Coming back from long BJJ hiatus—what do I focus on?

[Spoken]

I trained for years. I’m 30 and started when I was 14. But I stopped my first 2 years in college. Then I bought my first gi and trained another 4-5 years. Got a purple belt but moved and had some injuries so I got into cycling...and I was a poor grad student for awhile.
But, I have money now /my wife makes 6 figures and I’m gonna come back. I’ve no idea how natural I’ll feel in someone’s guard or when I’m getting mounted. I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot of the more technical sweeps and submissions i had drilled to memory.

So, with 5 years off and a purple belt that should probably be a white belt (I hope it’s not that bad), how should I focus on returning to form? Drill fundamentals? Stick to what I know I’ll be okay at? Spinning shit? I know I’ll need to check my ego and get used being subbed everywhere, so I’m already prepared to get stomped all the time.
I’m a little nervous, actually, but I’m so damn excited to come back to the only sport I was more than average at.

 

[karma2burn]

I trained for years. I’m 30 and started when I was 14. But I stopped my first 2 years in college. Then I bought my first gi and trained another 4-5 years. Got a purple belt but moved and had some injuries so I got into cycling...and I was a poor grad student for awhile.
But, I have money now /my wife makes 6 figures and I’m gonna come back. I’ve no idea how natural I’ll feel in someone’s guard or when I’m getting mounted. I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot of the more technical sweeps and submissions i had drilled to memory.

So, with 5 years off and a purple belt that should probably be a white belt (I hope it’s not that bad), how should I focus on returning to form? Drill fundamentals? Stick to what I know I’ll be okay at? Spinning shit? I know I’ll need to check my ego and get used being subbed everywhere, so I’m already prepared to get stomped all the time.
I’m a little nervous, actually, but I’m so damn excited to come back to the only sport I was more than average at.

For the first few months stick to the basics and work on getting your cardio back up. Even if you are good at the techniques you'll be pretty gassed and it will be hard to pull stuff off. Once you start getting your wind back things like timing and fluidity will start to come back.

 

[Spoken]

For the first few months stick to the basics and work on getting your cardio back up. Even if you are good at the techniques you'll be pretty gassed and it will be hard to pull stuff off. Once you start getting your wind back things like timing and fluidity will start to come back.

I totally forgot how different the cardio will be :/

 

[ArtemV]

Focus on defense imo, you will most likely get beat up when you first start again, but at least you won't get beaten as bad with solid defense.

 

[KikoJones]

Don't get hurt.

 

[karma2burn]

Don't get hurt.

Yeah, that too. Def don't try to fight off subs from lower belts. You're going to get caught a lot at first, even by white belts. Don't be stubborn and just tap if they have you. It would suck majorly to get the will to come in from a long lay off and have to sit out again due to injury.

 

[karma2burn]

I totally forgot how different the cardio will be :/

I came back from a 7 month layoff a while back only a few months after getting my purple. When I came back my cardio was absolute garbage. All the whites\blues had a field day running through me in my weakened state. A couple of them I told, just be cognizant about the punishment you deal to me today because in two months I'll be in a lot better shape and I have a long memory ;-)

 

[bignog23]

I came back from an almost one year layoff due to injury. While I forgot a lot of things, amongst those things were bad habits and unhelpful mental patterns. That's not something to work on but, I just wanted to give you some encouragement that there may actually be some positive benefits to your overall game because of the time off in the long run.

 

[Deleted member 405583]

@Spoken
Hard brexit fundamentals. I came back after 9 months after breaking my back. Don’t get frustrated if things don’t come as easy as they used to. You’re older, weaker, and fatter. It’s a fact. Don’t be a fass just keep coming back and having fun. Don’t over do it. And never forget YNWA

 

[CFGroup]

Drill baby drill!

Like riding a bike, u don't want to take the gnarliest trail your first time back in the saddle cause u gotta get all that subconscious reflex shit back up to speed.

Took over year off of and went with a lot of throws in Randori rather than counter to hard. It helped my Ukemi sharpen up and I didn't get injured. Though I couldn't walk straight for a couple of days from sourness from the tip of my toes up to my fucking ear lobs and everything in between from my first class back.

