Justus Göschel is a BJJ athlete from Aachen, Germany who started grappling at the age of 15 years old. As mentioned here, his journey began with Combat Sambo, “I had to cope with some strokes of fate in my family and wanted to try something new. I was interested in martial arts and went to the next best gym. Fortunately, it was a Sambo Combat gym where I had the opportunity to learn the basics in grappling for 2 years before I moved to another city and ended up at Pantarei, which had its focus on Luta Livre nogi grappling, where I received my blue belt in 2015”. Just seven years later he was awarded the rank of black belt at 22 years old and currently trains in Poland, as he puts it “My home is Pantarei, although I have lived in Poland for the last two years due to my studies, where I found my second home at Check Mat/Gorila in Wroclaw.”. Whilst in Poland his current teacher is Jakub Janiak “Lemur” but back in Pantarei it is Reinhard Bodensiek “Rey”.
Göschel’s favourite submission is the Rear Naked Choke, also known as the Mata Leao and favours smash passing using a deep underhook when on top. Whilst playing the guard position he favours the shoulder pin sweep from Butterfly guard or the flower sweep from half or closed guard.
When competing, he is often around the featherweight category and adds “In the last few years I competed at -70kg, but always had to make weight, sometimes I even made 66kg. But currently and in the future, I will compete 77kg or even heavier!” – he lists being the Polaris Contenders 155lb Champion as his biggest achievement whilst competing. Elsewhere, he lists Jordan Cooper and Steven Ramos as his toughest opponents who “made me tired back in the
days as a brown belt, but there were many strong opponents who had their personal strengths as well!”. However, he says Garry Tonon and Ryan Hall are the most influential on his style.
Interestingly, Göschel takes his body and nutrition very seriously. This can be seen with his studies into medicine which he did whilst training BJJ – this was also why he moved to Poland and plans to possibly use his degree in later life. He claims “As mentioned before, I was looking for something new and the interest in martial arts was very big. I needed distraction and wanted to compensate for strokes of fate in the family. I graduated from high school in 2016 at an international boarding school and now had to decide how my life should go on. My biggest interest was in the human body, how it works, and above all how I could bring my own body to its peak performance. My whole school time was characterized by sports of all kinds.
When I started grappling at the age of 15, I quickly knew that this sport would become the passion of my life. So I donated one year after school full time to this passion and traveled to South America, Africa and made a Eurotrip. It was during this time that I really got to know the sport and decided to continue the sport on a professional level.
In Germany, it was almost impossible to gain a professional foothold in Grappling as a competitor. Accordingly, I took the entrance examination at the German Sports University Cologne and started to study sports science. The time at the university provided me with a good training environment, but studying sports science bored me and did not fulfill my ideas about the science of the human body.
Moreover, I broke my hand in a super fight, which had a negative influence on my studies and my motivation sank more and more. After only one semester, I decided that studying sports science would not get me any further, both in grappling and in my later career. All my life I actually had the dream to study medicine, to understand how we function, especially as competitive athletes. I dropped out of sports science and went to Berlin as a purple belt for 3 months to train in another gym and to improve my bad English skills as well.
I decided to study medicine internationally, in English, and came to the Medical University of Wroclaw, Poland. I did not only see this as a chance to start my dream study, but I chose Poland because it was much more famous for its grappling compared to other countries in Europe.
As a new brown belt, I found my second home at 23 Evolution, which unfortunately split into two groups later and I chose the Check Mat/ Gorila Gym. Every training was hard, with Polish mentality and endless rounds. It was two very exhausting years during which I completed my preclinical basic studies and at the same time wanted to train almost full time. Two years in which I knew almost only three places: University, desk, gym and repeat.
But it was a very good time, Jiu Jitsu gave me the perfect balance to my studies, I got to know many very good grapplers and above all very good friends. I would say that this step to go to Poland was also essential for my “career” as a grappler. By tearing myself away from my home and my usual training environment, I got to know myself, my body and my own Jiu Jitsu.
I optimized my training, my nutrition, my time management and simply wanted to push the sport further and further besides my studies. It had worked out well. I competed in many smaller and bigger events and even dared to try MMA again in the meantime, but realized with a broken nose that I didn’t enjoy it that much.
