If you’ve been training for any length of time you’ve
undoubtedly heard “jiu-jitsu is for everybody”, “anybody can do jiu-jitsu” or
something similar. And we’d like
to believe it. After all, this
fighting system was revised from its Japanese predecessor to utilize body
position and leverage to allow a smaller person trained in the art to overcome
a stronger, larger opponent. But
is that really the case? Can
anybody really do jiu-jitsu? At the most basic level, yes. Pretty much anybody can do it to one degree or another. The question that instead needs to be
asked is: Can anybody really be successful at jiu-jitsu? The answer to that isn’t so cut and dry.
To be successful in this sport a combination of mental and
physical attributes are needed, arguably the most important of which is resilience. Let’s face it… if you give up easily at
stuff, jiu-jitsu isn’t for you. It
takes years (for most people) to even get decent at jiu-jitsu and much longer
than that to earn a black belt. This
doesn’t just apply to long-term jiu-jitsu goals like earning the next belt;
we’re faced with tough situations every class where it might be easier to slack
off during the last few reps of an exercise or give up on a position during a
tough roll. Hanging in there is
what will inevitably separate the person who gets their black belt from the one
that made it to a four-stripe blue belt and then faded out.
Another characteristic that goes hand-in-hand with
resilience is resolve. Being able
to grit your teeth and bear it when the going gets tough. It’s what gets you through those times when
somebody catches a choke that’s almost
all the way on and is squeezing 100%, or when you get mounted 30 seconds into a
round against an upper belt or when you’re in bottom side control against
somebody way bigger and you’d rather die than keep going. If you aren’t able to gut through those
types of situations you might see some success in bjj, but not as much as you
could.
For the most part Jiu-jitsu is an individual sport, but it
requires that you train with a team.
So a good, humble attitude will get you a long way. This point is pretty simple, don’t be a
douche to the people you train with.
If you’re new, know that just because you watch The Ultimate Fighter doesn’t mean that you know jiu-jitsu. There’s more to it than grabbing on to
somebody’s head and squeezing, and frankly if you come in with a bad attitude
you will be dealt with.
So far we’ve only discussed mental attributes, but jiu-jitsu
is obviously extremely physical so some
physical attributes are needed to be successful. Athletes that train on a high level are never 100% and when
you’re training hard in a sport specifically designed to attack your body’s
weak spots, you will get injured eventually. More often than not you’ll just suffer from bumps, bruises,
muscle soreness, etc. To be able
to train hard, often, and improve consistently you need to be able take a
little discomfort. If you take two
weeks off for a bit of gi burn or one of your ears getting a little puffy than
your jiu-jitsu progress will be significantly slower. So, know your limits and know when to suck it up and train.
Another thing you need is some physical potential. You don’t have to have “potential” on
par with BJ Penn or Andre Galvao.
But the bottom line is that jiu-jitsu is uber-physical and a certain minimum
level of strength, speed, flexibility, physical dexterity, coordination and
cardiovascular capacity are necessary to make it past white belt. And even if you don’t meet those minimum
requirements when you first come to the academy, you need to have the potential
to eventually get to that point.
“That point” isn’t necessarily where you are an exact physical equal
with your teammates, but where you can at least hang with them.
This isn’t meant to be an all-inclusive list, it’s intended
merely as a deeper look inside one of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s biggest selling
points. What we’ve seen here is
that to enjoy success in jiu-jitsu there are certain requirements that a person
must have. The good part is that
all you need is a modicum of these and jiu-jitsu will expand on what you’ve got
and give you what you need. So get
on the mats and keep getting better!
Train hard,
-Brian