 

[DatCutman]

In a way it's kind of refreshing because you get to rebuild your game from the ground up. I had a surgery that kept me off the mats for a year, came back, and got to scrap my old game and make a brand new one.

These days leg locks are all the rage, so maybe that's a good jump off point.

 

[zeli_papa]

I'll chime in too, I came back after 9 months after recurring back injury and as much as my cardio sucked and my reflexes were always a split second too slow I was also more relaxed and in some weird way I could see more when rolling, it seemed like my jiu jitsu matured. It maybe had something to do with me not being bothered about who I tapped or who tapped me and all that usual ego bs, I was just glad to be there and enjoyed training. Sometimes I think we all take it too seriously , at the end of the day for most of us is just a hobby , something that should bring us joy and good time instead of frustration and resentment.

 

[Dogstarman]

I trained for years. I’m 30 and started when I was 14. But I stopped my first 2 years in college. Then I bought my first gi and trained another 4-5 years. Got a purple belt but moved and had some injuries so I got into cycling...and I was a poor grad student for awhile.
But, I have money now /my wife makes 6 figures and I’m gonna come back. I’ve no idea how natural I’ll feel in someone’s guard or when I’m getting mounted. I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot of the more technical sweeps and submissions i had drilled to memory.

So, with 5 years off and a purple belt that should probably be a white belt (I hope it’s not that bad), how should I focus on returning to form? Drill fundamentals? Stick to what I know I’ll be okay at? Spinning shit? I know I’ll need to check my ego and get used being subbed everywhere, so I’m already prepared to get stomped all the time.
I’m a little nervous, actually, but I’m so damn excited to come back to the only sport I was more than average at.

Your timing will be way off and your cardio will be shitty. In a couple of months you should be able to keep up.

You’ll be frustrated because your mind will know what it wants your body to do but your body will not follow. Just get to training. It will click once you put the gi on and get back on the mat.

 

[Spoken]

Your timing will be way off and your cardio will be shitty. In a couple of months you should be able to keep up.

You’ll be frustrated because your mind will know what it wants your body to do but your body will not follow. Just get to training. It will click once you put the gi on and get back on the mat.

Timing was way off. Just wasn’t moving right, but my intuition was there. I’ve decided to finally buy JiuJitsu University and just pull 1-3 techniques a week to try consistently.
This gym where I live (I’ve been here just over a year) isn’t nearly the quality I was used to, honestly. I feel like if I’m going to relearn the fundamentals from white to purple again, I’ll need a bit of help

 

[Dogstarman]

Timing was way off. Just wasn’t moving right, but my intuition was there. I’ve decided to finally buy JiuJitsu University and just pull 1-3 techniques a week to try consistently.
This gym where I live (I’ve been here just over a year) isn’t nearly the quality I was used to, honestly. I feel like if I’m going to relearn the fundamentals from white to purple again, I’ll need a bit of help

The fundamentals will come back. You can buy books and videos. Just keep training consistently and you will start to feel better.

 

[Human Bass]

Warming up, not going too hard, basically getting the rust off.

 

[dmwalking]

I trained for years. I’m 30 and started when I was 14. But I stopped my first 2 years in college. Then I bought my first gi and trained another 4-5 years. Got a purple belt but moved and had some injuries so I got into cycling...and I was a poor grad student for awhile.
But, I have money now /my wife makes 6 figures and I’m gonna come back. I’ve no idea how natural I’ll feel in someone’s guard or when I’m getting mounted. I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot of the more technical sweeps and submissions i had drilled to memory.

So, with 5 years off and a purple belt that should probably be a white belt (I hope it’s not that bad), how should I focus on returning to form? Drill fundamentals? Stick to what I know I’ll be okay at? Spinning shit? I know I’ll need to check my ego and get used being subbed everywhere, so I’m already prepared to get stomped all the time.
I’m a little nervous, actually, but I’m so damn excited to come back to the only sport I was more than average at.

Honestly, focus on just showing up. Then focus on doing what the coach teaches you. Little by little it all comes back to you. I am the king of hiatuses. It comes back to you quicker than you might think.