how much time out of the week do you spend training and away from the kids?
here's the scenario: dream instructor (think rickson, mendes bros, cobrinha, marcelo, etc.) is 30-40 minutes away. avg instructor (legit but not elite) is 10 minutes away. do you spend the extra 40-60 minutes commuting (to and fro) to the dream school or shoudl you spend the extra hr with your family?
of course, i want to spend as much time with the family as possible. at the same time, however, i feel like i'd be missing out on the chance to train with one of my favorite grapplers. i'd hate to look back and think that i could've trained with so and so but didn't because it was 20 minutes further. it's a tough decision for me.
Unless you have goals and dreams to be a Mundial BB champ and make a career out of BJJ, the extra time with your family is more important.
I'm lucky that my club offers early morning classes 3 times a week. I can train while my family is sleeping. Tue,Wed,Thu 7am-9am.
Train with the best guy but swing by the other place for open mat. :-)
How old are your kids? Get them training, that way your taking them to an activity at the same time your doing yours.
i have a 30 minute commute to my gym that i'm able to make 1-3x a week. there is one gym that is 3 minutes from my house and another that's about 10 minutes away, but i wouldn't give up the quality of instruction i'm receiving just to cut my driving time down.
My oldest (6) is also my student, my youngest (3) is there 3 days a week while her sister trains. Generally their mom picks them up after class and I stay and train. My girls feel very at home in our academy and I take them with me from time to time when I go visit other places I know to be kid friendly. In fact we are heading down to visit a friend on weed for his am class this week.
I know im lucky to be able to do this.. but to answer your question I spend about 8-10 hours a week training without them.. My family lives the BJJ lifestyle, although my mrs does not actively train she "gets it" My girls know when Im headed to a tournament, they reminded me I need to double medal so I win one for each of them.. best part is when a sport BJJ match breaks out between my daughters in the living room..
I'd go to the closer school.
ohh yeah and Id go tot the closer school as well..
I'm going to the closer school but get a private from the elite black belt 40 mins away once a month. I'm about to start teaching a youth grappling class so my 9 year old can come. Last year we did judo together at a local rec center.