BJJ brown belt in 1 year

[Gerry Seymour]

I'm definitely a martial arts nerd myself. I train 10-12 hours per week on average (a bit more when I'm rested and inspired) and probably spend another 10-12 hours per week reading about, talking about, thinking about, or watching martial arts. But after that point my brain starts needing some time off to recharge.

I'm curious about whether this is my actual upper limit or if I could happily spend a bunch more time on it if I didn't have to work for a living. Maybe when I retire I'll just end up spending all day in the dojo.

I've wondered that about myself, Tony. Mind you, my limit on time spent talking about MA is identified by Maria saying, "Enough Aikido, already!"

 

[drop bear]

It probably also depends how intense those hours are. One could get into some technical rolling - keeping it soft, supple, and responsive - for a couple of hours a day and wouldn't have much risk of getting new injuries.

You can roll train and spar hard with minimal injuries. Just dont be spazzy.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

You can roll train and spar hard with minimal injuries. Just dont be spazzy.

I'd think rolling hard for 4 hours would tend to foster injuries, because of the exhaustion. Tired muscles start to tighten in odd ways sometimes, and that can lead to a quick pull or tear. The slow roll would be a way to keep working even when the muscles start to tighten up (and maybe even with some minor injury).

 

[jks9199]

You might read Angry White Pyjamas. It's a personal account of someone who did the Yoshinkan Aikido shenshusei course. It's an extremely intense one year program yielding, if successfully completed, a black belt. The challenges and physical effects might be instructive here...

 

[kuniggety]

I'd think rolling hard for 4 hours would tend to foster injuries, because of the exhaustion. Tired muscles start to tighten in odd ways sometimes, and that can lead to a quick pull or tear. The slow roll would be a way to keep working even when the muscles start to tighten up (and maybe even with some minor injury).

I agree. I'm "only" 35 and the guys I roll with are in the gamut of 20 - 40 and I feel lucky if I walk away from a single class without a new bruise, sprain, ache, or break. It blows my mind knowing guys like BJ Penn and the Miyao bros do BJJ full time. It think it might have to do with me rolling with a lot of white - purplebelts instead of black belts so there tends to be more scrambling and people forcing technique rather than things moving slow and methodically.