Jiu Jitsu With Your Boo – Husband, Wife, Partner, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Whatever
There is no greater joy in life than sharing something you’re passionate about with your significant other, particularly when that thing is jiu jitsu. Maybe you want to begin training together as many couples do, or maybe YOU already train and are trying to talk your sweetie into training too. Either way, the benefits to training with your special someone are pretty obvious, but if you haven’t considered them, maybe now is the time to think about it. Is it the easiest thing in the world to do a combat sport with your boo? Not necessarily. But is it worth it? We think so, and we’ve even got some tips to help you out along the way. Let’s talk first about why it’s great to bring your guy or gal into the world of jiu jitsu with you:
Benefit # 1: Everyone Should Learn to Fight
Think about your boo real quick. Imagine them stuck in a shady situation, walking down the wrong street or being approached by a stranger who’s getting a little too close. It doesn’t feel good to think about, does it? No one wants to imagine their guy or gal facing a dangerous situation, but it happens every day. You can’t completely avoid all sketchy situations, and the truth of the matter is that your last line of defense is understanding how to fight to protect yourself. We all want our partner, spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend to be safe and sound at all times, but unless you already know how to fight and can act as their permanent bodyguard (unlikely), they are going to need to learn to defend themselves. There is simply no better way to learn than through the journey of jiu jitsu. Come ask us about it anytime, we can prove it. When your partner knows how to fight, you simply sleep better.
Benefit # 2: Shared Time, Friends, and Interests
How does a relationship grow and thrive? Well, people may have a lot of opinions about it, but let’s keep it real dang simple: It’s about sharing your time, community, and interests with each other. And, well shoot, that’s exactly what jiu jitsu is. Learning jiu jitsu is a commitment of your attention and your time. And having the ability to share that commitment with the person you care about most is such a beautiful thing! Here at Airlock, we’ve been building such an amazing community of people around this sport, and you’re bound to make friends quick. Learn the sport and meet these people together with your special someone, and you may find that you both have a place in our lil’ Airlock family, learning and growing together.
The Hard Truth:
Now, this all sounds nice and sweet upon first glance, but the truth that we won’t shy away from is that training jiu jitsu is HARD! It’s a challenging sport that pushes you physically and mentally. And of course the benefits are great, yes! But for some people, training with your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc could make the journey feel even tougher some days. Some days, they’re having a better day than you, a worse day than you, they’re frustrated over something, you start comparing yourself to them, etc, etc, there are so many ways that it becomes more challenging to train with your partner. So, we’d like to share what we think is the secret to making it work:
Training Jiu Jitsu With Your Partner – The Secret to Making it Work:
Fight Your Own Fight. Let us explain…
There’s a concept in motorcycling safety – “Ride your own ride.” The concept is that when you are on a motorcycle ride with anyone else, you are much more likely to get into a dangerous situation if you are overly concerned about the other rider’s experience. As a rider, you are responsible for yourself and only yourself. When you need to slow down, slow down, when you need to stop, you stop. Just because someone else is doing something does not mean you need to do it the same way. The idea is that by making sure you are taking care of your own safety and allowing others to take care of their own safety, everyone will be safer.
This rule reminds us of training jiu jitsu with your significant other. When you train jiu jitsu together, you are only in charge of yourself, and they are in charge of themselves. Each person picks their own pace, their goals and expectations, their safety and speed, who they do and don’t want to roll with, and each person works on their own jiu jitsu journey.
Perhaps this won’t work for everyone, but from our experience, this is one of the best ways to make training jiu jitsu with your boo a sustainable activity together. Share the love for your sport together, and go on your own journeys with it individually.
For all you jiu jitsu couples out there, what do you think? How do you make it work?
And for the rest of you who have not yet experienced the joy of training jiu jitsu with your boo, maybe it’s time to bring them into Airlock with you and help them start their journey!
BONUS Idea!!!
If you are looking to get the woman in your life to consider training jiu jitsu, have a movie night and watch Coach Andrea’s fantastic documentary American Jiujiteira FREE on YouTube