There arose a question somewhere on the World Wide Web: "What’s the ONE habit that instantly tells you someone won’t last in Jiu-Jitsu?"

While I'm in "summer mode," I did the following circuit workout at home yesterday: 20 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 5 Mike Tyson push-ups, and 10 squats. That added up to a total of 100 pull-ups, 100 Mike Tyson push-ups, and 200 squats.

I have just read a post about how ordinary people think that BJJ is useless in a street fight. Back in the early 80s, I started my martial arts journey by joining a Taekwon-do academy. At that time, we practiced many leverage and self-defense techniques. Yes, that was before TKD became widely associated with Olympic competition — it was presented primarily as a martial art for fighting and self-defense. My instructor was not only a Taekwon-do black belt but also held a black belt in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. And yes, Jiu-Jitsu was built around self-defense principles. During my last class this Monday, our head instructor was teaching again. He’s an old-school guy and always emphasizes that Jiu-Jitsu is a self-defense martial art, and that we should also practice self-defense scenarios rather than only sport on the mats. So after a solid warm-up — which included 100 burpees (one of his favorite warm-up exercises) — we practiced open-hand strikes to the chest followed by a face push: one hand controlling the opponent’s neck while using the other to push the head backward and off-balance them to the ground. The partner had to fall properly using the breakfall technique, avoid hitting the head on the ground, and stand up safely afterward. At the end, I had four rounds of free rolling, each lasting five minutes. All my partners were, of course, young and agile guys. Two of them were even blue belts, but I did fine. Needless to say, all my muscles are sore today. And yes, in my academy, many of the blue, purple, and especially the brown and black belts are so physically strong, athletic, and powerful that they do not need much of their Jiu-Jitsu to overcome an average person in a street fight.   

In my last class, I was rolling with a young lady. She’s a white belt — physically strong and with very good technique. I had already rolled with her twice before, maybe one and a half or two months ago. At that time, I remember telling her that her technique was better than mine, but I was stronger. She was constantly trying things, but I could defend most of them with maybe 70% of my strength. But this time — this time was different. I had to tap twice within a five-minute round. She improved her technique significantly. What she was only trying before, she can now actually finish. She submitted me with an armbar so quickly that I didn’t even have time to react. She’s one of the candidates to receive her blue belt by the end of this month. And honestly — yes, she already looks like she’s at that level. We don’t have a stripe system in our academy, so promotions go directly from one belt color to the next. But what I saw while rolling with her reminded me that if you work hard, you can improve a lot in a relatively short time. And I know she trains a lot. Otherwise, my training wasn’t bad. I rolled five rounds of five minutes each in total. My shoulders are still a major limitation for me, although they are improving little by little. But that round was a good reminder: technique catches up quickly — and a good lesson in what good technique really means. 

What I have observed over the years in different martial arts is that one mistake many beginners make is trying to practice techniques too fast. If we translate that to BJJ, they think that if they managed to sweep somebody, then it was good, even though the technique may have been total crap. But that’s just my opinion. I’m a lifelong beginner. Nevertheless, my last class went well. I was satisfied after the training. As usual, I struggled a little with forward rolls during the warm-up. After that, we practiced chokes and escapes from back control. We did several three-minute rounds, starting with back control from a seated position, with hooks in. The goal for the person on the back was to finish the submission, while the partner had to escape. Every time one of us succeeded, we restarted from the same position. At the end, I had five rounds of free rolling. I did quite well. One brown belt I rolled with even told me that while I was underneath him in side control, I was doing everything correctly — bridge, hip escape, and staying active. We’ve rolled together before, and that time I panicked and did everything wrong, in the same position. I’d call that improvement. And maybe that fits the thought from the beginning: doing things more slowly but correctly eventually starts to show. 

When I saw, two days ago, the clip of an attacker attempting to behead another man on a street in Belfast while sitting in mount position on him, the first thing that came to my mind was: If the victim just knew BJJ? Later, I read that the passerby who managed to stop the attacker with a hurling stick was reportedly assisted by a friend who knew Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In today’s world, situations like this remind us that self-defense skills can matter. It’s another reason to take our training seriously. It’s sad that such incidents happen, but they are a reminder that there is value in learning how to stay calm, protect yourself, and help others when necessary. Yesterday, I wasn’t too bad in class myself. We practiced sweeps from open guard, and at the end, I had four rounds of free rolling, six minutes each. I even managed to get a couple of taps from my training partners. I also learned an important lesson: when I’m in a dominant position, I need to stay as close as possible to my opponent in order to maintain better control. It makes a difference. This time, I left the class in a positive mood.

On Monday, I had both ups and downs. My sore shoulders are definitely a major obstacle at the moment. Not only do they affect my BJJ classes, but they also prevent me from doing the workouts I’ve been doing for more than a decade, such as push-ups and burpees. Still, I’ve started doing shoulder exercises with resistance bands, and I’m convinced they will help. In the last class, we had another intense warm-up with lots of bear crawls and push-ups, both of which I struggle with because of my shoulder pain. After that, we practiced some techniques from back control. At the end, I did four rounds of free rolling. I don’t have enough strength at the moment, and my technique isn't yet good enough to compensate for it. So what can I say? I have to keep working, keep learning, and look forward to better days ahead. After all, progress in Jiu-Jitsu is rarely a straight line. But for sure, I'm better than I was on the day I entered the Jiu-Jitsu dojo for the first time. 

I’ve slipped a little into frustration mode. I know there are always ups and downs, and that a low is usually followed by a high. What frustrates me right now is that my shoulder problems are slowing down my progress. I’ve started doing therapy exercises, so I’m hoping to see improvement soon. Once my shoulders get better, I’ll be able to focus more on my BJJ and less on the pain. For the first time, I went to class on two consecutive days. It’s probably not the wisest thing to do with sore shoulders, but sometimes we do things that aren’t ideal. After class on Wednesday, I went to an open mat on Thursday. It was okay. We did a good warm-up together, and then I rolled four rounds, taking every second round off. All of my partners were much younger than I am and had considerably more BJJ experience. The first one was even a blue belt who is expected to be promoted to purple by the end of the month. Everyone was considerate of my age and lower rank, but it was still good, honest rolling for me. I learned something again — or at least I learned what I need to focus on more. By the way, that was my 60th class, and I now have roughly 300 free-rolling rounds behind me. When I look at it that way, maybe my progress isn’t as slow as it sometimes feels.

Yesterday's training sucked. I felt dizzy the whole day. During the warm-up, we did partner exercises. As for my sore shoulders, I probably don’t even need to mention them anymore, but they are a big reason why I’m not improving faster. My movements are limited by the pain. Especially when I’m not fully warmed up, my mind is more occupied with my shoulders than with Jiu-Jitsu. I’m doing resistance-band exercises for my shoulders almost every day. That “almost every day” should probably become every day. I’m even starting to wonder whether I should take a short break from classes and focus on shoulder rehabilitation for a while. I did one or two rounds of free rolling, then we moved on to short rounds in which we changed partners continuously. We had about 30 to 40 seconds either to escape or finish a choke from back control. We kept switching positions, and the winner always remained on the mat while the rest of us rotated through. All in all, it was a frustrating session. Another day, I rode my bike for 27 kilometers (16 miles), which reminded me that my overall fitness is still there.  Some days feel like progress. Some days feel like going backward. Yesterday was one of those days. But that's part of the journey too. The important thing is to keep showing up, keep learning, and keep working on what holds me back.