Wrestling with the Uncomfortable

One of the things I tell new students early: BJJ will make you uncomfortable. That’s not a warning. It’s the whole point.

Discomfort is the mechanism. Not the obstacle — the actual vehicle for change. That’s true on the mats and everywhere else.

What the mat teaches specifically is how to remain functional under physical and psychological pressure. When someone has positional control over you — when you’re in a bad spot, tired, running out of ideas — the untrained response is panic or freeze. Neither is useful.

The trained response is to stay present, manage the immediate threat, and keep problem-solving. That doesn’t come from reading about it. It comes from being in that situation repeatedly, under controlled conditions, with a partner who isn’t trying to hurt you.

This is why I think BJJ has unusual value for people in high-pressure professional lives. The transfer is real. The ability to stay calm and methodical when things are going wrong — when the plan isn’t working and you’re under pressure and you need to adapt — that’s something you can build on the mat and use everywhere else.

The discomfort is the training. Don’t optimise it away.

— Vince

Vince Choo

BJJ 3rd-Degree Black Belt · 5th Dan Karate · Coaching since 1993 · VCBJJ Bangsar, KL