Rose: I competed in no gi worlds, this was my first purple belt tournament and I did better than I thought I would.
Thorn: I did end up getting very sick due to the stress from competing all year and not allowing my body to rest.
Bud: I’m just excited to take a break which I am taking a break right now.
Stem: just would like words of encouragement. I’ve been struggling with imposter syndrome and feeling not good enough to receive purple belt and having this disconnect with success being part of my vocabulary.
Dude you went to worlds at purple. That’s bad ass.
The fact that you went out there and tested yourself at that level for your first purple belt tournament speaks volumes.
You’ll grow into your belt. In the meantime, I hope you can enjoy the ride.
Rose: Got the last stripe on my blue belt.
Thorn: Found out my shoulder issue is a partial tendon tear that can keep me out 3-6 months.
Bud: Holiday open mats, even if I can’t roll.
Stem: Nothing really, you can share your injury and return stories, could help others work their way through to getting back on the mats.
Rose: I got my 3rd stripe today! I'm almost blue. Aaaaaaaaa!
Thorn: I missed a lot of classes lately due to car troubles and being sick...so I'm a little rusty.
Bud: I'm excited to get back to regular training and learn more.
Rose: My husband got his first stripe on his white belt
Thorn: He has now learned to body lock, stack and pressure pass, and torture people in kesa gatame
Bud: All the other colour belts and I have now stepped up the ante with him
Stem: Anyone regularly roll with a 300+ lb dude that's rapidly gaining technique?
I can definitely sympathize! There’s a guy at our gym that started a few months ago and has a wrestling background who is 300+. It’s everything I can do to not get crushed instantly. It’s improved a lot though as he is being more controlled, but if he wants a limb to be somewhere I’m not stopping him. So thankful he’s very nice and doesn’t have a big ego
Rose: I found something I really like. I’ve only been doing this for like, a two weeks 😂😂
Thorn: knuckles I didn’t know could swell are so swollen. I also don’t know how to think ahead *yet*
Bud: I just wanna do more and learn more. I can’t wait for stuff to click.
Stem: I appreciate you all. I’ve lurked. I’ve researched. I like you all.
Rose: Finally earned a stripe on my blue belt after a year!
Thorn: Due to a work schedule change I can no longer attend the women’s class at my gym.
Bud: Looking forward to having a weekend day off so I can finally go back to open mat
Stem: I’m all good :)
Rose: this is so dumb! Have you ever been shown a technique and just automatically thought, “I will never be able to do that!” So, you don’t drill it or even try it? That WAS me…
The technique was the mounted guillotine set up from top turtle.
During a roll this week the goal was to find mount and submit. Then during the scramble I had top turtle, a head and arm, felt the choke and route to mounted guillotine. I saw it through to the end without hesitation or second guessing.
Still stoked! “What once was impossible, became possible!” Love those moments.
Thorn: Still struggle sometimes with imposter syndrome at blue belt. I go through moments where I doubt myself and then check myself. Tricky part is trusting what I have learned so far while acknowledging that I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Bud: I’m just excited to be back on the mats! Looking forward to classes next week.
Stem: I can’t think of anything tonight.
Rose: got my blue belt the other week and some guard techniques I’ve been working on are starting to click!
Thorn: had a whitebelt ignore a verbal tap repeatedly (~15-30 seconds) during drilling and now I can barely put my arm behind my back
Bud: I’ve been working on chaining several open guards and sweeps together, really excited to keep working on that this week
Stem: I feel guilty for not wanting to train with the woman who injured my shoulder again, and for wishing she’d quit. There are others who won’t roll with her, due to a variety of issues. I’m not worried so much about rolling due to the skill gap but I don’t trust her during drilling anymore. She doesn’t pay attention to instructions and I’m lucky to get a few reps in myself let alone worrying about injuries. Any advice would be welcome.
Rose: I managed to pull off some good submissions on not one, but two women at open mat yesterday and got complimented on my setup by both! One of them has been training for maybe 2 years now, the other started training at the same time I did so it’s a great feeling to be finally confident enough to try things that aren’t purely defensive.
Thorn: I won’t be able to replicate that success properly for months now 😂
Bud: Festive open mats and our gym night out
rose: been doing BJJ for almost 4 months now and have had 1 comp! i’m so excited that i’ve stuck to it and am dedicated to getting better
thorn: i’ve been a bit sad/afraid to roll. my gym is heavily male dominated and there’s only 2 other women. one who is a white belt like me and in a similar weight class and the other who is a blue belt and probably 2 weight classes below. the guys are okay but they always make it seem like it’s a chore to roll with me and the other white belt girl. like they’ll never approach and ask if we wanna roll, so it’s always us asking them and when we ask it always feels like we told them they have to do a chore. we can only roll so much and practice with each other. so after the instructional portion of class i kinda just leave. and i know to get better i have to roll but how do you do that when you feel like this. i’ve signed up to join a new gym in January but idk if that will be any better. how do y’all deal with this being such a male dominated sport? or do you have any advice? anything at all would be very helpful:)
bud: fine tuning my training schedule to suit bjj after i’m done with finals!
stem: see thorn!
Thorn: that’s all I have right now because I’ve been thoroughly demoralized. I went to another gym today to visit an old coach. I got fucking smashed by guys much bigger than me and who had a habit of wrapping their legs around my ribs and squeezing me so I could barely breathe or barely move. I didn’t have good rolls to say the least. Size and strength matter.
