I have not been able to train for longer than I would like because I am shaking off a cold. Of course, I’m tempted to go train, but I won’t: training when feeling sick or ill is not just a breach of ettiquite, it’s a jerk thing to do.

Grappling isn’t like other sports or martial arts – it is very physical and “hands on”. It is very easy to spread sicknesses on the mat. If you train when you are sick it is only a matter of time before your fellow students and teachers catch what you have.

I’ve made a chart – as a public service – to help anyone who is feeling ill decide if they should train Jiu Jitsu.

Last week I injured my shoulder grappling and practicing takedowns – nothing serious, but it forced me to sit out for a while.

Because of my enthusiasm for the sport, I wanted to think about what I could to for minimal impact on my Jiu Jitsu. So  I began to think about some ways to continue to “improve” when you can’t train.

The quotes above are intentional: the best way to get better is to spend time on the mat – but when I can’t train I do the following to keep my mind in the game.

Watching Class

I believe watching class is the absolute best way to learn when you can’t train. I’ve done this a few times now and almost always something new will “sink in.”

I enjoy walking around the mat, making observations and asking questions, but I’m always conscious not to disrupt the lesson plan or pace of the class.

When I watch class I learn at about 1/8th to 1/12th the pace of actually participating. A slower pace of learning – sure – but at least it’s something. And it it may do the trick for you when you are anxious to learn but can’t train.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsparks/856169816/

Watching Video

The next best thing to do is to watch instructional Jiu Jitsu videos.

I think everyone interested in Jiu Jitsu has tried watching video clips of the sport on the Internet at some point. Online videos have their place and may help in learning or reviewing different submissions, escapes and passes, but I’ve found that I do much better watching professionally produced DVDs. I find DVDs provide greater context – and, as a consequence, better educational effect – than most lone clips on the Internet. They are also viewable at a higher resolution.

I probably learn around 1/80th the pace watching a video than I do participating in class. While it may seem almost useless, I’d rather watch video about something I’m interested in rather a then a random show on TV.

Yesterday I attended Boulder Grappling Academy’s seminar featuring Relson Gracie. This was my first time meeting and learning from Relson. It was a great experience – I left feeling very excited about upcoming classes.

The school was packed and the event brought students from as far as Castle Rock, Colorado (which is about an hour and half from Boulder, depending on traffic). It’s great to see the attention it brought to the dojo.

The content of the seminar was interesting and pertinent. I learned new techniques and improved on some techniques I already knew. I enjoyed Relson’s teaching style – he added (often funny) comments and insights as he discussed details about techniques which are often overlooked or executed incorrectly.

In addition to learning techniques, one of my favorite parts of the experience was hearing Relson discuss some of the wider aspects and contexts of specific Jiu Jitsu techniques. It was insightful to hear his take on the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of some techniques gaining in popularity in the martial art.

I was also struck by Relson’s down-to-earth, friendly, and approachable personality. He is a living legend, on the same level as Muhammad Ali or Larry Bird, yet as friendly as approachable as your next door neighbor. It was obvious to me he was glad to be there, to teach, and to meet and talk with the students.

If Relson is holds a seminar near you I definitely recommend checking it out.

pic credit(s): http://relsongracie.com/gallery/view/id_6/field_/title_Relson-Gracie-Pose/

Last night, after some deliberation, I skipped class. I’ll make it up soon enough.

I attend class about 3 times a week, but I aim for 4. Sometimes it’s only 2. The number of classes I attend depend on the usual things: work, I how I physically feel, etc. No surprises there.

When I think about class attendance I remember I conversation I had with another student about five months ago. His point was that you should never “over do it” when I comes to attending class: you should go to class as you want to and when you feel like it. Not following his advice, it was argued, can lead to burnout or injury.

He gave multiple examples from his Jiu Jitsu career of people who would sign up, start training, and get pumped. Very pumped. These people attended class whenever they could (5 times a week or more) and usually advance quickly. But unfortunately, after their first belt, or even as soon as 8 months into training, they would begin to burn out, their attendance would decline, and most of them would quit. Exceptions abound, of course, but this was the pattern he observed.

He also discussed how Jiu Jitsu should be fun. When it stops being fun, you should take a look at yourself and your training. In even some of the highest levels of athleticism (the Olympics, for example), trainers often ensure their pupils are having fun and enjoying themselves because it can be a key factor to not only their happiness but their success in the sport. Jiu Jitsu should be no different.

I tend to strongly agree, and this philosophy largely guides my attendance decisions. Jiu Jitsu is too fun, interesting, and empowering for me to give up, and I plan on doing it for a long time. I follow these guidelines because I don’t want to get sick of, stop liking, or get burnt out on the martial art.

This evening I was watching the film Blindness. There is a scene early on when two blind people get in a sort of tussle, a small fight. I thought immediately of Jiu Jitsu.

When I first started Jiu Jitsu there where some moments when I thought how successful one could be when rolling with their eyes closed. In fact, when I roll know, I often think about how much Jiu Jitsu relies on feeling. I contrasted this with my previous martial arts experience where “forms” (like Karate’s “katas”) were a primary form a learning. Obviously, these exercises, like other drills in most other martial arts, rely heavily on vision as you see what you do, and do it, in three dimensional space.

Jiu Jitsu – especially on the ground – is tremendously different. Feeling – more than any other martial art I can think of – has a tremendous role in what happens.

If you have rolled even once you probably understand this. You feel the person trying to manipulate your body and vice versa. Of course, vision has its importance in Jiu Jitsu, too.

Blind Rolling

The natural corollary of this is the idea of having drills or rolling sessions where both participants are blindfolded. It could be a fun experiment. Both participants would have an equal handicap – and both would have the opportunity to improve the “feeling” part of the game. Obviously, safety would need to be considered; having “ground rules” could make the experience safer.

Update (5/31/9): As this video from Jiu-jitsu 365 proves, perhaps “blind rolling” really does have its importance.

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewmcvickar/8021849/