In a previous post, I talked about how stress and inactivity can have negative, long term consequences for your health. Though that post focused on commuting specifically, even non-commuters should be concerned about remaining active. With desk jobs becoming a norm (and let’s face it, every graduate student is chained to their desks and shock-collared to their advisors), making extra efforts to improve your fitness are becoming more and more important. Personally, I get my exercise by training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is like wrestling except that your goal is not to pin your opponent but to submit him, to make him tap out to a choke or a joint lock. I began this hobby as an undergraduate and have continued into graduate school. Like all exercise, jiu-jitsu is a great stress reliever, and I highly recommend it to other graduate students. Here are 4 other reasons you should consider adding jiu-jitsu classes to your course load:

1. Jiu-jitsu is a full body activity. In sports consisting of limited movements, like running or soccer, you only exercise part of your body. Even a weight lifting routine can neglect certain muscle groups in favor of others, and research shows that this have long term consequences. The science says that muscle maintenance is not holistic. Exercise only preserves the muscles that are exercised, so you need to exercise everything.

2. Jiu-jitsu builds confidence and reduces stress. In addition to the natural benefits of exercising to reduce stress, jiu-jitsu itself is an exceptional outlet for aggression. As much as you might want to throw down the gauntlet with your thesis committee, you can’t. Jiu-jitsu gives you a way to relieve that tension in a healthy and a constructive way. You will also find that stress will affect you less the more you train. After all, how intimidating is a 20 page paper when you spend your free time getting beat up by trained fighters?

3. Jiu-jitsu is community-driven. In graduate school, your circle of friends can become extremely small, especially if you are not attending the University where you completed your undergrad. Training jiu-jitsu will allow you to expand your network and interact with people that aren’t bitter about graduate school.

4. Jiu-jitsu is for nerds. Jiu-jitsu is an intellectual pursuit. The sport is complex, and the strategic depth of technique of the sport is often compared to that of chess. If you browse a few jiu-jitsu blogs, you will see what I mean (The Jiu-Jitsu Lab, for example, is run by a purple belt currently pursuing a doctorate). You may disagree that you’re a nerd, but you’re in graduate school. You’re not fooling anyone.

5. You could be like this guy:

See you on the mat!