Magnus Böner’s Martial Arts Background
Written 1/21/2025, as a txt message to a friend. Just after my return to a Jiu-Jitsu mat.
I started training martial arts in my late teens. I had a very short stint at a taekwondo dojo in Tenino WA. It was some good exercise, but the training I got was a joke. It was of very little use once I started real training. I did learn to punch bare handed, with the first two knuckles, and how to palm strike. (Palm strikes are legit, ask Bas.) However, the most useful thing I learned there was how tie my belt.
Once, I saw the first 4 UFCs on VHS. I reckoned I aut to be training some kind of grappling. I found my way into a traditional Danzan Ryu jujitsu dojo. It was called Ohana Martial Arts, and was in a former Elk’s club in Chehalis WA. That was the only grappling we had in the south sound in the year 1999. At 21, in the year 2001 I was splitting time between a boxing gym and the dojo. I eventually earned a blue belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. Eventually, the boxing gym closed, and I started training submission grappling, and Muay Thai at Dennis Hallman’s Victory Athletics. Joey Guell taught most of the classes I attended. At some point that gym closed, and we were directed to Travis Deorge’s Muay Thai gym in Centralia. We would roll there, after training Muay Thai, but no real grappling instruction. I recall grappling with a professional fighter named Eddy Ellis. He practiced his knee ride on me for an entire round. He fought at 170 lbs. So he probably walked around at 185-190#. I walked around at 140 lbs. I sure an glad I got to help that man perfect his knee ride…
I would still train one day a week with one of the black belts at the Danzan Ryu dojo. His name was Rob Gebhart, and he was/is a damn good human. We would do our old jujutsu, and watch some Eric Paulson tapes (killer leg locks, and chicken wings) and do some other things. Eventually, the old jujitsu dojo closed…
I think I trained pretty regularly ~5 days a week, until 2004, when I started brewing. I would work late shift, one week, then early shift the next. I could fit in the training during the early shift week, but it seemed like I was out of shape every time I started over. I now understand sleep deprivation played into this too. I worked a lot of hours. Being a professional craft brewer was my dream job, and it became the focus of my OCD personality. I drifted away from Travis’s Kick boxing gym. Perhaps a knee injury had something to do with it too? I am not sure. I had beer to brew…
I had a short couple months stint at an American Top Team gym, with Fabiano Scherner, and Jeff Monson. For a bit, they had a gym in Olympia. However, my work schedule fucked that up too. I was only there a month or 2. I do recall kickboxing at that gym with my old training partner, miss Katrina. I trained with her a lot at Travis’s gym. I recall trying to do 2-a-days at that gym. They had an afternoon class, and an evening class. I don’t think I did many of those.
At age 26 in 2006 I found BJJ Olympia, and Robert Owens. My work schedule had become more consistent. In 2007 I took over as head brewer. I trained 5 days a week until my ACL tore. Probably for about a year at that intensity? I felt like I was on a path to a BJJ blue belt. I continued to train before, and after surgery but never with the same focus. In 2010 at 30 years old I could no longer work 10-12 hours, then train, then only sleep 6 hours and do it again. Likewise, Robert was smoking us with Cross Fit warmups there at my end. I was a good 10 lbs. over weight at 165 lbs. That did not help.
I recall during my last focussed effort at Robert’s gym. The kids would ask me how long I had been training. My answer was “off, and on, my whole adult life.” Their response, “Your still a white belt?” Yeah, well skills degrade when you take time off… Likewise, there were no belts at the MMA gyms.
I stepped away from BJJ at age 30 because it was no longer fun. I was getting smoked during warm ups. Then, I could not learn a damned thing during drilling. After drilling, we would roll, and I had nothing left. Years after I left. I had a chat with my friend Alec. I told him that his first day at the BJJ gym was my last. Alec is about as tall as me, but is a physical specimen. He was 185# of Greek God. That day, I rolled with him, and he tapped me repeatedly. Like it was my first day on the mat. I was used to rolling with bigger folks, but I that day I was helpless. Alec had some previous experiences, but not a lot.. As I type this, and upload the creeper pics I stole from Alec’s Facebook. Perhaps I was a bit naive to think I had something to combat this fellow? During this chat, Alec shared with me. At the time I stepped away, everyone was getting smoked from the crazy “warm ups”. He told me it was even a struggle for him. This is when I started to realize I stepped away premature. I once had the nickname Tenacious. I guess I had run out of Tenacity…
In 2010, Fish Brewing had some new ownership. Shitty people from the wine industry. They did not even make good, fucking wine. I was dealing with some extreme emotions. I spent my work day fighting to make relevant craft beer. I had been with the company for 6 years, and shouldered exponential growth. Only to watch these fuckers destroy it. I was out of fight at the end of a work day….
Now at 45 years old (I turned 45 February 1st, 2025). I have been off the mats for longer than I was ever on them. On social media, I found a Brazilian Jiu Jjitsu class in a Judo club. Specifically, it found me. It came through my scroll.
