BJJ Motivation: Why Experienced Practitioners Keep Training

BJJ motivation can involve enjoyment, competence, fitness and helping others grow. Martial arts motivation is personal: a survey describes participants’ reported motives, while masters’ accounts show different reasons for continuing. Neither a single motive nor a fixed ten-year black-belt timetable fits every practitioner.

What keeps martial artists motivated?

In the world of martial arts, the demand to rise higher in the rank of your respective style is always present.

How much more study is required before I test for new rank?

How much more time? When will my skill rise to meet the expectations of those before me?

Many martial artists have experienced these thoughts as they try to find motivation to continue.

But, what about the masters who came before and teach us now? What allowed them to keep studying as they spent months upon years practicing their art?

Does a black belt require a fixed timetable?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a grappling-based martial art. A ten-year journey to black belt is one illustration, not a universal maximum.

With such a great demand of time just to earn a respectable rank in this martial art, it is impressive that students are able to devote the time, effort, and energy required.

What motivated them to carry on despite all the hardships they encountered?

With the help of some research regarding motivational profiles and testimonials from highly regarded Brazilian Jiu Jitsu masters, we may be able to understand their resolve more clearly.

What did the motivation survey find?

To understand motivation in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, consider reasons focused on yourself and reasons focused on others.

Terrance Tarver’s 2021 University of Tennessee master’s thesis surveyed 216 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners about their participation motives.

The survey focused on five motives: Fitness, Appearance, Competence, Social, and Enjoyment.

After completing the poll, the researchers found that participants rated enjoyment, competence, and fitness higher than the appearance or social factors.

In this sample, enjoyment, competence and fitness received higher ratings than appearance and social motives.

Higher group ratings do not mean a majority chose one exclusive reason.

Enjoyment was an important reported motive in this sample, rather than proof of one pure reason for all players.

A familiar saying is, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

It seems that many masters of the art found this to be very true.

It seems that many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu masters found motivation through improving themselves as opposed to improving for others.

How do experience and competence relate?

Competence was another valued motive, reflecting the desire to become a highly skilled martial artist.

The results suggested that competence and enjoyment went hand in hand.

Enjoyment and competence may reinforce each other in practice, but this survey does not show that one caused the other to grow.

The study reported associations involving years of experience and level of participation, rather than a direct test of technical skill.

In a specific section of the study labeled, “Level of Participation on Motivators,” researchers found that the level of participation was an important factor for the competence factor.

The survey describes reported motivators; it does not establish each master’s initial reason for starting.

Competence can matter to experienced participants, but the study did not track each person’s motives changing over the years.

It seems that their growth and maturity in the art helped to determine a new sense of motivation for them.

Participants with different experience and participation levels valued competence differently. Could other factors also be at play?

What do the masters say keeps them going?

Professor Ben Lozano, (a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 2nd Degree Black Belt at Red River Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) had an interesting answer. “These days, what motivates me the most is helping others grow in the art of BJJ. I enjoy watching them go from not understanding what a shrimp or basic arm bar from the guard is to being on the mats with them when I visit and having them put me in danger of submitting me.” Professor Lozano’s 2016 account describes motivation through helping others, while his starting motives may have differed.

In an interesting twist, it shows how his personal growth has been symbiotic with his desire to help others.

However, the motivation for 5X World & 4X ADCC Champion Marcelo Garcia was not only founded in the enjoyment of the sport, but also the ‘energy’ it gives. “I was not a good student, and even now I never say that I am better than anybody, but I know I love Jiu Jitsu more than anybody. I love the energy and that it gets deeper the more you study.”

Is there one reason to keep training?

It is very intriguing doing research to understand the mindset of our predecessors. A black-belt journey can take many years; ten years is not a fixed requirement for every practitioner. Because of the demands, progression can be slow and varies among practitioners.

There are many similarities among practitioners and their specific motivations.

But there does not seem to be a “universal” motivator.

Through the sport practitioners find their own reasons to continue onward despite the struggles.

References

Jiu Jitsu Legacy. (2020, May 21). BJJ motivation – be the hero of your own story! Jiu Jitsu Legacy. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://jiujitsulegacy.com/videos/motivation/bjj-motivation-hero-of-your-own-story-2/

Lozano, V. (2016, January 13). What motivates you? Red River Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://redriverbjj.com/what-motivates-you/

Marcelo Garcia Jiu-Jitsu: Marcelo Garcia. Marcelo Garcia Jiujitsu. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://marcelogarciajj.com/mgjj/marcelogarcia/

Tarver, T. (2021, December 1). The desire to train: A motivational profile of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu players. TRACE. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/6299

International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. IBJJF Minimum Graduation Period Update. https://ibjjf.com/news/ibjjf-minimum-graduation-period-update

Pull Quotes:

“In the world of martial arts, the demand to rise higher in the rank of your respective style is always present.”

“The survey describes reported motivators; it does not establish each master’s initial reason for starting.”

“A black-belt journey can take many years; ten years is not a fixed requirement for every practitioner.”