Nick “Chewy” Albin Reveals How He Started Wrestling: “My First Day Was Brutal”

20 Apr, 2023

Nick “Chewy” Albin is one of the most popular BJJ personalities all over the world and a true “Jiu-Jitsu on YouTube” scene pioneer.

However, not many people know that Chewy had trained wrestling before he started Jiu-Jitsu.
And even that is a fun story, of how he began wrestling.

He revealed it in an interview with BJJEE:

In high school I lifted weights and played “American” football. I have got to make sure I note that since you’re not from the United States.
And towards the end of my first football season, several of the guys started talking about wrestling.

It was funny. Our football team was terrible. We lost every game. That said, I still enjoyed being on the team.
And even if we sucked, at least we sucked together.

I think many of us seek that group belonging as teenage boys, as we would have had in a more tribal culture.

So, Chewy initially began wrestling because he still wanted to feel as a part of the group:

And I did wrestling because it sounded interesting, I felt drawn to it for some reason.
But largely it was because I wanted to continue being a part of the group. I didn’t want to go back to being a “normal kid” in school again.

Also, I was always a strong kid. So the sports gave me a connection to others and an outlet for that strength.

And from there I fell in love with grappling.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick Albin Aka Chewy (@chewjitsu)

Check out J’Den Cox’s new instructional series “Dynamic Takedowns for BJJ.”

J’Den Cox is a 3x NCAA Champion, 4x NCAA All American, 2016 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2017 World Bronze Medalist, and 2018 World Gold Medalist.

J’Den is considered by man one of the most talented wrestlers in American history. Known for his technical and acrobatic style J’Den is a mastermind on the mats.

One Of The Best Wrestlers On The Planet Is Now Here With BJJ Fanatics To Show The Fluid, Dynamic, Effective Takedowns That Every BJJ Practitioner Should Have In His Arsenal (and a few sneaky ones you can use to surprise the competition).