely.
So what I noticed in that roll is then again, all this comes from it's your first time where you don't know where to use your energy. Because energy needs to be sort of used sparingly. Because again, 5 minutes and, you know, you get gassed if you're going 100% for 5 minutes. You're fitter than I am, I know that. So if I go redlining for 5 minutes, I'm gassed. So I need to know when to go, when to not. What I tell a lot of people, especially the newer guys, is efficiency comes with time. At the start, especially if you are a fit person, a strong person, when you wrestle and you're sort of backed up against the wall and you're about to get submitted, you're going to go to what feels natural to you, which you'd say is like using your strength, using your natural attributes. A flexible person, they're going to use their flexibility.
You can do that for longer.
A strong person will use their strength right away, meaning that usually the guys that come in with a fitness background or strength background, they get tired pretty quick. But the thing is, when they manage to figure it out and they get over that hurdle, then they're unstoppable because that's what jiu-jitsu is like. You're a lot of like athletes. You're just people like nerds, people that figure out the technique they don't really focus enough on strength and conditioning. So the ones that do focus on strength and conditioning usually go further. It's a sport now that's evolved so much that, you know, you watch to sort of see what's next and where it's going to head. So years ago, there weren't clubs like this where you come, it's like a hub where you can do jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling, judo, all under one roof. That's a big roof. Usually you'd have to go to some, you know, dingy little side alley place, you know, doing jiu-jitsu in like the third floor and it wasn't as popular, and that only was like, what, 20-something years ago. Whereas now it's become so mainstream, you can find a jiu-jitsu club nearly on any corner. So yeah, where the future sort of heads in this is going to be pretty cool.
And if someone's watching this, they're like, where do I start with jiu-jitsu? What advice would you give?
Just do it.
Like, if jiu-jitsu is something that's been on your mind, one of the— like, you know, being here at the gym and dealing with everybody on their first day, the biggest thing we always get is, I need to be fit before I do jiu-jitsu.
We get that in personal training too.
And it's one of those ones I'm like, that doesn't make sense because to do, to get fit in jiu-jitsu, you have to do jiu-jitsu. You can get super fit and still come in and, you know, it's hard work still. So I say no matter what level you're at, fitness, age, whatever it is, just start. I've had a fun day here at Immersion.
I've been choked, I've been stretched, I'm being rattled. So remember to subscribe to our channel. If you've enjoyed this video of me getting my ass kicked in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, click here and watch me kick Chris's ass in the gym.
