Broke but still able to Choke

Clearwater, Florida’s Gracie-Barra Jiu Jitsu School is offering free classes to anybody who has recently lost their job. They can come for free for up to six months or until they find a new job, whichever comes first. Gym owner Eduardo de Lima usually charges $110 per month, so three free classes a week in the Tough Times Training Program is quite a deal.

In an article at Tampa Bay.com de Lima is quoted as saying, “I always said to my students, 'If you lose your job, just come in anyway.' It's more important for them to work out, because it releases the stress of life. When (people) get stressed from money problems, they do dumb things,” he said, citing the Los Angeles man who recently shot his family and then himself after losing his job.

This truly is a tremendous gesture of good will by the gym and it should be commended. I came across the article first at Cage Potato, where it was hilariously stated that the stress-relief angle was something of a front for de Lima as he trained an army of the economically disenfranchised.

There’s even more to this theory and it honestly made me laugh out loud, but Jiu Jitsu student 27-year-old Chris Hartwig is breathing a sigh of relief instead of laughing. He recently lost his job and was prepared to quit training when de Lima told him not to sweat it. Chris said, “It was the only hobby that I had, and I was able to keep it. You don't have to go to a shrink when you have a bunch of guys in there that understand your situation.”

Major props to de Lima for recognizing that doing the right thing is often more important than making a few extra bucks, and if you and your Jiu Jitsu minions do in deed take over the country, please remember I said nice things about you!