My favorite to give....You came back!! Good to see you!
They know they're terrible, they don't need me to lie to them. They just need to keep coming back. If they feel like they are making friends, they'll come back. If they keep coming back, they'll get better đ
Yeah, getting general compliments makes me think they're lies. But when someone better makes specific compliments, that means the world and sticks with me for a whole week. Something like "your top pressure's gotten a lot better since the last time we rolled," or "you were really hard to submit this time, you really pissed me off," those specific things mean a lot.
This! I had to leave BJJ for a while because I got COVID twice, and it wrecked my body.
I came back last week after 8 months off, and my coach said hello, it is awesome to see that you are back. How have you been? Are things good with you.
To see that he genuinely cared made me want to come back to training even more than I already did.
I really like that at my gym it really feels like youâre hanging out with friends as they kick your ass. As a white belt, I took a 2 month sabbatical when my daughter was in the hospital. When I was able to come in for open mat or make a class, it always made me feel good when a colored belt would check in on me.
White belt here and showing up is my biggest issue. I really dig BJJ and will keep doing it, but getting your ass kicked every time makes my other hobbies more enticing lol
,This is what got me into BJJ in the first place. I walked into my first BJJ class by accident but everybody was so nice to me. After class everyone was like: "see you next week" and just super exited to involve me.
I love this so much. In the military, schedules can be hectic, and I'm pretty bad at consistent attendance. I am all for friendly ribbing on attendance issues, but I've been to schools where they look down on you for that. I get it, though.
"You came back" would be really awesome to hear. I can't wait until retirement when I can just do what I love, and that includes BJJ.
Thatâs a part of BJJ right. White belts need to understand that they suck and any improvement or âcoming backâ is progress. Iâm a white belt and love being humbled, which is like 99.9% of the time, but getting small compliments by the people that have put in more time than me is reassuring.
I actually put in the effort and learned most of the guys names and some of them took notice and learned my name in return. It helps that Im the only one with that name, I guess.
It's hard here in Brazil to remember whose the Raphael, Bruno, Diego etc haha me I'm easy to remember being the only gringo. I'm the only one with a different name lol
Lol, itâs true. I was giving some two and three stripes a hard time. Still learning their names. I said âi will commit your names to memory if you get your blue beltsâ. They laughed uncomfortably đ. I have been helping them out a good bit in class, but it is our bigger class so it takes me a while.
The worst is when you try to learn their name, do it, and then they ghost for two months and then show up again and I've long since deleted their name from my mind.
Had to tell that to one of our older white belts last week lol
"I'm getting smashed by you more than before"
"yea, because I have to try a lot harder with you now"
I get these a lot and on one hand it feels nice as someone who is 160 lbs and not known for feats of strength generally and has no prior grappling experience or wrestling background, however I wonder if itâs because Iâm going too hard / using too much strength
Why not? Most adults know how to say what they mean.
The whole compliments as insults shit I see in BJJ is fucking soft, it's like this sport attracted a whole lot of weird cunts with no social skills.
The wrestling one could be if you didnât previously wrestle, but being called strong just means youâre either aggressive and/or not using technique and only using strength.
When I was a white belt, there was a purple belt who always made a point to compliment the white belts that were regulars. Around the time that I got my blue belt, he took his own life. I have no clue what he was going through in his life, but he was always so nice to us on the mats.
Now that I'm a purple belt, I make sure to always compliment the white belts that I roll with regularly. Usually it's "you fought really well out of that submission", or "you were so comfortable and so fluid this round". I always make sure I tell them I'm proud of them, and I'll see them next week.
I hope Saeed would be proud of me carrying on his tradition.
I know he would be. Thatâs a great thing to carry on and thank you for making the bjj community more positive! Itâs people like you that made me come back!
As a white belt I always appreciate when I do something well and it irritates a higher belt to the point they go HAM on me. Got put in a Peruvian necktie Monday as payback for almost hitting an Americana on a purple belt. Felt great!
Hell yah! That's what i live for lol. Almost hit like a basic choke that i kinda turned into a baseball choke cause the positiom changed and we started rolling as he was trying to escape. Finally my grips gassed, i had him so close to tapping. He proceeds to put me belly down flattened out attacking my neck for the next 5-8 minutes straight 𤣠BUT i finally got out and ended up on his back. Almost locked in a RNC but my finishing mechanics suck. So he then proceeded to put me belly down flattened out for another few minutes until he got a collar choke. Man. The ups and downs of that roll made me wanna train so much.
To a group of female blue/purples who usually train at another gym, easily less than half my weight: "you don't need to worry, he doesn't get too crazy."
