These Older Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Students Are Fighting the Clock

This article is part of our Longevity special section on living longer and healthier.

As many people age and their bodies change, conventional wisdom — and sometimes medical advice — may encourage them to slow down. Take it easy. But some people find that the activities about which they are the most passionate, that keep them young and fit, fly in the face of that counsel.

Tom Corrie is 78 years old. When he’s not on the mats training Brazilian jiu-jitsu or working out in his home gym — a space filled with equipment like heavy iron plates, kettlebells and sledgehammers — he is a tax attorney.

But Mr. Corrie has been an athlete most of his life. In college, he competed in hammer throwing and later got into power lifting. Throughout his 20s, 30s and 40s he briefly tried other martial arts like karate, but they could not scratch the itch — he wanted more contact. At 65, he started training at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy in New York City.

He noticed something pretty quickly. “I was generally a good 35 to 40 years older than the people I was rolling with,” Mr. Corrie said, using the jiu-jitsu term for sparring. Everybody got the better of him.

“I remember getting up and saying, ‘I don’t know if I want to come back anymore,’” he said.

But he did. As he made adjustments and trained with people decades younger than him, he noticed that, despite his age, his athletic background had given him a foundation of considerable strength — particularly his grip, which he used to hold onto his younger, stronger training partners and slow them down.