Tom Hardy, known for throwing himself fully into physically demanding roles, opened up in a recent interview about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu…

And why it’s become such a meaningful outlet for him, despite the fact that competing still fills him with nerves.

Hardy came to the sport relatively late:

I found Jiu-Jitsu late in my life. I started when I was 40…
I boxed a little bit, but I’ve never really committed to any martial art discipline.

But this one really works for me. I have a very busy head.

For someone who describes his mind as constantly active, the sport has functioned as something like therapy:

So it allows me to kind of meditate a bit and chill whilst, like I suppose stimming, I can physically apply myself…
Yeah, it’s like chess in a way.

It just helps me physiologically, mentally, to focus on something so that I can chill out and it relaxes everybody as well for me.
So it’s a kind of physical, physiological analysis and a hobby that I love.

Even so, Hardy was candid that enjoying training and enjoying competition are two very different things for him:

I don’t really like competing, because it makes me really scared.
I like finishing the competition with all my bits intact.

That’s a great feeling, but competing, I really hate it.

Despite that fear, he keeps returning to it:

But it’s a super honest place to perform, because even at my lower level, it’s a very honest and vulnerable place to be.
You either know what you’re doing or you don’t, and it can go either way.

And so it’s different to acting. You know, we can get a bit complacent.
With Jiu-Jitsu or motorbikes, you can’t really get complacent because you get hurt.

 

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