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A small gym can sometimes have small classes, so when the only person left to partner up with is a 90kg 4 stripe white belt, you just have to go with it.
Knelt in your guard with their hand on your hips, they are so ridged and aren't letting you drill and Omaplata. They are strong in your guard and ready as if to start sparring.
"Chill out, relax, it's only a drill. Help me out a little if you don't mind?" I say.
They do just that and relax in to the drill. I thought for a moment they may be a bit nervous.
I'm fairly new to BJJ Revolution team, so I'm still getting to know everyone and I asked the guy how long he has been training for. "Oh, about 4 years.... Forever I guess. I don't get to train much".
I'm horrified!
This is something I've never been able to understand. If you're going to take up a sport, or anything that needs practise to get better, why dabble when a good routine can help you get better?
Life does get in the way of jiu jitsu sometimes. Family, work, social events and injuries can prevent us from training. The majority of the time it's down to a bad training routine or just not being bothered.
When I started my journey, I was taking a class every now and then. I was training Muay Thai and had a fight coming up that I needed to prepare for, so I wasn't able to comit to jiu jitsu as my coach would have liked me to. He even called me a "jiu jitsu tourist", and those were the words that ignited me to sort my routine out. Once I did, I was training once a week. I wasn't absorbing the information like I should have though. I took some private lessons with my friend on the lead up to a competition, but the information still wasn't really sinking in. I took another class per week to make that two. One class I would learn, and the other would allow me to absorb the information.
Those who are training jiu jitsu every so often are not going to get any benefit out of training, apart from knowing that the guy who started after them 4 years ago, is now ahead of them because he has been training 3 times per week consistently.
If you can train your body to do jiu jitsu, you can train your body to accept that it has to be consistent to get better. Eating a healthy diet for a day, then going back to a bad diet until you feel like eating healthy again, isn't going to make your body better. You need to stick with it.
One way of sticking to a routine is to pay a monthly membership rather than pay as you go classes. You're paying the monthly fee, so it helps give you the motivation to train more and get your monies worth.
If work or life is getting you down, use jiu jitsu as a therapy to help you and relieve stress and tension. Remind youself of how good you feel after stepping off the mats for the evening. You don't need convincing, you already know how good it feels.
Jiu jitsu is one of the most social sports I have ever known. We become friends, eat together and drink together after training and competitions. Get to know your training partners and help them get to know you. Jiu jitsu people are some of the friendliest people around. Why wouldn't you want to hang out with them 2-3 times per week on the mats.
There are no excuses. Get consistent and motivated. You can do it!
BJJ Revolution Team 2015