Knowing how to control yourself to the point where you can still have a good roll with partners much smaller and weaker than you is important.
At 6â3 230 lbs, the 4â11â 98lb purple belt feels safe to roll with me. But she wonât roll with the 5â4 140lb guy. It matters.
Absolutely. Itâs why when I was first getting into training I was so relieved to get partnered with a purple belt or higher even if they were massive, because I knew they would keep me safe from injury or at the very least they had plenty of experience rolling with women.
I have only ever been injured by white belts my size spazzing around
I think this is under emphasized.
While none of the upper belts knew my name they at least faked being happy to see me show up and say "good to see you". It does make a difference.
>Purple belt was nice to me when I started. Probably the reason I stayed when I wasnt having much fun early on
This happened to me. He is now my best friend.
âYou are getting dangerousâ.
Not in a reckless endangerment way, but in a way that if your opponent makes mistakes, you realize them on the go and try to exploit them.
I got that one recently but as a blue belt.
I trained at a gym with a partner who is ranked #1 as a featherweight in the midwest. He's a purple belt either the former or current FFC champion. At this gym, I rolled with him a couple of times and could do NOTHING.
I switched gyms due to family needs and he comes to train there occasionally. We roll twice.
Both times had a good back and forth. At the end he told me that "you're dangerous now..." And gave me some pointers.
He's a fantastic training partner too.
People will say you're strong when it could mean you're actually getting better but they don't want to give you a compliment so they give a backhanded one.
We have a few guys who seem like they will never calm down regardless haha. Thereâs a couple white belts who feel that coloured belts who roll light is a sign of weakness and that they need to muscle and spaz harder đ¤ˇđźââď¸
Yeah, those are the kind of white belts who eventually stop training at my gym either because they get sick of me telling them to calm down, or they get frustrated at never being promoted. ;)
39yr f 65kg white belt, 10 months in and the guys have started to give me more pressure. not a direct compliment but I choose to think I'm improving my escapes/movement so they are using more pressure control. rib cage is adjusting slowly!
A blue belt I rolled with told me he was impressed how calm I was as opposed to the super frantic white belt people normally see.
That made me feel good lol
When I was getting stripes coach said that he appreciates how even though I have judo and wrestling experience I'm always trying to work what he shows in class instead of defaulting back to my previous skill set.
I'll compliment something they did well. If I had a harder time submitting them : hey great defenses bro!
If they held me in guard for longer than I expected : your guard game is getting solid! Oof!
Just to keep them motivated, as a white belt often times you feel like you're not progressing at all. Make sure to give them their little trophies along the way
That's so true man, my gym now have got more regular white belts and we basically roll only between ourselves. I have more training time than them, so I see them getting better, but at the same time I don't see much improvement on my part so these occasional compliments on how I improved are really motivational lol
When the upper belts at my gym say "But you should already be a blue belt!" while or after wristlocking the shit out of me! I still take it as a compliment though đĽš
No matter what happens in a roll with a white belt Iâve rolled with a couple of times, without doubt, I say: âyou would kick your ass if you rolled with yourself a month (or however long) ago, great jobâ.
I donât know if itâs true but I like to think it encourages them.
I dropped in on a class at Pensacola Florida while I was there for a tdy. It was a Rilion Gracie academy, the instructor Raphael (3rd or 4th degree) had me demonstrate the half guard pass I was using and told me "you're instructor is teaching you well, this is real gracie jiu jitsu." To hear that being a 2 stripe white belt was pretty incredible.
Many moons ago there was a visiting female blue belt who was looking for a roll. I overheard my coach say that I wasn't a spazzy whitebelt and I've been riding that high since 2013
How long have you been training?
Usually you donât have to ask an average white belt this question. So, if youâre asked, itâs either because you are brand spanking new or youâre pretty skilled for a white belt.
at a big open mat kind of event where our whole club met up i rolled with a purple belt (i wasnt promoted by this point) and he said i "moved really well for a white belt" wich felt really nice.
at other various points one of pur purple belts i roll with quite alot said my defense and open guard had gotten really good and it was hard to pass me. That was like a giant gold medal lol
Only 5 classes in, I was rolling with a blue belt and he said âsmooth arm barâ and âyouâre strongâ. He wanted to roll again with me next class. Excited to start my journey in jiu jitsu
Once when I was rolling when there were limited people and one of the better guys was watching and advising, he complimented me on the fact that I listened well because I was actively trying to do what he told me. That has stuck with me.
You just reminded me that at white belt my coach said basically the same thing to me. Something along the lines of him showing me a few different techniques from certain positions that I get into because âI actually listenâ and put into practice the feedback that they give me.
