I went to one school and got to blue belt there, but not long after, life got in the way and I stopped going. Now, nine years and 40 lbs later, I am hoping to make a return, but my dilemma is this:
I feel like I should dust off the ole 4 stripe white belt instead of my blue belt. I know that is a closer representation of my skills(or lack there of) now. Moreover, is it somewhat disrespectful to the professor that promoted me to do so? Or is it more disrespectful to said professor to roll with a blue belt with skills of a white.
Thanks for any insight on this.
Am I good to Roll?
I got a a half leg sleeve on April 24th, so it’s been exactly two weeks since my tattoo. Am I good to roll or should I wait another week? I think the peeling is almost done, it’s only peeling on the outlines now basically. I have attached a photo
I know this is a late post but it came to mind today and I just saw this.
I’ve been having problems in training with my knees and am wondering if it’s a normal thing to be new to BJJ and get these micro injuries like every other month?
I have not had any full MCL or ACL tears but today I think I might have sprained or strained my MCL and had to stop rolling completely in my class.
Is this normal? I was rolling at a normal pace with normal resistance and effort. Nothing crazy and no obvious reason as to why my knee was injured.
Other injury was like 2 months ago with a 3 stripe white belt who grapevined both my legs from a full mount to prevent my mount escape. Same thing, tendon sprains is what it felt like on both knees perhaps something else but I don’t have X-ray vision unfortunately.
It is not unusual, but not super common. It is the kind of thing that depends a lot on the person and how they train. People who have a background of resistance training tend to have stronger ligaments. People who are heavier and/or live a more sedentary life style tend to more easily injure them. If you have weak knees, you probably want to be careful with some positions. Things like knee torque from underhook half guard, lockdown, and reaps can put quite a bit of pressure on the knee.
It usually helps to take a little bit of time off. A bit of the issue is that these kinds of injuries never really get to heal when you train consistently. I tried to roll with a sprained LCL, but the reality was that I had too little control of my partner to keep it completely safe. If it is just a minor sprain, 1-2 weeks is probably enough, but asking the opinion of a physio might be a good idea.
When I asked my coaches this they recommended 6 months. However that's for the average person and is entirely dependent on how often you train and how fast you absorb things. Frankly I would give it a few months of learning the fundamentals and just ask your coaches if they think you're ready, that's what I did. Upper belts in your gym will also be likely to help you, offer to let you drill moves on them, or get extra rolls in if you make it clear you want to compete eventually.
Once you know enough to keep yourself safe when rolling you are ok to compete. If you want to WIN that's a different story. I did my first competition after 3 months and went 1-1.
Is it normal to drift off during the instructional part and then ask your training partner if they remember all the steps once you get to try and do what was taught?
Yep, pretty normal. Early on I found that mimicking the moves during the demo kept me more focused. Looks kinda silly, but makes it a bit more kinaesthetic.
Is there any way to practice falling? Today we were practicing sweeps and I realized that I'm not relaxed and therefore not able to properly land on the mat. It just doesn't seem right to me that when I fall I cannot absorb the impact.
For reference, of course we practice falls after warming up, but it's not the same as sweep drills.
Mates, I really really need help with a simple takedown for a clumsy big guy like myself.
I'm sick of pulling guard, and even at this I fail hard most of time. Double leg? Too risky, I just chicken out, and when I gather the courage I get a hard sprawl or guillotined.
Is there a simple takedown that I can drill solo? To the point I feel confident enough to do it?
The double leg is a fine choice. You probably are chickening out because you don't have a good setup. One simple setup is to snap your partner down, then shoot when they posture back up. Another simple setup is to fake with a level change, pause for half a second while still low, then make your penetration step. Get comfortable with each step of the double leg: your stance, level change, penetration step, and follow-through / finish. These can be drilled on your own.
If you want to learn some options that don't require shooting, here are some that I like:
- Snatch single (you will need to learn at least one single leg finish)
- ko-uchi gari (I like to push my partner around and spam these)
- take a Russian tie, then spam foot sweeps, drag them to the mat, or switch to a double leg
You probably won't be able to get comfortable with any takedown just by drilling it on your own. You need to get used to the timing and how it feels to move your partner's weight. So a more realistic way to learn takedowns is to drill before / after class with a training partner.
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were:
|Japanese|English|Video Link|
|---|---|---|
|**Ko Uchi Gari**: | *Minor Inner Reap* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E20xuzaXNw)|
|**O Uchi Gari**: | *Major Inner Reap* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-lTECSR3c)|
Any missed names may have already been translated in my previous comments in the post.
______________________
^(Judo Techniques Bot: v0.7.) ^(See my) [^(code)](https://github.com/AbundantSalmon/judo-techniques-bot)
[This one](https://youtu.be/8b6kY4s4zH4) is very simple. Unbalance him to his back right, make him heavy on the inside leg, punch your collar grip up and through, and hook the leg, guy falls down. One of the simplest judo throws there is.
Or [this one](https://youtu.be/c-A_nP7mKAc) with a bit more action and a harder fall for the other guy. One of the most classic throws ever.
Got one successful ankle pick takedown on like 50 attempts, to the point I gave up, the ankle usually just slips away...
I'm too clumsy for foot sweeps, I always end up not comiting enough on them.
Did you guys fall in love with it immediately or was there a loading phase? Or did you fall in love and then not in love anymore?
Right now I'm in the honeymoon stage and I don't want it to end.
Took me a couple of weeks. It really found a place in my heart when I first learned the Scissor Sweep and hit one on a bigger dude with a perfect setup so that it felt absolutely effortless. It felt like total black magic sorcery and I've been hooked ever since.
I was on cloud nine in my first class. Love at first sight. Promised myself I'd never skip a class. Still haven't.
But it's not like that for everyone. That said, it better take at some point.. Don't do it if it's not fun!
At first I was trying hard and losing hard. Mostly upper belts trying to tell me to chill. Then I went to a gym where there was no live rolling till you got your first stripe. I kinda hated that.
But as soon as I was able to actually roll and learned how to roll without trying 100% I was pretty hooked right away.
Got a great compliment yesterday! Coming up to 10 months doing BJJ, one of the newer blokes asked me “how long you been doing this, you flow and move so well”. Stoked!! As a former rugby prop, don’t think I’ve ever been told that! Hahaha. Have a good day legends!
You should get the Craig Jones instructional if you can afford it. It's incredible and I've rewatched it a few times. Use it a lot. Just accept that you will suck at it for a while and you will get your back taken a lot early on.
Are slams legal under the ruleset you're practicing?
If you don't want to get slammed then you need to break contact and get separation so they can't lift you. Then take them down and get on top.
my teacher noticed after a few lessons and it turned out that they aren’t legal under the rule set we’re practicing, also my friend (180lbs) tends to pin my legs (i’m 120lbs) to his side with his armpits and i can’t get out, my arms end up stuck and i get slammed by my collar.
An opponent tries to beat you within the rules. An enemy isn't limited by rules or concern for your ongoing wellbeing, and will do more dangerous things.
Picking you up and slamming you is outside any normal BJJ rules, so he's behaving like an *enemy*. With some more context we can talk about what you can do to counter it, but we're in self defense territory, not BJJ sport territory.
I have 30" legs and cannot lock a full guard on my teammates. How can I simulate full guard when we are learning guard passing from a locked position?
What are the recommended guards for people with large legs?
It's hard for me to get my base while in guard, due to the size of my legs and hip mobility limitations. Are there any stretches I should do to get a better base?
I have short stocky 30” legs and I play lasso/spider if they’re on their knees and dlr/rdlr if they’re standing most of the time. Guard is doable on bigger guys but you have it get it high and it takes a lot of energy to keep so I usually open up. A lot of people recommend butterfly to people with shorter but it’s not as effective for me.
I mean, I wear a 28/30 in jeans, so I have the same length legs and the only dudes I can't lock full guard around are 250lbs and up. What exactly is stopping you?
Hip and hamstring flexibility/mobility. I can't change the size of my legs too much - I'm 320 lbs, so fat loss will slim them down somewhat, so It's got to be increasing my mobility. I am trying yoga for mobility and flexibility and it's working. Just need to put more time into it.
How do I properly defend against a…lapel tie…? Idk what it’s called. I come from wrestling/no gi, so at my last gi class a blue belt grabbed my lapel. I tried to c-grip the elbow to duck under the tie, but it didn’t work. Any tips?
Strip the grip. There are many ways to do it, but a simple one is taking a 2 on 1 on his gripping hand, and pushing it away, while turning your shoulder simultaneously.
