12 Traits Of A BJJ Hipster

Being in a BJJ gym, you will encounter many types of fighters. There will be some fighters who might not be great grapplers but pretend to be. Some of them will be their coach’s pawns and do whatever the coach says. You can call them “the extra obedient student” or “the teacher’s favorite”.

The easiest way to know the type of fighter is by focusing on his/her fighting style. Fighters differ in their fighting techniques. Your fighting style tells a lot about you. It tells about your personal traits too. Well, not only the personal traits but also your professional skills, stamina, endurance, risk-taking tendency, and above all, under immense stress performance.

If you encounter any practitioner in the gym who is a fashionista, grapples excellently, and has a witty sense of humor, you have found “The BJJ Hipster”.

In the BJJ community, there is a famous stereotype called “The BJJ Hipster”. A BJJ hipster is a complete package. He is not only skilled in BJJ techniques but also is a fashion statement. He is not like other practitioners who only focus on BJJ, rather the BJJ hipster also indulges in personal grooming of every aspect.

He is a confident fighter who has a great grip on BJJ submission and takedowns. A BJJ hipster amazes other practitioners in the gym with the excellent display of his fighting techniques and strategies. Even if the BJJ hipster is not a Brazilian native but displays the native fighting spirit.

Within the BJJ community, a BJJ hipster is the person who is recognized most easily. Even a beginner can tell who is a hipster in his/her gym.

A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu hipster likes to wear ostentatious rash guards and Gis. He does not settle for attire that looks plain and simple as most Gis and rashguards are pretty simple without any design. Of course, the name of the institute is present on the attire but for a hipster, that is not a required fashion statement.

Rather he likes to wear flamboyant gear. It's not like the hipster dresses weirdly, but he likes to match gear with his bright and vibrant personality.

Due to such appearance, he can be easily recognized by other practitioners. It makes him look unique and stand out from other fighters. Other than having vibrant attire, a BJ hipster also has a huge collection of matching Gis and rashguards. He also likes to spend his spare money on BJJ attire.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a humble and gentle art. It teaches respect to its practitioners and expects the same from them. As it is a humble sport, practitioners also display modesty at all times. This modesty can be seen in their behavior and their gear.

BJJ practitioners wear shorts under their spats to be modest. But a hipster disagrees in this regard.  BJJ hipsters do not like to wear shorts under spats as it gives them a feeling of being confined. He might think that he is trapped and avoids it. The reason that a hipster gives is because of the mixed martial artist, Shinya Aoki. He often comments that he is not wearing shorts to give homage to Shinya Aoki.

A BJJ hipster is very conscious of his looks. He remains in modest form all the time by wearing fashionable gear and keeping himself clean. During Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training sessions, practitioners sweat a lot and in hot weather often stink. But a BJJ hipster always takes extra care of his hygiene and never looks disheveled.

For a BJJ hipster, looks are what matters the most after Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques. He is skilled in different techniques. He amazes other practitioners by fighting so well and looking elegant at the same time. A hipster also has cool and slick tattoos.

A BJJ hipster focuses a lot on his strength and skills. For this purpose, he performs various strength training workouts. He pays attention to increasing his muscle endurance by performing conditioning workouts/exercises. That is how he develops a strong decorated body with six-pack abs.

As a BJJ hipster who has developed a great body through strength training, sometimes he doesn't like to wear rashguards during No-Gi training. He likes to wear vibrant and flamboyant attire in the gym but when he is in a mood to show off, he likes to train without the shirt on.

BJJ practitioners are assumed to be serious and not funny at all. It is expected from them that they behave formally all the time. But that is not true. A BJJ hipster is the most fun guy in the gym. He cracks jokes with his fellow practitioners.

A BJJ hipster always behaves in a jolly manner with his peers. He respects the coaches but also has a funny bond with them and they do not have any objection to this behavior as long as he doesn't cross the master-student line. He is a fun guy to train with as a BJJ hipster and makes the whole training entertaining with his witty attitude.

He does not go too hard on his juniors and tries to improve his skills by guiding them. Even if the hipster is a BJJ Black Belt, he does not exert pressure over the juniors or try to dominate them. The environment around a hipster is friendly for fellow practitioners and you feel free to ask the BJJ hipster about anything.

The fighting style of a hipster is professional even if he is not a Black Belt. He has a strong grip and holds in his techniques that most practitioners of his age or skill do not have. He surprises his fellow trainers and coaches by displaying his moves that are so refined. Initiation as well as the finishing of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques is done in a smooth manner.

He also knows many of the secretive moves and techniques that make him an excellent grappler. These secretive moves are the result of the hipster’s sheer hard work and dedication to BJJ. Often practitioners think that hipsters kind of cheat when they win in the training sessions quickly but deep down they all know how skilled hipsters are.

As hipsters follow the ongoing trends, they like to have a beard. Along with the beard they have the hairstyle that is recently popular. Your hair is always well-groomed even after the most intense training or sparring session. A hipster has long hair and looks elegant all the time.

Some of the hipsters are called gym warriors. It is because they never roll lightly with their fellow trainers. For example, whenever they are asked by fellow practitioners to train lightly, they agree to it. But when you start rolling with them, they never go slow.

Such kinds of hipsters are not appreciated by practitioners. Rather they have to appear in front of a higher authority and give justifications for their behavior.

A BJJ hipster never says no to training. He considers it a taboo and avoids it at all costs. It does not matter how tired he is, he thinks of it as disrespectful so he never objects.

A BJJ hipster is mostly a Brazilian native. If not, then he has been to Brazil and knows it as a native knows. He is aware of Brazil’s culture and traditions. He also has that Brazilian native fighting spirit. He has been to the ancient towns in Brazil and has seen them closely.

Having the Brazilian native spirit in him, it is also projected in his fighting style.

As he is committed to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seriously, he knows how to speak Portuguese. A BJJ hipster did not learn Portuguese to sound cool or anything rather it is his seriousness towards BJJ.

It depends upon the personality of the practitioners. Most BJJ practitioners are good fighters and have excellent grappling skills but that does not make them a hipster. What makes them a hipster is that they are jolly and humorous by nature and they do not appear hard on their juniors or other fellow practitioners.

A BJJ hipster also does not focus much on his education and often has nothing to lose so he gives his 100% to BJJ. This is the person whom you will never find tapping out of the imposed submissions. It is most natural for a BJJ practitioner to become a hipster. Sometimes even following some fashion trends and grooming himself results in being called out as a hipster by other practitioners. So, there is no such rule on how to become a hipster.

Hipsters are not bad people at all. Rather they are the most fun guys to train with. They do not make you feel weird or less knowledgeable. They provide you with a sense of validation as they appreciate you for your little success.

It is often seen that hipsters talk about food after their training sessions. When a grappler takes a normal BJJ diet, hipsters talk about new cuisines and new kinds of BJJ diets.

A BJJ hipster is a dandy kind of person who amuses practitioners at his gym with his witty humor. He is one of the skilled practitioners in his gym but has a liking for new fashion trends. He has an enormous collection of Gi and Nogi attire. He even speaks fluent Portuguese and communicates in it with coaches and instructors at the gym.