lockdown — Jairo's point of view

Here in the Netherlands we got out of the lockdown in the week of July 16th, 2021. On that day I went back to training - I even made a vlog about that. Click HERE if you want to see that. Ok, here is the deal I don’t like to take breaks and the Lockdown forced me to take a break from BJJ, the Gym, and Photography.

After the first training after the lockdown I decided that I would like to build back up my conditioning and strength in a way that will suit my body. I have had problem recuperating after a week of training, which was training 3 times a week. Since we started back I am training BJJ twice a week and I have also split up in 1 week Fundamentals classes, and the other week advanced classes. This way I am able to give my body time to recover and keep training every week. (BTW I am writing this blog while listening to Rickson Gracie on JRE)

What I have noticed when we got back to the mats after the lockdown is that my Jiu Jitsu went back to 0. It felt like I had to start over again. What I mean by this is that pre Lockdown I was developing my own game and understanding my own Jiu Jitsu, and Post Lockdown I don’t know where to start. This surprised me, but I came to peace with it very quickly. I am back into deep waters, I am back on the mats practicing this great martial art, I get the chance to further develop my BJJ. This is not easy for me as I am very hard on myself, but I do like it.

We are almost 2 months in, at the time I am writing this blog, and I must confess that it has been brutal. I injured my right knee during sparring and I had to rest the knee. My knee recovered and I was back on the mats. Last week I went to practice and I met a fellow team mate that I have not seen for a while. I started joking with him by telling him that I haven’t seen him for a while and that he was skipping class, which was not true. We always are busting each others balls and joking with each other.

Out of nowhere he got serious with me and asked me; “ what did you do to get the stripes on your belt?” I told him that I have been training for a while, but also I don’t look at the stripes on my belt. I look to improve myself during every training. Sense Jordy was listening to 2 white belts talk on belts and stripes. I told my teammate that the only enemy I have on the mats is myself, and I want to improve myself every time. When I got home that conversation has stuck with me, because what I had to say was; “keep coming to class” . I can remember when I had my first stripe, and one of the advices that Sensei Jordy gave me was: “Keep coming to class and eventually the Color of the belt will change”. I never forgot that. I used to be fixated on the belt, but I am not any more due to how I see and experience Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Since we started back training we have had only great training sessions. Sensei Jordy is a great teacher! My focus now is to develop my top-game, where I fight on top. This is almost non existent. I like DLR guard, and that is still my go to guard. With the DLR guard I am sitting on my but and is difficult for me to do the transition to the top. The next point I want to focus on is to improve my technique and specially the control aspects. Not to rush the techniques / transitions and getting to a point where I am able to control my opponents during sparring and competition.

Something I realy have to work on is the fact that I dont want to take breaks / vacation. Breaks of things I love to do is something that I need to accept sometimes. I can be beneficial to me at my age but it still is something I dont like.

I will keep practicing BJJ, going to the gym and practicing my photography until my body allows me to. I am as fanatic about at all like the first day. That is also the reason I will keep going to training.

If you would like to read why I keep going to class, click HERE

Thank you for reading and till the next blog!

My Brazilian Jiu Jitsu post lockdown