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Inside the gym of Lucky Jiu Jitsu & Fitness, young toddlers are lined up into rows with their martial arts uniforms and yellow belts on, facing each other as if they’re facing an opponent. Their instructor, master Chuck Adam, is demonstrating a new jiu-jitsu move with his partner Beth Willars and showing them motion-through-motion how to escape from a grab and roll their sparring partner to the floor. A few of the children stumble over or don’t grab in the right spot. But after a few tries, they pull off the move successfully just in time to move on to the next one.
This is how Adam breaks down his curriculum at Lucky Jiu Jitsu & Fitness: He simplifies each step as best he can, then takes them through the motions bit-by-bit to pull off the same skills he possesses. Adam teaches several generations in his gym, from toddlers all the way to adults older than 60.
Yet no matter what age they are, he treats all of his students the same way.
“I try to communicate and teach as if I’m talking to a five-year-old no matter what their age is,” Adam says. “I just take that attitude of a five-year-old into coaching to get the older students to understand the basics at such an elementary level. This is all I do."
Lucky Jiu Jitsu is a martial arts academy that trains adults and children in several art styles, most notably jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and muay thai. Adam first opened the doors to his complex June 14, 2014, and this past Saturday, the gym celebrated its five-year anniversary.
A self-professed "Alabama guy" that moved to Texas in the 1980s, Adam has trained in martial arts for over 30 years. Earning a black belt in taekwondo and a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Adam said he began practicing martial arts at a very young age because he needed to.
“I was bullied as a kid,” Adam professes. “That led me into Tae Kwon Do, then kickboxing, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jtsu, judo, wrestling, muay thai. I’ve tried it all. A little bit of everything.”
Professionally training and competing for over 20 years, Adam’s martial arts career eventually led him to teach at a former coach’s gym before being encouraged to open up his own gym six years ago. When Adam first opened Lucky Jiu Jitsu in 2014, he remembered the gym being less equipped than it is today.
“When we started, we just had this little blue mat,” Adam recalls. “The fitness kickboxing area was mostly concrete. It had three bags instead of 10. We wanted to grow the academy.”
And that’s exactly what they did just six months ago. In January, Adam did a full remodel of his gym that really ramped up his space for more elaborate training.
“It’s completely different from what it was just six months ago,” Adam states. “We went from just a few hundred square feet a mat to now having over 2,000 square feet a mat. All this mat, the wall pad, the boards, every little thing is just brand new.”
Adam said children can start martial arts training as young as three, but he also knows adults who have been blue belts for over 20 years. But whether understudies are looking to train and compete professionally or are simply wanting to learn to defend themselves the same way he did, Adam says he’s prepared to teach any student. And as he looks back at the last five years at Lucky Jiu Jitsu, the thing that Adam most looks forward to is what the next five years will bring.
“We’re all just trying to have fun,” Adam states. “If you’re not going to enjoy doing it, then why even do it? This is what all this is about.”
Lucky Jiu Jitsu and Fitness is at 1607 Hart St., Suite #100 and is open Monday through Saturday. To learn more about the gym or schedule an appointment, call 817.888.1380 or visit LuckyBJJ.com.