If I'm being honest, I've cut back my training lately. Cutting back for me means something like training 4-5 days on, with a day, or sometimes 2 consecutive days off.
I haven't been strict about my diet or even making the most of training time. I'm in class, I'm paying attention, but emotionally, I'm just at a plateau with Jiu-Jitsu. I feel there is so much depth to the application of even a very small set of moves in my passing or sweeping game, and yet, this maddening frustration at how disconnected my game feels as of late. I haven't been strict about waking up to train in the mornings before work whereas in the past I always found time to do so at least once or twice a week.
A nagging hip flexor injury, followed by getting sick, then a shoulder injury have all kept me from hitting a stride in training and overall, just a serious plateau. My game felt disconnected, forced, and ultimately ineffective in general while rolling. Moreso than those things, there's just a sense of ennui currently that I feel.
I've been keeping a close eye on a white belt on my team and working with them whenever they're at the gym. It's helped me get out of myself and focus on something other than what feels like a stagnant phase in my game. I hit the wall hard.
After grinding it out for quite awhile, it's pleasant to sometimes skip the gym and see a movie with my girlfriend or go out to dinner.
For a number of years, virtually nothing came between training and I.
It was all encompassing and the single most important thing I looked forward to each day. Stagnant or not, I was grinding.
Call it what you will, but after fighting in MMA, overcoming ACL reconstruction, accepting I'm likely done competing in Judo due to the new rules, and just an overall plateau and sense of diminishing returns, it was time to just have/make Jiu-Jitsu as a small part of my life, as a hobby, the way a lot of people do. I'm waiting and will be ready when the fire returns, but right now, it's not the smoldering inferno it has been for the past 4-5 years when I moved from focusing on Judo and Muay Thai to really wanting to get good at Jiu-Jitsu.
Jiu-Jitsu is the most addictive hobby/pursuit I've ever encountered and that will return, but for now, I'm just acting like a normal person and it's a hobby.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
ACL Curse Strikes Again: GSP Part Deux
Well, this pretty much confirms the ACL as the Achilles heel of MMA and professional combat sports competition: GSP will now have his other ACL done. I've read the occurrence rate of ACL injury increases due to imbalances strength and/or otherwise once you've had an ACL reconstructed. Having been down this past myself, my heart goes out to just about anyone who's had this procedure. It's not the pain or the discomfort so much or the keeping your leg straight for what feels like forever, then gingerly slowly getting range of motion back that sucks....it's simply the sheer time needed for the tissue to heal and reattach itself with that always present little voice in the back of your head that it could simply happen again.
Stuart Cooper: Jiu-Jitsu - A Way of Life
When I didn't value other things, I valued Jiu-Jitsu enough to know and acknowledge that other things were negatively impacting and conflicting with what I believed to be my passion which was being on the mat and by extension becoming a better person.
You can't just try to be great at Jiu-Jitsu and be a *&^%*^ person off the mats. It's not congruent.
Jiu-Jitsu was a big part of that and if I hadn't had the truth I've found there and on the mat, I don't know that I would be in the place I am right now.
I don't know what my life would be like if I wasn't putting on a gi every time I got the chance. For that, I will always be thankful.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Upcoming Tournament Schedule: NC State Championships 04/05, IBJJF New York Open 04/12
Assuming registration is still open tomorrow and not capped, I'll also be registering for my first purple belt tournament at the IBJJF level for the New York Open next weekend.
Big kid stuff, I know.
December I moved up to purple belt and I know this New York Open will be a big step up in competition, but life is short and there's no time like the present. If you wait until you feel like you're ready, you'll never pull the trigger.
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