The Grind

[tallgeese]

I spoke a bit about this in another (really cool in its own right) thread here:

http://www.karateforums.com/the-toughest-part-vt46510.html

After a couple of more conversations with people about related matters, I thought I'd expound a bit on my answer to the question- What's the toughest part about doing your art.

My answer in regard to BJJ was easy and it popped right to me- the grind. I immediately thought of the 3 or 4 sore body parts that I was currently nursing and training around and started to tick off the constant stream of these over the years. This feature, even when proper rolling is considered, is a major factor.

It can be mentally, physically, and emotionally draining.

When I look past this though, and put it in context with the conversations that I've been having with a newer crop of students who look like they might actually stick around (which is when I will actually start having deep jiu jitsu conversations with them) I find that this answers a lot more than just a physical aspect.

Fully 1/3- 1/2 of your jiu jitsu training will be open mat, or free roll. This is application of technique in a live environment. Because of this, you get beat. A lot. For a long time. And even after you gain some time you still flat out get owned by people better than you from time to time.

This can mentally beat you down, and per my conversations with newish people, really make you think about walking away. This too is part of the grind. Getting beat in jiu jitsu during free roll isn't like losing in sparring (I did actually used to be a stand up guy)

When you lose in jiu jitsu, you get physically dominated. Your partner sticks you in a position that you have no escape from and makes you quit. It's always in tight, right on each other, positions that are uncomfortable and controlling. There's no question as to what happened, its always very clear that the other guy imposed his will on you. And we've all gone thru it.

Now, losing happens in all arts, but something about the constant proximity in BJJ seems more primal that just getting knocked around. Couple this with the fact that even when I was new and getting beat up in standing arts routinely (and we sparred pretty hard) it was only a part of training, you just can't spar hard every night. More often that not, we wouldn't spar or would only drill while we sparred. Compare one night of loss per week (with distance as your friend) to losing a full 50 percent of your training time due to the methodologies that grappling allows.

Grind.

Those methods and the constant testing are one of the great things about jits. It's also, if I stop and think about it, one of the big contributors to this "grind" and it can really wear. Particularly on new people.

As I think about it after the aforementioned thread and my recent conversations, there's one more big factor that contributes to this, especially at early ranks. That's the non-linear progression of jits.

Early on, you're constantly making progress. How can you not? You're new and don't know anything. Anything seems like something. But you get better quickly. This does not continue. You'll plateau. It's this pause that leads you to work new materiel into your game, or refine old material. While you're working on this, you'll actually lose skill (or at least lose matches) while you work to make new stuff fit. This can be a crusher.

But it is the only way to progress. Then, as you progress, you start to increase in perceived skill again and all is right with the world. After a while (and I"ve been thru this so many times I'm used to it like an old friend) you start to understand this but new students don't. They just know that they aren't getting better or maybe even worse.

Now, factor all these things together cycling in and out and you see why it can create a grind that will make you want to walk away. I've been at this a long time, and it even gets to me (March was a mess of injury to my game) and it bogs you down.

The bummer is, the longer you've been at it, the easier it is to get thru, but the shorter time you are the easier it is for these things to drive you out.

So, in conclusion of my little thought train, if you're new to jits start to embrace the grind of it. It will always be with you. Don't over analyze it, don't start quitting, just realize it's making you better.

[Archimoto]

I LOVE this post!

Sorry, just sayin'

[tallgeese]

Glad you liked it!

[bushido_man96]

Great post, so well explained. I haven't got to this kind of training yet, but I hope to, soon. Now, I have an idea of what to expect, and to keep myself positive about it.

[pittbullJudoka]

Great post. It's all true as I've seen in my time in training BJJ too. I embrace the high and lows the wins and losses. I embrace the grind. Again great post thanks for sharing.

[ShoriKid]

Tallgeese,

Great post sir, there is a whole lot of truth in it that practitioners of any art need to hear, understand and embrace. Now, I'm with you in that the up close and personal nature of grappling arts makes those defeats very personal. I come to BJJ, thanks to PitbullJudoka, through wrestling in high school. It's a grind as well. You hurt, starve (I hate heavy weights by the way. Always able to eat...) and can't get enough rest from beginning of season through the end of post season. That's the physical side. Taking a beating from guys bigger than you, having a coach (took out "couch", it will suck you in, not push you) pushing, a bad performance on the mats where you have to turn it around a little later for your next match. Mental grind, emotional too. Then there is off season training that is mostly solo when I was at it. All alone with no one to push you, see you quit or gauge your progress. It's the mental side as much as anything there. I'm an old friend of the grind, though I don't get ground as much as I would like these days. Embracing that grind I think is a big part of what separates those who stick around and progress, and those who make it a year or less. The sooner people understand that, the better they will be because they can see it coming and might be ready to handle things like this.

Not to derail the discussion, but I would argue that the grind of stand up styles is there, different, but definitely there. That once or twice a week beating in sparring allows a lot of time to dwell on that loss. The daily, why are we working on the jab again, why are we doing this drill again? Repeating things over and over until you are frankly sick of doing them is the only way to progress. Then there is the instructors side of all arts. You always have to be "on" and ready to train, teach something new, deal with students and often neglect your own training.

[cheesefrysamurai]

Some of this connects to other arts. I have experienced some of this in karate. I feel like I'm doing great then I learn something or Sensei tweaks a kata I look at myself and say damn I know nothing.... Until I climb the hill again.

Where I can see it with bjj is more in the primal area. More that your progress is based on your ability to physically dominate. Very much like if karate class was purely based on sparing and sparring is all we did.

In karate we are competing with ourselves, striving to be a better karateka then we were yesterday. I'm not sure bjj is measured the same way. If your not athletic or losing your athletic ability or even just gain a few pound, you can progressively get worse . I know it's an over simplification but I can imagine a constant need to prove myself and knowing one day, My superior technique won't be enough to keep me dominant.

[guird]

This describes my experience very well. At my BJJ school everyone already had a background in judo before they joined, and had also been doing BJJ for at least a year. I still haven't tapped a single person from my school out in free sparring, and I've been there (if somewhat irregularly) for four months now.

It seems that with grappling, when you're noob, you can really feel how noob you are. After a few lessons in striking you already have a small chance to land the occaisional fluke punch. No flukes against a more experienced grappler though.

It doesn't make me want to stop training though. Quite the opposite. The skill of my training partners inspires me to train harder. I want to be able to tap people like that.