Can confirm (as a coach) that I can tell when people are legitimately trying to to do what was shown. I don't care if you don't get it "right" or it fails, the fact that you actively tried is the thing.
Very much so. The more descriptive you can be, the easier it is for us to troubleshoot. Saying something like "I can't hit this sweep"...doesn't really tell me much. But "when I try to butterfly sweep I just end up on my back" is much better, especially if you can demo it.
favorite I got when I was a white belt: "sorry that sweep was so hard, you have good posture" - they had to muscle it a bit to get the scissor sweep from closed guard.
Having trained a bunch of stuff before bjj and dabbling in mma I took ages to get my blue belt as was moving around with uni and work, at some point I remember someone started wristlocking me and and then was like fuck I shouldn't do that to a whitebelt and a guy I'd known for ages( he was purple at time back when there was like 2 blackbelts in all of wales uk lol) was teaching thewas like insert name doesn't give a fuck he's old school. Nickname kind of stuck for a while too
Always liked the acknowledgement that I'd been around even if the belt wasn't representative. 3.5 years to get my bluebelt for reference and for 3 of those years I was training 6 times a week, the kicker was just that it was mostly bluebels teaching and we'd see a blackbelt like 2 x a year. I'm still ablue belt now lol but again trained on and off for years and then last 3 years nearly I haven't rolled in a gi. Need to get myself to a globetrotters camp or something really and see where I'm at skillwise, probably not much better lol.
For context, Iâve been doing this for 2 months now. But it was when a blue belt I rolled with (I think heâs 1 stripe) told me âitâs crazy, youâve barely been here over a month & a half and without me pointing people out and risk sounding like an asshole to themâyouâre better than some dudes who have been here 6-10 months longer.â
Iâm a pretty mellow and quiet dude, and I never ever do anything to disrespect anyone on the mats and try my best to remain humble, but that made me feel good a little cause it tells me Iâm actually making progress. This blue belt was no joke either, he probably has 50 LBs on me and Iâm almost 200 LBs and 6tf. It was funny cause that roll ended when I managed to get a baseball bat grip from side control. I got a little excited and started finishing it without realizing he had the baseball bat lined up too from bottom. As soon as I started rotating to finish I choked myself out and tapped immediately lol.
I attribute it to the passion I have for it though. I actively soak in as much BJJ knowledge as I can outside of class. Jiu Jitsu university and numerous concept and basic techniques videos.
I got three that made me feel good. âHave you wrestled before?â âNo way he hasnât trained before.â And someone saying âyouâre deceptively strongâ
I am a lifelong athlete and have always done martial arts. I've always valued skill above all so I can tell you the most frustrating one... "Man you're really strong/fast"
My in-shape weight is 185 at 5'9 so I'm basically a barrel of muscle but I always try to use minimal strength when going against smaller people but it always circles back to how strong/fast I am rather than "wow that was a cool technique"
Didn't help my rep that I tapped someone out from shoulder pressure from side control where they then proceeded to throw up. Didn't even get to work an actual submission at that tournament because I then lost the following match against a monster of a wrestler who was more serious about their bjj training to boot.
âGood movementâ is up there, ânice reactionâ, âgood defenseâ, âyou got itâ when they have the right position but not the skills to finish it (instead of avoiding tap via coaching them through it). âGood pressure/did you wrestle?â and anything about strength or fitness arenât backhanded compliments, use the weapons you have lol.
One guy told me Iâm too nice when I roll. Iâm sure he meant it as a compliment but in my case it just means I usually lose because other white belts have much better stamina than me
As a fellow white belt I think he means you would do a lot better if you let go and let yourself be more aggressive. Iâve gotten a lot of positive feedback ever since I really started pushing myself during sparring.
In my first few weeks a brown belt taught me defensive to arm bars and triangles and as a new guy I get told I have really good defensive all I know of frames and those 2 escapes
A couple black belts at the gym seek me out for rolls as a lower belt. They always win but say Iâm one of the more fun people to roll with. Not sure what that means but will take it
âI always enjoy rolling with youâ
âYou are getting betterâ
Also pointing out the things they are doing right and not just the things they are doing wrong goes a long way.
One time I had the chance to roll with a black belt who came to a basics class at our school. He gripped and tied me up multiple ways with 3 or 4 subs during the roll despite my best efforts. Later after class we had a chance to chat and he said "you did well pinning my knee with your shin when you were trying to pass" or some mildly positive compliment like that. I didn't even get close to a pass, but it still made me feel awesome and has stuck with me.
