How Your Health Affects Your Training!

 

     I just had a conversation the other night with a group of students about the importance of taking care of their bodies. I reiterated the fact that their fitness was vital, not only to the overall enjoyment and performance on the mats but to their quality of life outside of training.

     When I first started out in jiu-jitsu there were little to no discussions on the importance of taking care of yourself, or how one should go about doing that. I don't remember doing any kind of stretching or conditioning really, outside of the requisite push-ups and sit-ups. If you weren't already doing something like that on your own then you were out of luck. In fact, the prevailing attitude at the time, and one that persisted for many years as you weren't really training if you weren't getting the crap beat out of you. I can't recall hearing my instructor, coaches, or other students talking about the importance and benefits of rest and recovery as well. 

     After a number of years of hard training with little to no body maintenance work done, my body began to break down, and the injuries started to accumulate. Accompanying my body's physical breakdown came a sort of mental burnout as well. I became increasingly frustrated with constantly being injured, in pain, and not being able to train as I wanted. At one point I had to step away from training for a couple of years to heal up and mentally recharge my batteries

     It was during my time away from training that I began to see the importance of having some type of program that addressed my strength, conditioning, mobility, and nutrition. As I began incorporating a diet and exercise routine into my life I could immediately see its mental and physical benefits! As I strengthened both body and mind I was soon ready and able to resume training.

     From this experience, I drew the conclusion that there was a definite need to incorporate mobility and strength training, along with stretching exercises into a warm-up routine. These exercises should be simple to use, time-friendly, and most important, help reduce the incidences and severity of injuries. As soon as I open the doors to my own school I began to incorporate just such a program into our curriculum. I can see a definite benefit to my student's overall health, with no serious injuries, and their subsequent enjoyment and performance in their training.

     

     It can not be overstated enough the importance of taking care of yourself with proper diet, excercie, rest, and recovery. One of the primary objectives of your training is to be able to do it for a lifetime. In order to accomplish this, you need to ensure that your taking proper care of yourself by maintaining your health!