Promotion and Risk Management

Last night I got promoted to blue belt at the 10th Planet BJJ gym in New York City.

It hasn’t been easy. It’s taken me three and a half years, and along the way I had a bone broken in my throat and tore some ligaments in a thumb. Not to mention a long list of muscle tears, ugly bruises, folliculitis, and other skin infections.

It took so long because I switched from gi to nogi about 18 months in, and basically had to start over.

Has it been worth it? No doubt.

Unlike most martial arts, in jiu jitsu, you do live sparring all the time. The downside is the injuries. The upside is that if I’m in a fight, I’m taking it to the ground and (unless the guy is better trained than me) I’m going to dominate. The art of jiu jitsu is that you can scale that dominance up or down as needed.

The reason I’m telling you this is not to flex, the first thing you learn in BJJ is humility. Everyone comes into the gym thinking they can fight. A few sessions later, that opinion has been destroyed after a 155 guy has casually toyed with them, or worse, a 135 pound girl has submitted them with ease.

I’m better than the new white belts and some of the more experienced ones. I can hang with some of the upper belts, but they are usually just letting me work.

If you keep at it, jiu jitsu teaches you how to stay calm in a bad situation. Let me define a “bad situation”. A guy who is bigger than you, stronger than you, and younger than you is on top of you, with all of his weight on your back. He has an arm around your throat and is trying to choke you out.

It’s hard to breathe. You have your hands on the choking arm and your chin is tucked. You can still breathe. How long can you stay here? Oftentimes, a lot longer than you think. It’s painful, but if the choke is not fully sunk, it’s just a crank… and you can make it.

But then you have to think, and that’s the part that takes time to develop. You’ve been taught how to get out of this exact situation. Can you summon that training now? Can you turn your hips, can you get your shoulders around, can you turtle, can you reverse and come up? Every move has a counter.

Sometimes if you can just sit there and take it, the guy will realize it’s not working and move on.

The point is to not panic.