Comments on: How To Not Quit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (part 1)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:48:12 +0000

Hi Raf,
You’re right, it is an over simplification to say “you will get better if you continue to train.” There is a lot more to it. What you’re asking is a great topic for a future post, because including it in this post would have made it over twice as long! Most of my posts are way longer than most bloggers ever do, because they believe that the audience has A.D.D. It’s something I’ve taught many times and I will write about it.
However, some of the greatest truths in life are very simple. When I started Jiu-Jitsu, most people were learning faster than me, and most people were beating me for the first 2 years. I didn’t give up, they did. One of the guys from the original training group that actually started me in Jiu-Jitsu now trains under me!
I’m glad you brought up those points. I will address them in a new post soon, but I will give you one piece of advice. Whatever your weak area is, focus on it. Work the escapes or attacks individually, then in combination, then against some resistance, then with more resistance, then in rolling. If you continue to do that, you will make your weak area one of your strongest.
Thanks for you input! Take care-

By: Raf

Raf — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:54:37 +0000

This article definitely helped me put my current plateau in perspective, but I wonder how you get over frustration when:

1) You spar and can’t remember how you got tapped. And you get tapped the same way twice in one day.
2) You fail at a few basic escapes on others of the same rank or lower
3) Others are picking it up faster than you

I think you are over-simplifying it by saying you just have to train and you’ll get better. I think need to train better to get better. Attendance is not enough. Perfect reps, reviewing notes right before I spar, incorporating new lessons in sparring the same night and consciously trying stuff out, visualizing…I’m shocked I’ve only done 1 &2.

By: Dave Rybski

Dave Rybski — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:12:42 +0000

Another great article, Ryan!

I believe I’ve been through the cycle you’ve described at least a dozen times in the years since I’ve started training. Let’s be honest, it’s difficult to stay with something like martial arts for so long. Life happens, people’s lives change constantly. A job changes or is lost, some marry or have kids, or interests simply change with age. It is a testament to the committment and desire of those that find a way to stick with it through it all.

The thing that pushes me when I’m at a low point in the cycle is my time invested. Whenever I feel like I’m plateau-ing, I remember my first day of training at East West nearly 8 years ago, and then think of how glad I am that I have continued to train for 8 years! How much better would I feel to be able to say I’ve been training for 10 years? 20 years? and suddenly my concerns about plateau-ing become temporary.

By: How To Not Quit Jiu-Jitsu (part 2) | Bjj Philosophy & Technique

How To Not Quit Jiu-Jitsu (part 2) | Bjj Philosophy & Technique — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:49:14 +0000

[...] How To Not Quit Jiu-Jitsu (part 2) Easy AdSense by Unrealcontinued from part 1… [...]

By: admin

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:46:53 +0000

Thanks Eric. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback. I’ve been looking around for other blogs that talk about philosophy realated to BJJ, and I’ve found very little. I will keep looking, but I hope these posts can help people.

By: Eric P

Eric P — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:13:37 +0000

Very Very Very nice article. As soon as everyone catches word of this blog, it’s over.

By: Ben Clark

Ben Clark — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:14:04 +0000

That’s extremely well put, Ryan. I haven’t considered quitting, but I did hit a low point a few weeks ago; I was getting tapped a lot, and began to question myself a LOT…well, I *was* pretty “sucky” that week in retrospect. But I just kept my head up, and after a few weeks of sticking with it I had a great week last week, and I feel a lot more positive about my training now. The whole cycle put things in perspective for me, and hopefully the next time I hit a “low point” I won’t let it get me down. I am a lover of cheesy sayings come up with a few of them of my own from time to time…and the thing I came up with during this stretch is “I need to be patient, this will take me years to become truly skilled, I just can’t become complacent”.

I’ll close with a meaningful quote I recently read:
– “The years teach us much the days never knew” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace-

Ben Clark
East West BJJ Student

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:31:17 +0000

When I was training in TaeKwonDo in high school I joined with several of my friends and family members.

I immediately made it a goal to be the best BlackBelt in the school. Deep down… I knew that if I kept at it… I could do it…

On the journey I was the only one of all my friends and family that kept going to class… 1 by 1 they all slowed down, stopped coming and started making excuses.

All that did was make me go even more… I started attending classes 5 – 6 days a week, doing 2 classes a day, practicing after class, visualizing, watching dvds and everything I could think of to get better faster…

As of now… I still have the record of fastest BlackBelt in that TaeKwonDo School and was hailed at one point as being the best student/blackbelt there.

Be clear about what you want to accomplish, write it down, hold that image in your head, become obsessed about it…

It Will Materialize For You!

As far as my BJJ training…(lol)