Getting Back on the Saddle

For the past few days I’ve been going through the police motorcycle training course to become certified as a motor officer. This training truly has to be one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some pretty tough stuff in my day. Without going into a lot of detail about the actual training, I did want to share some of my thoughts about how it relates to learning Jiu-Jitsu.

For one, I now have a renewed appreciation for what newer Jiu-Jitsu students might be experiencing. On day one of my training, the instructor had just two exercises coned out. He did a great job of explaining and demonstrating them and then giving us ample time to practice. Does this sound remotely familiar already? The huge difference is that unless you’re a phenom, there’s no way you can complete the exercises as demonstrated. At least none of us could. It took me a ton of reps, and laying down my motorcycle more times than I can count, before I could even get close to completing it one time. Needless to say, the bar was set pretty high. And I’m not talking about consistently getting through the entire exercise. I literally mean I completed them one time each, but couldn’t reproduce my results by the end of the day.

It was extremely frustrating and disheartening. At the beginning of day two, I was thinking to myself that there was no way I was ever going to figure out how to work that 800 lb. motor through even one of the courses. Every time I laid the motor on its side, I’d get right back on that seat and try it again, time after time.

By the end of the second day, I was actually making it through the first exercises some of the time, but was still struggling with the new exercises that had been introduced that day. The third day brought even more exercises that were even more challenging. This started to mess with my mind a little bit because I was still working on all the previous ones. It was just like being in Jiu-Jitsu Hell as I started to have flashbacks from my early days on the mat.

It was at this point that I started to think about how much Jiu-Jitsu training can be like this, and how one can easily get overwhelmed. I told myself at the beginning of the week that I would complete and pass this training no matter how difficult it was.

Start the exercise, lean into the turn, dump the motor. Pick it back up, get back on the seat and start it again. Even when I felt like I was regressing, and my body was sore, I had to get back on the saddle and do it again and again.

At the end of the third day, I was able to look back and see how far I’d progressed. I still have a long way to go, but I know it can be done. The parting words today from the instructor were something about introducing a new exercise tomorrow and then that would be the last of the easy ones. Are you kidding me?

I am primarily writing about this because of a phone call I received last night from one of my Jiu-Jitsu students. He was expressing more than just a little concern about how his training was progressing, along with all the second guessing about his skill level. He asked me at what point it was in my progression that I felt like I had a “go to” submission that I could get a lot of the time. My answer isn’t as important as my overall counsel for him. And this would apply to anyone who would ask.

Don’t measure your progression or performance against anyone but yourself, and don’t measure it based on your day to day performance. As it is right now with my motor training, some of the students are better than me and some are not. If I were to get caught up in all of that sort of thinking, it would most certainly be detrimental to my own progression. Everyone is at a different level and everyone progresses at a different rate. (That’s another one of those laws of the land.) You can’t do anything about it, so you just have to do the best you can.

When you think your skill level is not where it’s supposed to be, climb back on the saddle and do it again. For all those people who are gifted and Jiu-Jitsu comes easily to them, congratulations. I envy you. For the rest of you who are working overtime just to make a little sense out of everything, double kudos to you.

After the last three days of my training, it’s still fresh in my mind how difficult it is to want something so badly, but not be able to do it. It would be easy to just walk away. Everyone would understand. After all, it is extremely difficult training. Of course I would always know that I quit, and would never know if I could have actually learned what I needed to learn.

The positive side is that I do see improvement, and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. So if you’re thinking that Jiu-Jitsu is too difficult and frustrating for you, I feel your pain. But know this, if you stick with it and come to class as often as you can, you will learn and you will get better. It’s inevitable.