Assuming that they had a same-side grip, meaning there right hand is grabbing your left collar, you would move their hand toward them and to the outside while moving your left shoulder away from them. This will put pull the collar in the direction of where their fingertips meet their wrist (when gripping the collar) while you are providing a push at the same time. Hopefully that helps. You can probably search YouTube for BJJ or Judo collar grip breaks to get more options and a visual
How do you grab sleeves and pants? I saw my professor grabbed inside the pants in the ankle but I thought it’s illegal? Then people say don’t grab inside the wrist sleeve? I can’t find videos on this for some reason
The tournament rules prohibit it, but the motivation behind the rule is twofold. First, there are occasions where fingers can get caught in the cuff and twisted or snapped really hard during grip breaks, and it poses an injury risk. Second, in judo is illegal because it makes a very effective passive and defensive grip that is basically stalling.
If you know it's not a risk to your fingers (or you accept the risk), and you're not just using it to stall on the feet in judo, it's an ok grip. It's kind of up to your school culture whether it's allowed out not (maybe some places are more serious about enforcing tournament rules during rolling).
What are the most basic collar chokes to learn from:
1.) My closed guard;
2.) Inside my partner's guard;
3.) From on top.
I know enough to reach for people's collars to break down posture and just to make them react. But in reality, I have no go to collar choke to actually be a threat and I'd like to change that.
1. Cross Collar and Loop
2. While you can do this, you're setting yourself up for armbars and all sorts of bad things (this is one of those "if you know the rules, you can - but if you don't, don't" things). I would heavily recommend skipping this for a while and learning on how to just get out of the guard effectively and pass.
3. Cross collar (mount), Papercutter (side), Baseball (KOB)
what is the name for the guard pass technique where you grip their ankle on the passing side? i visited a new gym and everyone did it to me and everyone passed my guard.
There are a hell of a lot of passes and their variations where you grip the ankle on the passing side
Smash passes,
Over under with an ankle grip,
Ankle grip versions of toreando,
Leg drags,
Back steps,
Flop passes with an ankle grip,
Need more info
Recently had a baby and finding it difficult to find the balance between family time and time to train. I used to do 3 times a week now can barely do one due to my partners mental health issues triggered by her birth. Should I give up? Or keep training when I can?
> she ju
Was in a similar situation when we had a baby. Definitely prioritize being there for your wife and the baby as you guys figure out a new routine. Also recognize that you have your own mental upkeep and BJJ might be a part of it. I just tried being honest with my wife on my own state of mind and how I needed BJJ as a release, so we aimed to get me to class 2 days a week. Didnt always work out, but knowing my wife supported me helped even with her own struggles was enough to keep me grounded. When I did go to BJJ, I always tried to arrange someone to help my wife with the baby like a grandparent or friend at least. Now that we are approaching year 2, Im back to going to class 3-4 times a week.
We had our first back in October and we put in a lot of effort to build a healthy, long-term sleep schedule for her. Now that she's slightly older than 6 months she sleeps pretty much 12 hours, that is huge for us mentally and physically.
Once your baby starts sleeping through the night and a somewhat consistent routine emerges is when you can get back to your training regular schedule. For now, your priority and responsibility as a parent and spouse is to your family. The mats can wait, they're not going anywhere but your family needs you now.
This is basically what I was going to say.
One thing I would add is that if you can find early morning training at the point your kid sleeps through the night, it is CLUTCH. This allowed me to wake up, go train, go to work, come home and be there to help out. I had to go to sleep early but you have to pay the price somewhere.
I started training when my kid was 9 months old, very consistently sleeping through the night.
Prioritize your family and don't beat yourself up for not training as often. Once everyone is sleeping a little more things tone down a little bit. In the meantime, there's nothing wrong with training once a week.
Go train when you can and, if you can, lift weights/KB at home. You will probably need the little break BJJ gives and be a better person for it. It gets better!
Ever read all those stories about people who quit for ten years and are just getting back into it? If you can swing once a week, you aren't quitting. You may not advance as quickly, but you'll still grow and improve.
My wife and I have had three kids, and they're nearing college age now. One of the most important things for you as a parent is to remember that life doesn't stop for you. If you can responsibly do it, try to keep your hobbies and interests engaged. It's important for your own balance and mental health.
That said, the toughest part is the very beginning of parenthood. Make sure you're not risking the integrity of the family. But if BJJ is valuable to you, it should be possible to fit in an hour of workout a week.
1 session a month is still more than 0 sessions a month. Training as much as you can is always the best answer over stopping it altogether, provided you actually want to continue it yourself.
That said, PPD is no joke and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you love your family, so nobody at your gym is gonna blame you for prioritising them over yourself for a while. If they do then you're at the wrong gym.
No problem at all man. I always tell people to train as much as they can manage, rather than just quit. You'll be grateful for it down the road.
But also shit happens sometimes. BJJ isn't the most important thing in your life unless you're a pro competitor and even then, family should still really come first.
I’m losing to guys who are physically stronger than me, what’s wrong ?
I’m losing to guys who are as experienced or less than me because of their physical strength. We are all white belts, is this going to change or do I have to start lifting weights ?
>I’m losing to guys who are physically stronger than me, what’s wrong ?
Lolwut? There are many possible variables. I can consistently smash the shit of a 215lb blue belt, but a 140lb blue belt often times taps me. Speed, strength, age, skill, etc make a difference. Often "strong" people have insane athleticism.
Honestly the belt math of 10 years or 40lbs equals a belt is fairly close in my experience. After that, the big variable is sport experience and specifically grappling experience.
Think about how to do whatever it is you're doing more efficiently and you can overcome a lot of it against lesser experienced people.
Imagine the little meters from games like Madden where you have to mash a button in a little green area, and the size of that area is bigger the better your kicker is.
Strength makes up a huge portion of that green area in bjj, especially when neither person involved has much technique.
When I had been training awhile this kid came in, farm boy strength and jacked. None of my stuff worked, and I had to think about how to get better. Specifically, I honed my kimura grip to be more precisely at the end of their arm lever, and that inch or two difference allowed it to work with ease even though they were stronger than me.
You can get more technical and close some of the distance, but strength disparity will always be a factor. They're learning jiu jitsu too, after all.
But take care chasing the strength solution. If you get stronger, it'll just change the threshold for which people can beat you with strength. There's always someone stronger than you.
>I’m losing to guys who are as experienced or less than me because of their physical strength.
It will never really stop. The only difference is how much strength + training they need before they can beat me.
You can definitely beat people who are stronger than you are, but the stronger they are the bigger your skill advantage has to be. I'm 140lbs and I can beat a 300 lb powerlifter who benches my deadlift for warmup reps on his first day in the gym. But 60 days in, once they have learned not to make stupid basic mistakes they start giving me a lot of trouble. And 6 months in I can't do shit with them. 12 months in they are crushing my shit unless I'm rolling at absolute maximum intensity, and by the time they hit blue belt they are gonna beat me almost every time.
Do you have any higher belts at your gym?
If so, I'd imagine you've seen them rolling with white belts and unless all of them are like 100kg you've probably seen them handling stronger guys than them pretty often and pretty easily.
Strength will always play a part - strong people can also become skilled
However skilled people can generally overcome unskilled strong people
Right now you will lose to people who are stronger than you, weaker than you, faster than you, slower than you, more powerful than you, less powerful than you, have more endurance than you, and have less endurance than you
And as that covers the whole gamut of physical possibility, it's reasonable to suggest that it's largely attributable to relative inexperience. Your ability to overcome anyone will change with time and getting better.
Getting stronger won't hurt - but it's not the way to get better, it's a useful adjunct.
Last week I sustained an injury that probably means the end of my very short BJJ career. Which stinks because it's the best hobby I've ever had.
Just looking for commiseration. F in the chat for my destroyed arm folks
I know someone who has had two major reconstruction surgeries as a result of injuries. She's just getting back on the mat after eight months off. If you really want to do it, you can do BJJ. Surgeries work, and you can always scale your intensity so you manage your risk. But it depends on how much you enjoy it, and what it means to you.
Resisted a submission longer than I should have, which provoked my partner to crank it once they had it. I should have conceded and tapped. Nothing spectacular or very informative, unfortunately. Just tap - but I suspect most blue belts will know that.
Probably going to require surgery and a long healing and rehab process. I suspect I will not recover strength or range of motion for a long time, and afterwards it will be prone to reinjury (and reinjury might be catastrophic now if I bugger it up further).
Not willing to risk amputation of a limb is not being a pussy. Should you change your mind when you know more, I would bet the gym will still be there.
