Theres lots of different reasons to be motiatived to train.
From wanting to learn how to defend yourself and protect your family.
To wanting to lose a few extra pounds
Or even just to take up a new hobby.
Whatever the case – you have to find something, and I mean anything that will keep you going – here are a few things that have kept me motivated to train after close to 20 years.
Relationships
I believe that the relationships that you develop in your academy are probably the biggest motivator when it comes to getting you on the mats consistently.
If you're able to develop these strong bonds with your training partners they will often become a second family for you. That you will want to see on a daily basis.
A great training partner can become a good friend or even someone that can keep you accountable in your training,
I know that's the case with me and my boy Jeff that you see in a lot of my videos.
Even on days when I'm not feeling like training.
As soon as I get a text from him asking if I will be training at night.
I know I will hit it up the academy later lol.
Habit
After a few months of training you just kind of get in the habit of training. It becomes a daily routine in your life and all of the older grapplers that have been in the game longer than me all say this.
Find a schedule that you can healthily maintain and that won't break your body down and stay consistent.
I believe now a days new students starting out go way too overboard when start and inevitably get injured or burn out before their body can even adapt to the training.
But I usually suggest new students start out at a max of two days per week with the majority of their training being going over the fundamental movements and techniques that everyone finds boring now lol.
I even have the same advice for my older athletes that used to training twice a day. Scale back to a reasonable amount that will allow you to stave off injury and soreness as much as possible even when you think you can push even harder.
Fun Exercise
Lets face it, while exercise is key to making your healthier and looking better its not always fun.
That where jiu jitsu comes in as you will be too busy fighting for your life to realize how much time has passed (or hasn't passed haha).
It's almost impossible to be bored while training as you are constantly having to solve a new problem or continue working on something in your game.
I know newer students can struggle with remembering the techniques but that in itself is also a part of the training.
Learning new techniques and movements and then trying to implement those in to your own training.
And by the time your session is finished you've not only burned a ton of calories but you've also learned something new while also learning how to protect yourself
Efficiency at its best.
Goal
It's important that when you start training that you have a goal.
It could be wanting to lose weight, or picking up a new hobby.
Whatever the case you always need something pushing your forward even as your progress through the belt ranks.
What gets you in the door isn't necessarily what keeps you training year after year,
I know in my experience that my motivation has changed over the years.
When I first started out learning discipline was the big thing that got me to learn jiu jitsu but now as a masters (over 30) black belt a lot of my training is centered around longevity and keeping tradition alive through my training videos.
And if you were to talk to me 10 years ago I would probably say that my motivation was to win worlds and be the best in the world.
Regardless of of who you are there's got to be a reason for you to do what you do but it doesn't need to be anything grand.
Humility
Throughout your practice of jiu jitsu you will experience humility.
Especially in the beginning when you will realize that you're not as tough or as strong as you thought you were and this can be hard to handle.
But if you manage to get passed this point I believe that jiu jitsu can be a great too to teach you how to accept humility, how to deal with stress, and how to stay level headed.
Which will all pay dividends in your life.
Anyway these are just a few of the reasons that can and will keep you training jiu jitsu and the best thing is that there's not limit to motivation.
If its something that you really want to do the motivation will be there for you.
What Motivates You to Train?
- Healthy & Fitness
- Self Defense
- Hobby
- Competition