A Few Tuesday Jiu Jitsu Thoughts

A few Tuesday thoughts-

“Listen to your body”.

That’s my least favourite training cliché. It’s usually someone telling you to take a night off.

No. Don’t listen to your body. You’re always tired. There’s always an ache or pain.

Your body might be lying!

In my experience, people’s physical limits are greater than they suppose them to be. What separates the rare savage who is always on the mat from the average person is mental attitude, not physical limitations.

Discipline is a trainable skill, not a genetic gift. Train yourself to be more disciplined in the same way you’d learn how to speak a new language.

Perfect is the enemy of good- Don’t succumb to the Nirvana Fallacy.

People tend to make out an incredible plan and hope for an incredible outcome. Training is not a Rocky montage. It takes a long time to transform from novice to something decent, and even the smallest improvement is good.

Just try to be a little bit better each week.

Learn this NoGi Technique- it comes up a lot in sparring-

You are not a “Guard player” or a “Guard passer”. There are no Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Guard Passing academies. There’s only Jiu Jitsu. Gi, NoGi, passing, takedowns, guard. You need to have Jiu Jitsu that works in every position.

The best training drill in the world is First Takedown. Nothing is harder than trying to take each other to the mat over and over. Get a partner and find time on the mat. Set a timer for 10 minutes and train.

Remember the good feeling after training. Be aware of it, look around you, and drink it in. Use that memory for the nights when you don't feel like training.

Learn to enjoy passing as much as playing Guard. There's a satisfying feeling of passing a good guard after a hard battle. The Guard is more appealing, and maybe physically less demanding, whereas passing is an acquired taste.

See you on the mat,

Barry