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This terrific podcast interview with Rickson Gracie is revealing. He speaks of his life philosophy that stems from his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu career. At one point in the podcast, he expounded on the meaning of “getting comfortable with hell.” In short, Rickson’s training philosophy centred on putting himself in difficult positions and working his way out of them. In other words, he prefers training this way instead of training his favourite techniques. As a result, he knew how to get out of any potentially compromising position.

“Getting comfortable with hell” often describes training programs in the Navy Seals, law schools, and medical residencies.

Attending law school in the late 1980s introduced me to “getting comfortable with hell.” The readers of this blog know that I was born deaf. While I did have a crude version of an FM transmitter and receiver (connected to my hearing aids) to enhance my law professor’s comprehension, it did not help with classroom discussions. The problem was that the discussions often bounced around the room. I knew that I was losing the legal nuances that were being discussed. To address this issue, I sought out the best note-takers in class. Often, that was not much help.

To compensate for this deficiency, I read extra case law related to the one discussed in class. As it turns out, my inability to keep track of the classroom discussions was a blessing in disguise. Reading extra case law made me more prepared for law school exams than most of my classmates. This was the way out of hell!

I’ve applied the same philosophy to Modern Arnis and enjoyed pressure testing techniques with my students. I can’t wait until this pandemic ends so that we can get back to live training! Back to Rickson’s training philosophy—he’s on to something there. You will not grow as a martial artist if you don’t get out of your comfort zone. Do you like training your favourite techniques? Great—you’ll stagnate!

On the other hand, if you’re the type to tape something over one goggle eye to inhibit your vision and train under those conditions, you WILL grow! Try it!

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