super-belated reply to Super Dave ...
do something active/physical... anything, just get into the habit. start small/short if you have to, in time, you will do it more/longer and other activities ... change it up to keep it fresh and excitement of starting something new ...
The 3 F's: have Fun with the activity, hopefully it's also Fit and Functional. If it's Fun, you will continue to do it and not dread it, if it's Fit, then you know it's good for your health, and if it's Functional, you know you are Installing good skills (like bjj, boxing, muay thai, wrestling, judo, etc) ... even if the activity is just jogging, your run-fu vs muggers would be good
all that translates to bjj at some point for you hopefully... or the other way is like they do with people new to swimming, just dump them into the pool ... just join a bjj class if feasible ... it will
catch on.
FWIW, i'm 51, led a Family Man life, 3 kids, youngest is now 12, still needs me to check his homework from time to time, but basically all 3 are old enough to take care of themselves (FTR, 17, 14, and 12) ... i've neglected my MA training. started back on my Sojourn sometime last year. when i can't do much, i do a little, a few mins, every little counts... when i can, i do a
anywhere from 15 mins - 3 hours. looking to Install the Habit and just getting back on Track.
good luck in your Sojourn!
Splinty,
in a way, that's cool you get 2 weeks continuous training, better to hone your skills and retain the knowledge!
good luck in your Sojourn as well!
and oh, on the financial front - i train mostly solo or very low cost, we are saving for a house, as well as oldest is a senior in High School... College in September
if i could afford the time and money for bjj i would.
if i could afford the time and money for bjj i would.
So I have started BJJ guys.
I started going here:
Pablo Silva Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | LIVE UP TO YOUR POTENTIAL!
Pablo Silva is ridiculously legit and nice guy. He's super driven and a bunch of his students are very competition focused.
Despite that, its been a really good experience so far, with everyone being VERY welcoming. It's awesome and is the perfect mix of being friendly without it being a cake walk. Everything is done to get better, but the focus is constructive.
The school runs at least two adult classes 5 days a week day and Sunday has a 12 hour open mat period.
Two days a week are much more competition focused with a lot of rolling and mat time. It's pretty high paced with less break time.
Two other days are very fundamentals focused with a more traditional step wise structure of putting things together.
My body will not handle two-a-days of rolling hard, but I will probably do two-a-days on the fundamental focused days as there is so much more focus on technique that I can recover. I'll up the tempo once I can handle it.
Overall, it has been great so far.
I am out of shape, not flexible enough, and a blue belt woman at 155 lbs can sweep me like I'm a child. And none of that has made it a worse experience. I've seen comments from others about needing motivation to start, or worrying about not being in shape enough. There's a 45 year old guy there that was taking breaks every 2 minutes when he started. He now has better endurance than I do. Let the mat condition you and just go!
I'll keep you guys up to date in a few weeks or so.
Only thing I'll have to consider is some guys have their fingers beat up some, requiring taping, etc.. I do surgery as part of my job and am able to gamble a finger sprain here and there (can happen with basketball or anywhere), but the GI puts a lot of stress on the joints, so listening to my body is paramount. I'm down for any advice to minimize finger strains or other hand injuries.
Take care yall.
I started going here:
Pablo Silva Brazilian Jiu Jitsu | LIVE UP TO YOUR POTENTIAL!
Pablo Silva is ridiculously legit and nice guy. He's super driven and a bunch of his students are very competition focused.
Despite that, its been a really good experience so far, with everyone being VERY welcoming. It's awesome and is the perfect mix of being friendly without it being a cake walk. Everything is done to get better, but the focus is constructive.
The school runs at least two adult classes 5 days a week day and Sunday has a 12 hour open mat period.
Two days a week are much more competition focused with a lot of rolling and mat time. It's pretty high paced with less break time.
Two other days are very fundamentals focused with a more traditional step wise structure of putting things together.
My body will not handle two-a-days of rolling hard, but I will probably do two-a-days on the fundamental focused days as there is so much more focus on technique that I can recover. I'll up the tempo once I can handle it.
Overall, it has been great so far.
I am out of shape, not flexible enough, and a blue belt woman at 155 lbs can sweep me like I'm a child. And none of that has made it a worse experience. I've seen comments from others about needing motivation to start, or worrying about not being in shape enough. There's a 45 year old guy there that was taking breaks every 2 minutes when he started. He now has better endurance than I do. Let the mat condition you and just go!
I'll keep you guys up to date in a few weeks or so.