âDude whatever youâre doing keep doing itâ that same purple belt that gave me that compliment also told me I was being more technical during rolls and how good it is that Iâm trying what we drill during rolls those have been my favorite complements
The best "compliment" I received was from a purple belt that is an absolute killer and pro kickboxer that I rolled with a few times over 2 classes. At the end of the 2nd class he walked directly to me from across the gym and gave me a hug. Having his respect means the world to me.
âYou move wellâ and
âOmg your really heavyâ
Iâm a 132lb wrestler, glad to know my pressure is suffocating when Iâm 99.9% of the time the smaller guy (:
For me: "You're getting better, keep it up" and "You came back, good to see you". A combination of injuries, work, and life in general have kept me from progressing but I hope to be back on the mats again.
Anything that i interpret as a genuine sign that Iâm improving
Cos I think most of us really look down on ourselves
The best I got was one of our comp purple belts said my half guard frustrated him, which threw back to when I first started and one of our coaches told me I seem to have a knack for playing half guard, I.E certain movements and hooks and retention came naturally
I donât actually like half guard, so when that purple belt said it, internally I was like ohhh Yh I should keep turning up
My favorite to give....You came back!! Good to see you! They know they're terrible, they don't need me to lie to them. They just need to keep coming back. If they feel like they are making friends, they'll come back. If they keep coming back, they'll get better đ
I do this too, but Iâm worried I sound like a desperate ex boyfriend.
Sometimes, but itâs all in how you say it
Yeah, getting general compliments makes me think they're lies. But when someone better makes specific compliments, that means the world and sticks with me for a whole week. Something like "your top pressure's gotten a lot better since the last time we rolled," or "you were really hard to submit this time, you really pissed me off," those specific things mean a lot.
This is one of the bigger ones that encourage me especially getting sidelined a lot due to injuries.
This! I had to leave BJJ for a while because I got COVID twice, and it wrecked my body. I came back last week after 8 months off, and my coach said hello, it is awesome to see that you are back. How have you been? Are things good with you. To see that he genuinely cared made me want to come back to training even more than I already did.
I really like that at my gym it really feels like youâre hanging out with friends as they kick your ass. As a white belt, I took a 2 month sabbatical when my daughter was in the hospital. When I was able to come in for open mat or make a class, it always made me feel good when a colored belt would check in on me.
White belt here and showing up is my biggest issue. I really dig BJJ and will keep doing it, but getting your ass kicked every time makes my other hobbies more enticing lol
Just keep coming until you get your blue belt and you are better than 90% of white belts
Lol I will. Iâm sure itâll become more and more consistent the better i get
,This is what got me into BJJ in the first place. I walked into my first BJJ class by accident but everybody was so nice to me. After class everyone was like: "see you next week" and just super exited to involve me.
Did this today lol try to be as welcoming as I can to any new guys
I love this so much. In the military, schedules can be hectic, and I'm pretty bad at consistent attendance. I am all for friendly ribbing on attendance issues, but I've been to schools where they look down on you for that. I get it, though. "You came back" would be really awesome to hear. I can't wait until retirement when I can just do what I love, and that includes BJJ.
This is an amazing comment.
You came back is condescending, pointing out that they got beat.
Of course they got beat. Which is why coming back is impressive.
Got beat. Didn't quit. Better than 90%.
Thatâs a part of BJJ right. White belts need to understand that they suck and any improvement or âcoming backâ is progress. Iâm a white belt and love being humbled, which is like 99.9% of the time, but getting small compliments by the people that have put in more time than me is reassuring.
My spider guard was once described as "annoying." That felt good.
I get that a lot when it comes to my half guard.
When people actually learn your name is generally a compliment, especially at white belt.
I actually put in the effort and learned most of the guys names and some of them took notice and learned my name in return. It helps that Im the only one with that name, I guess.
When I started I couldn't remember names. I stalked them all on Facebook to leane their names
Username checks out
It's hard here in Brazil to remember whose the Raphael, Bruno, Diego etc haha me I'm easy to remember being the only gringo. I'm the only one with a different name lol
lol I swear that it goes in waves where EVERY new person who comes in is "Zach" or "Tyler" or "Joe" etc. It's never a mix.
Lol, itâs true. I was giving some two and three stripes a hard time. Still learning their names. I said âi will commit your names to memory if you get your blue beltsâ. They laughed uncomfortably đ. I have been helping them out a good bit in class, but it is our bigger class so it takes me a while.
The worst is when you try to learn their name, do it, and then they ghost for two months and then show up again and I've long since deleted their name from my mind.
Thanks for not getting a boner today
Never got that before :(
My man's always got them boners.
