Nearly nothing worthwhile is built and completed overnight. Even as I write this, the story is still unfolding and evolving. I have no idea what the ending will look like, but I have found excitement and happiness in the journey thus far.

In the early 2020 lockdowns, some of my other obligations just simply faded away, so I was just focusing and redirecting my energy on training and competing. I’ve wrestled nearly my whole life, from kindergarten up to college, so it was kind of refreshing to slow other areas of life down as an adult and ramp up training again. In late 2021, I decided to create a separate Instagram feed for strictly following jiu-jitsu related pages. I was a purple belt at the time and taking my jiu-jitsu training as serious as ever.

The idea for the new page was simply to have a separate feed to weed out the friends and family posts, and just hyper-focus on techniques, news, and other content related to jiu-jitsu. I figured I’d have zero posts, so naturally, zero followers. However, Instagram obviously still makes you create a username. I honestly didn’t give it much thought and just typed “@FullTiltJiuJitsu”… because I was creating a page to go full tilt on my jiu-jitsu journey. I believe it’s important to go “full tilt” in areas of your life, that you deem worthy of the effort and energy. That capacity can look different for everyone, and can be applied in different ways.

I’m a cancer survivor, diagnosed with a myosarcoma around my right knee in 2005 at the age of 11. My scar constantly serves as a physical reminder of what I have and can endure. I’m already on borrowed time. I can go full tilt in anything I decide to do. Why? I’ve done it early on in life. There was no other option besides waking up and choosing the fight: Every. Single. Morning. Give maximum effort, even when you feel completely down and out. This directly ties into my thoughts on jiu-jitsu. Wake up and choose to go train (whatever that looks like), no matter what that day has thrown at you.

Anyway, that’s where the name came from and why the page was created. That whole no-posting-thing lasted a few weeks until I began reposting some of the videos I analyzed, and thought were really engaging. Next thing you know, I’m gaining followers and have some of the biggest names in our community reposting the content. It was cool, but I felt weird, because it wasn’t my unique creative output they were reposting, just things I found cool from someone else.

All this was happening as I just got promoted to brown belt in early 2022. As with most gyms, it was during a seminar where other belts are promoted too. Therefore, when ordering a bunch of belts to hand out at one time, it makes sense to just buy in bulk and at a cost-friendly price point. After the promotion, I began looking online to replace the generic cotton belt given to me, because I just always appreciated higher quality gear and shit that lasts. I realized quickly, there is not nearly the amount of high quality/ unique options for belts, as there are for gis and such—why not? You typically have it for years, and it is the staple-piece that embodies your jiu-jitsu journey. You wear it literally every time you train in the gi, and even in no-gi, it still represents your progress in the sport. When you get promoted again, that belt now physically represents that chapter in your story. That’s when it hit me. I need to offer people more.

Out of nowhere, I bought a sewing machine, cool fabrics (in my eyes at least), a few other odds and ends, sat down in my basement and just taught myself how to sew. I began with my own pearl weave belt, and as I wore it, others began to ask about it, and next thing you know I’m posting those on my page and people are asking how to order one. I initially created a Google Forms document to manually fill out and submit online to place an order. However, within the first couple weeks of doing that, I realized I needed a website and true e-commerce platform as I had order requests rolling in from across the world. Here we are today, now a few years in, and orders are approaching the 500 mark. Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, already surpassing that goal. Either way, extremely grateful for each and every order, and hope the belts I craft have put a smile on someone’s face and one day are a nod to their jiu-jitsu story when hung up on the wall. I personally just received my black belt, and am very excited for this new stage in my jiu-jitsu journey! I believe there’s far more to come. Thanks for reading, use code “LETSGO” at checkout for 10% off your order. Cheers!

-Alex