Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is hard.
It’s particularly hard as a white belt.
There is no way around saying that. It’s hard because it combines so many types of difficulties, condenses them to an hour or two every couple of days, and leaves you asking what just happened. I think that as I progressively learn technique, it will get less difficult. Having said that, I’m pretty sure it will never get easy. But what makes BJJ so hard?
Jiu Jitsu is physically tiring…
like building a house. You know that at some point, the house will be complete and you’ll get to live in it, and expand it, and remodel it. In the meantime it is hot, sweaty work, especially in the summer when it is 105 degrees F with 70% relative humidity, and there is no air conditioning.
Think about it. If you’re like what I imagine most BJJ practitioners are, you probably worked all day. Try finding the willpower to go to a gym, wearing thick clothes no matter the temperature, just to get your face and chest smashed by someone who is probably bigger than you (and some who are smaller…I’m looking at you, Brad W.), all in the name of trying to learn how to better prevent it next time.
Jiu Jitsu is stressful…
Like sitting in an office trying to focus on what you’re typing, but you can’t because people keep coming in to distract you, and you can’t breathe, and it’s hot, and your office is a cube three feet to a side. So really, it’s stressful in a way I’ve never experienced; a type of full body stress where you end up focusing solely on survival, and ultimately self-improvement.
In the next post, I'll mention a couple of other reasons BJJ is so hard. Post your comments and let us know what you think.