Stay On The Mat
The Infinite Game of Jiu Jitsu
Jiu jitsu is hard on the body. It doesn't matter if you're a hobbyist or a pro, fighting with other people in a competitive environment comes with a cost. There are differences in magnitude and perhaps frequency of course, but the sport has implicit risks and consequences that are part and parcel of the experience. In jiu jitsu not only is your body the equipment, it is the field of play itself. That fact means that extra care is necessary to do the single most important thing to continued skill development and fun - staying on the mat.
While the title of this article is Stay on the Mat you could certainly replace the word mat with court, turf, pitch, or any other field of sport or play. While this article in particular is pointed at jiu jitsu players because that is my personal hobby of choice, the principles discussed can be applied to any form of sport of active play you want to sustainably engage in. The details will differ but the principles are stable (that is what makes them principles after all).
An Infinite Game
NYU Professor of Literature and Religious Studies, James Carse famously wrote about the difference between finite and infinite games in his titular book. Carse identified "...at least two types of games. Finite games and infinite games." Finite games have winner and a loser. They have a beginning and an end. They have clear rules and boundaries. Infinite games are only concerned with one thing. To continue playing.
This concept fits in perfectly with the application of performance longevity concepts on the jiu jitsu mat. It's not just about the short term wins and losses but also sustaining the ability to play at all. If you do jiu jitsu for any amount of time you will watch people fall off the mountain for a lot of reasons not least of which is that their body breaks down to a point where they can't play the game the way they want to any longer, or they can't play the game at all.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not implying at all that we shouldn't try to win rolls, tap people, or train hard. Not at all. Finite games can be played within the larger infinite game. If you determine that you're number one priority is to stay on the mat so that you can train in a way that results in improvements in your skills, then playing an infinite game of performance longevity must be the backdrop to your entire approach to training. Not just what you do on the mat either. The things you do off the mat also are either serving or detracting from this larger theme. This includes what you eat and drink, your sleep habits, other forms of physical exercise you do, etc.
In other words, it's not just your decisions on the mat that effect the infinite game, it's your entire lifestyle.
One Human System
To have a better shot at staying on the mat to do the thing you love so much you must realize it's not just a training thing. At least not in the traditional sense. You are one human system and how the different parts of you and you're life all interact can contribute to whether you age gracefully on the mats or rather yo-yo between injuries until your frustration ruins the thing that used make you smile almost as much as sex. Addressing all of these things together isn't that big of an ask and if know how to tackle them you can pick one thing at a time to tune into.
To refer back to my Check Engine Light classes again we use the framework of the M3 Model to help simplify the parts of health and performance that can support the continuity of the infinite game. I wrote a series of Substack articles on these a while back the first of which you can find HERE.
MIND
The first M in the M3 Model is MIND. For the sake of brevity when we say mind here we mean the nervous system. Your mindset, emotions, and recovery are all tied together through the great unifier of stress. The stress load that you have going on in the rest of your life alters the effect of training on both your mind and body. Being aware of that fact and having good gauges of your stress levels can help you more precisely tune your approach to not only how you play the game on a given day but also in the other aspects of preparation you may be using.
As a brief example I came off a stint of heavy travel and work stress and got really run down. After my final trip in the series I got sick and although I took off training the actual week of illness (don't burn your training partners), as soon as I felt a bit better I was back on the mat. With a caveat of course. I didn't play the game nearly as intensely. I put myself in defensive positions and tried to be as energy efficient as possible practicing escapes and defense. I also made serious decreases in my other strength and conditioning to reserve enough energy for training jiu jitsu. All the "money" for life comes from one bank account. You. Decide when and where you want to spend that money, especially when the account is low on funds. Lastly it's helpful to have a bank statement of sorts that tells you the truth about how much money is in the account. Heart Rate Variability and Resting Heart Rate can be useful tools in that regard. Check out my article Staying in the Black for more on that.
MoVeMenT
The second M is MVMT. If there is one aspect of performance longevity that I'd like to zero in on for the purpose of this discussion because I feel it's the area where I see lots of jiu jitsu practitioners go awry it is with the movement practices they do off the mat.For a group of people who make fun of death touch kung fu and pressure points so much, the jiu jitsu community falls prey to physical practices that are equally as outrageous and goofy. Luckily, higher level practitioners like former NFL athlete and founder of Power Athlete, John Welbourn are taking a more keen interest.
The first problem is that jiu jitsu athletes don't choose strength and conditioning methods that support their sport. Notice I used the word, support. That means if training jiu jitsu is the central focus, any movement or strength and conditioning practice you do should help keep you on the mat and perform better when you are there. Not take you off the mat and hinder you when you're there like I see so often. Far too many athletes want to have their cake and eat it too. Way too many of my training partners take long breaks from the mat because of dumb stuff they do in the gym.
