Tool’s Maynard James Keenan Earns Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Credit: Tim CadienteIt may have taken almost ten years for Tool to start recording a new album, but it's taken frontman Maynard James Keenan even longer to achieve another goal: earning his purple belt in jiu-jitsu.

Keenan is an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter who has been working towards his purple belt since 1996. In an Instagram post, Keenan revealed that, while on vacation in Hawaii, he was surprised by his old coach Luis "Limao" Heredia, who had previously given him his blue belt, which precedes the purple belt.

"[Heredia] surprised me unexpectedly with a long, very kind, heart felt speech and my Purple Belt," Keenan writes.

Meanwhile, Tool has begun working on the follow-up to their last album, 1,000 Days. That record, released in 2006, featured two Grammy-nominated singles: "The Pot" and "Vicarious."

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Thankful moment. Yesterday, while on family vacation in Hawaii, I was blessed with a curveball. The coach that gave me my Blue belt years ago at Ricksons academy on Pico in LA, Luis “Limao” Heredia, @chieflimao Maui Jiu Jitsu, surprised me unexpectedly with a long, very kind, heart felt speech and my Purple Belt. It’s taken quite awhile to get here. I moved to an area that had no Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu school in late ’96 and had to commute back and forth to keep up training which just wasn’t practical. I also suffered a few injuries which also made training inconsistent. And even when I could train, it wasn’t under a single instructor with a Rickson Gracie curriculum. So very difficult to advance in belts under this scenario. But more recently I resumed training after some supportive prodding from one of my best friends in the world, Todd Fox. And I’ve been making regular trips back and forth to St Louis to train with his coach, Rodrigo Vaghi as well as to Los Angeles to train with my old friend Henry Akins, at Dynamix Martial Arts. Without these guys I wouldn’t have been able to confidently wear this belt. Thank you, Todd, Rodrigo, Henry, and Limao for this opportunity to test and understand myself better and to push my boundaries and discover more of which I am capable. @5dbjj @henrydynamixmma

A photo posted by Puscifer & Caduceus (@puscifer) on May 27, 2015 at 12:30pm PDT