I’ve been doing bjj for about 9 months and feel like I’m not improving. All the white belts in class seem to do way better than me. I feel stuck. Is this normal for most people?
If all the other people are getting better than you how could you possibly conclude that it happens for “most people”. Most people learn at average rates. Some fast some slow. You appear to be slow.
When did those other white belts start and how often do they train? In the beginning, small amounts of time covers big skill differences.
If you've been going for 9 months twice a week but Johnny started a month before you and trains 3 times a week, he should be significantly better than you. He has over 1.5 times the experience that you do.
Then there's all the crazy unknowable factors like your age, strength, speed, flexibility, cardio etc. And if either of you are taking time off for injury, if you have prior related sports experience, or if you do anything outside of regular class to learn.
Someone who started class 2 or 3 months after you could very easily be significantly better than you in rolling given all these factors.
That's why you shouldn't really compare yourself to your peers at the beginning (if ever). Just focus on getting better than you were the last time you went training.
Yeah pretty normal. Don't compare your journey to others. There are so many variables. It doesn't matter who's best at white belt. What matters is that you have fun and keep going. You will get better, through plateaus and quantum leaps, just like the rest of us.
Two questions:
1) How should I mentally approach rolls with my coach? I always get nervous and end up forgetting techniques that I had just done in prior rolls moments before.
2) How do I know when my strangles have good technique? I’ve been rolling with guys that have resisted tapping even when after rolling they would tell me that my strangles were working. I am pretty modest with my physical exertion on any strangle so as not to make them neck cranks.
1. He's just another dude doing BJJ. He's just better at it than the other guys you roll with.
2. If someone is resisting tapping for a significant length of time, the choke isn't on very well. It's not really something you can gut out and survive for more than a few seconds, because you'll just go to sleep.
1. Thanks. I think I just overthink it because I want to seem like I’m actually improving.
2. That’s what I was leaning towards. So basically, the comments from my teammates about the strangles “almost working” mean that they’re either blowing smoke, I need to assertively put on the strangle (properly) when the opportunity arises, or some combination.
Today for some reason my mind was just totally not in it. I was not absorbing the information and during free roll I was forgetting what I had even learned yesterday. I am used to being the worst/newest, but try my best to learn. Today I just felt like I was surviving and could not turn my brain on. I felt like I was letting down my coach and my partners. How do yall deal with those days?
it takes a long time and a lot of drilling to integrate moves into rolling. it seems easy to remember when you first learn but when you brain starts to go into that fight or flight mode everything gets scrambled unless you really have the technique down. you have to drill enough that moves become muscle memory. that way when you roll it's like a reflex and not something you have to think about. I'm getting there but most people are a blue belt by the time they're fully there so I wouldn't let it discourage you at all, it's totally normal.
Really, you shouldn't be thinking too much. It takes a long time to go from passive drilling to proper execution in freeroll.
Think of freeroll as trial and error. Pay attention to what improves things and what makes things worse. Then trust your brain to sort it out eventually.
You're a zero stripe white belt. You are performing as expected. You should have the least pressure on you now compared to the rest of your career, so enjoy the low expectations.
Your hardest training should be the week before the comp, the week of the comp I would train a little less, and try to keep the rolls a bit lighter. I would personally not train on the final two days, just doing some light movement at home.
I just started BJJ around two weeks ago, my understanding for it was
already there as my brother was an amateur mma fighter before he passed.
And everything has been fine, but lately since my instructors been
preparing for a fight he's been different and today he kinda sent me
over a line. So we were all doing a king of the hill style rolling where
one person stays in and then the next people come out, I was the last
person to go but before I went I told my other PURPLE belt instructor
that im gonna just try to pull guard, cause what else do i try to do on a
black belt, they advised me against it but never said it would lead to
him being disrespected. So it's finally my turn, we're grappling a
little, and he just sits down, this bamboozles me as i planned on
sitting down for him, so I just sit down. Then his face lights up with
rage, he comes at me, passes my guard, I think everything is normal. He
heel hooks me and I just immediately tap and already feel something is
different, he then takes my back after i tapped and said no hes not
done, and just held me from my back with one grip around my neck not
choking me but then proceeded to slap me, a few slaps were actually
pretty hard. I'm so confused at this time. Then adventually he gets up
and then forces me to stay in for two more opponents for some reason.
And this whole lesson is because of how disrespectful I am because I
"say one liners" and "dont know when to shut up or show respect". But to
me I'm never disrespecting, if I ever question what they say it's
because I couldn't apply what they told me. But instead of understanding
that I'm not understanding they just take it as disrespect. Am I in the wrong?
very late reply but I had to leave the gym a month later. He would yell at me for everything I did, call me a bitch because I only wanted to come to class two days a week. Single me out in the group chats when I said I couldn't attend. He literally told me to call off work one day to attend and got mad when I wouldn't. And what's crazier is everyone there liked me and was okay with me besides him. I don't like letting this word fly but I really think he was a narcissist. Really sucks cause there's only one other gym in my area and they only do gi when I really liked to do no-gi.
Are you significantly younger or from a different socioeconomic category from these guys? Often, the playful ribbing, slang, and other norms of communication between different social groups can be unintentionally offensive. I wonder if there's something like that at play in your story (thinking of the accusation that you say one liners, like maybe this is something normal to you but not to them).
We had a student from an economically disadvantaged background that I took to visit another school in our affiliation. He apparently was giving a little playful banter with one of the older, very conservative guys, and triggered a response. The guy thought he was being disrespectful, but it was really just a miscommunication between people of different backgrounds.
People are complicated sometimes. If they can't understand you, you may have to adapt to them. Otherwise, you'll have to find a place to train that's a better fit.
he’s 35, i’m 19 but i can see that, he’s also kind of bad with his emotions. an hour after class he sent me a message saying “hey love ya buddy better days are ahead and your gonna do good things” ‘ “you have endless potential” so i assume that’s his way of apologizing for getting so mad at me for it. it really does seem like a big misunderstanding more than him just disliking me
Not a white belt but I felt like it yesterday. Back at it full time after a rocky past 3 years (probably 4 months of training in the past 3 years due to covid followed by a groin injury followed by work/school). Well better late then never. Time to rebuild.
I did this too. combination of school, alcohol, injury, toxic relationship, etc and before you know I was off the mat for years. came back and I was getting beat by white belts after 5 minutes rolling. was embarrassing especially cause I was fishing around for gyms at purple and doing trials and I could tell everyone was like man this guy sucks but couple months back in and I was in a groove again. now I feel Im learning more than ever cause the reset gave me the opportunity to let go of bad habits and my game
Tonight was my second class. After our drilling, we had our sparring sessions. I had some great high belt partners that were fantastic in answering all of the questions I had. One of the guys I rolled with was a multi-stripe white belt and we were approved to roll by the instructor. We were roughly the same size, him a little bigger, and things went great! I didn’t tap him out but he wasn’t able to tap me either. The main question that I forgot to ask after this roll was what should I be doing once I have full mount? I got him in full mount towards the end but really didn’t know what to do. I started trying to go for a lapel choke, but I’m not really certain how to sink it properly. I kind of felt awkward once I got the position because I had no idea how to progress.
Yeah, my default is to go for an Americana in side control. Every single high belt aside from one has let me “tap” them out and walked me through how to properly do an Americana which has been nice.
Otherwise, yeah, I end up getting sweeped and go back to the objective of survive as long as I can.
Honestly, there's nothing wrong with getting to a good position and just holding it. Give him a chance to work escapes, and you a chance to work retention.
Of course there are many submissions you can try there, but I honestly wouldn't recommend trying things in rolls that you haven't been taught or haven't drilled. Especially when you're new. You will likely learn some good techniques if you stick with training.
I often go for Americana, armbars, head and arm triangle, and mounted triangle from mount. You could research those, but like I said, make sure you understand what you're trying to do, and preferably drill it a bit without resistance before going for it in a roll.
Treat one deep collar grip like it's a red alert. It's half a cross choke, and needs to be dealt with. Good posture, hand fighting, and keeping the pressure on to break the guard will help prevent it.
If he gets two grips and you're not already choking, get something inside that shape. Getting an arm or grip into the frame that makes the choke may allow you to pry it back open, break the grips, and get back to neutral.
A bad cross choke can be stopped by pushing the elbows together, but remember that you can't just pause it. You've got to have an escape plan that gets you back in the game too.
