The “No Gi Nerdist”

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the “No Gi Nerdist!” This blog is intended to provide great content on and about all things No Gi Jiu Jitsu and Grappling related.

First let me give you some background about myself. My name is Andrew Ryan Murillo and I am a purple belt in the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. I have been training for about 5 years, consistently competing, training, and working hard with unwavering dedication to develop my knowledge and skill set in grappling. I was born and raised in Los Angeles California, which fortunately for me, gives me great access to train with some of the best practitioners and coaches that the grappling world has to offer.

Obviously, I had a life before Jiu Jitsu so let’s touch on that a bit. Growing up I loved to play sports whether it was soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or skating I was always interested and enjoyed playing and being competitive. At the age of eleven I experienced my first knee injury running down the soccer field and felt the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my life. After the injury reoccurred multiple times within a short period, mostly while running or skating, my parents felt it was time to go see a specialist and figure out why a healthy 11 year old was experiencing such traumatic injury.

As it turned out I was born with Osgood-Schlatter Disease, which is basically a childhood repetitive use injury, that causes a painful lump below the kneecap, thus causing the knee to dislocate with heavy impact pressure. Because of this condition, I have not been able to run a full sprint since I was 11 years old without further injury. This led to a deep depression through my early teens where I eventually found solitude using drugs and alcohol at a very young age.

I am not looking for any sympathy as I write this, I’m merely trying to paint a picture of my experience. Anyway, with the excessive substance abuse, and with limited ability to exercise (or so I thought), weight gain was inevitable. Through my 20's I became heavier and heavier, and more and more unhealthy, pushing me to the brink of diabetes. One day at the age of 27, I decided enough was enough. I was heavier than I had ever been at 5'7", 230 lbs., and more depressed than ever before.

I decided to reach out to a friend who had been training Jiu Jitsu and martial arts for most of his life. He had tried to get me to train with him for about 2 years prior, but I was stubborn and made every excuse I could not to. So when I finally caved and attended my first Jiu Jitsu class, I had no idea what to expect. I had been in my fair share of school yard fights and bar brawls so I figured I could handle myself, not yet understanding the power of Jiu Jitsu, and the undeniable FACT that proper technique and intelligence will always prevail over brute strength.

My first class was very interesting (and demoralizing). I almost threw up half way into the warm ups, and then proceeded to be choked and submitted by everyone in class. My most memorable roll that day (and the main reason I came back for a second class) was with a 16 year old kid (now 21, and a dear friend and training partner) who only weighed 125 lbs. I’ll never forget how he triangle choked me over and over, repeatedly making me tap and beg for my life. From that day forward I was hooked. Little did I know that I would become absolutely obsessed with Jiu Jitsu, and later base nearly everything I do in my life upon it.

Now at 31 years old I still train at the same gym, 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Van Nuys California, under Eddie Bravo black belt Alder Hampel. I teach kids class and adult fundamentals class 5 times a week and I train 6 days a week, often twice a day. My passion for Jiu Jitsu has never been stronger, and I am on what feels like a never ending journey to learn as much as possible, and be the best version of myself that I can be. I recently quit my “9 to 5" to travel, train, and compete as much as possible. This blog is designed to not only talk about the latest and greatest in No Gi, but also to document my travel and experiences training with various practitioners, coaches, and professors.

Thank you all very much for reading and offering your support. My goal here is to do my due diligence to give you great content and hopefully some inspiration to be the best version of YOURSELF that you can be.