The color of one’s belt represents the person’s level within a martial art.
However, rank isn’t the only measure of one as a martial artist.
Your purpose, goals, and values play a significant role in helping you become the best version of yourself on and off the mats.
For many of us, martial arts is not our full-time job, and as we age, many factors affect our martial arts practice. Work, marriage, kids, and injuries, just to name a few.
If the way we practice martial arts is out of line with what we need in our lives, something will have to give. Unfortunately, for many people, that means stepping away from martial arts.
The “all or nothing” attitude is commonplace.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
My purpose in starting the Juyukai is to practice in a way that will allow me to stay On The Mat Forever.
And that’s what I want to help you do as well.
Finding a way to practice your martial arts in a manner that serves you best will allow you to continue forever. The way to find that is to periodically assess your physical and mental state.
That’s what this article is all about.
The White Belt Journey
You started your martial arts journey as a white belt.
Depending on your background, you might have had more experience than the other white belts. Possibly less. The thing is, we all start at different scales of white belt.
Take me for example. When I first started out in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I already held a 2nd-degree black belt in Judo and Shorinji Kempo. Did that mean I was great on the mats in BJJ?
Nope.
But I did have more experience than the typical white belt.
My instructor immediately assessed my abilities by seeing how I moved and acted when sparring. He saw what I needed to work on and explained what I needed to do.
This was good and necessary. After all, I couldn’t have self-assessed my abilities because I was new to BJJ.
Having an instructor/mentor with the experience you seek will help you better understand your journey faster.
Knowing your starting point helps you plan where to go more efficiently.
A good instructor is there to guide you in a manner that benefits your needs and wants. Not mold you into something that only serves their desires.
So, find an instructor more concerned about helping you improve than showing you how much they know.
Just understand that they are not there to hold your hand.
It is ultimately up to you to determine what you need and do the necessary work to achieve your goals.
Story Time
Until a few years ago, I was deep into practicing BJJ, playing a fast, standing passing game that fit me well. Mind you, I would experience little aches and tweaks here and there. But thanks to my profession, I was still moving well and hanging with the younger guys. I LOVED rolling and training as hard as I could.
The month I turned 50 years old, my family and I moved to the US. And things changed quickly.
I got injured pretty badly at BJJ practice and couldn’t train or roll like I wanted to. I gave it some time, but I wasn’t bouncing back like I used to.
I realized that things needed to change, so I made a full assessment of my body, life, and martial arts practice. That lead to me leaving that gym and starting my own training group.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed training with everyone at the gym. But I realized that it wasn’t what I needed most at that time in my life.
After that assessment, I took a long, hard look at what I truly wanted from my martial arts practice and removed the things that no longer served me. I even added back in a couple of components I wasn’t practicing in BJJ.
Then, I found a group of like-minded people to train together in a fashion that both served me and those in the group.
Is it as hard-core as the other gyms I used to train at? No.
Is it the best thing for me nowadays? 100% Yes.
Many people hold onto thoughts and ideas that prevent them from growing and enjoying life more deeply. It can be challenging to let go of aspects of yourself that have played a significant role in your life for many years.
I struggled for months, thinking I might be making a mistake by doing my own thing.
Periodic assessments have allowed me to see that I made the right decision.
Here’s how I did it.
“What gets measured gets managed.” – Peter Drucker.
To measure results, we first need a baseline assessment. This baseline gives us a starting point. And the more honest we can be with ourselves, the better.
If you’ve been training for years, you know where you’ve been and what you’ve been able to do in the past. But as we age, we can lose sight of where we truly stand, letting the reminiscing of younger days get in the way of more mature thoughts.
If you are having difficulty dealing with the concept of change as you get older, think about this:
Letting go of what we once were gives us the freedom to seek something better for what we now need.
It took me a lot of soul-searching to come to terms with that. And I’m still working on it!
Here’s what I did to help with that.
Assessing Your Purpose
Assessments provide valuable insights, inform decision-making, promote accountability, and drive continuous improvement.
Previously, in this article, I covered how to find your deeper purpose for your martial arts.
Here’s an abbreviated version for you.
Ask yourself the following questions at each stage of your life:
- What am I training for?
- What is important to me?
- Who do I want to train with?
- How do I want to train?
We are all at different stages in our martial arts journey.
Understand that goals and desires will change at different points in your life.
You may have enjoyed competing, training multiple hours daily, and sparring hard when you were young.
But as you age, you might find that your body and mind need something different.
A way of training that isn’t so hard on your body yet still allows you to train in a stimulating way.
That could mean not training as often as you were or stepping away from the group you typically trained with to find a new group that better matches your current needs.
And that is perfectly OK.
Just because you trained a certain way in the past doesn’t mean it will serve you your entire life.
You are the one who must assess your needs and wants. Just be sure to do it with a clear mind.
Having an instructor and mentor who can give you solid advice is great. But it is ultimately up to you to decide what is best for you.
Yes, making changes and adjustments in your life will be difficult and might even upset others. But you should never feel bad for doing something that is best for you.