Only thing I'll have to consider is some guys have their fingers beat up some, requiring taping, etc.. I do surgery as part of my job and am able to gamble a finger sprain here and there (can happen with basketball or anywhere), but the GI puts a lot of stress on the joints, so listening to my body is paramount. I'm down for any advice to minimize finger strains or other hand injuries.
Take care yall.
Props and Respect Splinty!
When a grip-break in enivetable, LET GO and regrip. Holding onto grips like your life depends on it and having it forcibly broken puts a lot of wear and tear on your fingers. With some good timing, you can often use the exaggerated movement of their hands and arms to get a better grip somewhere when there is less resistance than they expected when they try to break your grip.
M
member 603
Guest
Way to get on the mat again..... Enjoy the journey and have fun
So I'm about 6 weeks in.
That's really three weeks since I work every other week.
Im in class 6-8 times in the weeks I go though.
So I usually have been doing two a days on the fundamentals days (4 classes). I go to one or two short no gi classes (1-2 they just continue after the regular classes).Then I go to the bjj drills class (1 class). I go to one competition class sometimes (0-1), though my body still makes me wonder if Im ready for the pace yet. And I hit the open my for a few hours on Sundays (1).
My hands hurt. But tape is my friend holy crap how amazing. Honestly without tape, Id probably quit in a few months. They don't do a ton of nogi and there are no schools close to me that do it either. There's a top no gi School in northwest Houston,but that's easily an hour away with traffic. I tape one or two fingers that feel like they are becoming a problem, I stretch, warm up extra, and use heat and ice. It's getting better.
Now that I've switched most of my time to the days based on fundamentals and doing drills, rather than the aggressive pace of the competition class, I'm learning to not over grip and to work technique. I find that mentally and for muscle movement I'm getting just as much out of the class, but I'm not hurting as much with lower aggression and trying instead to focus technique.
I had a purple belt rolling with me a few days ago and he told me to imagine that I am wrestling with a five year old. Of course this sounded crazy to me. But it was his way of explaining to not spend a lot of energy and said focus on becoming technical. Also probably his quiet way of telling the new white belt, how to be good to your training partners and not knee slice them on every single pass etc. Since I don't know much, just being stronger or in better shape than my opponents sometimes lets me manhandle and power through a poorly done sweep. So he and I start to roll a little bit he's just easily taking my back and climbing all over me with nothing I can do. He's not powering past me but instead just repositioning his hands and setting me up for trouble. This was a pretty pivotal moment and understanding about being relaxed but not falling asleep on the mat. He was constantly moving, he just wasn't having to use a ton of power and energy to beat me. If he wanted to sink in from the frame and dump weight on me, he could.
So today I went to class and try to remember to act like I'm wrestling with a five year old. We did a bunch of submission and passing drills, and some I had already done before. This time I made it a point to try every movment gently while doing them quickly. Grips, gentle. Pass? Frame and move quickly. This took WAY less energy then using aggression to get speed. In focus too much more on the technique. Before that I was only concerned with being gentle on my submissions for the sake of my training partners. Didn't realize how much being gentle and smooth wirh all movements will be good for my own training.
So that's where I'm at. Sure it's probably pretty basic for those in the know. But trying to get good at this and understanding these nuances has been huge.
That's really three weeks since I work every other week.
Im in class 6-8 times in the weeks I go though.
So I usually have been doing two a days on the fundamentals days (4 classes). I go to one or two short no gi classes (1-2 they just continue after the regular classes).Then I go to the bjj drills class (1 class). I go to one competition class sometimes (0-1), though my body still makes me wonder if Im ready for the pace yet. And I hit the open my for a few hours on Sundays (1).
My hands hurt. But tape is my friend holy crap how amazing. Honestly without tape, Id probably quit in a few months. They don't do a ton of nogi and there are no schools close to me that do it either. There's a top no gi School in northwest Houston,but that's easily an hour away with traffic. I tape one or two fingers that feel like they are becoming a problem, I stretch, warm up extra, and use heat and ice. It's getting better.
Now that I've switched most of my time to the days based on fundamentals and doing drills, rather than the aggressive pace of the competition class, I'm learning to not over grip and to work technique. I find that mentally and for muscle movement I'm getting just as much out of the class, but I'm not hurting as much with lower aggression and trying instead to focus technique.
I had a purple belt rolling with me a few days ago and he told me to imagine that I am wrestling with a five year old. Of course this sounded crazy to me. But it was his way of explaining to not spend a lot of energy and said focus on becoming technical. Also probably his quiet way of telling the new white belt, how to be good to your training partners and not knee slice them on every single pass etc. Since I don't know much, just being stronger or in better shape than my opponents sometimes lets me manhandle and power through a poorly done sweep. So he and I start to roll a little bit he's just easily taking my back and climbing all over me with nothing I can do. He's not powering past me but instead just repositioning his hands and setting me up for trouble. This was a pretty pivotal moment and understanding about being relaxed but not falling asleep on the mat. He was constantly moving, he just wasn't having to use a ton of power and energy to beat me. If he wanted to sink in from the frame and dump weight on me, he could.
