Carter Vail is an the indie rock artist known for his viral TikTok songs and recent album “100 Cowboys”. He is also heavily involved in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
A year ago, during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show, he confirmed he’s big into training.
When asked about the difference between karate and Jiu-Jitsu, Vail explained the basics in simple terms.
“Karate is like, well everyone kind of knows what karate is, you know, it’s striking. And Jiu-Jitsu is like wrestling with chokes.”
He practices no-gi Jiu-Jitsu specifically, which he noted means:
“Even less clothing, slippery as h-ll.”
The musician described his routine with enthusiasm, admitting he drives past his Jiu-Jitsu studio on his way home from work.
“I see grown men grappling with each other in there, it’s ridiculous and they’re all like bankers and none of them need to do this.”
When pressed on why he participates, Vail offered a straightforward answer:
“It just feels good. Getting sweaty, grappling other dudes in gis. Yeah, well no, no gi I do no gi.”
Carter Vail trains at 10th planet Los Angeles.
However, the sport has not been without consequences for him.
“I’ve gotten a bunch of injuries from it though.”
He admitted to a broken nose and a torn LCL as part of his experience.
Despite the physical toll, Vail has been training for approximately two years and views the practice as essential to his well-being.
“Doing anything that’s like kind of hard feels good and then everything else feels a little easier.”
He compared the experience to childhood team sports, noting that as adults people need to create their own communities and challenges.
“You sign up to do a thing and you go like we’re all going to do this thing together and everyone’s like yeah, and like as soon as you leave the gym no one gives a thing about it but it’s like you got to make up things to care about.”
For Vail, physical activities like Jiu-Jitsu represent more than exercise.
In a recent interview, Vail explained that he values the clarity BJJ provides.
“The big benefit that I’ve found with doing jiujitsu has been that when I’m doing jiujitsu, I can’t think about my music career. I can’t think about, like, ‘OK, how am I going to make the next TikTok video?’ When I’m doing jiujitsu, there is no music happening in my head.”
Many accomplished BJJ practitioners cite this same reason for training. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg famously explained to Joe Rogan that surfing and BJJ allow him to be fully present in the moment and detached from outside distractions.
