Introduction

Welcome to the Jiu-jitsu Journeyman blog, in the pages of this blog I plan to write about all aspects of BJJ that I have encountered and spent time thinking and conversing about in my past decade of studying the gentle art. I feel there are lots of places that you can search out information on techniques and different moves, but what about all the fibre and fabric in between the positions and submissions that people must deal with daily just to be able to keep turning up to training. I have been coaching for four years now and a lot of the same subjects keep reappearing on and off the mats. The same questions get asked time and time again with an attempt to get answered by the jiu-jitsu collective mind. Some issues and topics that I plan to touch on in this blog include cauliflower ear, Gi vs No Gi, finger pain, training and live rolling with the opposite sex, training with injuries, competition, training schedule, rolling intensity, staph/ ringworm and over all hygiene, gym and training etiquette.

I love to read and the people who know me know that I LOVE to talk, if you asked my wife and daughters, they would roll their eyes and say I have a problem and could talk under water with a mouth full of marbles. So, I thought why not just start to write everything down, even just for my own amusement and just maybe some fellow practitioners can gain some useful bits and pieces from my own lived experience on my own journey up to brown belt so far. I am by no means claiming to be an expert or authority in this space, but I feel I am still deep in the path of jiu-jitsu and some subjects I have dealt with in the past are still fresh in my mind. I’m also certain new issues and problems are going to continue to arise on my pursuit of being the best BJJ coach and practitioner I can be whilst having a full-time job, a family I love and even a life outside of jiu-jitsu.

Enjoy the journey

Cheers James Rowlinson