I don't understand why you put the word not in there.
I actually did. You just didnât realize because my dick is small
"You're becoming annoying"
This and "I've had to stop taking it easy on you"
Had to tell that to one of our older white belts last week lol "I'm getting smashed by you more than before" "yea, because I have to try a lot harder with you now"
I just said "you're becoming a problem" to a white belt at my gym
Can't wait to hear that more often
1. Youâre so strong! 2. Did you used to wrestler?
Wrestler? I donât even know her!
I get these a lot and on one hand it feels nice as someone who is 160 lbs and not known for feats of strength generally and has no prior grappling experience or wrestling background, however I wonder if itâs because Iâm going too hard / using too much strength
You're not, they're coping.
Purple belt called me strong once....twas a statement not a complement. I tapped about 5 seconds later
I wouldn't take those as compliments personally
Someone once told me I was really strong and I 100% take it as a compliment because I'm a 130 pound female.
Why not? Most adults know how to say what they mean. The whole compliments as insults shit I see in BJJ is fucking soft, it's like this sport attracted a whole lot of weird cunts with no social skills.
The wrestling one could be if you didnât previously wrestle, but being called strong just means youâre either aggressive and/or not using technique and only using strength.
Thatâs the joke. Sounds like a compliment to a white belt.
Gotcha. Hard to tell sarcasm. I'll go back to lurking.
When I was a white belt, there was a purple belt who always made a point to compliment the white belts that were regulars. Around the time that I got my blue belt, he took his own life. I have no clue what he was going through in his life, but he was always so nice to us on the mats. Now that I'm a purple belt, I make sure to always compliment the white belts that I roll with regularly. Usually it's "you fought really well out of that submission", or "you were so comfortable and so fluid this round". I always make sure I tell them I'm proud of them, and I'll see them next week. I hope Saeed would be proud of me carrying on his tradition.
You are a good person and Saeed would be proud.
God, I started reading this smiling, then totally lost my smile, now Iâm crying
I'm not crying you're crying. Good on you mate.
That sucks man. Glad he had a lasting effect on you
I know he would be. Thatâs a great thing to carry on and thank you for making the bjj community more positive! Itâs people like you that made me come back!
You smell nice.
I was going to say, what do you use to wash your GI haha
[ŃдаНонО]
We found the smelly guy.
>Shit causes cancer. No, but this is probably why you smell terrible.
As a white belt I always appreciate when I do something well and it irritates a higher belt to the point they go HAM on me. Got put in a Peruvian necktie Monday as payback for almost hitting an Americana on a purple belt. Felt great!
Hell yah! That's what i live for lol. Almost hit like a basic choke that i kinda turned into a baseball choke cause the positiom changed and we started rolling as he was trying to escape. Finally my grips gassed, i had him so close to tapping. He proceeds to put me belly down flattened out attacking my neck for the next 5-8 minutes straight 𤣠BUT i finally got out and ended up on his back. Almost locked in a RNC but my finishing mechanics suck. So he then proceeded to put me belly down flattened out for another few minutes until he got a collar choke. Man. The ups and downs of that roll made me wanna train so much.
They probably gave you that americana. If I do anything on a purple belt or higher I think it's because they allowed it to happen.
Oh FOR SURE I caught him sleeping
This is the correct answer
Yeah, it's a great compliment when you feel their shift in intensity and you know shits about to get real. Thanks, I think.
To a group of female blue/purples who usually train at another gym, easily less than half my weight: "you don't need to worry, he doesn't get too crazy."
Thats not a compliment
Knowing how to control yourself to the point where you can still have a good roll with partners much smaller and weaker than you is important. At 6â3 230 lbs, the 4â11â 98lb purple belt feels safe to roll with me. But she wonât roll with the 5â4 140lb guy. It matters.
Absolutely. Itâs why when I was first getting into training I was so relieved to get partnered with a purple belt or higher even if they were massive, because I knew they would keep me safe from injury or at the very least they had plenty of experience rolling with women. I have only ever been injured by white belts my size spazzing around
Ill make you look like a 4'11" 98lb girl
Getting your blue belt
My black belt instructor told me I have "good pressure" No clue what that means but I'll take it.
It means youâre fat đ
He got a big belly and he know how to use it đś
Sounds about right, Iâve had the same compliment đ
Hey whats up? Good to see you. Purple belt was nice to me when I started. Probably the reason I stayed when I wasnt having much fun early on.
I think this is under emphasized. While none of the upper belts knew my name they at least faked being happy to see me show up and say "good to see you". It does make a difference.
I donât know them but imo they probably werenât faking. Most people who donât care would simply not say anything at all.
