L
ife is fraught with peril.
There is risk in crossing
the road, there is risk on
the other side of the road and
of course there is risk in not
crossing the road, too. Risk is
a part of life...sometimes when
we take a risk, it pays dividends;
at other times, the risk we take
demands a price. In BJJ, the price
for risk-taking behaviour can be
as little as finding ourselves in a
position where we need to tap
— at other times, the risk-taking
might even result in injury.
I’ve certainly had my share
of injuries over my many
years of training, fighting and
teaching. Nothing too serious,
but four knee operations,
one elbow operation and one
heart op...that last one was
a little more serious, I guess
(all good now), but unrelatedto training. In fact, it was the
otherwise strong constitution
borne of training that set me
up for a rapid recovery. Most
of my injuries and subsequent
operations have not kept me
from the mat for more than a
week or two; so really, they have
pretty much amounted to some
small amount of forced rest in
most cases.
When someone says, ‘Can’t
train for a few weeks — got a
broken finger’, I cannot relate.
A broken finger doesn’t stop
us from working our guard, it
doesn’t stop us from doing a lot
of things — in fact, if we decide
to tuck the affected arm in our
belt and pursue our training/
rolling as usual, over time we
might even notice that our guard
improves. Then, when we regain
the use of the hand, we makewhat amounts to being a drastic
overnight improvement.
Of course, some injuries
are seriously debilitating; back
injuries, for example, might see
us on the couch, frozen into
immobility. I’ve been on the nasty
end of that also...but, as is usually
the case, a little time passes, we
get better and are back into the
fray in short order.
Being strong — and
functionally strong at that
— is one of the ways we can
drastically reduce the chance
of injury. This is particularly
important as we get older.
Having strength, particularly
at the more extreme ranges
of our movement, gives us a
little leeway when things go
pear-shaped. But it is also very
important to make the distinction
between discomfort and injury;
being sore after a solid session
is okay, being nailed by a good
‘knee-ride’ on the mat doesn’t
mean we are injured and need to
take a break. In those instances,
we are just experiencing
discomfort — this is just a part of
being alive, and making progress.
When you are merely bruised,
ignore and move forward; when
you are merely bent, straighten
up and move forward; when you
are actually broken, still try to find
a way to move forward. Moving
forward is how we get places.
We need to experience
hardship to fully appreciate
reward. Remember when
you had to find a way to earn
money to buy that first bike (or
whatever), and the pride and
feeling of ownership that you
had after you had done so? Wetruly appreciate rest after we
have done hard work just as we
value skills that took us effort to
acquire. A cold glass of water
never tasted so good as after a
tough walk through the desert.
It is the contrast between the
extremes — being thirsty then
skolling cold water, earning the
money then getting the bike, and
working hard before enjoying
that rest — that brings the value
and meaning.
When I see people struggle
with an unfamiliar aspect of jiu-
jitsu, I know that it is that very
frustration that will eventually
allow them to fully appreciate
the thing they are struggling to
learn. If there were no struggles,
if everything came easy, if we
were all born super wealthy
and could have everything we
wanted, whenever we wanted,
what joy would there be for any
of us?
Imagine waking up in the
morning and you head to the
mat, tap out everyone with ease,
have a grand lunch (anything
you wanted, cooked by the best
chef in the world), get flown
by helicopter to your favourite
stream where every cast saw
you land a four-kilo trout...and
day after day, this is how your
life unfolded. That, my friends, is
a picture not of heaven, but of
hell itself.
Our efforts and our
struggles are what allow us to
experience joy, happiness and
contentment. Our struggles are
how we learn, how we shape and
create ourselves.
Struggle, and do
it gloriously.If you want to make progress, it’s important to sort reasons from
excuses and not confuse discomfort with real injury.The Glorious Struggle
THE LAST WORDThrough training we learn
the difference between
discomfort and injury
THINKSTOCKJohn B Will is head of BJJ Australia and teaches Brazilian
jiu-jitsu, shootfighting and self-defence solutions around
the world. Check out his regular blog at http://www.bjj-australia.
blogspot.com.au“WE NEED TO EXPERIENCE HARDSHIP TO
FULLY APPRECIATE REWARD. A COLD GLASS OF
WATER NEVER TASTED SO GOOD AS AFTER A
TOUGH WALK THROUGH THE DESERT.”98 ƫđƫ333ċ (%06) #ċ*!0 | (^) MARTIAL MINDS