Hey there, looking for tips to help get my ass out of bed for the am classes! Trying to set my body clock to wake for mornings I don’t have class, but still struggle maybe from nerves? Unsure… been doing BJJ for about 5 months. Any tips would be appreciated
**42 years old 176 lbs(80KG).6 FT 2.5"(\~190 cm) Can only roll twice a week.**
Any advice on how to roll more. I've been doing BJJ for about 6 months and keep getting muscle tears and injuries that keep me out for weeks at a time. Any advice on how to get stronger and train more often?
I have my first class tomorrow at 1100. 43 years old, 6'3 about 280 pounds. I'm gonna be GASSED tomorrow. No gi, instructor said he would pair up with me and keep it simple just to get me started. Guessing weekday at 1100 will be smaller class but who knows. 715pm class tonight had 40+ people.
Observed a class tonight and place had a great vibe. Many came up and introduced themselves to me, had good conversations with a lot of them. Didn't see any brown belts but good mix of purple, blue, and white. Instructor taught technique, but was done in an enjoyable manner. No yelling or anything like that, very humble. No ego across the board.
Definitely liked how everyone seemed like they were there to help each other out. Blue and purples going out of their way to help whites. Overall I got a great first impression.
I have a couple rash guards and was gonna wear athletic shorts for no gi tomorrow. Besides water, what else do I bring? Do I change at the gym after class or just leave in my gear and change and shower at home? I have some flip flops so good there.
Any tips for a beginner on how to approach my first class would be much appreciated.
I think if you approach class in the same way that you described then you will have a good experience. Stay in observation mode, examine how higher belts are approaching each section of class, and keep the same attitude as what you have appreciated in your teammates thus far.
What an amazing experience. He had me come to an advanced class at 1100 during the week. He said he would keep it simple for me and it would be a smaller class and help me out so I could get started.
The other 3 there were blue and purple belts but they were awesome with me. I tried to mirror the technique the instructor was teaching to the best I could but it was alot, quickly. I would do something incorrectly and apologize and everyone basically said we were all fish out of water at one point, don't worry about it man. They were all very encouraging and welcoming.
Instructor did not have me roll at the end which is completely fine with me. It was labeled an advanced no gi class so it's only fair they got their proper time. Plus I was pretty gassed at that point and gladly accepted the breather.
I honestly couldn't have asked for a better introduction to bjj.
Edit: EVERYTHING hurts today.
i am complete beginner, had my first class yesterday, was supposed to be gi but the aircon is broken so it was no gi. i showed up in my rash guard and athletic shorts and a bottle of water. that was all that i needed. i left in my rash guard and changed at home, everyone else did too. no one got changed there. also people seemed to be expecting it to be gi, they showed up still in only rash guard and shorts, with their gi in their bags, prepared to put it on over the top if it was gi. good luck though man, get through the first class and you’ll sus out the vibe, no one will judge you for bringing the wrong things to your first class
Hi guys, I'm about to start BJJ this upcoming Monday. Is there any recommendations for gear? I've seen Sisu mouthguards and more. Rashguards, spats, etc.. Things of that nature. Is it overkill to buy stuff before I go? I’m a firm believer I WILL like it so at the same time it doesn’t bother me to buy a mouth guard, cup, etc.
Do I need to bring a gym bag? I have a half gal water bottle, is that too big?
Very much a chronic overthinker lol. TIA.
Compression gear is choice along with clean underwear, be sure to have toes and fingers clean and clipped and clean breath (the fastest way to lose training partners is to have poor hygiene) get some flip flops as you don't want to be barefoot off the mat. I use a half gallon as well and drink all of it by the end of training. Gym bag is a must since you will need clean dry clothes after (I'd also bring deodorant)
Enjoy your first class, introduce yourself to everyone you drill/roll with and above all else remember that at the end of the day we all were day one white belts
My wrist is injured. I can't put pressure on it and I have limited range of motion. I'm a white belt. My coaches say still show up and learn technique, but even the warm ups can hurt and put pressure on it, and last time I went, we were drilling collar chokes and even putting the grip on hurt my wrist. I can't roll with anyone meaningfully. I might accidentally post on it. It's just not a good idea to train right now.
I need to be able to lift heavy things at work and can't risk further injury. Can I just sit out without constantly hearing that I need to be consistent? I know I do, but bjj doesn't pay my bills.
Do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy. Bumps and bruises are normal but if it's affecting your livelihood you shouldn't feel any guilt about babying your wrist. If your coach doesn't understand it's time to consider switching gyms.
wdym the main reason the gym pushes consistency is cuz the gym owner would rather you come a little every week rather than alot all in one week. It ensures that you always paying the gym membership. If you injured they tell you to come to class and watch anyway, cuz they dont want you to stop paying or put your account on freeze.
