Belt of the long road1/12/2023 ![]() When you reach black belt, those techniques you learned in your first year of training have a way of “suddenly” having so many more details or core concepts than you remembered. What you’ll find with most old timers is that they stop being too concerned about the hot new techs and instead return to their roots. ![]() You only have so many hands and so much time and attention. Just accept that every time you toss up a new plate, you risk letting another fall. Whenever my friend (and black belt under Marcelo Garcia) Leo Kirby saw a cool new move he wanted to try, he called this tossing up another “spinning plate.” These trends can be very fun, so I’m not saying you should ignore them. We call this “Instagram jiu-jitsu” these days, and before that, it was “YouTube jiu-jitsu.” (Before that, I imagine it was “Grappling Magazine jiu-jitsu.”) Some make a lasting impression, like leg drags and berimbolos, but most fade away (sorry, velvet x-guard). Realize that working out for your overall health is not always the same as training to be an elite athlete or to “make gainz”.Ĭome to appreciate simplicity, and reinvestigate “old” techniques in greater depth.Ī hot new trend sweeps through the competitive Brazilian jiu-jitsu scene every year or so. You can do a lot with basics like push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and bearcrawling around the mats. This could be yoga, kettlebells, bodyweight, barbells, etc. You can retain some of your sanity by finding something simple and sticking to it until you need something more. You’d go insane trying to find the “perfect” program to follow. The world of fitness is mind-boggling, with countless “experts” selling a million different “best” exercise systems. That’s doubly true if you’re a desk jockey. For most BJJ guys, this is forward head, rounded shoulders, hunched back, tight hips, weak glutes, crappy knees, and stiff ankles. He advocates for following practices that develop joint health, especially by counteracting whatever postures and muscular tensions your sport and daily life overdo. This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a 4-hour mobility and conditioning seminar by Steve Maxwell. The science points towards strength, stability, mobility, and endurance being more important factors. Whether or not that’s true, every other reason to quit becomes easier when you’re in pain.įor years, I would have told you stretching is a good way to prevent injury (because that’s what I was taught since childhood PE classes, as were most people), but the research doesn’t back that up, at least not for the old fashioned “touch your toes” stretches. Injuries and chronic joint pain are, in my estimation, the main reason people quit jiu-jitsu. Keep your body from breaking down by doing corrective exercises. Keep pushing forward, but settle in for the long haul. Jiu-jitsu is a lifelong endeavor, if you stick to it, so don’t worry about rushing. Certainly, enjoy the good times, and don’t get too bummed about the bad times, but as King Solomon’s ring reminded him: “this too shall pass.” The only way to stay sane is to not get too emotionally invested in any particular high or low. Often, you’re making progress even when you don’t feel like you are, and when you finally reach a peak and start feeling proud of yourself, you look up and see there’s another, higher one… You’ll go down dead ends and need to backtrack. You don’t simply starting at the bottom and walk straight up to the top. The mountain path metaphor is a particularly good illustration, if you imagine it accurately. Setting your sights on a distant goal will help you stay on the path toward it. The path to black belt takes many years, and when you finally reach it, you realize the path toward mastery continues on for decades and then lifetimes (I’ll leave it to the Buddhists to figure out how to be reincarnated with all our jiu-jitsu skills still intact). ![]() I’ve got five pieces of advice if you want to make it a lifelong pursuit.Īim for the top of the mountain, but keep your feet on the trail. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is frustrating and humbling. ![]()
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