Jiu Jitsu: Like Riding a Bike or Like Memorizing Notecards?

[Ross Davidson]

I was intrigued this week when a training partner from the gym I train at came back after a 9 month long hiatus following an injury. He hadn't trained at all during this time; he kept in shape by swimming. But when he hit the mat, it was like he hadn't missed any training time at all. He was right up there tapping his fellow purple belts and executing sweeps and passes like he was doing when he stopped. Mind you, we have all been training without taking too much time off. Maybe a week here and there, but nothing serious. So the way he was able to come back and not only stay competitive, but also seem to have excelled during his time off, it's remarkable to me.

So a thought popped into my head that I want to ask you all about: in your experiences (referring to those with significant experience training and having to take time off), is jiu jitsu something that once you learn it it's truly ingrained in your mind and muscle memory? Or is it something that rusts slowly over time? Or is it something that needs to be practiced all the time to be retained?

[Sean James]

I myself have experienced many times what you a talking about after taking time off Ross. For people like us who obsess on technique on and off the mats all day long, I believe the time off of rolling gives the brain/you extra time to process all the training input and organize itself, kinda like a defrag. And always an extended rest does wonders for you physically when you are constantly training. I would return to rolling feeling mentally sharp and physically strong. I was always surprised. However i don't think ever took as much as nine months off and came back better, that too long for this dummy, I start forgetting key moves.

there must be a point where too much time off becomes negative on you game, mental and physical.

[Brent Alvarez]

After missing nearly 12 months due to knee surgery, I came back at a higher level of jiu jitsu than before I was injured. I continued to train my mind by reading, writing, and continually thinking about jiu jitsu. Its like chess, you can get better by studying.

[Craig Murray]

I can't speak about JJ specifically, but most physical activities, once fully habituated, stick around for life. I studied TKD for many years when I was a teen. I threw thousands upon thousands of kicks from age 12 to about 18. Now 20 years later, I've barely lost any technique. I have also retained most of my flexibility.

If someone who's only trained a few months takes a few months off, they may likely lose most of what they learned. But once you really dig those grooves into your system so that the techniques come off without thinking, it's for life.

That's my experience anyway.

[Fraser Taylor]

This was nowhere near as long as your friend, or as long as examples above, but last year I was away from classes for perhaps 1.5 months and I was fucking itching to get back so badly, i think it helped me. I just watched videos and played out rolls in my head, what to do here, what to do there.

Jiu Jitsu has never become a chore but it does become part of your routine etc, so time away felt so fucking horrible and when I got back I was so happy to just be on mats again, it was the same feeling you get when you first get into Jiu Jitsu

[tobyshell]

Tuesday will be 1 year since I had disc replacement between c5 and c6. Over this last year I have only rolled a couple of times with people I trust, and been to a few seminars but I have been studying jiu jitsu non stop. Everything I have read on the subject of mental repetition is that the body doesn't know the difference between a rep performed physically or mentally. I try to perform metal reps every single day. I think my game has improved tremendously over my year off. I rolled hard for the first time two days ago. I felt better and rolled better than I ever have before.

[David Rosado]

In my opinion, I think it's a little of both. I think it depends on how in shape your body is. Like Saulo Ribeiro said, when you're tired you make mistakes. From my experience, when I came back, I was terribly out of shape and was getting rolled. But once I got in moderate shape, I was tapping dudes like nothing and had them super confused as to how this punching back suddenly got good. It's because once I was in good enough shape to keep up, my muscle memory was still there as was my memory bank.

For me, it's both.

[David Rosado]

After missing nearly 12 months due to knee surgery, I came back at a higher level of jiu jitsu than before I was injured. I continued to train my mind by reading, writing, and continually thinking about jiu jitsu. Its like chess, you can get better by studying.

I appreciate you saying this. I think it's different for everyone based in their style of learning. But for visual learners, this makes perfect sense.

[Sean Gorman]

wow, all of those posts are amazing to me. Not my experience at all. I have been training 4+ years. After 14 months I ruptured my righ quad doing a suplex for the first time at age 45. It took a year to get back. I ruptured my right bicep to an arm bar 3 months ago and just started back....while technique may have been recalled, timing was not there for me at all, and despite doing extensive cardio including swimming and elliptical(got bad knees) my gas tank was not up to speed at all, it usually takes me about 6 weeks to get timing and gas tank back, and of course I have a lot of training partners who have been injured and that seems the same in their case. Not sure how its possible to keep your timing and your jits cardio on par without actually rolling.

[Jeremy Gates]

After 11 months of hiatus I returned to the mat for the first time last week. My cardio was a little weak but I felt pretty good for almost a year of . Although I'm not back full time and will hopefully be getting in about once every other week I'm sure it'll only take a few classes and I'll feel right where I left off.