Dan at 440lbs Dan now,

Like many Gracie Barra students Dan Serrious first became aware of Gracie Jiujitsu by watching Royce Gracie's inspiring performances in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Through intense stamina and superior technique, the 175 lb Gracie was able to defeat fighters that outweighed him by as much as 100 lbs and go on to win 3 tournament championships under no-rules fighting. These were feats that inspired many to start training. Today there is similarly inspiring story taking place at Gracie Barra Chicago. Royce certainly faced grave challenges in the octagon. It is an even more grave challenge that brings Dan to train at Gracie Barra Chicago. At 38 years old Dan weighed more than 440 lbs. He had extreme joint pain. He was diagnosed by his doctors with Arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and degeneration in multiple lumbar vertebrae.

" They told me that I was dying." says Dan, "I was faced with the choice to either reverse the self-abuse or die within months". Reverse the abuse is precisely what Dan did. First, he cut his calorie intake to 1500 a day. For five months he focused on diet and physical therapy to get his weight in a safe range for his joints and to train in Jiujitsu, albeit to a limited capacity. Then he joined us at Gracie Barra Chicago.

Dan admits, " It was intimidating, cause here's this big guy coming to a house where they worship the body, I expected embarrassment among other social repercussions." He found," none of that". Dan's teammates and coaches don't judge Dan for his limitations but rather are inspired by his determination and no excuses attitude. Not everything we do here is physically possible for Dan yet. His joints can't withstand the impact of the warm-up runs we do. Rather than sit it out, Dan works even harder by crawling or doing sit ups. Our coaches are able to adjust the curriculum to meet his limitations. However, those limitations are quickly disappearing. Dan loses between 15 and 18 lbs every month and gets more athletic every day. With a proper diet and Jiujitsu training at Gracie Barra, Dan is in a constant state of metamorphosis. Apart from the obvious benefits of getting healthy while learning to defend himself, his confidence is increasing with his weight loss. He looks forward to many goals that before would have been impossible. He will compete in his first martial arts competition when his weight drops below 250lbs and one day he hopes to reach 170lbs. Dan maintains his diet and goes to physical therapy, but it is Jiujitsu that gives him the edge. He attributes this to the fact that " Jiujitsu offers unbelievable cardio workouts at low impact without the boring repetition found in the conventional exercise offered at most health clubs."