For anyone else that trains Jiu Jitsu, we all have those off days (hell, most of the days feel like off days), but every now and then, we have these “on days”. You know what it’s like. When positions and guard passes somehow start clicking to you along with your natural instinct to advance position and escape are sharpened. People that you normally roll with that submit you left and right have to work a little harder, and you might even get a submission or two out of them. Its like a light bulb that flickered on and off throughout your Jiu Jitsu career has finally went on.
I had one of those days. I felt good coming into class. I felt loose during warm ups and went through with it a breeze. The technique the instructor demonstrated was easy to understand and my mind started picking up more on the concept of why the technique worked, not just the bodily nature of it.
The position was side control, far side upper arm over, lower hand (with respect to the person in side control’s body) blocking the hip, using the knees to open up the shoulder/arm, switching the base, and adjusting for an arm triangle and if that didn’t work, transitioning over to Darce by crawling towards the other side. A kesa ketame position was even squeezed in there as a transition from the arm triangle from side control.
It’s kind of funny that prior to this, I was sick, and was out of training for 6 days. All I did was a little bit of surfing, some weight lifting, and a whole lot of resting. During those 6 days though, my body felt great. I was loose, I didn’t feel stiff or achy in some places as you normally would be in Jiu Jitsu. It seems we all love to step on the gas pedal and keep hustling and bustling, but this is a reminder that I need to take it easy at times. (Even though when it is so hard too because its so damn addicting).
I’ve actually noticed that when I do take a break from training, and then come back into it, I feel as if things “flow” and “connect” better. I’m able to chain passes effectively and even pass higher belt’s guards at times.
Here’s what you can do to find your Jiu Jitsu on day.
Train a lot. I don’t mean go all out, balls to the wall, but train a lot (3, 4, or even 5 times a week if you can) for a couple of weeks. Accumulate as much as you can. Understand when you need to squeeze in a rest day though (this comes with experience and understanding your body better) Pick up what you can from all the lessons and from rolling with your team mates and start slowly adding the stuff to your own game. From my experience, this is how you get better. Instead of going for the same guard passes, positional advancements, and submissions, slowly switch it up and implement something like the move of the day or a quick detail that someone mentioned to you.
One you’ve done this for a good month or couple of weeks (you’ll know when you start feeling achy during your general day life), take your foot off the gas pedal and stop training for 5 days. In these 5 days, it is imperative that you do something supplemental like lifting weights or yoga. Also add stretching in there as much as you can daily. We are a firm believer in that your body reflects your lifestyle habits. For example, fit, shredded people go to the gym as a part of their routine. Top Jiu Jitsu practitioners eat sleep and breathe Jiu Jitsu for a living. The flexible people you see at the gym incorporate a lot of stretching to keep themselves nimble. Get what I’m saying?
Note: This on day was a Saturday, and I trained the Monday after. Prior to that Monday, I went surfing Sunday and that same morning on Monday. I had an off day that Monday at training. But its all good, the struggle is a part of it.