Training BJJ While Sick
You wake up in the morning with a tickle in the back of your throat. You’re a little congested and you have a slight headache.
What’s going on here?
Maybe it’s allergies. Perhaps you slept with your mouth wide open and you’re a little dehydrated. Who knows.
Jiu Jitsu... I can't miss class...
You go about your day and things don’t get any better. You took some allergy medication, drank plenty of water, and even took a nap. But, nothing seemed to help.
This will probably fix it.
BJJ class is tonight and it’s all you’re thinking about. There’s no way you’re letting a stupid little cold stop you from training – you’re tougher than that. You can’t let little setbacks like this stop you from training, can you?
The scenario above is something many of us go through. We get a cold (or worse) and we imagine ourselves toughing it out through training because we don’t want to miss any training. That’s dedication, right?
More...
No.
Training BJJ while sick should be viewed as a very selfish act. It’s also disrespectful. Allow me to explain.
A selfish act
When someone shows up to class sick, they’re only thinking about one person – themselves. It doesn’t matter if you’re ready to “tough it out” and train while you’re under the weather. You are exposing your teammates to a bug simply because you want to train. Would you still train if you had to ask everyone at class if they consent to training with you while your sick? Do you think everyone would volunteer for that? That’s what makes this such a selfish act. It only benefits one person to the detriment of everyone else. This is not only selfish, it’s very disrespectful.
An act of disrespect
Intentionally exposing someone to an illness is plain disrespectful.
Why? Well, infecting someone with a sickness isn’t much different than intentionally injuring someone with a submission. It shows a total lack of respect for that person’s well-being.
This isn’t how we treat our training partners. We need to guard our training partners’ health as much or more than our own. There is no grappling without training partners – so take care of each other.
All the information and views above are fairly intuitive. Deep down, each of us knows we shouldn’t train while sick.
So, why does this need to be written?
We all need a reminder to do the right thing. I’m writing this article with a cold. Last night a student came to class, shook my hand when they entered the mat and then joined in the class. He came up to me half way through class and told me he was sick and probably shouldn’t be training…
I wonder what techniques they're drilling right now...
He did the right thing, but he did it at the wrong time. He should have told me through a text or email, from the comfort of his home, that he was ill and couldn’t come train. Instead, I’m sick and can’t train or instruct and so are other people that were in that class. This isn’t even factoring in our family members that will also get sick now.
So, my friends, stay home if you’re ill. BJJ will be there for you when you are healthy again.