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Let's start BJJ again

I can't believe it's been so long since I trained. Life got in the way. Death in the family. Lack of motivation. My gym moved and it made it more difficult for me to train. More difficult, not impossible. But I wasn't prepared to spend the extra time getting to training. The occasional class. Dusting off the gi. Not really finding another gym where I felt comfortable training. Lots of places seem very competitive. People want to win more than they want to learn. And for a sport where ego is supposed to get checked very early, lots of people seem very very attached to winning at all costs. Contact sports have their share of injuries, but when everyone in a gym is broken....well it's just not for me. I'm not tough. I tap early. I would rather learn how not to be in a position where you can arm bar me than fighting my way out of an arm bar that's already pretty tight.

It's odd to view the BJJ world online. Everyone seems deep into the sport. I often feel like I'm the only one for whom training is a hobby.....Some body skills, and more fun that pushing machines at a gym. But I don't want to be on the mats every day. I don't want to be a champion. I don't want to compete. I don't want to get in the MMA ring. I don't care if I'm a white belt forever. Training is part of my life, but the rest of my life is not getting in the way of my training.

But the part timers don't post online. They don't write about it. That's sad. We aren't all going to quit our day jobs for jiu jitsu, but sometimes, it feels like unless you want to, you can't be in the sport.

Anyway. Back at it.

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