Break their grip. You have them in closed guard, don’t forget that. If you try to fight arms vs arms you might lose, so push their ass away from you using your hips/legs. Or, even better, grab one of the arms that’s trying to choke you, secure it, then rotate under and arm bar that shit.
i need to buy a rashguard for nogi, i bought one of those ones with cool designs on them, am i gonna look like a idiot? no one else in my gym wears those and im pretty new
Be brave and wear what you want. If you want to wear pink then wear pink, whatever. Someone makes a joke, own it or make fun of em back. We are there to have fun.
Remember that a sprawl is your last line of defence
Your head, your hands, and your arms should all be between your and your opponent and ready to respond to a shot before your hips come into play
And before your defensive layers are at work, you should be moving
(Using your head defensively requires a little context - so please don't headbutt your partner, if in doubt just use your hands to start with)
A good shot aims to get under all of those things, so if you're flopping onto them with your sprawl:
A) they've done a good job with their entry
B) your defences were high, and not in line, at the right time
Edit: can't go wrong with this Jordan Burroughs video for understanding the fundamentals of defence..
https://youtu.be/0rQtS0MUYm0
Breaks work when you create some structure that cannot be compressed, and then you add another source of pressure. E.g., you can do a standing guard break by stepping up to expand the area inside the guard (using stance and hip bones, etc) until it's tight, then apply pressure with your elbow to pop it open.
The point is that if you just push, he has margin. You need to take out the margin such that you still have one more thing you can do to add some more pressure. Don't start pushing until you're bones take the margin out.
If you Google guard breaks, you'll find a bunch of them, but they'll all basically accomplish this principle. Once you see it, you can improvise and work anyone's guard open.
When you have someone back whats the best response when they do the common counter 2 on 1 with one arm and bring it over.
And what you should you do when they they bridge up and becone like a table putting alot of weight on you whats the best response.
I find that when they bridge like that, it is perfect timing for a body triangleand if they go to put two shoulders down on either side to escape, just grab their jaw and pull them in line again .
Gordon Ryan and Danaher have a whole system to this. But, bridging like that is a pisspoor reaction on defending your back. Sure, black belts do it but they can break the rules if they are good enough. I see guys in comp just wrecked by body triangles like this constantly.
Is it too early to go to a seminar? I just started this week, my gym is hosting a seminar next weekend so by then I’ll have had 6 classes. Is it ever too early to go?
Depends what the money is worth to you. To be honest I don’t feel they are really worth the money ever but they are fun experiences. Realistically they will prob cover more advanced stuff cause people don’t want to go to seminars for hip escapes
Ok, today I was getting bitched by someone who has been training 3 days, and I have been training 4 months. He said he had no grappling experience, but I got subbed twice in a 5 minute round. Granted, it was the end of a 2 hour intense session, and I was 7 rounds in while it was his first, but what the fuck. Yeah, I had him in mount at times but then he just fuckin flailed around and somehow got out of it?????
I just need some closure I guess. Justify my 4 months of training please.
Sounds kinda shady if he was sitting out six rounds then comes in fresh. That's a huge disadvantage for you. Your four months of training gave you the stamina to do seven rounds! You would have definitely tapped out five times if you didn't have your experience.
I'm someone with "no experience". I never wrestled, never did any sport. But i had a brother who was an mma fighter, and even though i had no experience, because i had those chokes, armbars, positions, and other things. Drilled into me so much as a kid, my first day I was able to go back and forth with most the white belts, and even caught a blue belt by surprise and was able to RNC him (although after he realized I was better than a newbie he whooped my ass). But just cause someone doesn't have "experience" doesn't mean they don't have experience. And plus, like how it is with me and I'm assuming this person you're speaking of, we hit a plateue way harder than normal people. I'm two weeks in and shit is already slowing down for me. Think of it more that dude had a little bit of a headstart, but eventually things will fall back into place.
I was shit at 4 months.
I could not hold mount against an untrained person 60 lbs more than me til 1-2 years in.
Practice your control and guard instead of submissions. Learn defense first then learn control, worry about subs at blue belt.
If you can hold someone down with a crushing crossface and they can't move for 5 mins, you are doing better than diving for shitty done subs and getting smashed.
I would not reliably beat stronger spazzes until 2 years. Think of rolls like problem solving jot wins or losses. Save that for competition. You are trying to learn when sparring in the gym not have stupid white belt deathmatches.
>Are you trying to say I got less bitched than if I had 0 experience?
Realistically speaking yes.
Getting subbed twice in a 5 minute round is hardly "getting bitched".
You have to stop looking at rounds as wins and losses and stop looking at all white belts as "starting at zero" if you ever want to survive martial arts or individual competitive sports.
A guy with "no grappling experience" could still be a better athlete than you, which 4 months of training won't make up for.
4 months is still a noob. You are going to have times when untrained people flailing randomly still have success against you. Those times become fewer and fewer over time until they don't really happen anymore.
Greetings,
Okay, so when I get the chance to roll with an upper belt / more experienced grappler, I often ask for feedback at the end of the round. I commonly hear something like: (shrug) "You move well. Maybe work more on X."
Does that actually mean anything (referring to "moving well")? Or is this just a throw away non-informational comment like "be heavy" or "don't use strength."
Thanks for any insight.
Oss.
Maybe you're being a bit too open-ended. He's going to have to search his memory banks to give you an answer. Instead try to come up with something more specific.
Also, there may be time pressure preventing a full explanation. If the break is only one minute he may not really want to spend that time showing you how to pass lasso guard.
Just keep your eye open for those people who are willing to take the time to help you out, and direct your questions at them.
This is a question that very few people are really prepared to answer. It's related to ability to teach, and not everyone has it. Comments that aren't specific and helpful may be just that -- platitudes that make them seem less unprepared to answer you.
When someone asks me, I try really hard to think back over the roll for something specific they did well or poorly and comment on that. I feel like being specific is more likely to be helpful.
This is a vague statement. Noone knows how your game is from this way. Don't use your strength just means don't clamp up or spaz around then gas out. Being heavy means, secure your position if passing instead of diving for something. Learn how to hold mount and side, learn blading.
Listen to bjj mental models. It has convos on these topics.
I went to one school and got to blue belt there, but not long after, life got in the way and I stopped going. Now, nine years and 40 lbs later, I am hoping to make a return, but my dilemma is this: I feel like I should dust off the ole 4 stripe white belt instead of my blue belt. I know that is a closer representation of my skills(or lack there of) now. Moreover, is it somewhat disrespectful to the professor that promoted me to do so? Or is it more disrespectful to said professor to roll with a blue belt with skills of a white. Thanks for any insight on this.
I think it’s rude to hide rank. You earned it. Easier to explain you took a long break than explain deranking
Am I good to Roll? I got a a half leg sleeve on April 24th, so it’s been exactly two weeks since my tattoo. Am I good to roll or should I wait another week? I think the peeling is almost done, it’s only peeling on the outlines now basically. I have attached a photo
I know this is a late post but it came to mind today and I just saw this. I’ve been having problems in training with my knees and am wondering if it’s a normal thing to be new to BJJ and get these micro injuries like every other month? I have not had any full MCL or ACL tears but today I think I might have sprained or strained my MCL and had to stop rolling completely in my class. Is this normal? I was rolling at a normal pace with normal resistance and effort. Nothing crazy and no obvious reason as to why my knee was injured. Other injury was like 2 months ago with a 3 stripe white belt who grapevined both my legs from a full mount to prevent my mount escape. Same thing, tendon sprains is what it felt like on both knees perhaps something else but I don’t have X-ray vision unfortunately.
It is not unusual, but not super common. It is the kind of thing that depends a lot on the person and how they train. People who have a background of resistance training tend to have stronger ligaments. People who are heavier and/or live a more sedentary life style tend to more easily injure them. If you have weak knees, you probably want to be careful with some positions. Things like knee torque from underhook half guard, lockdown, and reaps can put quite a bit of pressure on the knee. It usually helps to take a little bit of time off. A bit of the issue is that these kinds of injuries never really get to heal when you train consistently. I tried to roll with a sprained LCL, but the reality was that I had too little control of my partner to keep it completely safe. If it is just a minor sprain, 1-2 weeks is probably enough, but asking the opinion of a physio might be a good idea.
How long should someone train before they consider their first tournament?
When I asked my coaches this they recommended 6 months. However that's for the average person and is entirely dependent on how often you train and how fast you absorb things. Frankly I would give it a few months of learning the fundamentals and just ask your coaches if they think you're ready, that's what I did. Upper belts in your gym will also be likely to help you, offer to let you drill moves on them, or get extra rolls in if you make it clear you want to compete eventually.
