My Jiu-Jitsu is all wrong

I seem to be doing Jiu-Jitsu all wrong.

Today started with a little cruising around on Youtube, looking at Jiu-Jitsu videos. They were the kind where some old salt is telling everybody about how their training is going to be. There was a surprising consistency about what all of these high-level instructors were saying.

“It’s going to be hard,” and, “you’re going to get discouraged,” and, “you’re going to want to quit.”

The statement I can somewhat agree with is the one that says Jiu-Jitsu is hard. It is difficult, kind of, in a wimpy sort of way.

I’ve done physical stuff in the Army that was much harder, and been beaten black and blue in Karate competition, and changed careers in a manner that saw me leaving home and my wife for many long months to attend university. You know, real-life stuff. Those were all harder.

And why would I ever get discouraged. As an old fart, I can’t compete antler-to-antler with the younger crowd. My victories often come by merely managing to survive, or even by doing so for as long as possible.

And I’ve absolutely never wanted to quit Jiu-Jitsu. A few times my body has been seriously damaged, and I had to face the possibility that my time on the mat was over.

Each time, my body somehow managed to heal its way out of danger. This has happened much more than a person my age has any right to expect. Each injury could be the end of my training, but so far none has been.

I wanted to keep training, and in each case, managed to heal up enough to keep going.

So, it seems that I have the entire wrong experience of Jiu-Jitsu. It hasn’t been hard, nor discouraging at all.

And I have never, ever wanted to quit.