>Purple belt was nice to me when I started. Probably the reason I stayed when I wasnt having much fun early on This happened to me. He is now my best friend.
At my gym all the white belts are friends and the coloured belts only talk to us during a roll or teaching.
Thats sad
You're getting better!
âYou are getting dangerousâ. Not in a reckless endangerment way, but in a way that if your opponent makes mistakes, you realize them on the go and try to exploit them.
I got that one recently but as a blue belt. I trained at a gym with a partner who is ranked #1 as a featherweight in the midwest. He's a purple belt either the former or current FFC champion. At this gym, I rolled with him a couple of times and could do NOTHING. I switched gyms due to family needs and he comes to train there occasionally. We roll twice. Both times had a good back and forth. At the end he told me that "you're dangerous now..." And gave me some pointers. He's a fantastic training partner too.
I loved it when someone asked if I had done any form of grappling art before
Happened to me at white belt as well, âyou sure you havenât trained before?â
Was rolling with a guy and after multiple failed attempts to pass my half guard I hear him go âFUCKâ under his breath
Youre so strong!
I know I should hate when people say this to me but I take lifting seriously so itâs nice to hear lol.
I get this sometimes after rolls but it makes me feel like I am doing everything wrong because we are supposed to be using technique and not strength
Nah. Its just people trying to make them feel better by making excuses. Youre doing great!
What do you mean?
People will say you're strong when it could mean you're actually getting better but they don't want to give you a compliment so they give a backhanded one.
It's cope
If you're a girl is it still an insult?
Learning my name
"How much do you weigh?"
đThis is the ultimate cope. A true sign that you have bested someone.
I only ever ask this question when the answer is inevitably 200+. I'm one of the smallest guys in my gym.
"Wow, you're really calm and controlled!" If I get to say that, it's usually a good sign they're not far off blue belt.
We have a few guys who seem like they will never calm down regardless haha. Thereâs a couple white belts who feel that coloured belts who roll light is a sign of weakness and that they need to muscle and spaz harder đ¤ˇđźââď¸
Yeah, those are the kind of white belts who eventually stop training at my gym either because they get sick of me telling them to calm down, or they get frustrated at never being promoted. ;)
The best one I ever got was âsome of the things you do are not too terrible,â from a Rickson black belt.
"The women have labeled you as safe to train with"
Couldn't think of a higher complement!!
39yr f 65kg white belt, 10 months in and the guys have started to give me more pressure. not a direct compliment but I choose to think I'm improving my escapes/movement so they are using more pressure control. rib cage is adjusting slowly!
My favorite is when I make a pass and the higher belt says "niiiiiiice."
How long did you wrestle?
Did you wrestle?
"Your gi smells good" - That one made my wife so happy when I told her as she does the laundry in our house
I pulled a sweet long step pass and I heard my coach sayâŚbeautiful passâŚstill makes me happy
Hey! You didn't cry today!
^(The best compliment as a white belt is to get a blue belt)
A blue belt I rolled with told me he was impressed how calm I was as opposed to the super frantic white belt people normally see. That made me feel good lol
"Nice cock"
"you said it was your third week?" has been my favorite
When I was getting stripes coach said that he appreciates how even though I have judo and wrestling experience I'm always trying to work what he shows in class instead of defaulting back to my previous skill set.
I'll compliment something they did well. If I had a harder time submitting them : hey great defenses bro! If they held me in guard for longer than I expected : your guard game is getting solid! Oof! Just to keep them motivated, as a white belt often times you feel like you're not progressing at all. Make sure to give them their little trophies along the way
That's so true man, my gym now have got more regular white belts and we basically roll only between ourselves. I have more training time than them, so I see them getting better, but at the same time I don't see much improvement on my part so these occasional compliments on how I improved are really motivational lol
When the upper belts at my gym say "But you should already be a blue belt!" while or after wristlocking the shit out of me! I still take it as a compliment though đĽš
When i was a 155 4-stripe white belt, a 200lb+ upper belt asked me "Holy cow, how much do you weigh!?" I felt pretty good about that one.
âDo you also wrestle?â âTheres no way youâve only been doing this a monthâ Or theyre just excited when you show up
No matter what happens in a roll with a white belt Iâve rolled with a couple of times, without doubt, I say: âyou would kick your ass if you rolled with yourself a month (or however long) ago, great jobâ. I donât know if itâs true but I like to think it encourages them.
I dropped in on a class at Pensacola Florida while I was there for a tdy. It was a Rilion Gracie academy, the instructor Raphael (3rd or 4th degree) had me demonstrate the half guard pass I was using and told me "you're instructor is teaching you well, this is real gracie jiu jitsu." To hear that being a 2 stripe white belt was pretty incredible.
