Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Armijo.
Hi Jordan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in a town called Pueblo, Colorado. There is a lot that I could say about Pueblo and the history there, but ultimately, nobody will know the hidden treasures there unless they’ve spent enough time exploring. From the outside, we all hear of the crime rate, and the other negative stories from the press. These things are also true, but in the end, Pueblo is a unique place that breeds artistic, creative, and unique humans from all walks of life. I moved to Denver when I was 19 in search of opportunity, and to escape some of those negative aspects that surrounded me when I was growing up in Pueblo. For this, I am grateful, because ultimately, it gave me a competitive edge when I moved here to start pursuing a career in skateboarding. After a few knee injuries, I shifted my eyes toward a career in culinary arts, and that led me to eventually falling in love with music, because I saw how it affected the people in the restaurant on a day to day basis, myself included.
While working in a pizza kitchen in Arvada, called Beaujo’s, I decided to start pursuing a career in music, and began recording my debut album just for fun. Once I showed that music to enough people who pushed me to actually try and play it live, I found a few friends who were willing to get on stage with me, and the rest is history. I would go on to create a band called Liberation, and we played a ton of big bill shows in 2 years together opening for Collie Buddz, Passafire, The Expendables, Twista, Devin The Dude, and more. That project led me to start the project that most people know me for, which is Red Sage.
I split ways with Liberation, and spent the last 10 years playing music around the country with my band Red Sage, and releasing music that at one point made the iTunes Top 20 list, and was featured on numerous radio stations and music outlets around the world. I was obsessed, and it consumed my life every single day. All I cared about was making music and being successful. While it led me to have some of the most extraordinary experiences in my life, I realized in hindsight it wasn’t always healthy, or maybe rarely ever.
The highlights of the last decade were, playing a festival in Utah called Reggae Rise Up, where my band opened for the likes of Rebelution, Atmosphere, SOJA, Stephen Marley, and dozens of other of my favorite artists… Touring through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah where I met some of my favorite people around the country. Then, the wildest dream come true, led me to a last minute opportunity where I drove down to San Antonio, Texas to open for Jon Bon Jovi at the AT&T Center in front of 20,000 people at a sold out arena.
When the pandemic hit, I had a wake up call, and it let me realize that the touring life could be taken away with a global event like we experience in 2020-2022. My opportunity and ability to play and make money became squandered. I realized I had to make a pivot in my pursuits in an effort to build a life nobody could take from me regardless of the state of the world. So, I dove into mixed martial arts, starting with kickboxing, muy thai, and jiu jitsu, and I became obsessed with that just as I did with music.
The last 6 years I have spent training day in, and day out, getting as skilled as I possibly can, so that I can teach others how to defend themselves and build confidence in a way that translates to every day life. My obsession with martial arts, became an obsession with living a healthy lifestyle, which translated to diet and nutrition, and eventually personal training and fitness. Now I am here today, still writing, recording and performing music, but also spending most of my days training and teaching martial arts, helping others get fit and healthy, and teaching people how to better care for themselves through movement and healthy living.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. Any touring musician knows the struggles, and it can be anything from waking up in a hot van, in a random city feeling lost and alone on a regular basis, to the poor nutrition and eating habits that come with being on the road eating gas station food and being crammed in a small van with 4-5 other people for weeks at a time. Touring is NOT for the feint of heart, although it has some incredible moments and experiences, most people never know or see how much work and travel time goes into the behind the scenes up until the moment we get to perform on stage for 1 hour or so…. only after driving for 10 hours, loading gear in and out of places, sleeping on couches in strangers’ homes, and usually doing all of it underslept and underfed.
Even when I made the choice to tour less, and focus on martial arts, that was a struggle in itself because I became so accustomed to the life of being on stage, and meeting hundreds of people weekly. I had to learn how to be “normal” again in the sense of, regular life wasn’t nearly as exciting as the life on the road was. Martial arts became a way to supplement some of that excitement, and competing was a way for me to feel that same drive that music gave me, and to feel the same sense of nervousness that playing a show would provide. However, there was a new set of challenges, which was, learning not to over-train, and learning how to deal with injuries that would usually keep most people out of the gym for weeks or months at a time…. I refused to take time off, and learned how to train even when injured. This ultimately translated to me figuring out ways to heal my body faster through intentional movement and recovery methods that I now incorporate into my teaching and personal training.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
You can still find new music from me, and there will be plenty of new music on the way, both under my Red Sage banner, and under my personal name that will be a whole different style and sound. However, most of my time today is now spent training people. I recently have taken on a job working for Mobile Trainers here in Denver where I travel around town to people’s home gyms and preferred locations to help them get in shape and work on their specific goals. I specialize in strength and conditioning, with an emphasis on mobility, functional movement, and recovery type of workouts for people who deal with the little nagging injuries from training martial arts. When I’m not in a gym lifting weights myself, or helping others get in shape, you can find me at Easton Training Center in Lowry, training, or teaching jiu jitsu and helping others learn how to better develop their game and build confidence in their training.
I am most proud of the fact that I am here less than 6 years later after beginning this path, and I am a purple belt with the ability to teach others in a way that can translate to their needs and requirements. I take pride in being able to understand someone else’s strengths and weaknesses and helping to improve upon these things. Easton Training Center is a unique school, and I am grateful every day that I decided to change schools a few years ago and walked into their Lowry location where I found some of my favorite people from my professors and the other coaches, to my training partners that have become more like family than anything else.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The easiest way to get a hold of me is to simply reach out on social media. I post regularly on Instagram under my handle @jordanthehuman , sharing my training, my gym regiment, and also where I share my music from covers of popular songs to my originals that are in the works. I am always happy to work with new people and take on new clients whether for martial arts help, or physical fitness and nutrition help. I’m also on Facebook, or for those that want to make serious inquiries you can also email me at jarmijo811@gmail.com and we can go from there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanthehuman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.armijo.7/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RedSage
