The Price

For almost everyone grappling is a hobby. On the other hand, people want to be really good really fast, or even some want to make it a career. I'm not saying that you can't do it, but you have to be willing to make sacrifices, and that's what makes it hard. I'll speak for myself and the people around me that have gotten to the point of a grappling livelihood. Since 2009, I've trained 4-6 times a week with very few breaks. This is a bare minimum training schedule for getting mediocre at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If I was training an hour or hour and a half a day, I was still getting in roughly a third of the training for today's elite grapplers. Spending nine hours a week on a hobby is not something most people do, however that's actually where results become apparent more quickly. If you have a life or want to have a life, but you also want rapid results in your training, sacrifices have to be made. You can't take breaks. If you're injured, you get on the mat and do what you can. You may not get to eat what you want, take a trip you want to take, or do any other number of things that make you feel whole. It makes sense if you have other responsibilities and needs in your life, but you also have to measure the progress you want to make in anything by the effort you're willing to put in. If the cost of what you want is too high, you can either figure out how to put the resources together, or you can make do with the resources you have.