Rocio Cortez had never played a sport or trained in a gym when she walked into her first jujitsu class at 27. Three and a half years later she's competing across four martial arts, she's deadlifted 275 pounds at a bodyweight of 119, and she's added 15 pounds of muscle she never set out to add. In this conversation she and Tara get into what changes when you train for performance instead of appearance, how to handle a body that's changing faster than your brain can keep up with, and why the friendships that fade when your lifestyle shifts were never the ones holding you up. If you've decided you started too late, Rocio's timeline will recalibrate what you think is possible.
Rocio Cortez had never played a sport. She'd never been in a weight room. At 27 she walked into a jujitsu gym, and three and a half years later she's training wrestling, striking, MMA and Muay Thai, and she's competed at Apex twice.
The number that matters in this conversation is not the 275-pound deadlift she pulled at a bodyweight of 119. It's three and a half years. That's how long it took to build the body she has now, and she never once trained for it directly. She trained to get faster, to jump higher, to get stronger. The body followed.
Tara and Rocio get honest about what that stretch actually felt like: the days she took progress photos and hated them, the clothes that stopped fitting, the body dysmorphia that showed up right as she was making her best gains.
In this episode:
Timestamps:
00:42 Welcome to Broads
01:35 You are who you surround yourself with
04:24 Building your five people
07:11 When friendships fade
09:53 Starting at 27 and grieving lost time
13:00 What makes you an athlete
14:41 Why Rocio likes being a beginner
18:02 Where the intimidation actually comes from
21:18 Training for performance, and the body that followed
23:40 Diet culture and high school
25:26 103 to 120
27:16 Injuries and the machismo mindset
29:09 Being a woman in a male-dominated sport
30:18 How to start jujitsu when you're intimidated
32:31 "I work out but I don't look like I work out"
33:20 Three and a half years of reps
35:44 Progress when the weight stalls
37:25 Perfectionism, imposter syndrome and screen time
42:34 Curating who you follow
44:36 For the woman focused on how she looks
46:53 Get a coach
Connect with Rocio:
https://www.instagram.com/rockin_rocio/
https://www.rociocortez.com/
Learn more about Broads: www.broads.app