When you first start Brazilian jiu-jitsu it is quite common to feel as if you have been hit by a bus! The warm-ups are hard, techniques can seem complicated, during sparring you can’t breathe, you are getting crushed into the mats, and submissions are like a swarm of bees surrounding you! BJJ can be downright unpleasant! However there is good news, you don’t have to be born a hard-nosed, gritty, tough as nails individual to become good at jiu-jitsu you just need to attain the right training attitude.
I once had a new student who was an avid cross country runner and marathoner tell me after a 5 minute sparring round, “that was the hardest thing I ever did!”
WHAT?!?!? A five minute sparring round was more difficult than running for hours on end? More unpleasant than chaffed nipples? Rougher than shin splints? Obviously at first his statement seemed unbelievable to me. How could a lifelong endurance athlete consider a five minute grappling round more difficult than running for hours? I would rather drive a nail through my foot than endure the pain of pounding the pavement on a three hour run! However, as I considered it more sincerely I came to realize that pain is in fact relative.
These are different kinds of pain, and athletes learn to deal with the pain of their own particular sport. Runners get used to the pain of the road, MMA fighters learn to bounce back after they get punched in the face, football players learn to deal with getting back up after a hard tackle, jiu-jitsu practitioners eventually learn to deal with getting suffocated and crushed into the mats. In part, this is about becoming mentally and physically tougher but beyond that it is a journey of self discovering about the limits of your mind and body. It is about learning how far you can push your body without breaking it. In the end, becoming tougher is all about learning to survive and continue to perform in situations that would have previously thought insurmountable. Becoming tougher is all about mat experience and you can’t rush that!
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About The Author:
Jeff Reese, Gracie Jiu-jitsu black belt, has had the honor of learning from two generations of Gracie family members including Royce, Royler, Rodrigo, Rolker, Ralek, Rener, and Ryron; he teaches at Gracie NEPA in Scranton, PA.