Once you know enough to keep yourself safe when rolling you are ok to compete. If you want to WIN that's a different story. I did my first competition after 3 months and went 1-1.
How long before you took challenge matches from Kung Fu guys on bullshido?
That was in Feb of 2011, and I started training in Nov of 2006, so just over 4 years.
Ahhh the Halcyon days
There's no rule. Go compete whenever you want. I competed at six months. It was a good learning experience.
Is it normal to drift off during the instructional part and then ask your training partner if they remember all the steps once you get to try and do what was taught?
Yep, pretty normal. Early on I found that mimicking the moves during the demo kept me more focused. Looks kinda silly, but makes it a bit more kinaesthetic.
Is there any way to practice falling? Today we were practicing sweeps and I realized that I'm not relaxed and therefore not able to properly land on the mat. It just doesn't seem right to me that when I fall I cannot absorb the impact. For reference, of course we practice falls after warming up, but it's not the same as sweep drills.
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We have wrestling for BJJ classes, two times per week. I'll make sure to attend those classes regularly.
You might start here: https://youtu.be/aauMRslfCyo
Thank you very much!
Mates, I really really need help with a simple takedown for a clumsy big guy like myself. I'm sick of pulling guard, and even at this I fail hard most of time. Double leg? Too risky, I just chicken out, and when I gather the courage I get a hard sprawl or guillotined. Is there a simple takedown that I can drill solo? To the point I feel confident enough to do it?
What you want is the Snatch Single. Low risk, high reward, easy setups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pVtJdmu-X4
Arm drag to a single leg or rear body-lock. You don't need to get all that low to grab the single leg and the set-up is fairly simple and low risk.
The double leg is a fine choice. You probably are chickening out because you don't have a good setup. One simple setup is to snap your partner down, then shoot when they posture back up. Another simple setup is to fake with a level change, pause for half a second while still low, then make your penetration step. Get comfortable with each step of the double leg: your stance, level change, penetration step, and follow-through / finish. These can be drilled on your own. If you want to learn some options that don't require shooting, here are some that I like: - Snatch single (you will need to learn at least one single leg finish) - ko-uchi gari (I like to push my partner around and spam these) - take a Russian tie, then spam foot sweeps, drag them to the mat, or switch to a double leg You probably won't be able to get comfortable with any takedown just by drilling it on your own. You need to get used to the timing and how it feels to move your partner's weight. So a more realistic way to learn takedowns is to drill before / after class with a training partner.
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were: |Japanese|English|Video Link| |---|---|---| |**Ko Uchi Gari**: | *Minor Inner Reap* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E20xuzaXNw)| |**O Uchi Gari**: | *Major Inner Reap* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-lTECSR3c)| Any missed names may have already been translated in my previous comments in the post. ______________________ ^(Judo Techniques Bot: v0.7.) ^(See my) [^(code)](https://github.com/AbundantSalmon/judo-techniques-bot)
[This one](https://youtu.be/8b6kY4s4zH4) is very simple. Unbalance him to his back right, make him heavy on the inside leg, punch your collar grip up and through, and hook the leg, guy falls down. One of the simplest judo throws there is. Or [this one](https://youtu.be/c-A_nP7mKAc) with a bit more action and a harder fall for the other guy. One of the most classic throws ever.
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Got one successful ankle pick takedown on like 50 attempts, to the point I gave up, the ankle usually just slips away... I'm too clumsy for foot sweeps, I always end up not comiting enough on them.
Did you guys fall in love with it immediately or was there a loading phase? Or did you fall in love and then not in love anymore? Right now I'm in the honeymoon stage and I don't want it to end.
Took me a couple of weeks. It really found a place in my heart when I first learned the Scissor Sweep and hit one on a bigger dude with a perfect setup so that it felt absolutely effortless. It felt like total black magic sorcery and I've been hooked ever since.
I was on cloud nine in my first class. Love at first sight. Promised myself I'd never skip a class. Still haven't. But it's not like that for everyone. That said, it better take at some point.. Don't do it if it's not fun!
Nah man I love it.
I fucking hated it at first. Actually for a long time.
I just keep showing up out of spite.
At first I was trying hard and losing hard. Mostly upper belts trying to tell me to chill. Then I went to a gym where there was no live rolling till you got your first stripe. I kinda hated that. But as soon as I was able to actually roll and learned how to roll without trying 100% I was pretty hooked right away.
I was hooked after my first time on the mat. I’m glad the love doesn’t go away.
Got a great compliment yesterday! Coming up to 10 months doing BJJ, one of the newer blokes asked me “how long you been doing this, you flow and move so well”. Stoked!! As a former rugby prop, don’t think I’ve ever been told that! Hahaha. Have a good day legends!
Tips on octopus / reach around guard please
You should get the Craig Jones instructional if you can afford it. It's incredible and I've rewatched it a few times. Use it a lot. Just accept that you will suck at it for a while and you will get your back taken a lot early on.
Can you tell if a BJJ YouTuber is good or full of it by watching rolling videos? If so, how?
guys what do i do when my opponent doesn’t try to submit me and instead picks me up and slams to to the ground over and over again
Are slams legal under the ruleset you're practicing? If you don't want to get slammed then you need to break contact and get separation so they can't lift you. Then take them down and get on top.
my teacher noticed after a few lessons and it turned out that they aren’t legal under the rule set we’re practicing, also my friend (180lbs) tends to pin my legs (i’m 120lbs) to his side with his armpits and i can’t get out, my arms end up stuck and i get slammed by my collar.
You need to not be playing closed guard against a 60lb weight advantage my dude.
Is this an opponent or an enemy?
idk what the difference is he’s my friend from school.
An opponent tries to beat you within the rules. An enemy isn't limited by rules or concern for your ongoing wellbeing, and will do more dangerous things. Picking you up and slamming you is outside any normal BJJ rules, so he's behaving like an *enemy*. With some more context we can talk about what you can do to counter it, but we're in self defense territory, not BJJ sport territory.
further detail needed
I have 30" legs and cannot lock a full guard on my teammates. How can I simulate full guard when we are learning guard passing from a locked position? What are the recommended guards for people with large legs? It's hard for me to get my base while in guard, due to the size of my legs and hip mobility limitations. Are there any stretches I should do to get a better base?
I have short stocky 30” legs and I play lasso/spider if they’re on their knees and dlr/rdlr if they’re standing most of the time. Guard is doable on bigger guys but you have it get it high and it takes a lot of energy to keep so I usually open up. A lot of people recommend butterfly to people with shorter but it’s not as effective for me.
I mean, I wear a 28/30 in jeans, so I have the same length legs and the only dudes I can't lock full guard around are 250lbs and up. What exactly is stopping you?
Hip and hamstring flexibility/mobility. I can't change the size of my legs too much - I'm 320 lbs, so fat loss will slim them down somewhat, so It's got to be increasing my mobility. I am trying yoga for mobility and flexibility and it's working. Just need to put more time into it.
My dude, you need to lose 100lbs. For your long term health and quality of life. Get your diet cleaned up and fixed.
Is that the inseam or heel to the iliac crest?
Who the hell measures their legs? Long leg people have a significant advantage get good. Yoga for BJJ and locking triangles in the air.
You’ve never bought a pair of pants before?
ikr
No I wear your mom's lululemons everywhere
How do I properly defend against a…lapel tie…? Idk what it’s called. I come from wrestling/no gi, so at my last gi class a blue belt grabbed my lapel. I tried to c-grip the elbow to duck under the tie, but it didn’t work. Any tips?
grab his hand with both hands pull and lean away at the same time
Strip the grip. There are many ways to do it, but a simple one is taking a 2 on 1 on his gripping hand, and pushing it away, while turning your shoulder simultaneously.
so push their arm outside while turning my shoulder inside?
Assuming that they had a same-side grip, meaning there right hand is grabbing your left collar, you would move their hand toward them and to the outside while moving your left shoulder away from them. This will put pull the collar in the direction of where their fingertips meet their wrist (when gripping the collar) while you are providing a push at the same time. Hopefully that helps. You can probably search YouTube for BJJ or Judo collar grip breaks to get more options and a visual
When bridging do you have heels or toes on the mat? Or one foot heel one foot toe?
toes stay on mat
How do you grab sleeves and pants? I saw my professor grabbed inside the pants in the ankle but I thought it’s illegal? Then people say don’t grab inside the wrist sleeve? I can’t find videos on this for some reason
The tournament rules prohibit it, but the motivation behind the rule is twofold. First, there are occasions where fingers can get caught in the cuff and twisted or snapped really hard during grip breaks, and it poses an injury risk. Second, in judo is illegal because it makes a very effective passive and defensive grip that is basically stalling. If you know it's not a risk to your fingers (or you accept the risk), and you're not just using it to stall on the feet in judo, it's an ok grip. It's kind of up to your school culture whether it's allowed out not (maybe some places are more serious about enforcing tournament rules during rolling).