On my first night, coach Jerry asked me why I decided to come back now. I think my answer was, “Apparently, it is time.” I am not a religious person, and I am not that spiritual. However, I do believe some bullshit. I believe I have a place in the world. I am a “space holder”. It is my place to be there for someone, when they need a homie. I also believe the world gives me what I need, when I need it. I believe it was more than a social media algorithm that put me in this gym, with this instructor, at this time. I believe this is where I was supposed to make my return. This is where my new journey begins. I am the oldest person in the Jiu-Jitsu class. The boys I get to roll with are a good group, and coach Jerry reminds them that I am old. They need to focus on technique not athleticism, when they roll with the old fucker. They range in size, and there are some ladies is the class too. On Sundays, we have an open mat, and some very experienced grapplers from other nearby gyms come, and roll with us. I have leaned this is a special day to be at the gym/dojo/club/academy…
Danzan Ryu Memories to BJJ, written 3/15/25
I did most of my Danzan Ryu Jujitsu training with a fellow named Bob. (this is all I am going to say about Bob. He got arrested for some shit that makes me both uncomfortable, and angry.) I also met Rob Gebhart, and a fellow named Tom. They were the other black belts, and instructors. Mr. Geb, as I came to call Rob, was a fire fighter. In my mind, he was the main corrector in my Danzan Ryu memories. I recall a very athletic fellow who was a green belt. He went to state in wresting, and studied forestry at Evergreen. His name was Chris. There was some big, dumb, dip-shit green belt, and my friend Chad was also a green belt. (green belts were cool, they had that Shime te list down, and that was the jujitsu I wanted.) I recall that I got my blue belt there. I think I learned the first 2 lists of techniques. (Yawara, and Nage Te) to get that belt? Then, I got to start learning Shime te. I think it must have taken me a year for that belt? (It is the only martial art “credential” I have. I like to believe it was legit.) I believe there were 20 techniques on each list. I got to learn 20 “Judo” throws. I think my blue belt started with 3 stripes, and I got to remove them as I advanced. The problem with that dojo, is though I could do all those techniques on a willing partner, we did not apply them enough in live sparring. In the beginning we did not even do Randori. I consumed a lot of information outside of the dojo, BJJ videos, and Judo readings. I pushed Bob, and we started doing randori at the end of every class. Of course, that fellow that wrestled was the best.
By 2001 I was spending a lot of time at a boxing gym in Lacey WA. It was called Thorvald Boxing Club. I learned the fine art of Pugilism (Western Boxing) from a grand gentleman named Alf Herigstad. He was a very positive influence on young Magnus. Alf coached me both in Pugilism, and at being a better man. He would give me good life advice. He also nicknamed me Tenacious. One day, after a very hard (on me) sparring session with Alf. I got knocked around pretty good. Alf took it easy on me, but it is hard for a 250# man to pull a punch enough not to bang up a 150# man. I reckoned I just needed to train more. The next day, I showed up to the gym, despite my entire body hurting. I pounded bags with determination, and earned myself a cool nickname.
I an so old, I used to train MMA at a boxing gym that was separate from my Jujitsu (not Jiu-Jitsu) gym. Back in my day, we did not do it all in the same gym. (Well, that did exist. You had to be a real fighter to know about it.)
In 2019 I started working at Wagner’s Bakery. After a year there, I was a baker, I had split days off, and fucked up hours. I had Tuesday, and Sundays off, then later Wednesday and Sunday. I was a very motivated human in my early 20s, and trained most days. I started training with Rob Gebhart (Mr. Geb.) on Wednesdays during the day. (I think 2001 to 2003?) Most often, it was just him, and me. We would do our Danzan Ryu, MMA, and self defense. We would watch Roy Harris, and Eric Paulson videos. We had books too. There was a cute lady we called Scampi that would sometimes work in with us. I do recall a few times it was just Scampi, and me. Rob had to work. I recall drilling Eric Paulson’s killer leg locks with her. I also recall one day, we started to train, had a short talk, said “fuck-it” and went, and got beers together. Like me, she worked a lot, and we needed a day of rest. We had good chats, and good giggles.
It was during this time that I started actually hitting Tai Otoshi in Randori. I started to actually be able to use some of the throws. While training with Rob, the boxing gym closed, and I started training at Victory Athletics. I would bring those learnings back, and Rob and I would work on them together. I took to wearing wrestling shoes when I trained. One day, we were warming up, just doing some flow-throws. Rob threw me Tai Otoshi, my fucking shoe stuck to the mat. I felt a pop in my knee. It took a year to stop hurting. However, I am pretty sure it was that day that I got the damage to my ACL. Later, at BJJ Olympia, that knee just gave out. By that time I actually had health insurance, and I got it checked out. It was a torn ACL…
I make my living on my feet. I fucked myself up because of my hobby? I got the cadaver graft. I was literally back to working on the brewery floor 14 days after my surgery.
I believe my Danzan Ryu was a good base for when I started learning BJJ. That Yawara list, I often think of as useless wrist locks, is also the basics of “fighting hands or hand fighting”. I use that shit every time we roll. That Nage Te list was a great base. It was a list of 20 throws that are also pretty standard in Judo. I got to drill more throws than I ever did at BJJ Olympia. There, (for us white belts) Robert would focus on just a couple of high percentage take downs. At BJJ Olympia, we almost always started on the feet when we rolled. I learned to actually use, and defend some of those throws from Danzan Ryu. Everything on the Shime te list was less refined, than what I leaned at BJJ Olympia. It was about on par with what I leaned at Victory Athletics, but with less real world grappling. In 1999 we did not have BJJ in the south sound, but I think I got a good base for when I finally got to start training BJJ. It is a journey…
I am excited to be back training BJJ. It is a different experience at 45. However, I am a young 45. (right?) Once I get comfortable. I want to start working in some Judo. I am a little gun-shy from my ACL injury years ago. I make my living on my feet. Likewise. I am a self-important human. I know how many people rely on me for their income. I am replaceable, but I also believe I am the soul of my company…. I suspect I will find that actual Judo is more refined than what I learned at the Danzan Ryu Dojo years ago… Those falls used to be easy to take…. Fuck! when did I get old? Mentally, I am still 30-ish…