I suck at Jiu Jitsu

[Enrique "Kiko"]

1. I'm compelled to improve my diet, to exercise and stretch on days I don't go to class, and I drink less alcohol.
2. My friends are pretty damn sick of me moving every conversation we have back to Jiu Jitsu somehow.

1. That's fantastic positive change to improve your health and your game sir

2. Many people won't understand the changes you're making and going through, especially those in your circles that have never done something proactively positively life changing like jiu jitsu. That's okay. You'll ultimately end up connecting with different people who share the same passions and those friendships will be even stronger.

[Arman Fathi]

Your post struck a chord, Craig. I'm training 6-7 days a week for almost 3 years solid and it honestly feels like a process. Some days, maybe 2 days in a row, maybe 3 days, everything is clicking on all cylinders, and I feel great. Other days, I get smashed and/or just seem "off." But it wasn't until my 2 year mark that jiu jitsu actually started to make "sense", whatever that means...in other words, I finally had a firm idea of where/what I should be doing in different instances. Now there only comes refinement, more knowledge, and new discoveries. I might do really well against a higher belt then lit up by another blue belt. It is what it is. The one constant that I always remind myself of is that the only reason one would quit is cuz of the ego, cuz they can't stand being bad at something. At the end of the day tho, and as hard as it may seem to realize in the moment, getting tapped out makes you better. With each tap, you become incrementally harder to tap in the future. I'm grateful I had a harder time in the beginning rolling with bigger guys so now it's more manageable. Imagine if you were a big guy tho and coasted for a few years on size/athleticism, only to find out years later that your foundation was built on something so fleeting. I'd say you have a better chance of getting to black belt than a lot of people, based on what you're going thru right now.

[Chris Garry]

Try relaxing completely in those bad spots. If all theyre doing is lying on you and all you are doing is struggling then youre neither winning nor learning. There should always be lessons to be learnt so although it might seem orthodox why not just go limp and see what they do? You might you find learn more than remaining stiff as a board and you will definitely conserve energy.

[arfa mccabe]

don't worry im in the same position, just embrace the grind and think on the bright side.....you can only get better