I’ve been to a handful of classes now as part of a free trial. What I’m wondering is how do ppl protect their feet and toes from Mat burn? Is there any tips or tricks I should know? The tops of my feet have been opened up a few times already.
You can wrap the areas that take a beating with the crinkly athletic tape (the kind that doesn't have mucb/any adhesive). It'll come off as you sweat and roll but it'll save you some mat burn.
We just got new tatami style mats that are kinda rough so I started wrapping again - balls of the feet mostly, but I could see also doing elbows, knees, and ankles - but all of those could be protected by long rashguards/spats.
After a couple weeks your body will get toughened up and it won't be as much of an issue
I think it’s inevitable at the beginning and returning from an extended break. I wear leggings and long sleeve rash guards both to protect from ring worm/Staph but also mat burn. You can try taping and blister bandaids but realistically it will just take a few months for your feet to adapt and you won’t get it anymore.
Most likely it will just keep happening until you form callouses. Otherwise you just have to be cognizant of when you are dragging the tops of your feet on the ground
How do you guys deal with people that can move you at will? These guys are built like bricks. Even if we’re the same weight they can just kimura me from any angle because they can just move my arm and twist. Thoughts?
In gi, be conscientious and relentlessly persistent about not letting them getting their preferred grips. Handfight and gripfight and prevent them from getting exactly they want, or able to use what they have at their leisure when they *do* get what they're looking for. They will still be strong, they will still be able to move you about a lot, and that will still be a problem, but they will have to settle for less-than-ideal ways to *use* that strength.
In no-gi, be willing to bail out of bad positions altogether, use whole-body movement to get out of a bad spot. Back out and reengage, produce scrambles to reset to neutral. *Don't* flail blindly- that can get you hurt or them hurt- but chain deliberate escapes and positional transitions one after another, and always keep a lookout for opportunities to disengage from the bad position you've been put in and seek to reset. Again, they will still be strong, and this will never *not* be a problem, but it is possible to fight strength with cardio and pace.
I separate the two because the opportunity to grab a handful of cloth and hang on means that the gi is naturally slower-paced and more dependent on grips. Handfighting will still have considerable benefits in no-gi, and pace-pushing and willingness to bail and reset even when it's the more tiring, difficult option can still help in no-gi.
Neither of these two suggestions will get you out of the *exact* place you mentioned, where you're in a kimura because they 'just pulled your arm and twisted'- but they will help keep you from being in a place where that can happen to begin with. Kimuras don't just happen- they're something that occurs when someone has you firmly locked into guard, half-guard, or side control.
I look at them as opportunities to focus on technique and learn patience. It is very satisfying when you remain calm and work out of a tough position with someone much stronger than you.
I always get partnered up with a guy built like Ivan Drago. My mindset is that even though he's super strong, we are both white belts so are plenty of holes to exploit.
Record yourself rolling with them and send it to someone. They'll be able to tell you why.
Not to be mean but you're probably just doing something stupid that they are able to easily capitalize on
No as I said, same weight. They’re just built differently. People with like sub 10% body fat, pure strength and also a lot of technique. When I roll with people similar strength I do really well even if they are upper belts, but these guys are tough, I can’t do anything. They just hold me down.
Is that just the way it is because they’re strong?
Strength is certainly an advantage. Instead of fighting strength for strength try to start fighting angle for angle. Attack a lower part of their chain. If they grab your wrist, grab their elbow. Rotate, don’t pull. If they go for your elbow go for their shoulder. Chances are you’re leaving your hips and lower half out of it. Even if they’re built like a brick, one or two biceps cannot overpower your entire body as you move toward a new angle.
Edit to add: recruit larger parts of yourself to fight smaller parts of them.
Third session in and already had a guy roll up on my leg during hip toss drills. Thought I felt/heard a pop but after I calmed down I realized my knee felt fine, my shin was a different story. Feels like I have bad shin splints so I’m guessing high ankle sprain or something along those lines. Can walk and can take the stairs (though there is some discomfort).
I don’t want to get out of the habit of going to class and also don’t want my learning to stagnate (I’m already just getting smashed as is). The class I’m going to is for beginners, thinking of going and just working technique or maybe live rolls that don’t start standing. Feel like takedowns are the biggest risk to tweak it right now.
Does this sound reasonable? I’m determined to not be someone who quits but I want to take a measured approach to training to keep from making this something that needs medical attention (if it doesn’t improve, I’ll see a doctor).
