John Danaher student Brian Glick explains how he trains every day past 50, even with injuries
A black belt who came up in Danaher's group, he says he learned from his coach to get on the mat daily, but without needing to train hard every day.
Brian Glick, a black belt and longtime student of John Danaher, explained in an interview picked up in recent days by specialist websites how he keeps training every day past 50, even while carrying the wear and tear of nearly 25 years of jiu-jitsu.
The marks of time
Glick listed the problems he has piled up along the way. The oldest is a meniscus injury suffered about 18 years ago, on the same day he received his purple belt. According to him, the knee healed and is fine, but the injury "is still there." He also mentioned arthritis and his shoulders, which today cannot reach some ranges of motion in certain positions.
Danaher's advice
Even so, he does not stop when some pain shows up. Glick credits this to guidance from Danaher: you have to train every day, but you do not have to train hard every day. What matters, he says, is being on the mat doing something.
His coach also changed the way he sees injuries. Instead of treating them as a sign that something was done wrong, Glick came to see them as an expected part of the path to black belt.
Grateful to keep going
Glick also said he feels grateful to still be training, especially when he remembers former training partners who quit and never found out how far they could have gone. "I'd rather be me with this than them without," he summed up.