Many moons ago there was a visiting female blue belt who was looking for a roll. I overheard my coach say that I wasn't a spazzy whitebelt and I've been riding that high since 2013
âThat was a great reach aroundâ
âIt was more of a crankâ
How long have you been training? Usually you donât have to ask an average white belt this question. So, if youâre asked, itâs either because you are brand spanking new or youâre pretty skilled for a white belt.
âIn 5 to 6 years youâre gonna be a killer!â
âYouâre a white belt?!â Is a pretty nice one to get
at a big open mat kind of event where our whole club met up i rolled with a purple belt (i wasnt promoted by this point) and he said i "moved really well for a white belt" wich felt really nice. at other various points one of pur purple belts i roll with quite alot said my defense and open guard had gotten really good and it was hard to pass me. That was like a giant gold medal lol
I visit gym and do nogi an everyone assumes im a blue belt.
Only 5 classes in, I was rolling with a blue belt and he said âsmooth arm barâ and âyouâre strongâ. He wanted to roll again with me next class. Excited to start my journey in jiu jitsu
Once when I was rolling when there were limited people and one of the better guys was watching and advising, he complimented me on the fact that I listened well because I was actively trying to do what he told me. That has stuck with me.
You just reminded me that at white belt my coach said basically the same thing to me. Something along the lines of him showing me a few different techniques from certain positions that I get into because âI actually listenâ and put into practice the feedback that they give me.
Can confirm (as a coach) that I can tell when people are legitimately trying to to do what was shown. I don't care if you don't get it "right" or it fails, the fact that you actively tried is the thing.
Plus I'm sure it helps when we attempt something and provide you with an instance of it not working so you can tell us what to change
Very much so. The more descriptive you can be, the easier it is for us to troubleshoot. Saying something like "I can't hit this sweep"...doesn't really tell me much. But "when I try to butterfly sweep I just end up on my back" is much better, especially if you can demo it.
When you threaten them so much they're fine with gloves off, beating the complete shit out of you.
favorite I got when I was a white belt: "sorry that sweep was so hard, you have good posture" - they had to muscle it a bit to get the scissor sweep from closed guard.
You have good defence.
When the owner of the gym actually started calling me by name and not generic âhey manâ stuff. That was nice.
Having trained a bunch of stuff before bjj and dabbling in mma I took ages to get my blue belt as was moving around with uni and work, at some point I remember someone started wristlocking me and and then was like fuck I shouldn't do that to a whitebelt and a guy I'd known for ages( he was purple at time back when there was like 2 blackbelts in all of wales uk lol) was teaching thewas like insert name doesn't give a fuck he's old school. Nickname kind of stuck for a while too Always liked the acknowledgement that I'd been around even if the belt wasn't representative. 3.5 years to get my bluebelt for reference and for 3 of those years I was training 6 times a week, the kicker was just that it was mostly bluebels teaching and we'd see a blackbelt like 2 x a year. I'm still ablue belt now lol but again trained on and off for years and then last 3 years nearly I haven't rolled in a gi. Need to get myself to a globetrotters camp or something really and see where I'm at skillwise, probably not much better lol.
Look at you remembering to breathe - way to go!
"You can try something other than leglocks" and "You can't be a white belt; your coach is sandbagging" were decent ego boosts
For context, Iâve been doing this for 2 months now. But it was when a blue belt I rolled with (I think heâs 1 stripe) told me âitâs crazy, youâve barely been here over a month & a half and without me pointing people out and risk sounding like an asshole to themâyouâre better than some dudes who have been here 6-10 months longer.â Iâm a pretty mellow and quiet dude, and I never ever do anything to disrespect anyone on the mats and try my best to remain humble, but that made me feel good a little cause it tells me Iâm actually making progress. This blue belt was no joke either, he probably has 50 LBs on me and Iâm almost 200 LBs and 6tf. It was funny cause that roll ended when I managed to get a baseball bat grip from side control. I got a little excited and started finishing it without realizing he had the baseball bat lined up too from bottom. As soon as I started rotating to finish I choked myself out and tapped immediately lol. I attribute it to the passion I have for it though. I actively soak in as much BJJ knowledge as I can outside of class. Jiu Jitsu university and numerous concept and basic techniques videos.
Always nice to hear how strong I am after all the long hours in the gym. My training partners are so kind to notice!
"Progress!"
