The title has hooked you in, right? Well, this quarantine thing forced upon many of us around the world right now affects each one of us differently.

The effect depends on our occupation, where we live, and many other factors.

I, for example, do not have to go to work during the quarantine.

I work in the security industry. My job’s main responsibility is my physical presence and mental awareness. I don’t have to do any office-style work.

My main obligation nowadays is to make some quick runs to the grocery and prepare meals for my two sons and I who are living with me right now.

This situation, as you may  have guessed by now, leaves me with quite a lot of free time. And this will last for at least as long as this public health crisis will. Sounds awesome, huh?

Not quite. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu dojo where I trained 3 or 4 times a week before all this craziness started has suspended training indefinitely.

(Grappling with an opponent both bathed in sweat  – and the eventual involuntary blood and spit – doesn’t seem to fit in any pandemic safety protocol, aye?)

So what now?

If you thought that going to the dojo required a lot of will power…

That’s right.

We’ve all experienced it.

There are those days when gathering enough willpower to get our behinds to the dojo or the gym is in itself a struggle.

But, the moment that first foot steps out the door of our house we have begun the process. We are in the zone.

We will have our gym buddies there to motivate us through the good old friendly competition.
And, needless to say,  our sensei (or mestre or instructor) will make a point to let us know that we are not there to slack.

But what if there’s no Dojo or Gym to go to?

How long will this crisis last? Two more weeks? Well, I really don’t have the slightest idea, that’s really is not my area of expertise.

But let’s suppose that it is two more weeks… Could be much more. Much more.

What on earth are we going to do?

And that’s when the toughest opponent of our lives gets in the picture…

Enter the Arch-rival

This is it.

If you were Rocky this would be your Ivan Drago moment.

If you were Bruce Lee this would be your Chuck Norris moment.

If you were… Well, you get the analogy.

And who happens to be the dreaded arch-rival I’m talking about?

That’s right my friend. You guessed it correctly: it’s none other than you. 

Because if you want to keep up with your training or at least minimize the diminishing effect that this hiatus might have on your evolution as martial artist, it won’t be enough to do your push-ups and squats or the other bodyweight exercises you can do at home.

You will have to get in front of the mirror and do the discipline-specific stuff.

I mean the intense rounds of shadow boxing and the kicking in place if you are into striking.

I mean the shrimping or different mount spinning drills if you are into grappling. (Or both if you are into mixing it up!)

And that dear reader makes for a lot of “you against you.”

That takes a lot of mental strength.

And, mental strength is a great friend you always want to have by your side on this exciting journey that is the practice of the fighting arts.

Final words

Well, I’m sure nothing of what I’ve written here will come off to you as a big discovery.

I mean, if you are serious about martial arts and you are one of us guys and gals that after a day at our full-time job can still muster the energy to go to training, chances are you understand me.

If you are one of us, martial artists with with full-time jobs, you also know that all this solo training epiphany is easier said than done.

That’s why I’d like to think that by reading this article, I can become the little push that you need to stop checking Instagram on your cellphone…

And, I become that little voice inside your head that interrupts the series marathon you are streaming on Netflix…

… and you start getting stuff done.

Contributed by Pablo Petroselli.