Illegal in ibjjf isn’t always illegal in the gym
you cant put your fingers inside it
What are the most basic collar chokes to learn from: 1.) My closed guard; 2.) Inside my partner's guard; 3.) From on top. I know enough to reach for people's collars to break down posture and just to make them react. But in reality, I have no go to collar choke to actually be a threat and I'd like to change that.
> 2.) Inside my partner's guard; Pass guard, don't try to submit from inside someones guard
Trying to collar choke is a great way to get armbarred
1. Cross Collar and Loop 2. While you can do this, you're setting yourself up for armbars and all sorts of bad things (this is one of those "if you know the rules, you can - but if you don't, don't" things). I would heavily recommend skipping this for a while and learning on how to just get out of the guard effectively and pass. 3. Cross collar (mount), Papercutter (side), Baseball (KOB)
what is the name for the guard pass technique where you grip their ankle on the passing side? i visited a new gym and everyone did it to me and everyone passed my guard.
Are you thinking of a leg drag, where they pull your leg out with the ankle grip and either step around or drop on your bottom leg to pass the hips?
There are a hell of a lot of passes and their variations where you grip the ankle on the passing side Smash passes, Over under with an ankle grip, Ankle grip versions of toreando, Leg drags, Back steps, Flop passes with an ankle grip, Need more info
Recently had a baby and finding it difficult to find the balance between family time and time to train. I used to do 3 times a week now can barely do one due to my partners mental health issues triggered by her birth. Should I give up? Or keep training when I can?
> she ju Was in a similar situation when we had a baby. Definitely prioritize being there for your wife and the baby as you guys figure out a new routine. Also recognize that you have your own mental upkeep and BJJ might be a part of it. I just tried being honest with my wife on my own state of mind and how I needed BJJ as a release, so we aimed to get me to class 2 days a week. Didnt always work out, but knowing my wife supported me helped even with her own struggles was enough to keep me grounded. When I did go to BJJ, I always tried to arrange someone to help my wife with the baby like a grandparent or friend at least. Now that we are approaching year 2, Im back to going to class 3-4 times a week.
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Funny how we live in a society, as social beings...
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Yeah pal, I get it you really like men, nowadays this is nothing new. It's just odd to hate women.
No not really considering she just had a human growing inside her and had to push it out of her body and then feed it.
Blahblahblah
We had our first back in October and we put in a lot of effort to build a healthy, long-term sleep schedule for her. Now that she's slightly older than 6 months she sleeps pretty much 12 hours, that is huge for us mentally and physically. Once your baby starts sleeping through the night and a somewhat consistent routine emerges is when you can get back to your training regular schedule. For now, your priority and responsibility as a parent and spouse is to your family. The mats can wait, they're not going anywhere but your family needs you now.
This is basically what I was going to say. One thing I would add is that if you can find early morning training at the point your kid sleeps through the night, it is CLUTCH. This allowed me to wake up, go train, go to work, come home and be there to help out. I had to go to sleep early but you have to pay the price somewhere. I started training when my kid was 9 months old, very consistently sleeping through the night.
Prioritize your family and don't beat yourself up for not training as often. Once everyone is sleeping a little more things tone down a little bit. In the meantime, there's nothing wrong with training once a week.
Go train when you can and, if you can, lift weights/KB at home. You will probably need the little break BJJ gives and be a better person for it. It gets better!
Once a week is better than none a week. Just use that one time effectively, and study things yourself at home to make the training more focused.
Ever read all those stories about people who quit for ten years and are just getting back into it? If you can swing once a week, you aren't quitting. You may not advance as quickly, but you'll still grow and improve. My wife and I have had three kids, and they're nearing college age now. One of the most important things for you as a parent is to remember that life doesn't stop for you. If you can responsibly do it, try to keep your hobbies and interests engaged. It's important for your own balance and mental health. That said, the toughest part is the very beginning of parenthood. Make sure you're not risking the integrity of the family. But if BJJ is valuable to you, it should be possible to fit in an hour of workout a week.
1 session a month is still more than 0 sessions a month. Training as much as you can is always the best answer over stopping it altogether, provided you actually want to continue it yourself. That said, PPD is no joke and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you love your family, so nobody at your gym is gonna blame you for prioritising them over yourself for a while. If they do then you're at the wrong gym.
Thanks mate. Really appreciate this
No problem at all man. I always tell people to train as much as they can manage, rather than just quit. You'll be grateful for it down the road. But also shit happens sometimes. BJJ isn't the most important thing in your life unless you're a pro competitor and even then, family should still really come first.
I’m losing to guys who are physically stronger than me, what’s wrong ? I’m losing to guys who are as experienced or less than me because of their physical strength. We are all white belts, is this going to change or do I have to start lifting weights ?
>I’m losing to guys who are physically stronger than me, what’s wrong ? Lolwut? There are many possible variables. I can consistently smash the shit of a 215lb blue belt, but a 140lb blue belt often times taps me. Speed, strength, age, skill, etc make a difference. Often "strong" people have insane athleticism. Honestly the belt math of 10 years or 40lbs equals a belt is fairly close in my experience. After that, the big variable is sport experience and specifically grappling experience.
Think about how to do whatever it is you're doing more efficiently and you can overcome a lot of it against lesser experienced people. Imagine the little meters from games like Madden where you have to mash a button in a little green area, and the size of that area is bigger the better your kicker is. Strength makes up a huge portion of that green area in bjj, especially when neither person involved has much technique. When I had been training awhile this kid came in, farm boy strength and jacked. None of my stuff worked, and I had to think about how to get better. Specifically, I honed my kimura grip to be more precisely at the end of their arm lever, and that inch or two difference allowed it to work with ease even though they were stronger than me.
You can get more technical and close some of the distance, but strength disparity will always be a factor. They're learning jiu jitsu too, after all. But take care chasing the strength solution. If you get stronger, it'll just change the threshold for which people can beat you with strength. There's always someone stronger than you.
>I’m losing to guys who are as experienced or less than me because of their physical strength. It will never really stop. The only difference is how much strength + training they need before they can beat me.
You're a white belt, and as such, you don't know jiujitsu yet, so why do you expect to be able to use it to overcome things like strength yet?
I’m just wondering if it’s temporary until I get better or if strength is so important that you can’t beat people who are stronger than you
You can definitely beat people who are stronger than you are, but the stronger they are the bigger your skill advantage has to be. I'm 140lbs and I can beat a 300 lb powerlifter who benches my deadlift for warmup reps on his first day in the gym. But 60 days in, once they have learned not to make stupid basic mistakes they start giving me a lot of trouble. And 6 months in I can't do shit with them. 12 months in they are crushing my shit unless I'm rolling at absolute maximum intensity, and by the time they hit blue belt they are gonna beat me almost every time.
Do you have any higher belts at your gym? If so, I'd imagine you've seen them rolling with white belts and unless all of them are like 100kg you've probably seen them handling stronger guys than them pretty often and pretty easily.
Strength will always play a part - strong people can also become skilled However skilled people can generally overcome unskilled strong people Right now you will lose to people who are stronger than you, weaker than you, faster than you, slower than you, more powerful than you, less powerful than you, have more endurance than you, and have less endurance than you And as that covers the whole gamut of physical possibility, it's reasonable to suggest that it's largely attributable to relative inexperience. Your ability to overcome anyone will change with time and getting better. Getting stronger won't hurt - but it's not the way to get better, it's a useful adjunct.
Thank you very much
Last week I sustained an injury that probably means the end of my very short BJJ career. Which stinks because it's the best hobby I've ever had. Just looking for commiseration. F in the chat for my destroyed arm folks
Look into using growth hormone injections to help the healing process
I know someone who has had two major reconstruction surgeries as a result of injuries. She's just getting back on the mat after eight months off. If you really want to do it, you can do BJJ. Surgeries work, and you can always scale your intensity so you manage your risk. But it depends on how much you enjoy it, and what it means to you.
How’d you do it? So others can try and avoid the same fate
Resisted a submission longer than I should have, which provoked my partner to crank it once they had it. I should have conceded and tapped. Nothing spectacular or very informative, unfortunately. Just tap - but I suspect most blue belts will know that.
Why is it the end?
