Jiu-Jitsu plateaus and setbacks

What's a black belt? A white belt who never quit. It's a famous quote attributed to so many Jiu-Jitsu stars it's hard to verify where it really came from. The reason it's so quickly embraced is because it's so simple in its premise, but profound in its reality.

Many Jiu-Jitsu students roll like gangbusters through the first few white belt stripes only to quit just shy of achieving blue belt. Then many more drop out after earning the coveted accoutrement. Still others continue to train for a few months and become discouraged when the newer students start to catch up. It is very frustrating.

The challenge of course is to judge your progress against your own development. If you know more today than you did yesterday, you are making progress. If your knowledge isn't expanding, that's when you need to examine your training methods and personal progress.

For me, the challenge has been consistency. On my path to blue belt, I was training several times a week, sometimes twice a day. This certainly was a contributing factor to my achievement. Training smart and paying attention were other factors.

Then it happened; my first injury. A simple front sweep from the spider guard caused me to bounce my shoulder off the mat. I bruised all the muscles in my shoulder, collar bone and neck. It happened because I didn't tuck my chin and roll like we all learned. I was so in awe with my training partner's technique that I lost focus and burned in.

As an aging athlete I know it's important to heal properly, so I took time off and followed my doctor's therapy regimen. I managed to get back to the gym after about five weeks. Then my truck blew up. Because of some significant personal changes I'm adjusting to at the moment, I had to resort to public transportation for a time while I replaced my vehicle. Public transit doesn't serve the area where my school is situated. After more than a month, I was able to replace my car and return to training.

Right in the middle of cold and flu season, I was back on the mat. I caught a nasty cold and stayed away so I wouldn't spread it to my training partners. A week later, without sniffles and sneezes, I returned to the mat. That Saturday, I woke up with pink eye!  Under my doctor's recommendation, I stayed away from class for another seven days.

Saturday I'll start back again. I'll be rusty. I'll be winded. I'll look like 180 pounds of molding clay in the hands of my training partners who have been constantly practicing. But I'll be back on the mat. I'll work through the set backs and the frustration.

That's what we all have to face from the newest white belt to the brand new black belt, we all face challenges and we all have competing priorities. But, there is a place in your life for Jiu-Jitsu.

One day I'll look back and say I was a white belt who didn't quit. Then I will be a black belt.