Self-defense

My Jiu Jitsu plan for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic is rooted in principles of self-defense.

It might not be the plan you are looking for, but I have been scanning the headlines for the past two-weeks. In the words of MMA legend Georges St. Pierre, “I’m not impressed.”

COVID-19 infection rate on the rise

The articles I have read about the coronavirus over the last couple of weeks have discouraged me. Lately, I had been prepared to throw caution to the wind and get back on the mats, somehow.

Whether training with friends in their garage, or even finding a gym currently open and offering classes, I was prepared to take my chances with the dreaded virus. Then, reports again began to show that the COVID-19 infection rate was rising where I live.

Recently, I celebrated my 45th birthday. There is nothing like a birthday to remind you that time is ticking.

White belt for now

As a 45 year old, three-stripe white belt, it has occurred to me that athletic glory may be behind me. However, I had never felt physically stronger or in better shape than I did during the first year that I had been training Jiu-Jitsu before the pandemic.

Lately, I could not escape thoughts reminding me how I had regretted not starting Jiu-Jitsu before I was already 43 years old. To continue avoiding training, as I have since the beginning of the pandemic, seemed a waste of whatever time I may have left on this beautiful planet as it hurls around the sun.

The longer I wait, the more difficult it is going to be to get started again, I found myself thinking. My body has gotten softer. My weight fluctuates up and down. Cardiovascular fitness has fallen off a cliff. And it’s not that I haven’ tried to stay in shape.

I’m running again, for the first time in 10 years. I’m riding my bike in the park. I also bought a stationary bike that I use when I don’t have time to get to the park. Still, I’m not in the same shape I was in when I was training Jiu Jitsu.

High risk heart

What to do? If you have followed my progression through Jiu Jitsu, you will know that I was diagnosed with a heart issue two years ago. I searched out the best cardiologists in the country, and I was told by all of them to stop training jiu jitsu due to my congenital heart condition.

The doctors are all concerned about the pressure on my chest and about activities requiring physical exertion. They want my blood pressure to remain low at all times.

This was not advice I was willing to follow. I took a week off of Jiu Jitsu after my doctor told me that it would be dangerous for me to train. It was a long week. Normally, I train at least 3 days a week.

That first forced week off the mat was torture. Then, on Sunday, news broke that Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and the other passengers had died in a helicopter crash in California.

Kobe’s Achilles

Kobe was just a couple of years younger than me. I had never met him and did not know him personally, but I had always been a fan. An image of him at the press conference he held on the floor of his high school gym, wearing his sunglasses on the top of his head, and announcing that he would be taking his talents to the NBA, has always stayed with me. He was precocious and confident. He was a prodigious talent and a hard-worker.

I loved Kobe. Do you remember when he sank those two free throws after rupturing his Achilles tendon! He was a tough, hard-nosed, and lethal scorer. An exceptional athlete in a world of exceptional athletes. And his life was taken away far too soon.

I returned to my Jiu Jitsu class the following day. And I did not look back. Until now.

New friends and no road rage

Now, as I look to the future and make plans for the rest of my life, I know how much I gained from only just one year training Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu made my life better: my physical health, my mental health, my curiosity. I even found that I was a better driver: more patient and far less inclined to road rage. Jiu Jitsu also brought me new friendships.

Two weeks ago, I had begun texting and calling those new Jiu Jitsu friends to put a plan together to begin training until our school opens back up. Then I started noticing the coronavirus headlines again.

Jiu Jitsu is a Superpower

One of the powerful things about Jiu-Jitsu is all the benefits that come with training. Jiu Jitsu is so powerful that each person in the same class might have a different reason for training. They almost certainly will have a different opinions about the best reasons to train Jiu Jitsu.

The Plan: Jiu-Jitsu as self-defense

One of the many reasons that I train Jiu Jitsu is for self-defense. And in the interest of self-defense, my plan is to train on my own until the infection rate drops to zero or very nearly zero or a COVID-19 vaccine is available.

There are so many unknowns about COVID-19. Consensus on important issues of how it spreads and how it affects infected individuals seems to be as elusive as that fourth stripe on my white belt seems now.

I plan on staying healthy and staying strong. I will continue to get down on my mats at home and practice with my homemade grappling dummy. At 45, it’s not difficult to convince myself that running beats me up as much as my training partners used to. So until a vaccine is available, I’m going to be putting in the miles on the pavement.

Thanks for reading and best of luck with your plans to continue defending yourselves and learning more and more Jiu Jitsu.

Post a comment below with your plans to continue Jiu Jitsu during the remainder of the pandemic.

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