Enjoy Your Jiu Jitsu First

A fella came into Kyuzo one time and said “I want to be a black belt”. I said “Cool. But just to let you know, it’s going to take about 8 years”. He said “How do you do it faster than that?” I sighed and thought about it.

“Well you know there’s lads who’ve done it quicker. They were doing 7 days a week, twice a day, going to Brazil to train, that sort of thing. But you know, it’s not about getting the belt, it’s about learning the art and enjoying it.”

He said, “That’s me. I’m a committed guy.”

And he was. He trained every session. For about 2 months. Then he trained every other session for a month. Then once a week for a month. And then he stopped training altogether.

Give me the guy or girl who comes in and punches the clock, enjoys their training, does it a few times per week, and grows to love it over time.

The brightest candles burn down fastest. With very few exceptions.

The people who match Jiu Jitsu to their lifestyle and for whom it’s a pleasure to get on the mat, not a chore, who approach training with a smile and who train with everyone will get on best. They’ll still be around because they’ve made friends and don’t get burnout.

We live in a world of inspirational quotes and videos about mega intensity and becoming a warrior and blah blah I’ve bored myself with that already. It’s not like that. You get here as much as you can, push yourself to do the best you can, at a pace and intensity that allows you to recover for work the next day. That’s good training!

That’s long term training!

And who knows, you might grow to love it so much that you want to do it on a higher level. Then you’ll be able to up your sessions and intensity, but you’ll do it with knowledge and experience.

See you on the mat,

Barry