Nobody said it was easy

This week I had the honor of promoting two students to higher belts. Congrats to Kenji and Mark for their promotions. Both are family men and are in “Team Old Guy”. But they are consistent about their training and they love jiu jitsu.It got me to thinking about just how hard it is to stay on the Jiu Jitsu path when we also have other aspects of our lives to manage.

The observation I’ve made is that unlike other sports, if you fall behind in bjj it is very difficult (but not impossible) to rally back to the level you where prior to your break. Even with surfing, if I take a couple months off (not by choice, no waves) give me two days and I’m back in kill mode! Of course bjj has all to do with me staying in surfing shape. But breaks from bjj are different. Bjj is always in a progressive state. If your not going forward your moving backward.Granted we have issues that prevent us, work and family responsibilities, injury, sickness. I think its easier to come back from these difficulties. But when we choose to neglect our jiu jitsu, that’s the tough one. Making excuses as to why we can’t train is the biggest kryptonite one has to face in this journey. “I’m going to die”, “I can’t do it”, “My partners to rough/heavy”, “I wanna come back but…”…..Once you make your way down this path its a hard road back. Tell yourself reasons why you want to train. Do you want to look good, feel better about your health and appearance? Do you want to set an example for others you care about? Are you tired of feeling disgusted about your state of being?

Be honest with yourself when you ask these questions. If not jiu jitsu, any kind of activity will suffice. I promote bjj for the fact that its the best workout for me and I love the family spirit of the academy. Hell hit that Zumba a few times a week! So do yourself a favor….quit quitting…no one said this was gonna be easy…time to take charge and show em who’s boss!!!