Another student requested blog article here from Pete. So he asked about coming back to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after a break, some time off. Knock on wood, I haven’t had too many extended periods of time off from Jiu-Jitsu. But it isn’t unusual for life events to come up that require some time away. Whether work gets busy, a new addition to the family, injuries, moving to a new location. Things pop up. Preemptively, try to stay as consistent as you can, even if it is just once a week or watching class and taking notes. I always think that the people who still come in and do those things have an easier time than those who don’t. You can also stay connected by reading Saulo Ribeiro’s Jiu-Jitsu University, studying film at BJJFanatics.com (myself and my instructor Xande are on there along with other Six Blade competitors like Rafael Lovato Jr and Victor Hugo).
Lower Expectations for a bit
If you have to take some time off, ease yourself in and keep expectations down a bit. If you were used to doing 5 rounds at open mat, just shoot for a few or sit out every other. Just like lifting weights your max will go down and you will probably be a bit more sore so the first few weeks back just chill out and let your body get used to Jiu-Jitsu again. Generally you will bounce back faster than expected. I had a 55 year old take 6 months off, the first few weeks they eased themselves back in, but by week 6 they were back to where they were and probably a bit ahead of where they left off.
Also know that your coaches and instructors don’t expect you to be back 100% your first day back. We are just happy that you are there and trying to improve on where you are currently at.
Also note that I will be discussing some injury stuff. Again, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is safer than soccer and other martial arts.
Start with Just Drilling
Just working through the moves with a cooperative partner is a great way to see how your body is feeling, getting it back to the rigors of training. It is a great workout and gets you used to the moves that you will be doing. This is the first step of coming back to training. Just drill the moves, if you are feeling good you could start to ask for a little bit of resistance to make sure your body is feeling right. Sometimes this is just a bit more weight and movement rather than anything requiring a ton of energy from your partner.
More Partial Training
One of the keys to our training as an academy is specific training from positions. It is pretty much the only type of training we do in beginner classes and how we generally start training in advanced classes as well. This type of training is the best for skill development, injury prevention and allowing a variety of skill levels to work together. If you are coming back to advanced class feel free to just do the partial training.
Start Rounds in Specific Positions
“Where do you want to start?” “I don’t know, open guard is fine.” Probably something that happens before a lot of rolls. When you start to move from just specific training to rounds be specific about where you want to train from. Starting without grips on your partner is probably the most chaotic part of training so don’t feel bad saying that you want to start on bottom half guard, closed guard, side control, etc. It is more realistic to start bottom of half guard than it is a seated guard without any grips.
Also feel free to skip rounds, turn down a training partner here and there. “I would love to, but I am just coming back from (injury, having a baby, getting over a bad cold, not having trained all summer).” Use the time to watch others, especially smaller and older students to see how they deal with the challenges.
"Any Injuries?"
If you are coming back off an injury, then some people don’t feel comfortable telling people about what they are dealing with. I think the easiest way is to start the conversation by asking how if they have any injuries. They might respond with something that is bugging them, but even if they don’t it gives you an easy opportunity to say what is bugging you. Sometimes I use “How’s the body feeling” if you need a second option. Plus you might find someone who is dealing with the same injury and you can ask them for any tips or positions that they have found that have helped them back.
Timeless Jiu-Jitsu
I think there is a reason that Rafael Lovato Jr coined the term “Timeless Jiu-Jitsu” for his style as that represents the Jiu-Jitsu that he and Xande Ribeiro represents. Our athletes at Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu have longer careers than most because in general their jiu-jitsu is less injury prone than most. I think you will find that having a pressure passing based style where you are more low and slow compared to more mobile styles of passing is easier on the body. You keep your knees from getting wrapped up and avoid leg entanglements more easily as well. From the bottom we focus a lot on posture and retention compared to flexibility. You don’t see that many people in their later years gravitating towards rubber guard.
If you have a knee injury you will probably gravitate towards some type of half guard. If you have a shoulder injury you may play a lot of your rounds with a hand tucked into your belt. With neck injuries you generally want to slow the game down, but keep people off your head at the same time so avoid guards like deep half or over/under passing where you are getting your head ripped on. You may gravitate towards cross sleeve guards that make it harder for the opponent to control your head with their favorite arm.