Waking up early, going to bed late, working every moment I was awake. That was my routine in Pelotas.
In another video of our Talk series, I share a bit about how crazy my life was in Pelotas and what my new routine in Florianópolis looks like.
Read the article and don't forget to watch the video too, for a shorter version.
Talk - A change of routine
Routine
People who aren't fully involved may not know that the routine of an athlete and instructor is quite complex and very draining.
My life in Pelotas meant waking up at 6 a.m. to teach the first class of the day at 7, and then I had a few more slots throughout the day with private lessons and group classes. Obviously I didn't teach all day long, and there were some breaks. I used those breaks to train and to work on other IT-related projects.
If you think that routine ended in the late afternoon, think again. Classes ran until 9 p.m. (sometimes until 10:30 p.m.), and after they finished, by the time everyone got ready and left, more than an hour had gone by.
Then it was time to go home, shower, have dinner and sleep, because the next day it all started over again.
Administration
To add a few more daily tasks, in my case I always had my own academy, and that took up a lot of time as well. Managing absolutely everything that happens inside an academy also takes a lot of time, especially because it wasn't only Jiu-Jitsu: we had classes in other martial arts too.
For a few years my father helped me run it, and that really gave me peace of mind and a bit more free time. However, after he unfortunately passed away suddenly, on top of the shock it was, above all for me but also for everyone who saw him every day at the academy, I had to get up to speed on everything and take over the administration again.
Weekends
On Saturdays I taught in the morning at a social project, and we also had a training session set for the competitors who liked to train harder.
If there was no competition, Sunday was my rest day. But if we had a competition, I already had to go to bed early on Saturday to travel overnight to the event.
Competitions
Anyone who has been my student and has seen me at events knows how dedicated I am to my students. I really don't stop for a second at an event, and I spend the whole day running from one side to the other to help each of my students who are about to compete.
I never did it out of obligation. It was always because that's really who I am: I give 100% to the things I do, and as long as one of my students was competing, I'd be fighting right there with them, in the good sense.
Distance to events
Jiu-Jitsu events in Rio Grande do Sul usually take place from Porto Alegre northward, which means that anyone living in Pelotas has to travel 3 hours to reach the state capital and, after a full day of competition, drive another 3 hours back.
Burnout
On top of all that, I also had to manage the team itself: putting together lesson plans, promotions, trips to events, helping with registrations, promoting... Hold on a second, let me catch my breath, I got tired just remembering it. Jokes aside, I always liked, and still really like, all of this Jiu-Jitsu work and routine, but it was twelve years of intense dedication and it wore me out.
I was 100% focused on work throughout that whole period and couldn't enjoy my life and my family. Even though I sometimes took a week of vacation to rest, it was no longer enough, and I needed to find quality of life in my day-to-day.
Routine in Florianópolis
Here I haven't started teaching yet and I have more free time, but that's only because the pandemic still hasn't let up. Soon, and I hope it's as soon as possible, this pandemic will end and I'll be able to start teaching here as well.
These days I go to the beach early in the morning to walk, run and train Jiu-Jitsu with some students who now also live here, and then I head home to work as a programmer. If you haven't seen the article Talk - What are the plans for Top Brother Florianópolis?, check it out, because there I mention that I also work as a programmer.
After work, I still go to the beach in the late afternoon to drink some chimarrão, I go to the gym to lift weights, and I'm able to enjoy my life.
Questions
So, do you also have a hectic routine every day?
In the next video of our Talk series I'll talk about what you can expect from Top Brother Florianópolis. Stay tuned, you won't want to miss it.
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