So today I went to class and try to remember to act like I'm wrestling with a five year old. We did a bunch of submission and passing drills, and some I had already done before. This time I made it a point to try every movment gently while doing them quickly. Grips, gentle. Pass? Frame and move quickly. This took WAY less energy then using aggression to get speed. In focus too much more on the technique. Before that I was only concerned with being gentle on my submissions for the sake of my training partners. Didn't realize how much being gentle and smooth wirh all movements will be good for my own training.
So that's where I'm at. Sure it's probably pretty basic for those in the know. But trying to get good at this and understanding these nuances has been huge.
M
member 603
Guest
Where do you train in Houston? If you get a chance, go check out Advantage BJJ... Danny Duckworth owns it, he's a super awesome guy... Tell him Ray from 6 Levels (and formerly from Newbreed) sent you
Pablo Silva BJJ
Sure thing man. That's down in Pearland, I'm up in the center of the city. But am down that way regularly for some friends I know.
Tonight I learned what it felt like to push myself in BJJ.
I went to the competition class that ups the tempo anyways. But I guess there were some strong competitors at the recent Houston tournament that lost position and the match for simple mistakes. So professor is pushing the competition a little harder on top of the previous pace.
So tonight was the usual hour drilling and then we did almost an hour of 6 minute rounds of live training. We were doing sprawls and light jogging between with a short water break here and there.
I work out a resonable amount. I run about 10 miles a week.
I was dying tonight by the end. I am allowed to just sit out. Some people needed to.
But I'm hard headed. Right before the last round I excused myself, walked in the bathroom, puked a little, and rinsed my mouth. Felt instantly better and walked back in time to roll the last match.
I don't advise this. This is not a good long term strategy or something to aspire for. I am still focusing my energy on the drilling classes where we are working fundamentals at a slower pace.
But honestly, I haven't pushed myself that hard in probably a decade. It felt good just to do it, to learn my own limits. So there you go. You shouldn't try to workout until you puke. Only crossfit nerds think that But you should learn your limits here and there. And when you feel like you might die, you probably won't.
I went to the competition class that ups the tempo anyways. But I guess there were some strong competitors at the recent Houston tournament that lost position and the match for simple mistakes. So professor is pushing the competition a little harder on top of the previous pace.
So tonight was the usual hour drilling and then we did almost an hour of 6 minute rounds of live training. We were doing sprawls and light jogging between with a short water break here and there.
I work out a resonable amount. I run about 10 miles a week.
I was dying tonight by the end. I am allowed to just sit out. Some people needed to.
But I'm hard headed. Right before the last round I excused myself, walked in the bathroom, puked a little, and rinsed my mouth. Felt instantly better and walked back in time to roll the last match.
I don't advise this. This is not a good long term strategy or something to aspire for. I am still focusing my energy on the drilling classes where we are working fundamentals at a slower pace.
But honestly, I haven't pushed myself that hard in probably a decade. It felt good just to do it, to learn my own limits. So there you go. You shouldn't try to workout until you puke. Only crossfit nerds think that
But you should learn your limits here and there. And when you feel like you might die, you probably won't.
Congratulations on learning your limits. Dial it in, get better at BJJ, and enjoy the exercise. Don't forget to help others.Tonight I learned what it felt like to push myself in BJJ.
I went to the competition class that ups the tempo anyways. But I guess there were some strong competitors at the recent Houston tournament that lost position and the match for simple mistakes. So professor is pushing the competition a little harder on top of the previous pace.
So tonight was the usual hour drilling and then we did almost an hour of 6 minute rounds of live training. We were doing sprawls and light jogging between with a short water break here and there.
I work out a resonable amount. I run about 10 miles a week.
I was dying tonight by the end. I am allowed to just sit out. Some people needed to.
But I'm hard headed. Right before the last round I excused myself, walked in the bathroom, puked a little, and rinsed my mouth. Felt instantly better and walked back in time to roll the last match.
I don't advise this. This is not a good long term strategy or something to aspire for. I am still focusing my energy on the drilling classes where we are working fundamentals at a slower pace.
But honestly, I haven't pushed myself that hard in probably a decade. It felt good just to do it, to learn my own limits. So there you go. You shouldn't try to workout until you puke. Only crossfit nerds think that