Getting better without training?

Ring Shark98

Ring Shark98

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Has this ever happened to any of you? It has to me. Let me explain:

For example, this past summer I moved away for work, and didn't get to train all summer. However, when I did get back to training, my technique seemed a lot better for some reason. One guy actually mentioned to me "Yeah, I don't know how the fuck you can get better without training!"

Same thing happened to me this past christmas break. I took a week or two off for finals, and worked for a week, so about a month I took off. When I went back to training Thursday night, another guy mentioned that somehow I got better over the break.

Ever happened to any of you??
 
Nope.

I took the summer off and it killed me when I came back.

After 3 months of good training I'm getting pretty good for a no stripe white belt, heh.
 
It's probably not technical improvement per se, but just improvement in your mental attitude and game plan.

Maybe over the break you had time to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Although you are probably still doing the techniques with roughly the same level of skill, you just might do different techniques that are more appropriate for the situation. Thus you get better results.

Or maybe you just visualized a lot of technique and stuff enough that you improved without actually doing it. I'm able to do that to a certain point. If I want to get better at a move, I just imagine myself doing it right and how it feels. It does produce real results because you don't hesitate to do it right in rolling.
 
Sometimes if you are training hard a few weeks off allows everything to sink in a little better.
 
Yes, this happens all the time to me. (not specifically in grappling since I refuse to take time off ;P) But when I take a break from other things I often come back, and after a couple minutes of getting back into rhythm, , I'm much better than before.
 
I was talking to a coach of mine and he was advising I take a week off becuase of my hip injury, but he also said, "you will probably wrestle better, too. You know, taking time off and letting it sink in. Just think about Jiu Jitsu but don't wrestle".
 
i took a week and some off and my armbars were quicker and i had better sweeps.
 
It's a mental thing, sometimes you have to take like a week off to give your mind a rest and some time to absorb it all.

An entire summer seems like a bit much though...
 
Nope i dont think you get any better from not training..
To me what happens though is.. When i train all the time my body gets frail and i hurt everywhere.. i never really feel full strength and im always fighting injurys. If i take a good amount of time off my injurys heal and i feel 100%.. I go back to bjj and i can put things into play.. at my best.
I think clearly about what i want to do and what the guy is giving me.. Instead of.. "oh no, my arm is hurt! hes going for an armbar.. Defend defend defend!"
So it feels like i got much better from taking time off.. But its probably because i dont feel like i need a wheelchair to get to class :p
 
Normally, I would have disagreed and said that it would be difficult to improve without training. However, I recently had to take 2 weeks off to let my shoulder heal up. During those 2 weeks, I read a few books about Jiu Jitsu, including Eddie Bravo's (which I thought was great). I constantly thought about it Jiu Jitsu; especially my individual game. When I came back I seemed to have a new understanding and feeling for the the tecniques and positions.

I was pleasently suprised.
 
The mental aspect of grappling is kinda like studying. You need occasional breaks or you won't function @ 100%.
 
I have had a few training breaks due to military-related relocations and injury/surgery rehab and all that, and whenever it's been just a short break, I've noticed marked improvements. Now, i still did SOMETHING during these breaks, and maybe you did to, and that's probably why you really feel like you've improved. You're viewing things in a new light.

Something long (say, for instance, me taking about three months off to recover from knee surgery and move, and starting at a new school) leaves you feeling like a fish out of water, and you've got to get your cardio back (even if you ran or swam or whatever to keep in shape/rehab injuries, only grappling helps your cardio when grappling...).

Something short (taking a week off when my daughter was born, and I was having to drive back and forth to Bethesda until she was released from the NICU) let me come back fresh, relieved of a lot of outside stress, and focused.

I also took the week between the holidays off, just stretching or doing calisthenics to work out, and it let my persistent stiff neck loosen up and a nasty bruise on my knee go away as well as giving me time to think about some techniques that were and weren't working for me. This week since coming back, I've felt like a million bucks and have been rolling at a higher level then immediately before the break.

If you've got little injuries, and are trying to tough them out, say even a bruised elbow at the beginning of the week, when you come back after your off day even you will feel better, because you subconciously swap up your game a little for any of those little distractions.
 
i have come back from time off in the past and felt better than i expected to, but never have i felt like i improved from when i left. usually takes a couple weeks of daily training to start feeling at 100% again
 
Has this ever happened to any of you? It has to me. Let me explain:

For example, this past summer I moved away for work, and didn't get to train all summer. However, when I did get back to training, my technique seemed a lot better for some reason. One guy actually mentioned to me "Yeah, I don't know how the fuck you can get better without training!"

Same thing happened to me this past christmas break. I took a week or two off for finals, and worked for a week, so about a month I took off. When I went back to training Thursday night, another guy mentioned that somehow I got better over the break.

Ever happened to any of you??
Click to expand...

I think over some time of no training your mind is still "active" in training thus you look inward alot more. Visualize, breakdown technique and in my case I was would watch alot of my brothers wrestling teams matches. When i started heading back to his practices I noticed that my wrestling HAD improved, only my conditioning needed work.
So yeah, I could say where that could happen.
 
Spoonman7 said:
Sometimes if you are training hard a few weeks off allows everything to sink in a little better.
Click to expand...

i agree 100 percent

but also usually the fisrt week or so back youll do really well becuae your so excited to be back and your fresh, and then a week or two later is when you really start over for training.
 
In my school when guys miss a week or so the often come back and need a class to get back to where they were. After missing most of December to heal a bad neck (didn't heal) I expected to suck. However, two of the more experienced guys in my class mentioned I was moving better and that sometimes after a break guys come back better than they were before.

So yeah, I've seen it. On the other hand, I used to have pretty good cardio and I feel like I'm working to regain that now.
 
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