2020 Martial Arts Year in Review

 

2020 was not the best year for anyone, let alone for those practicing martial arts. Nevertheless, I've been summarizing my martial arts activities each year since my return in January 2016, so why stop now?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

I started 2020 as a fairly new blue belt, having tested at One Spirit Martial Arts (OSMA) in October 2019. I had 35 classes during the remainder of 2019 at that rank.

I wrote in my 2019 Martial Arts Year in Review that "my goal is 17 classes per month, which is 204 classes per year. I expect that will translate into about 20 hours of class time per month, or 240 hours of class time per year."

Before Covid-19 became a serious problem in my area, I participated in 40 BJJ classes at OSMA, with my final class occurring 11 March 2020. That was 40 classes in 70 days, and perhaps it was a bit too much. I hurt my back a few times during that period, including the last class on 11 March. Although my school continued teaching for a bit more, took a break, and then basically resumed classes, I have not returned. I have a compromised immune system due to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). That means when my BJJ training partners aren't attacking my joints, my body's own immune system is trying to do the same. I must get a vaccine before returning to training.

Yoga

I continued my yoga practice at East Meets West Yoga for half of 2020. I trained in person until Covid-19 hit, and then I continued via Zoom. I halted practice in mid-July. I had injured my left arm and shoulder a few weeks prior, and yoga was not helping. All told, I participated in 33 yoga classes in 2020.

Other Exercise

Once I hurt my shoulder, I had to adopt another form of exercise. Earlier in the year I had started walking with my wife, so I decided to make sure that I walked every day. From 4 July through 4 December I walked every day. I took a week off after 4 December to let a sore knee heal, then resumed my daily walks.

Other Training

Like many of you, I have a massive collection of martial art instructional videos. I decided to end the year by watching one volume per day for several weeks. Over this time I watched videos produced by Stephan Kesting, including his Roadmap to BJJ, the BJJ Formula, the Single Leg X (abbreviated edition), Modern (Inverted) Jiu-Jitsu (which I skipped through, except for the defenses), and How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent in No Gi.

Other Martial Arts Activities

Because my physical activity was constrained in 2020, I had extra time to devote to non-physical martial arts activities.

First, on 21 January 2020, I launched Martial History Team. This project promotes martial arts history based on sound evidence and sourced research. I post content daily to the project Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. The daily content contains the #martialartsmailcall tag, where I profile books that I plan to read for MHT research. As of the time of writing there are 255 posts on IG with that hashtag.

I write book reviews which have appeared at Martial Journal, but going forward, to the extent I continue writing reviews, I will publish them myself. I also periodically write research posts, such as my Miyamoto Musashi Book Survey. I wrote 54 blog posts for the project in 2020.

Second, I spent time on my Martial History Team sub-project (which actually pre-dates MHT), titled Sourcing Bruce Lee. I use the #sourcingbrucelee tag for these entries. As of the time of writing, there are 15 posts on IG with that hashtag.This project answers questions like Where Did Bruce Lee Get the Idea for the "Fighting Without Fighting" Scene in Enter the Dragon? I wrote 14 blog posts for the project in 2020.

Third, I wrote 9 posts for this blog, Martial Vitality. This site was initially independent of my older martial arts blog, but I consolidated all material on my personal journey using this account. I also post content daily to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The daily content uses the #martialartstechniqueoftheday tag. As of the time of writing, there are 150 posts on IG with that hashtag.

Looking Forward

My martial arts goals for 2021 include the following:

1. Return to training. This will require a) getting vaccinated and b) seeking professional medical help with my left arm. I may not be back until the middle of the year, since I may need surgery and physical therapy. Also, earlier this year, professor Pedro Sauer moved from my home academy (OSMA), and sold the business to one of his black belts, David Porter. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens at OSMA as a result of this change.

2. Watch all of my martial arts instructional videos. On 1 January I'm starting my "90 days with John Danaher" project. I plan to watch all of the Go Further, Faster and Feet-to-Floor videos that I purchased during the black Friday sales last month. I'm looking forward to a third (and final?) Feet-to-Floor volume, and a possible Pedro Sauer title for BJJ Fanatics?

3. Continue Martial History Team and Martial Vitality social media and research. Beyond daily posts, for MHT I have a research program planned for each month. The January project involves famous Japanese texts of the Edo and Meiji eras. Basically I continue to read books on martial arts history and (some) practice, and provide research recommendations for interested parties.

4. Learn judo technique names. I watch a lot of judo videos, but I do not practice the standing variety. (I practice the ground version, which is Basically Just Judo.) I plan to learn the Japanese names for the core techniques, which is called the Gokyo-no-waza and includes 68 Nage-waza (throwing techniques) and 32 Katame-waza (grappling techniques).

Conclusion

What are your goals for 2021? Let me know on Twitter where I post as @martialvitality, or respond to the post on Facebook or Instagram.