This is YOUR journey, and you must live it in a manner that is true to you.
Spend time assessing your purpose and making any needed changes.
Next up, it’s time to assess your physical status.
Assessing Your Body
“The day will come when you can’t run and jump and kick ass anymore, and you’ll have to refine your skill set into something a little less physical.” – Orphan X
I remember reading this quote years ago in the Orphan X series, thinking, That ain’t gonna be me.
Ultimately, I know that time will come. But I’ll be damned if I ever hang up my belt for good.
I have met other martial artists who told me about all the things they used to be able to do. They would then follow up by saying they have quit training because they simply can’t do it any longer. After all, it’s a young man’s game.
What? Seriously?
Don’t give up something you love just because you can’t do it exactly the same way you used to be able to.
Just look at Mifune, who trained Judo up until his last days.
Was he as strong, powerful, mobile, and coordinated as he was in his younger days?
Nope.
But he didn’t let that stop him from continuing to step on the mat his entire life.
There is a way to do this forever.
We just need to find the best way for us at that moment.
To continue stepping on the mats forever, we need to assess ourselves and do what is necessary to keep us going.
We’ve already discussed the mental side of things. It’s time to look at the physical side.
I am the co-owner and head coach of GMB Fitness. GMB isn’t about building huge muscles, getting ripped, or being the fastest or even the best athlete. It’s about helping people move in a way that allows them to continue doing the activities they care about.
One protocol we use is the AAA Framework, which stands for Assess, Address, and Apply.
The assessments allow people to honestly know their mobility status so that we can address issues and then apply the necessary protocol to help them improve.
Here is a basic assessment we use.
[Read the accompanying article to understand your movement capacity better.]
We can also do this for our martial arts and make it pretty darn simple:
Are the movements you currently use the movements that will allow you to continue training as you age?
To answer this, you must go back to the assessment of your purpose above.
Grading, belt testing, and competitions can positively affect a person’s journey. Practice and sparring allow you to hone your skills, and competitions give you a good idea of where you stand outside the dojo.
But there will come a day in your martial arts journey when you realize that the days of hard-core, rough-and-tumble training and competition must end.
If your purpose in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to compete at a high level at Pans, you’ll need to get good at inversions and playing from underneath your opponent.
But if, on the other hand, you are an aging grappler focused on longevity, you’ll probably want to skip the latest inverted guard and focus on the top game.
In other words, you should focus on movements tailored to your body and style that fit you in that stage of your life.
As I wrote above, I changed my grappling style a few years ago to focus on my current wants and needs. Yes, it was tough to change things up. But I feel great and thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing.
It’s sustainable for me and will allow me to continue to train as long as possible.
Take some time to assess the following things you need in your martial arts:
- Strength – are you still strong enough for the moves you like to perform?
- Mobility – can you safely get into the positions your game is based around?
- Injuries – do you have injuries that you need to work around that affect your game?
- Speed – does your game revolve around fast movements?
- Endurance – do you find your endurance lacking due to certain moves you use?
These and other factors should be considered when assessing your martial art. You might need to update and/or modify your techniques as you age.
By the way, it could be simply slowing things down and finding like-minded partners with whom you can continue practicing your preferred style in a safer manner.
Go back and review the Mifune video. He was still practicing his style of judo, albeit with less resistance from his partners. Yes, I’m pretty sure his partners weren’t going full-out against him, but that’s a debate for another time.
The point is, he was still training!
Take the time to evaluate the movements you use in your martial arts and whether they still serve you.
Adjust those movements to accommodate where you’re currently at in your life.
Here’s an example of the great Goju-Ryu instructor, Sensei Higaonna, who still trains with the intensity of a man half his age. Listen to his interview, and you’ll hear that he trains in a way that has allowed him to continue his martial arts journey in his own way.
In conclusion, I’m not trying to get you to water down your martial arts or stop training intensely. My goal is to help you evaluate what is truly beneficial and what serves you best throughout your martial arts journey.
It could very well be that you aren’t training hard enough as you age!
However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that your training at 50 should be the same as when you were 21.
Periodically assess yourself to ensure you’re training in a manner that best serves you physically and mentally. Then, make the appropriate adjustments to reflect the kind of martial artist that you desire to be at that stage of your life.
This is what will help keep you on the mat forever. 🙂
My first martial arts was karate (in my 20s) and started Judo and BJJ later (in my 40s).
Although I never really grappled, my foundation in karate helped me have a decent start Judo then BJJ. I never like to mention my experience, people tend to see it as a challenge but after the first class, the teacher asked my experience did I have.
Although I was new to grappling, I knew how to move my body and keep myself safe. He adjusted how he teaches me based on that and saw he could push me a bit more. I like that. It’s not fully personalized but enough that I feel that I am not being treated as a complete beginner.
This is a great article. Thank you!
This is great to hear, Alan. Having an instructor like this makes such a big impact in not only learning but the desire to continue training. Really glad you had that.