Grappling is my true love and at the moment it fits very well with my job/study: The values, the respect for other people and the thoughtful acting in a “stressful situation” I transfer directly to the contact with patients. I noticed this especially during my hospital training in the emergency ambulance. Jiu Jitsu simply makes my life better in all niches and also keeps me good in shape. That’s why I think that I can still achieve a lot in this sport in the next few years and that my studies will not stop me, but will motivate me more. I definitely live in two worlds, but that is what keeps me upright, active and motivated.
I need this variety to keep my mind and body fit at all times, I always have the feeling that if one of these two components is “dissatisfied”, I can remedy this dissatisfaction with the activity of the second component and thus create a circle of ongoing satisfaction. It sounds crazy but for me it probably works quite well.
I see myself as a full-time athlete, I train one session in the morning and the second one in the evening, I fight “professionally” and judge my Jiu Jitsu level as high as other athletes on these tournaments. The small difference is that I have a second passion and feel called to work as a doctor later in life.”
We also asked him about a photo with him and Frederic Vosgrone. Whilst Vosgrone is a monster himself, he actually looked smaller than Göschel in the picture – Göschel replied “Yes, Frederic is definitely a giant and according to his weight class very strong and also stronger than other competitors in this weight class. I have been doing gymnastics and weight training since I was 15 years old, before that I went climbing with my father and brothers as a child.
I would say that this had given me a good basis on which I could build more easily. I started bodybuilding when I was 16 years old and quickly realized that looks don’t mean strength!
After graduation, I started to optimize my strength training and turned to personal coaches to build up strength. At the same time, I have to admit that I did not always stick to training plans and yet I only did what I enjoyed doing. Some exercises hurt me or were unpleasant and sometimes I just want to chase the pump. I think the healthy variation and continuity make you really strong and shapes your body. Photos are one thing, but still, Frederic Vosgröne would probably break me in two.
Based on the basic training principles of variation and continuity, I train three times a week, in the morning, heavy and functional lifts, together with my roommate, who is exclusively a bodybuilder.
During these sessions, we tend to address the large muscle groups: legs, trunk, shoulder, back, chest. We don’t split but do a full-body workout on all three days, which only has a different focus, for example, pull, push or over-head. On one day we squat hard, but otherwise, we train at least one leg exercise on each of these three days.
Additionally, after almost every Jiu Jitsu session I do about 40 minutes of gymnastics. Two push exercises, two pull exercises, mobility and other little things to address specific muscle areas again, which for example during sparring have not been fully utilized. Here the focus is more on small muscle groups: arms, shoulder girdle, neck
Regarding diet, I have tried many diets and have never experienced a “miracle” with any of them. Basically, I eat very little meat and as much green vegetables as possible. Why no meat? This is a big issue for many people, but I simply don’t trust the food industry and meat is not essential for me…In preparation for competitions and weight cuts, I follow a strict plan which I have worked out over the years and which I have constantly optimized.
However, my plan always follows the basic principle of respecting calories in relation to the highest possible protein and relatively low sugar intake. I am always open to new approaches and products and vary accordingly. Animal proteins from eggs, curd, Skyr, are not taboo for me. With vegetable protein sources, the calorie/protein ratio is unfortunately not always right, but I still consume nuts and beans!
I use supplements constantly with creatine, whey protein, EAA and vegan protein.”
He also goes on to talk about the growing BJJ and MMA scene in his native Germany. This is something that Göschel is keen to get in on himself and states “Obviously, Germany is not one of the leading countries in Europe in grappling. But the BJJ and the grappling scene is growing here as well – nevertheless, I would say that the trend is moving more towards MMA at the moment and the pure grappling scene is still relatively compact. Nevertheless, we have recently seen some international successes of German competitors, for example the two heavyweights Frederic Vosgröne, who remains unbeaten at POLARIS and is IBJJF World Medalist and ADCC European Trial winner Meraz Avdoyan. It shows that there is also potential among the Germans. The new generation is on its way, just like in other European countries. Not to forget that I also have big plans.”
In terms of the future, he adds “ADCC European Trials and hopefully a Polaris rematch to correct my last decision loss! I think Grapple Fest should invite me to compete as well”
Finally, you can catch his Instagram here: jiujustus_nogi and his gym here:https://www.kampfsport-aachen.de/