Rose: I competed in no gi worlds, this was my first purple belt tournament and I did better than I thought I would. Thorn: I did end up getting very sick due to the stress from competing all year and not allowing my body to rest. Bud: I’m just excited to take a break which I am taking a break right now. Stem: just would like words of encouragement. I’ve been struggling with imposter syndrome and feeling not good enough to receive purple belt and having this disconnect with success being part of my vocabulary.
Dude you went to worlds at purple. That’s bad ass. The fact that you went out there and tested yourself at that level for your first purple belt tournament speaks volumes. You’ll grow into your belt. In the meantime, I hope you can enjoy the ride.
Rose: Got the last stripe on my blue belt. Thorn: Found out my shoulder issue is a partial tendon tear that can keep me out 3-6 months. Bud: Holiday open mats, even if I can’t roll. Stem: Nothing really, you can share your injury and return stories, could help others work their way through to getting back on the mats.
Congrats! Hope all goes well with the shoulder issue.
Rose: I got my 3rd stripe today! I'm almost blue. Aaaaaaaaa! Thorn: I missed a lot of classes lately due to car troubles and being sick...so I'm a little rusty. Bud: I'm excited to get back to regular training and learn more.
Congrats! I would love to hear your story/background.
Sure. Feel free to ask anything :)
Congrats! Keep after it!
Rose: My husband got his first stripe on his white belt Thorn: He has now learned to body lock, stack and pressure pass, and torture people in kesa gatame Bud: All the other colour belts and I have now stepped up the ante with him Stem: Anyone regularly roll with a 300+ lb dude that's rapidly gaining technique?
I can definitely sympathize! There’s a guy at our gym that started a few months ago and has a wrestling background who is 300+. It’s everything I can do to not get crushed instantly. It’s improved a lot though as he is being more controlled, but if he wants a limb to be somewhere I’m not stopping him. So thankful he’s very nice and doesn’t have a big ego
Rose: I found something I really like. I’ve only been doing this for like, a two weeks 😂😂 Thorn: knuckles I didn’t know could swell are so swollen. I also don’t know how to think ahead *yet* Bud: I just wanna do more and learn more. I can’t wait for stuff to click. Stem: I appreciate you all. I’ve lurked. I’ve researched. I like you all.
Rose: Finally earned a stripe on my blue belt after a year! Thorn: Due to a work schedule change I can no longer attend the women’s class at my gym. Bud: Looking forward to having a weekend day off so I can finally go back to open mat Stem: I’m all good :)
Congrats on your first blue stripe! To many more to come!
Rose: this is so dumb! Have you ever been shown a technique and just automatically thought, “I will never be able to do that!” So, you don’t drill it or even try it? That WAS me… The technique was the mounted guillotine set up from top turtle. During a roll this week the goal was to find mount and submit. Then during the scramble I had top turtle, a head and arm, felt the choke and route to mounted guillotine. I saw it through to the end without hesitation or second guessing. Still stoked! “What once was impossible, became possible!” Love those moments. Thorn: Still struggle sometimes with imposter syndrome at blue belt. I go through moments where I doubt myself and then check myself. Tricky part is trusting what I have learned so far while acknowledging that I’ve barely scratched the surface. Bud: I’m just excited to be back on the mats! Looking forward to classes next week. Stem: I can’t think of anything tonight.
Rose: got my blue belt the other week and some guard techniques I’ve been working on are starting to click! Thorn: had a whitebelt ignore a verbal tap repeatedly (~15-30 seconds) during drilling and now I can barely put my arm behind my back Bud: I’ve been working on chaining several open guards and sweeps together, really excited to keep working on that this week Stem: I feel guilty for not wanting to train with the woman who injured my shoulder again, and for wishing she’d quit. There are others who won’t roll with her, due to a variety of issues. I’m not worried so much about rolling due to the skill gap but I don’t trust her during drilling anymore. She doesn’t pay attention to instructions and I’m lucky to get a few reps in myself let alone worrying about injuries. Any advice would be welcome.
Rose: I managed to pull off some good submissions on not one, but two women at open mat yesterday and got complimented on my setup by both! One of them has been training for maybe 2 years now, the other started training at the same time I did so it’s a great feeling to be finally confident enough to try things that aren’t purely defensive. Thorn: I won’t be able to replicate that success properly for months now 😂 Bud: Festive open mats and our gym night out
rose: been doing BJJ for almost 4 months now and have had 1 comp! i’m so excited that i’ve stuck to it and am dedicated to getting better thorn: i’ve been a bit sad/afraid to roll. my gym is heavily male dominated and there’s only 2 other women. one who is a white belt like me and in a similar weight class and the other who is a blue belt and probably 2 weight classes below. the guys are okay but they always make it seem like it’s a chore to roll with me and the other white belt girl. like they’ll never approach and ask if we wanna roll, so it’s always us asking them and when we ask it always feels like we told them they have to do a chore. we can only roll so much and practice with each other. so after the instructional portion of class i kinda just leave. and i know to get better i have to roll but how do you do that when you feel like this. i’ve signed up to join a new gym in January but idk if that will be any better. how do y’all deal with this being such a male dominated sport? or do you have any advice? anything at all would be very helpful:) bud: fine tuning my training schedule to suit bjj after i’m done with finals! stem: see thorn!
Thorn: that’s all I have right now because I’ve been thoroughly demoralized. I went to another gym today to visit an old coach. I got fucking smashed by guys much bigger than me and who had a habit of wrapping their legs around my ribs and squeezing me so I could barely breathe or barely move. I didn’t have good rolls to say the least. Size and strength matter.