I train under Jared Weiner at BJJ United. TAC TEAM.
I started January 2007. I was looking for wrestling and came across this submission grappling stuff. (I started wrestling with my brother in 1993). I never followed ufc, so I didn't know what Jiu-jitsu was. I started training 7 days a week, 2-3 times a day for my first year. Got my bluebelt rather quickly since I was doing a lot of tournaments. I was training mma and boxing also, training for my first fight. I tore my abs and hurt my ear pretty bad before the fight. I stopped training for about 6 months and stopped going to that shool.
Later I noticed a neon brazilian jiu-jitsu sign on my way to work and got the itch to train again. I started going around to different schools doing the trials. But when I walked into bjj united, I was destroyed by everyone. This was the place for me.
I was training mma, wrestling and bjj, but I would keep burning out and take breaks from training. I didn't like getting punched in the face too much either. After a break I came back to train just jiu-jitsu and wrestling.
I was pretty consistent from purple belt on. I was doing a few tournaments a year and winning some. At purple belt I had been trying to stick to 3-5 training sessions per week. At brown, it was around 3 with life getting in the way at times. I had a few knee and rib injuries and had to adjust my game a bit to prevent further injury.
I had been trying to convince my younger brother to join. Finally he joined and he loves it and has been a great competitor since.
I guess some advice would be to always make your way back to the mat. After long breaks I always had anxiety about coming back, but it always quickly passes.
My brother and I were promoted the same day. It was the proudest moment in my life.