As we ended the last round of sparring in one noon class late July, George, a

middle-aged big strong dude, asked: "Hurrying back to work?" It took me a moment

before answering sheepishly "I don't have a job to go to at the moment." "Great!

Me neither." He smiled widely and indeed seemed to think it was a good thing.

I didn't want to be identified with or be attached to a sport, or anything for

that matter, just like I didn't push in running or weight-lifting. I still jog

and swing kettlebells, but as far as the extreme goes, I know when to stop.

The first week, I missed jiu-jitsu the most. I thought if I wanted to come back

to the sport, I'd better do something related everyday. But except for the 10min

morning routine, I did absolutely nothing. Starting the second week, it felt

good to jog. I ran about 30min twice a week, walked after meals, rode the bike

to commute, and hiked on Saturdays. Those were all the physical exercises I had.

As much as I missed the mat, running felt more liberating. It took no time to

just slip into a pair of sandals and slip away. 30 minutes of easy jogging gave

me a good sweat. I didn't have to worry about my denture falling or my flaking

feet being an eyesore. In less than one hour, I would also have washed myself

and running clothes and footwear. The whole thing over, I would return to my

desk to do what I loved to do: reading and writing. Murakami could have been

doing this most of his life.

I wanted to cut cost but knew I shouldn't cut BJJ. I also wanted to save time

but the dojos in Mountain View were all much more expensive, because of the rent,

no doubt.

The last week was the hardest. A lot was going on. Master Jean-Jacques did a

seminar the previous Saturday, and four of my team mates were promoted to black

belts, three to brown, and two to purple belts. Some of them were competing at

World Masters in Las Vegas this weekend. I felt very much left out.

Aug 9, a Henry Akins video ran to the end and youtube followed up with

"Jiu Jitsu Saved My Life but Destroyed My Body" by Dorian Develops

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAHPG66H000

and here is a comment:

    42y old black belt here (18y of bjj experience) - The amount of injuries in

    this comment section is worrying. The only two things I got was a little

    knee injury and some minor problems with my neck, due to tapping too late

    when I was younger. I still compete in adult divisions of Grappling

    Industries and local ADCC shows. Longest breake was about 1.5 months. The

    key to longetivity in my experience is:

    - Find training partners you can absolutely trust. Take care of them, they

      will take care of you

    - Focus on flow rolling and only do a couple of hard rounds

    - Never overdo it. I never trained more than max 4 times a week bjj

    - Do supporting sports. I swim one time a week and do some weighttraining on

      the side for example. This will help you hold your body together

    - In all your activities, try to avoid constantly pushing your limits if you

      are getting older. I personally stop when I feel I still got one more

      round, one more lap, one more rep left in me. This way, you stay safe and

      look forward to the next day. Furthermore, you get home in one piece and

      still enjoy the rest of your day, without feeling completely destroyed.

    - EDIT: I forgot one important factor: luck

All sound advices.

Around 2:30pm on Aug 31, as I was stuck north-bound on 101 in a traffic jam,

someone called my name. I looked up to the left and saw an OTIS truck and big

Steve was behind the wheel: "Are you on your way to train?"

He said it as if he had just rolled with me yesterday. It was obviously a joke

as the gym was closed until 6:30pm. I felt this was more than an incident,

however. "No. But I'll see you tomorrow!"

Sep 1. I weighed 151.2 lbs and was back on the mat.