How to Deal With Burnout In BJJ

What to do when you want to quit.

Houston, TX — Seminar a few weeks back.

When I was younger, I used to often have this dreading feeling that I wanted to quit Jiu-Jitsu.

I would train well for a few weeks, improve, maybe compete, and have a lot of fun on the mat, but eventually, the fun would fade.

I’d start to dread my training routine. I’d become nihilistic. I’d listen to emo music and pout about how “everything sucked”.

I dreaded Jiu-Jitsu so much so that I’d start to fantasize about turning a certain age and not “having” to compete anymore. I fantasized about retiring from pushing myself all the time and becoming a fat accountant named Steve who sat around the water cooler all day and told his fellow accountants about his “glory days” as a competitive grappler.

The only part of that story that’s a joke is me changing my name to Steve. I used to (still sometimes do) get really burnt out.

At first, I thought wanting to quit was a sign of me being inadequate or maybe that Jiu-Jitsu wasn’t for me, but I eventually realized that there was nothing wrong with me and I was experiencing “burnout”. I reasoned that there was a healthier way to deal with it than just by “pressing forward”.

My new problem became finding a good resource in the BJJ world that would help me deal with BJJ-specific burnout.

I’ve honestly never found a good article on dealing with burnout in BJJ, so decided to try to write one.

Let’s dive in, so you don’t have to change your name to Steve either.