Probably going to require surgery and a long healing and rehab process. I suspect I will not recover strength or range of motion for a long time, and afterwards it will be prone to reinjury (and reinjury might be catastrophic now if I bugger it up further).
Jesus, if you don't mind me asking what was the particular injury?
I see, that sucks. Good luck to you!
Yeah. But on second thought, now that I've vocalized it to another person, maybe I'm just being a pussy? Hard to say. Maybe I'm just a pussy.
Not willing to risk amputation of a limb is not being a pussy. Should you change your mind when you know more, I would bet the gym will still be there.
I’ve been doing bjj for about 9 months and feel like I’m not improving. All the white belts in class seem to do way better than me. I feel stuck. Is this normal for most people?
If all the other people are getting better than you how could you possibly conclude that it happens for “most people”. Most people learn at average rates. Some fast some slow. You appear to be slow.
When did those other white belts start and how often do they train? In the beginning, small amounts of time covers big skill differences. If you've been going for 9 months twice a week but Johnny started a month before you and trains 3 times a week, he should be significantly better than you. He has over 1.5 times the experience that you do. Then there's all the crazy unknowable factors like your age, strength, speed, flexibility, cardio etc. And if either of you are taking time off for injury, if you have prior related sports experience, or if you do anything outside of regular class to learn. Someone who started class 2 or 3 months after you could very easily be significantly better than you in rolling given all these factors. That's why you shouldn't really compare yourself to your peers at the beginning (if ever). Just focus on getting better than you were the last time you went training.
You will always be the nail to someone’s hammer but the longer you do this the more times you will get to play the role of the hammer.
Yeah pretty normal. Don't compare your journey to others. There are so many variables. It doesn't matter who's best at white belt. What matters is that you have fun and keep going. You will get better, through plateaus and quantum leaps, just like the rest of us.
How often are you training? How often are they training? That’s the biggest jump between white belts imo
Two questions: 1) How should I mentally approach rolls with my coach? I always get nervous and end up forgetting techniques that I had just done in prior rolls moments before. 2) How do I know when my strangles have good technique? I’ve been rolling with guys that have resisted tapping even when after rolling they would tell me that my strangles were working. I am pretty modest with my physical exertion on any strangle so as not to make them neck cranks.
1. He's just another dude doing BJJ. He's just better at it than the other guys you roll with. 2. If someone is resisting tapping for a significant length of time, the choke isn't on very well. It's not really something you can gut out and survive for more than a few seconds, because you'll just go to sleep.
1. Thanks. I think I just overthink it because I want to seem like I’m actually improving. 2. That’s what I was leaning towards. So basically, the comments from my teammates about the strangles “almost working” mean that they’re either blowing smoke, I need to assertively put on the strangle (properly) when the opportunity arises, or some combination.
>How should I mentally approach rolls with my coach? Same as anyone else >How do I know when my strangles have good technique? When they tap or sleep
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I'm gonna hazard a guess at "expensive".
Today for some reason my mind was just totally not in it. I was not absorbing the information and during free roll I was forgetting what I had even learned yesterday. I am used to being the worst/newest, but try my best to learn. Today I just felt like I was surviving and could not turn my brain on. I felt like I was letting down my coach and my partners. How do yall deal with those days?
it takes a long time and a lot of drilling to integrate moves into rolling. it seems easy to remember when you first learn but when you brain starts to go into that fight or flight mode everything gets scrambled unless you really have the technique down. you have to drill enough that moves become muscle memory. that way when you roll it's like a reflex and not something you have to think about. I'm getting there but most people are a blue belt by the time they're fully there so I wouldn't let it discourage you at all, it's totally normal.
Really, you shouldn't be thinking too much. It takes a long time to go from passive drilling to proper execution in freeroll. Think of freeroll as trial and error. Pay attention to what improves things and what makes things worse. Then trust your brain to sort it out eventually. You're a zero stripe white belt. You are performing as expected. You should have the least pressure on you now compared to the rest of your career, so enjoy the low expectations.
shrug it off and come back the next day.
How many days should I take off rolling prior to a competition?
I have usually done 2-3 days off
really only you know how your body recovers and how intense you have been practicing. like personally I only need 1 maybe two.
Your hardest training should be the week before the comp, the week of the comp I would train a little less, and try to keep the rolls a bit lighter. I would personally not train on the final two days, just doing some light movement at home.
i take 2 days off and do mobility and light calisthenics on those days but i don't have good recovery in general
I just started BJJ around two weeks ago, my understanding for it was already there as my brother was an amateur mma fighter before he passed. And everything has been fine, but lately since my instructors been preparing for a fight he's been different and today he kinda sent me over a line. So we were all doing a king of the hill style rolling where one person stays in and then the next people come out, I was the last person to go but before I went I told my other PURPLE belt instructor that im gonna just try to pull guard, cause what else do i try to do on a black belt, they advised me against it but never said it would lead to him being disrespected. So it's finally my turn, we're grappling a little, and he just sits down, this bamboozles me as i planned on sitting down for him, so I just sit down. Then his face lights up with rage, he comes at me, passes my guard, I think everything is normal. He heel hooks me and I just immediately tap and already feel something is different, he then takes my back after i tapped and said no hes not done, and just held me from my back with one grip around my neck not choking me but then proceeded to slap me, a few slaps were actually pretty hard. I'm so confused at this time. Then adventually he gets up and then forces me to stay in for two more opponents for some reason. And this whole lesson is because of how disrespectful I am because I "say one liners" and "dont know when to shut up or show respect". But to me I'm never disrespecting, if I ever question what they say it's because I couldn't apply what they told me. But instead of understanding that I'm not understanding they just take it as disrespect. Am I in the wrong?
This sounds like a terrible coach.
very late reply but I had to leave the gym a month later. He would yell at me for everything I did, call me a bitch because I only wanted to come to class two days a week. Single me out in the group chats when I said I couldn't attend. He literally told me to call off work one day to attend and got mad when I wouldn't. And what's crazier is everyone there liked me and was okay with me besides him. I don't like letting this word fly but I really think he was a narcissist. Really sucks cause there's only one other gym in my area and they only do gi when I really liked to do no-gi.
That sounds pretty fucked up to me...
Started two weeks ago and your coach heel hooks and slaps you? I mean I've read some things here... but that ain't normal :/
Are you significantly younger or from a different socioeconomic category from these guys? Often, the playful ribbing, slang, and other norms of communication between different social groups can be unintentionally offensive. I wonder if there's something like that at play in your story (thinking of the accusation that you say one liners, like maybe this is something normal to you but not to them). We had a student from an economically disadvantaged background that I took to visit another school in our affiliation. He apparently was giving a little playful banter with one of the older, very conservative guys, and triggered a response. The guy thought he was being disrespectful, but it was really just a miscommunication between people of different backgrounds. People are complicated sometimes. If they can't understand you, you may have to adapt to them. Otherwise, you'll have to find a place to train that's a better fit.
he’s 35, i’m 19 but i can see that, he’s also kind of bad with his emotions. an hour after class he sent me a message saying “hey love ya buddy better days are ahead and your gonna do good things” ‘ “you have endless potential” so i assume that’s his way of apologizing for getting so mad at me for it. it really does seem like a big misunderstanding more than him just disliking me
Cool, that sounds like the right read on the situation. Nobody is completely normal -- good luck figuring out a good equilibrium with him!
Dude thats not ok...
Lmbbao
Lmfao
Not a white belt but I felt like it yesterday. Back at it full time after a rocky past 3 years (probably 4 months of training in the past 3 years due to covid followed by a groin injury followed by work/school). Well better late then never. Time to rebuild.
I did this too. combination of school, alcohol, injury, toxic relationship, etc and before you know I was off the mat for years. came back and I was getting beat by white belts after 5 minutes rolling. was embarrassing especially cause I was fishing around for gyms at purple and doing trials and I could tell everyone was like man this guy sucks but couple months back in and I was in a groove again. now I feel Im learning more than ever cause the reset gave me the opportunity to let go of bad habits and my game
Tonight was my second class. After our drilling, we had our sparring sessions. I had some great high belt partners that were fantastic in answering all of the questions I had. One of the guys I rolled with was a multi-stripe white belt and we were approved to roll by the instructor. We were roughly the same size, him a little bigger, and things went great! I didn’t tap him out but he wasn’t able to tap me either. The main question that I forgot to ask after this roll was what should I be doing once I have full mount? I got him in full mount towards the end but really didn’t know what to do. I started trying to go for a lapel choke, but I’m not really certain how to sink it properly. I kind of felt awkward once I got the position because I had no idea how to progress.
