–fresh from f00k
I remember a long time ago, Mestre Mike told us a story about a samurai and a peasant. I can’t say I remember the details of it (please post if you do), but here’s the short version of what I remembered. They crossed paths and the samurai, who was a trained killer, was not able to defeat the peasant, who was weak and didn’t know how to fight. All the peasant had was the mindset that he wouldn’t take his last breath that day. Not sure if he just escaped or killed the samurai, but the moral of the story was; the person with the strongest mind will prevail.
Having a strong mind in jiu-jitsu along with almost everything else in life is vital. I know you’ve probably heard it many of times where an athlete will say they lost the fight before it even started, meaning they weren’t mentally prepared. Remember Teen Wolf (not the movie)? He always had the desire to learn, but when it came down to putting in the work, he could never push himself to do it. I think most of progression, is being able to stretch your mind. If you think about quitting and just give up, you’re not improving (stretching). On the other hand, if you just man up and keep pushing yourself pass your [mind] limits, then the next time you know you can go even further. It’s all about raising your own bar! If you don’t push yourself, you ain’t going nowhere.
I watched Renzo Gracie’s Legacy last week again and here’s a quote that I liked from him talking about one of his fights in Pride: “… every single cell in your blood tells you to give up and leave, but that’s when a strong heart and a strong mind keeps you there, you know, keeps you strong. Like I remember every time I thought about leaving that fight, I made fun of myself and then I pushed my body again. I start forcing, imposing the fight against my opponent because the body needs to know that every time he wants to leave, he’s going to have to work harder… so you better shut the f*ck up mother f*cker haha!” – Renzo Gracie.
So, whenever you’re in bad positions, lazy to come into class, at a tournament or just feel like quitting, practice pushing yourself passed your limits and you will notice a huge improvement. “The difference between a white belt and a black belt is the black belt never quit.” – Mestre Mike.
Ludator photos from last night are up! Thanks Fumi!
