Priorities and Compromises

I've been practicing BJJ for about 3 years now, and I'm addicted. I'm not very good, but I love it and practice usually about once a day - I guess what I'm saying is it's become a big part of my life. I love the intricacy, I love the complexity, I love what it does for my body and I love the people I meet. I've started cross training in judo even to help my takedowns, but I'm still just completely in love with BJJ. Bjj is basically just jreat.

So then, the other huge part of my life is science. It looks like I'm a shoe in for a PhD program, with a professor I really get along with - unlike many researchers, he doesn't mind his students working on a wide variety of taxa, and potentially I could publish on fish, frogs and ants. I realize this doesn't sound like a big deal but for me it's totally :love:.

The only problem is that the university is out in the middle of nowhere. The only BJJ I could find was the university club, which meets 5 times a week. Good schedule, but the teacher is a four stripe blue belt, and they only occasionally have a purple belt come to teach class. An hour away, there's a gym where a black belt teaches, but I suspect that I would only be able to get there once or twice a week. And I couldn't even find any judo

So, with that out of the way, what I'm wondering is whether or not I'm giving up on my martial development. I'm worried that I'm going to spend 5 years there and not really advance all that much. I know that I'm a scientist and not a professional fighter, and I need to keep my eyes on the prize, but I have become used to seeking excellence from myself in BJJ. I guess I just am looking for someone to say "don't worry, you could start tomorrow and still get your blackbelt before you're 50." For the record, I will probably be 32-33 by the time I graduate. Thanks guys - I guess this a thread that's really about my insecurity and nervousness, so I appreciate any and all advice/reassurances.

 

Sometimes just maintaining what you have is the best you can get - giving up entirely will certainlty not move you any closer to the goal.

Age is not a factor - just keep rolling, keep drilling and when you are in a position to take it to the next level then do so. I lived for a year in Champaign-Urbana and trained under one of the best BJJ players in the world so you can find diamonds anywhere!

 

I second what Hannibal said. I'm in a very similar position as you, faced with the possibility of moving away for school and possibly having to cut back on my BJJ. I try to tell myself that in the grand scheme of things, taking some time off or slowing down my training a bit for a few years to get my career set up isn't all that bad of a tradeoff. I want to have a secure enough professional future that I'm able to afford and practice BJJ for a long time to come. Education is an important goal; try to think of it as one that ultimately helps your lifelong BJJ journey rather than hinders it.

 

Thanks for the advice! Sorry, I didn't make it clear, but I will definitely be attending all club practices if I attend the school. I'm ok with slowing down my progress, I just want to know that I can still make progress. Glad to hear that it's not that huge a deal in the grand scheme of things.

 

as long as you're rolling with people and some are better than you - you'll keep making progress

 

As long as theres guys to roll with, youll get better.

 

Time to empty your cup.

I do understand where you are coming from though, as I train with an incredibly cerebral instructor, and we frequently have champs and 4 stripe black belts joining the class to learn from him.

However, the problem with training under a gifted instructor is that you can become a consumer, rather than a producer, and your growth is limited to what is presented to you.

However, going out there with enough training (3 years with the routine you have is more than enough) and now being responsible for your development, you have a great chance to elevate your training to a much higher level.

Firstly, pressure testing in that group could already be beyond what you are comfortable with.

Secondly, innovation is now more in your court to create, rather than replicate, so you will start thinking in 360 degrees about things and learn so much more.

You have a great opportunity here, don't walk into the new class with the ego that they only have a 4 stripe blue and just go learn and grow.

 

I looked up your profile and I think you have a lot of experience to speak directly to my dilemma. Thanks so much for your advice, I will take it very seriously.

At first I was offended, then I was like, yup, he's right. Rank doesn't necessarily mean anything and that dude might have a lot he could teach me. Thanks for the ego check, and for reminding me that this is an opportunity if I make it one, rather than a setback.

 

my thoughts exactly - open mat clubs do little drilling and loads of rolling. leads to more innovation and that innovation gets shared through the group.

it's important to have people in the group constantly learning elsewhere though.

 

I have made offending people into an art form. On occasion a nugget of wisdom randomly appears also.

 

Learning, or testing..

There is a danger in incestuous training, that is the Achilles heel of non competitive TMAs, but with the right level of resistance I think you could do well with a gene pool of 5-6 right minded folk plus the occasional annual tournament or dojo visit.

 

yup.
it can get pretty incestuous without outside testing. tactics differ and you need to take into account other variables that you might not be aware of from training in your group.

i think the club wont be too bad for op

just some context as i might be bias - i ran an open mat at my uni. i was probably the worst there but we had guys mainly from judo, wrestling and no-gi sub grappling backgrounds who trained or competed elsewhere during the week.
i honestly think it helped their development. they got influence from new styles and learnt new tactics and there was constant influx of technique and ideas from wrestling and judo competitions and clubs.

however an incestuous habit formed - we didnt allow guard jumping or playing closed guard for too long (wrestlers and judoka - go figure!) so when nice old Chadderz came in to train with us, he jumped guard (destroying our ability to take dominant position from a takedown) and kept closed guard tight until he armbarred us all!

we never took into account that people are happy to jump and sit in closed guard and stall until theyve worked their game.

constantly work against different clubs and styles and you'll find the weaknesses.

 

You're kidding me - he looks like he is 8 years old!

 

we were pretty surprised when he subbed the wrestler in our group who had destroyed BJJ competitions on his arrival to the country just a few months before.
just sat it his guard trying to shake him off wondering why he wasnt opening to switch tactics. then, bam, armbar.

in all fairness, chadderz has a great basic control of the guard position and refuses to loose it to anyone.
destroyed a comp with it, armbarred EVERYONE (no joke, all won by armbars) and got 3 stripes after that comp from rick young.

 

Feel free to keep doing it, as you continue to relieve my angst!

Glad to hear it!

 

Is there a wrestling program at the university? If so you may be able to do some cross training. Wrestling is great for improving your takedowns and top control.

 

What Frodocious says, x 10.

The thing you are about to hear most about the whole PhD thing is that it is a "journey". And in all seriousness, it is. And not one that everyone completes. The things that will keep you going are your motivation (which will be improved by having a life outside of the beast), and capacity to keep a bit of perspective. Exercise is one of the things that will help you to think - I do very little academic work actually at work, and most of it while walking there, and from talking to people this is pretty common.

You will probably have to make some training time sacrifices, particularly at the end, which is a universally torrid experience for people, almost regardless of how diligent they have been in the lead up. But trust me, life returns to sort of whatever normal is afterwards .

Oh, and if you decide to go down this road, make sure you stay in touch. There are a few of us here on MAP that have been daft enough to go and do the doctorate thing, and it can be a bit of a lonely old road at times, as well as a pretty amazing one.

paul

 

Yeah, when I got my MS BJJ was definitely my source of relaxation. I knew this girl who would scratch the side of her cheeks when she was thinking, so every year around finals she'd have a red gash on the side of her face. I think most grad students are mentally held together by scotch tape and spitballs.

Hey thanks man, those are really kind words. I've definitely noticed some of my 'eureka' moments have come while doing something completely unrelated to my work at hand. I will definitely be on here procrastinating a lot, and thanks for being so encouraging.

Will definitely look into that! I'm sure my conditioning could improve from training with some of those monsters.