Lights On

 I made the decision to go back to jiujitsu as soon as the school opened back up in early June. Let’s talk some background:

Jiujitsu wise, right after the tournament I went to and won my match it felt like certain lights were starting to turn on and that I was making my leap, as it were, towards really getting it. Man, is it a cool feeling to have. COVID hit and…ugh. Training stopped. The promise I made to myself is that I would not fall out of shape, even if I wasn’t able to go and train like I wanted to. So, the day I stopped training was the first day I popped in the Beachbody T25 workouts. I did those for 11 weeks straight. Shaun T kicked my butt. The result being I gained a little muscle, kept in cardio shape, and hit the ground running once training started up again for me. My jiujitsu game was more of a mental one for those 11 weeks than anything. Couldn’t train, but was very happy with how I kept myself in shape to be able to get right back into things once they started.

Overall, COVID-ly speaking I felt it was the smart and necessary thing to stop training, given the scare of what’s going on plus what we don’t know about the entire situation. I made an unspoken pact with my wife that if she was going to opt of going to Pure Barre I would do the same with my outside of the house activity too. I 100% don’t regret that decision on either a relationship level or a societal level; it was my responsibility to do it. But jiujitsu, man. It has a way of sneaking its way into your life and existence. I was working out, keeping in shape but I could not wait to go back to train. 

I was a little bit nervous about catching COVID. To be honest, I still am a little bit but I know the general mindset of anyone who practices jiujitsu at a reputable gym: don’t come to the gym if you’re sick. Yep, I know that someone could pass along COVID asymptomatically, but in general what I’m saying is if you even THINK you’re sick you don’t show up to train. I know people understand that and even more so, it would be a risk to the school if anyone did that and so far so good, no one has gotten super sick. Some weeks back I was one of the ones who had a fever and stayed away from the gym until the fever passed and I got a negative COVID test. I know of another training partner who DID get it and stayed away until he got two negative tests. I’m happy that I’m at a school where people are being responsible. 

Regardless, training resumed. I was rusty after a few months off but my plan worked: because I was in cardio shape I could focus on shaking off the rust at a reasonably high rate of speed and wouldn’t you know it? The lights started to come back on again. Things that I struggled with two years ago, last year, started to make more sense. During our beginner’s classes I’m pairing with white belts and (to the level that I am) can explain technique to an adequate degree as well as demonstrate it. I’m telling you, it’s trippy in a way. It is an inevitable thing that if you continue to do something long enough, consistently enough, you will get better at it. I know that. But to get to that point in the process is really blowing my mind. I’m humbled to even realize that I MIGHT be at that point.

That was driven home to me as I received my third and fourth stripes on my blue belt in the past 4 months. The next step is purple belt. At Fight to Win, we test for purple belt. Steve sees purple belt as a line of demarcation of sorts. It shows that you’re serious about the art of jiujitsu and you want to get better at an advanced level AND that you’re willing to go through a bit of pain (in the form of the test). There is a lot of material on that test. You cannot cram for it and even if you could, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you did. 

In order to prepare for the test, I’ve gotten with other blue belts and friends to start going through the list. This is only furthering that whole trippy feeling of having those lights turned on. I really am starting to get some of this stuff. And in getting some of this stuff it makes me see I have so far to go on this journey. Let’s see where it leads.