Skip to main content

About Me

My photo
my many faces
My name is Romeo Barnes. I'm an author and a BJJ black belt with cerebral palsy. This blog is about my life balancing existence in two worlds. My latest book, My World is now available Amazon.com. Glad you're here, enjoy the journey.

Breaks

Lots of us couldn't imagine life without training and would train every day if we could. We'd compete every weekend there was a tournament and travel to all IBJJF regional opens, so we could be ready to compete in the Big 4 when they arrive. Are there guys that do that? Yes. However, most of us can't. And even those that do that, go about the process in a very calculated manner. This to make sure they reach their optimum performance level also known as peak at the perfect time for the event with as minimal burnout as possible, of course no burnout is the preferred result. This involves the athlete doing nothing related to their sport 24 hours prior. This is because we don't actually get stronger while training we get stronger by resting after an intense workout, muscle fibers thicken as they repair themselves. Therefore, they get bigger and us by default stronger. It is rest and recovery that makes us stronger not the act exercise itself. This is also true for the learning process as we can't learn why or how while doing something. Why and how are what "learn" whereas "muscle memory" is something our brains create due to the creation of new neuropathways made by repeating the same activity. It very similar to walking. Our brains walk to the couch and we just do it because our brain already knows how.

What does this have to with taking breaks?

As I said recovery is how our muscles get stronger. The same is true for the maturity of neuropathways. I take a break whenever I am writing a. book they are generally very long, 3-5 months depending on book length and subject. In the case of novels I take a break when it is ready for the publishing process to be completed. It is sometimes longer than the previously stated 3-5 months as publishing itself is very demanding. It's for this reason that I train during the writing process for novels. It allows me to come back with a clean slate almost as a white belt. There is a saying you never learn something until you teach it. That forces you explain how something works and why that is so. This requires a full maturity of the neuropathway involved with whatever the skill is and the fastest and most effective ways to develop those is rest.

So enjoy your breaks not only will they heal your body but the reflection will make things much clearer than they are.

Until next time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Physical Therapy sucks

Years ago, maybe 2010 I don't actually remember, I posted a short post here called "Why." That post was about why I prefer to fight able-bodied opponents as opposed to fighting opponents with disabilities. To sum the post up, I do it to prove a point. In that post I mentioned that Physical Therapy(which will be referenced as PT for this post) sucks. This post will explain why. Let me preface by saying PT isn't bad and is in fact a necessary medical service as it's great for pre-surgery, post-surgery, and injury situations. That doesn't change the fact that PT is grossly misused. That's because PTs attempt to make your body work "normally"; what they should do is enhance the way your body already functions. Let's assume you're a cerebral palsy patient who has never walked on your own power and you use a wheelchair for mobility. Instead of putting you in a walker or on crutches and "going walking" around the room. They should p...

top vs. bottom

This is post that has been in my head since Georgette blogged her time at the Pan back in April over at her blog georgette's world . I don't quite remember the name of the post(just search her April posts) but in it she stated that sweep+submissions is better than takedown+pass therefore she implied unintentionally or not that playing the bottom is better than playing the top. Her reasoning being there are more options on the bottom which is completely true but thats only because you can transition to a different guard should the one you're using currently not be working not because the top player doesn't have submissions. Therefore, I must disagree with her statement. Firstly, if you pull guard and I knee-cut/step over into your half and flatten I get an advantage meaning all I have to do is stay there until time is up and I win. All leglocks can come from the top and in fact do especially the ankle lock. The toe hold and Heel Hook are the most common leg attacks from ...

American Nationals

Normally, Nationals(excluding Brazilian Nationals, because it's part of the grand slam) events never matter. However, the IBJJF has taken the right steps towards making the Regional and National tournaments matter with the new point system introduced after this year's World Championship event. I'm not going to talk about results here, just know that you now have another reason to watch American Nationals and tournaments like it. Not only are these the tournaments where the next generation truly shines, but it's also where they earn their spot in the biggest tournament of the year.