I grew up in small-town PA. There were plenty of woods around my house and they were always a favorite get-a-away for me and my friends. We spent hours playing in the woods behind my house and one of our favorite things to do was to make a mess with an old water pump that was on my neighbor's property.

Every Spring we would sneak down to this old pump and try to make a huge puddle of mud. But we had one issue...there was always a ton of junk in the line...leaves, mud, stink and skunk piss.

So we had to churn.

Churning is the art of producing garbage.

We had to literally pump out the garbage before we could get to the cool, clear pure spring water that we were searching for.

And one day while I was down on myself about my Jiu-Jitsu skills and practice I started thinking about those days and then it hit me.

Our bodies and our Jiu-Jitsu can be just like that old water pump (I wonder if it's still there.)

We literally have to crank our levers up and down and churn out the garbage before we see the quality of movement that we're searching for. And sadly, sometimes that garbage has been sitting in those pipes for a very long time. It's brown, it's rusty and smells horrible.

But, the solutions isn't to stop pumping. The solution is to pump more. You have to keep going. I have to keep going.

Eventually the bad movement will be pushed out of your system and you can hit the clean pure water (Jiu-Jitsu) hidden below. Churn out enough garbage and you can start to create beautiful movements and Jiu-Jitsu.

Just accept the fact that churning is a process. Something you will revisit every training session perhaps or maybe not so often. In that case you're lucky. Just don't let it get you down...the pure waters are on their way.