BUTLER TWP — Facing fitness, weight loss or depression issues or simply a yearning to compete?

Fight jiu-jitsu style.

The process is working for the six-member competitive jiu-jitsu team training out of the Redemption Fighting System facility on Fairground Hill Road in Butler.

Derek Ratvasky and Zack Rycroft — co-owners of the facility — joined teammates Nick Chupka, Joel Hills, Keith Heinl and Jason Robinson in competing at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend. A few had done battle at a Western Pa. competition in Pittsburgh last October.

All six are trained by John Rozzi, a master in jiu-jitsu out of New Castle.

“I've played sports my whole life,” Chupka, 29, of Butler said. “I feel better about my life when I'm doing something athletic.

“Jiu-jitsu is a form of martial arts that doesn't involve striking or kicking. I didn't want to get kicked in the head or get some type of head injury. This sport challenges me physically, yet it's safe that way.”

A jiu-jitsu match lasts five minutes and resembles a wrestling match. A competitor can win on points or by forcing his opponent to submit, if not pass out from a hold.

Hills, 34, is a former Butler High School wrestler who also played football for the Golden Tornado. He was a linebacker at John Carroll University as well.

“I've always needed an outlet for my aggression,” Hills admitted. “Wrestlers go at it for two minutes in a period and you have to be in great shape to do that. But this is five minutes at a time and it is intense.

“It challenges you. It's great cardio and you don't have to worry about getting your head bashed in.”

Rycroft used to have to worry about a whole lot more than that.

While serving in Iraq, he was injured in an explosion in 2005 and has since had surgeries on his liver and to remove his spleen and gallbladder. Rycroft has suffered numerous other physical and mental issues from that experience as well.

“I was barely able to walk for a while,” he said. “I was depressed big-time ... The move to this gym saved my sanity.”

Weighing 280 pounds at one point, Rycroft is down to 212. Other than some physical scars, he shows no signs of the physical and emotional trauma he went through.

“I'm believing in myself again,” he said.

Ratvasky said that “this sport gives you confidence. It teaches you self-defense while you're training. It's a good anti-bullying tool.

“After a while, I wanted to compete. Pretty much all of these guys have followed that same pattern,” he said.

The competitive team trains together four or five nights a week for two hours each time.

“It became addicting,” Chupka admitted. “You make progress so quickly and you want to learn more. I started watching videos, picking up moves.”

Chupka won his first competitive match after being involved in jiu-jitsu for only three weeks.

Hills described jiu-jitsu as a “physical chess match” that requires planning during the actual competition.

“You have to think two or three moves ahead,” he said. “You can't react ... That's when you get caught and get victimized by a hold you can't escape.

“You have to think ahead all of the time — out-think your opponent during a match. It's as mental as it is physical.”

Heinl, 30, is Rycroft's brother. He has been involved in jiu-jitsu for five months.

“I hadn't participated in sports since baseball and football when I was 10 or 11,” Heinl said. “My brother talked me into trying this and I got hooked.”

Robinson, 33, lives in Mercer, yet makes the hour-plus drive into Butler to practice with his teammates every day.

“This group is like a family,” he said. “We work out together, we push each other. I'm getting a little older and my joints start feeling sore, but I love this.

“I've been doing this for five months and have already dropped 27 pounds.”

Robinson said he's been lifting weighs for years.

“Now I've got something to get in shape for, something to look forward to,” he said. “Yeah, I invest the time. We all do. But it's well worth it.”