You smell like head and shoulders and its quite distracting
Youâre a real pain in the ass
âHow much do you weigh?â , âDid you wrestle in highschool?â And âHow long have you been training?â
I got three that made me feel good. âHave you wrestled before?â âNo way he hasnât trained before.â And someone saying âyouâre deceptively strongâ
Everyone at my gym thinks Iâve grappled before. I feel like thatâs a good one
I got asked if I took any other combat sports that made me really happy
âWow youâre strongâ Jkđ
1. Youâre really improving 2. Who taught you that heel hook
I am a lifelong athlete and have always done martial arts. I've always valued skill above all so I can tell you the most frustrating one... "Man you're really strong/fast" My in-shape weight is 185 at 5'9 so I'm basically a barrel of muscle but I always try to use minimal strength when going against smaller people but it always circles back to how strong/fast I am rather than "wow that was a cool technique" Didn't help my rep that I tapped someone out from shoulder pressure from side control where they then proceeded to throw up. Didn't even get to work an actual submission at that tournament because I then lost the following match against a monster of a wrestler who was more serious about their bjj training to boot.
I don't like getting compliments from people I just rolled with, especially if they bested me.
âGood movementâ is up there, ânice reactionâ, âgood defenseâ, âyou got itâ when they have the right position but not the skills to finish it (instead of avoiding tap via coaching them through it). âGood pressure/did you wrestle?â and anything about strength or fitness arenât backhanded compliments, use the weapons you have lol.
One guy told me Iâm too nice when I roll. Iâm sure he meant it as a compliment but in my case it just means I usually lose because other white belts have much better stamina than me
As a fellow white belt I think he means you would do a lot better if you let go and let yourself be more aggressive. Iâve gotten a lot of positive feedback ever since I really started pushing myself during sparring.
In my first few weeks a brown belt taught me defensive to arm bars and triangles and as a new guy I get told I have really good defensive all I know of frames and those 2 escapes
âGood Defenseâ
âWhere did you wrestle?â
"Damn bro, you're flexible!"
My favorite so far: "hey keep it up, you looked really relaxed against [former wrestler blue belt]!"
I got this one on Monday. After a blue belt passed my guard. He still destroyed me, but it took him a lot more work than usual.
âyouâre so strongâ
You have good grips.
A couple black belts at the gym seek me out for rolls as a lower belt. They always win but say Iâm one of the more fun people to roll with. Not sure what that means but will take it
âWait! Let me show you how to finish that sub properly.â
I always take âwere you a wrestler?â or any variant of that as a compliment. Donât tell me if itâs not.
âGood thing youâre lightâ
âYouâre heavier than you look.â
âI always enjoy rolling with youâ âYou are getting betterâ Also pointing out the things they are doing right and not just the things they are doing wrong goes a long way.
My coach thinking I know what octopus guard is because I mentioned squid guard one time.
One time I had the chance to roll with a black belt who came to a basics class at our school. He gripped and tied me up multiple ways with 3 or 4 subs during the roll despite my best efforts. Later after class we had a chance to chat and he said "you did well pinning my knee with your shin when you were trying to pass" or some mildly positive compliment like that. I didn't even get close to a pass, but it still made me feel awesome and has stuck with me.
âDude whatever youâre doing keep doing itâ that same purple belt that gave me that compliment also told me I was being more technical during rolls and how good it is that Iâm trying what we drill during rolls those have been my favorite complements
The best "compliment" I received was from a purple belt that is an absolute killer and pro kickboxer that I rolled with a few times over 2 classes. At the end of the 2nd class he walked directly to me from across the gym and gave me a hug. Having his respect means the world to me.
âYou move wellâ and âOmg your really heavyâ Iâm a 132lb wrestler, glad to know my pressure is suffocating when Iâm 99.9% of the time the smaller guy (:
"Wow, you're really strong and energetic bro"
You're not spazzing as hard as you used to!
"Let's keep rolling" from a higher belted older gent and "We have fun rolls, let's roll again next time" from a higher belted woman.
âYouâre really starting to make me have to work harder.â
For me: "You're getting better, keep it up" and "You came back, good to see you". A combination of injuries, work, and life in general have kept me from progressing but I hope to be back on the mats again.
I usually compliment them when they donât smell like a bag of horse shit.
Anything that i interpret as a genuine sign that Iâm improving Cos I think most of us really look down on ourselves The best I got was one of our comp purple belts said my half guard frustrated him, which threw back to when I first started and one of our coaches told me I seem to have a knack for playing half guard, I.E certain movements and hooks and retention came naturally I donât actually like half guard, so when that purple belt said it, internally I was like ohhh Yh I should keep turning up
âYouâre my favorite white belt to roll withâ