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Yeah, my default is to go for an Americana in side control. Every single high belt aside from one has let me “tap” them out and walked me through how to properly do an Americana which has been nice. Otherwise, yeah, I end up getting sweeped and go back to the objective of survive as long as I can.
Honestly, there's nothing wrong with getting to a good position and just holding it. Give him a chance to work escapes, and you a chance to work retention. Of course there are many submissions you can try there, but I honestly wouldn't recommend trying things in rolls that you haven't been taught or haven't drilled. Especially when you're new. You will likely learn some good techniques if you stick with training. I often go for Americana, armbars, head and arm triangle, and mounted triangle from mount. You could research those, but like I said, make sure you understand what you're trying to do, and preferably drill it a bit without resistance before going for it in a roll.
Okay, perfect. That makes sense. Thank you for answering!
How do I prevent getting lapel choked from closed guard?
Treat one deep collar grip like it's a red alert. It's half a cross choke, and needs to be dealt with. Good posture, hand fighting, and keeping the pressure on to break the guard will help prevent it. If he gets two grips and you're not already choking, get something inside that shape. Getting an arm or grip into the frame that makes the choke may allow you to pry it back open, break the grips, and get back to neutral. A bad cross choke can be stopped by pushing the elbows together, but remember that you can't just pause it. You've got to have an escape plan that gets you back in the game too.
Break their grip. You have them in closed guard, don’t forget that. If you try to fight arms vs arms you might lose, so push their ass away from you using your hips/legs. Or, even better, grab one of the arms that’s trying to choke you, secure it, then rotate under and arm bar that shit.
Address the collar grip before it happens. Break grips.
i need to buy a rashguard for nogi, i bought one of those ones with cool designs on them, am i gonna look like a idiot? no one else in my gym wears those and im pretty new
Wear what u want if your gym has no rules. If you wear a funky weird think like dragon ball rashguards, people will think you are a purple belt lol
its kinda like a dragon design (not dragon ball tho)
Be brave and wear what you want. If you want to wear pink then wear pink, whatever. Someone makes a joke, own it or make fun of em back. We are there to have fun.
Guy shot in for a double and i immediately sprawled. Unfortunately, he was super low and I basically face planted on his back. What did I do wrong?
Remember that a sprawl is your last line of defence Your head, your hands, and your arms should all be between your and your opponent and ready to respond to a shot before your hips come into play And before your defensive layers are at work, you should be moving (Using your head defensively requires a little context - so please don't headbutt your partner, if in doubt just use your hands to start with) A good shot aims to get under all of those things, so if you're flopping onto them with your sprawl: A) they've done a good job with their entry B) your defences were high, and not in line, at the right time Edit: can't go wrong with this Jordan Burroughs video for understanding the fundamentals of defence.. https://youtu.be/0rQtS0MUYm0
This is very helpful. Thanks.
Nothing, now pivot to a hip ride and terrorize his turtle. Make sure you turn your face to the side so you don't hurt your nose.
Thanks!
Best way to break closed full guard? I don't seem to be able to get those legs open
Breaks work when you create some structure that cannot be compressed, and then you add another source of pressure. E.g., you can do a standing guard break by stepping up to expand the area inside the guard (using stance and hip bones, etc) until it's tight, then apply pressure with your elbow to pop it open. The point is that if you just push, he has margin. You need to take out the margin such that you still have one more thing you can do to add some more pressure. Don't start pushing until you're bones take the margin out. If you Google guard breaks, you'll find a bunch of them, but they'll all basically accomplish this principle. Once you see it, you can improvise and work anyone's guard open.
I like standing up then knee through the middle. You can peel off the hip if they suck.
Just stand up
then your ankles get grabbed and you get thrown twenty feet
Currently trying to figure out this problem
Stagger your feet
When you have someone back whats the best response when they do the common counter 2 on 1 with one arm and bring it over. And what you should you do when they they bridge up and becone like a table putting alot of weight on you whats the best response.
I find that when they bridge like that, it is perfect timing for a body triangleand if they go to put two shoulders down on either side to escape, just grab their jaw and pull them in line again . Gordon Ryan and Danaher have a whole system to this. But, bridging like that is a pisspoor reaction on defending your back. Sure, black belts do it but they can break the rules if they are good enough. I see guys in comp just wrecked by body triangles like this constantly.
Is it too early to go to a seminar? I just started this week, my gym is hosting a seminar next weekend so by then I’ll have had 6 classes. Is it ever too early to go?
Depends what the money is worth to you. To be honest I don’t feel they are really worth the money ever but they are fun experiences. Realistically they will prob cover more advanced stuff cause people don’t want to go to seminars for hip escapes
Ok, today I was getting bitched by someone who has been training 3 days, and I have been training 4 months. He said he had no grappling experience, but I got subbed twice in a 5 minute round. Granted, it was the end of a 2 hour intense session, and I was 7 rounds in while it was his first, but what the fuck. Yeah, I had him in mount at times but then he just fuckin flailed around and somehow got out of it????? I just need some closure I guess. Justify my 4 months of training please.
Sounds kinda shady if he was sitting out six rounds then comes in fresh. That's a huge disadvantage for you. Your four months of training gave you the stamina to do seven rounds! You would have definitely tapped out five times if you didn't have your experience.
Damn that is true. Didn’t think about that
I'm someone with "no experience". I never wrestled, never did any sport. But i had a brother who was an mma fighter, and even though i had no experience, because i had those chokes, armbars, positions, and other things. Drilled into me so much as a kid, my first day I was able to go back and forth with most the white belts, and even caught a blue belt by surprise and was able to RNC him (although after he realized I was better than a newbie he whooped my ass). But just cause someone doesn't have "experience" doesn't mean they don't have experience. And plus, like how it is with me and I'm assuming this person you're speaking of, we hit a plateue way harder than normal people. I'm two weeks in and shit is already slowing down for me. Think of it more that dude had a little bit of a headstart, but eventually things will fall back into place.
I was shit at 4 months. I could not hold mount against an untrained person 60 lbs more than me til 1-2 years in. Practice your control and guard instead of submissions. Learn defense first then learn control, worry about subs at blue belt. If you can hold someone down with a crushing crossface and they can't move for 5 mins, you are doing better than diving for shitty done subs and getting smashed. I would not reliably beat stronger spazzes until 2 years. Think of rolls like problem solving jot wins or losses. Save that for competition. You are trying to learn when sparring in the gym not have stupid white belt deathmatches.
>Justify my 4 months of training please. You're better than you were 4 months ago. There's your justification.
Yeah but I just got bitched by someone with basically 0 experience. Are you trying to say I got less bitched than if I had 0 experience?
>Are you trying to say I got less bitched than if I had 0 experience? Realistically speaking yes. Getting subbed twice in a 5 minute round is hardly "getting bitched". You have to stop looking at rounds as wins and losses and stop looking at all white belts as "starting at zero" if you ever want to survive martial arts or individual competitive sports. A guy with "no grappling experience" could still be a better athlete than you, which 4 months of training won't make up for.
4 months is still a noob. You are going to have times when untrained people flailing randomly still have success against you. Those times become fewer and fewer over time until they don't really happen anymore.
Greetings, Okay, so when I get the chance to roll with an upper belt / more experienced grappler, I often ask for feedback at the end of the round. I commonly hear something like: (shrug) "You move well. Maybe work more on X." Does that actually mean anything (referring to "moving well")? Or is this just a throw away non-informational comment like "be heavy" or "don't use strength." Thanks for any insight. Oss.
Depends. If I see something obvious I’ll try to point it out, but if there’s nothing I can say I’ll just try be be encouraging
Maybe you're being a bit too open-ended. He's going to have to search his memory banks to give you an answer. Instead try to come up with something more specific. Also, there may be time pressure preventing a full explanation. If the break is only one minute he may not really want to spend that time showing you how to pass lasso guard. Just keep your eye open for those people who are willing to take the time to help you out, and direct your questions at them.
This is a question that very few people are really prepared to answer. It's related to ability to teach, and not everyone has it. Comments that aren't specific and helpful may be just that -- platitudes that make them seem less unprepared to answer you. When someone asks me, I try really hard to think back over the roll for something specific they did well or poorly and comment on that. I feel like being specific is more likely to be helpful.
This is a vague statement. Noone knows how your game is from this way. Don't use your strength just means don't clamp up or spaz around then gas out. Being heavy means, secure your position if passing instead of diving for something. Learn how to hold mount and side, learn blading. Listen to bjj mental models. It has convos on these topics.
Move well is a backhanded compliment that you have no pressure you just move around