Conversely, plenty of people don't train off the mat at all. The argument is that they can get everything they need from jiu jitsu. To that I say, the way to get better at jiu jitsu, is to train jiu jitsu. Skill is the most important thing. However, if you're body is so fragile that you can't sustain training... Not only that movement practices off the mat take our attention from a mode of outward focused, problem solving to a mode of internal focused awareness. When we use more objective metrics that come from these practices we can not only track the progress of attributes that can help our performance we can also get alerted to threats of our longevity sooner so we can do something about them.
When it comes to which practice or program to do some people will tell you do hot yoga with the fervor of collegiate Gaza protestor. Others will tell you to kettlebells. Others still will tell you barbell landmines are the best. Some people with tell you medicine balls are the best thing since sliced bread. Some will even have you attach a sled to your body and shrimp down the turf. When it comes to the flavor of ice cream you want to lick, for the most part, I'm agnostic (Except sled shrimping. That's dumb. Don't do that.) Seriously though what matters more than any approach in particular is that the approach you're using supports attributes that help you: #1 Stay. On. The. Mat! #2 Have a measurably positive effect on the thing you actually care about, in this case jiu jitsu.
A couple of things that I think are essential regardless of the movement program that you subscribe are:
Get exposed to a variety of loaded end ranges of motion. That goes for limbs and spine. Jiu jitsu contorts the body into some pretty weird spaces and often under resistance. You don't want your first exposure to be when another human is testing the limits of your elbow.
Do conditioning of some kind. As your skill level improves, you get more efficient and you'll build weak spots in your energy system arsenal, usually aerobic. Which is not only important for doing work but is also important for healing tissues.
If you're a hobbyist with limited time and/or budget you can kind find reasonable ways to address both. I'll put some links to people who aren't full of crap at the bottom of this article for more specific direction. Okay, that one got a little ranty. Let's move on.
MaTTeR
The last part of the M3 Model is MTTR. This is the biochemistry stuff. Don't worry I'm not going to bore the shit out of you with a breakdown of biomarkers and laboratory terminology. Instead, we'll talk about the basics that will keep the fluids and filters going so you can keep the engine running.
First, sleep. For god sakes go to bed on time. Regular, quality sleep is the most important thing you can do to allow your body to recover better. I know, I know. Jocko hags upside down like Batman for 30 minutes a night while he gets the blood transfusion of a freshly slaughtered elk. You are not Jocko. Make your bedroom as dark and as cold as you can. Limit bright lights in your eyeballs for an hour or so before you go to sleep and if you have time and inclination do some stretches right before you get in bed to relax your stiff ass jiu jitsu muscles. More on that HERE.
Second, manage your weight. More specifically your body composition. There are some specs for this but as a rule if you're a dude and there's a muffin or more hanging over your belt, you eat too much. Fix it. There's lots of ways to go about it that are simple and sustainable. If it seems extreme - it's not an infinite game. Eat clean, real food, and try to get 1-2g per kg of bodyweight. If you're over 50 eat on the high side for adequate muscle repair. Check out Dr. Layne Norton (@biolayne - IG) or Dr. Gabrielle Lyon (@drgabriellelyon) for more reliable and detailed information there.
Third, get your aerobic system in check. If your face is hanging open like a broken drawbridge during the warm up, you are out of shape. Go for walks, jugs, rucks, ride a bike. Whatever. Don't make it fancy start with what you can. Some of the guys who train with me early in the morning have ridden their bikes to and from practice to hit two birds with one stone.
If you stay on top of these things you will have more energy and heal faster. As a bonus, your bloodwork will probably get better too.
Be About It
This is truly an incredibly compressed overview of performance longevity for jiu jitsu. We covered quite a bit. If you want more please read the articles that I've linked to inside this one and check out the references I've mentioned as well.
You don't have to do all of this at once. Small choices aggregate over time. The simple act of deciding to play the infinite game of staying on the mat will start to change the way you see everything. You will analyze your behavior both on and off the mat in terms of it will help you or hurt you in the long haul.
By committing to different aspects of the things I talk about in this article you can start to tune your body more effectively to your changing needs over the course of your time on the mat. This means you can more consciously and efficiently adapt and therefore stay on the mat doing what you love to do with people you love do it with.
Thanks for reading,
Rob
My new book Check Engine Light: Tuning Your Mind and Body to Achieve Performance Longevity is now available for Pre-Sale HERE.