Bringing the joy into Jiu Jitsu.

Something I don’t like is joyless training. Actually, I don’t like joyless people much either. But joyless Jiu Jitsu training, that’s what we’ll talk about here.

Now when I say joy, I don’t mean that we have to be happy-slappy all of the time. Training should be a challenge, and you should, of course, take Jiu Jitsu very seriously if you want to improve. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy it.

90% of your training should be fun to do. That, once again, doesn’t mean easy, it just means fun. There is, of course, nothing fun about having someone on top of you in the mount position. It can be a miserable experience. The fun there is in the challenge of escaping.

Sparring should be 90% fun too. Enjoying the challenge of trying to beat someone with technique is the greatest of all the great things about Jiu Jitsu.

The Atmosphere in Your Jiu Jitsu Gym

The atmosphere should be fun for the most part too. I have been in gyms where the place felt like a war room- all business. Great for prepping for an event, dreadful for Jiu Jitsu training all-year round. Even in professional sports teams, they know the value of joy. They spend long hours trying to make their athletes love the process of training.

And the people, they should be your kind of people. I’ll tell you why, and this is the most important thing I’m going to say in this article today, and it’s going to come from 30 years of experiencing martial arts environments. Jiu Jitsu, MMA, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Boxing.

When the Going Gets Tough

When the going gets tough (and it will), or you’re plateauing (which you will), or you’re injured (which you will be), or you’re just not enjoying it right now (which will happen), or you’re out of love with Jiu Jitsu (which can occur), or you’re really busy (which is inevitable), you will stick with Jiu Jitsu to hang out with your team mates. Then when things get better, you’ll be glad you did. This is so important.

This is why we’ve got a “No A*seholes” policy.

See you on the mat,

Barry