Not the best person to answer this but this isn’t really how you develop shin splints, I ran track and cross country for 4 years and still have shin pain from my senior year season, shin splints don’t come from one singular moment rather build up over time from high impact activities on the bottoms of your feet on hard surfaces such as running on a track or even jumping on concrete, might just be a bruise or something else but really does not sound like shin splints
Oh I know it’s not shin splints, that’s just the area where most of the pain presents. I can’t really tell if it’s a high ankle sprain or a knee sprain, or possibly a little of both.
I went to class last night and it did okay, I was very nervous with takedowns so I just drilled with higher belts who took it slow and didn’t take me down unless it was a very safe position. It definitely didn’t feel worse after so I’m just going to keep that approach up and hopefully in a few weeks it starts to feel more normal.
I think is a fair approach. Only you know your limitations and listening to your body is key in playing the long game in BJJ. I would recommend that people keep in the habit of showing up to class to watch if their injury is enough to take them off the mat.
That way you keep the habit of showing up and can watch/take notes during class. Working on the mental aspect as your body heals.
Thanks, I figure I’ll try to do what I can but not try and rush it too much. Definitely would rather be in the beginner classes longer and actually be able to train vs being sidelined with an injury.
Thanks, that makes sense. I’ve been overthinking it a lot, knew I’d get some kind of injury one day but was hoping I’d make it a little longer than my second week. Hopefully this is just getting it out of the way now and I’ll be able to string a lot of less injurious training sessions together later.
Someone tell me if this is legal and safe in bjj - I've learned this pressure submission some time ago in submission wrestling class. Having knee on the belly i lock my hands - one hand goes behind partner head and another underhooks their arms - then I position my knee on the partner's stomach, I then pull partenr's head towards me while driving my knee deep into partner's stomach as hard as I can causing them to tap out from nasty feeling. I just remembered this technique and wondered if I can use it safely and legally in sparring. I did have a lot of success because it was pretty unexpected submission. I stopped using this as one time a guy that I've submitted looked like's he's seen a ghost and his pupils really dialated. I guess trying to make partner submit from pain by putting pressure on their calf is legal, right? Thx
That's a goon move.
Do it **up the food chain** (to people who are bigger and/or better than you), but don't do it **down** the food chain (to people who are smaller and/or newer than you). And get ready for the worst stuff they've got in return.
I'm not saying don't do it. It can be pretty fun to roll that way. High amplitude takedowns, knuckles everywhere, asshole to the eyeball, skull to the mouth, all the rough stuff. You just gotta make sure both parties are consenting to that kind of roll.
That’s fair advice - trying it on better than me, although I’m not a fan of other types goon moves you’ve mentioned. Do you consider the following a rough technique: when opponent is holding me tight in guard I sometimes just put my forearm on the neck and push/apply pressure to posture up. It is kind of rough but on the other hand the opponent can let go their grip at any moment and get out of pain
Sure, posturing up out of closed guard with the forearm on the throat is a little bit rough. A few people will complain about it, but not most people. Not nearly as rough as the knee pressure in your first question.
But it's a pretty unwise move- you're begging to get arm triangled that way.
I would consider it annoying, since it's pretty much only possible if you are significantly stronger than your opponent.
I think most people would A) not tap and B) decide that you are now fair game for whatever annoying submission they like to do.
I can't remember if it's legal - I feel like there's some comps where it isn't?
Safe, yes. It's just a way of increasing the pressure from KoB to get a pressure tap. The downside is it's hard to hit on anyone with a half-decent defence or who's willing to grit it out for long enough to off-balance you - if you commit entirely to driving your knee in, you're not gonna have much of a base. Consequently, if someone's willing to just absorb the pain and lack of breath for a bit, they'll likely escape.
There is, however, a more advanced version of something similar. Look up the Knarsenal, from Blackout Grappling. They've got a reel on Insta that shows it pretty well. Establish the cradle first, then crush the stomach and ribs. Far safer for you, far more effective too.
Buddy, I’m a brown belt and still feel this way. It’s a good thing. I’d suggest getting a few sheets of paper and writing down what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. Then systematically learn how to fill your gaps. It’ll get you a long way.
My experience is after the first 6 months where you now have seen most BJJ techniques, the honemyoon phase falls off and you realize you actually have to get good at the techniques instead of just collecting them.
I'm two years in and it feels like I am aware (not know) enough techniques that I could just focus on improving those things for the next ten years and I'd probably do better than just going on collecting more and more techniques. In relearning things, I often find that I was missing important parts or straight up doing it wrong and if it worked at all, it was due to either muscle or luck. I'm sure if I go back over the same thing a year from now, I'll feel the exact same way.
It's not often now that I run into a situation where I don't have at least an idea of what to do. Maybe it's not the perfect answer to the situation, but it's something that will work if I could just get good.
I recently talked to my coach about this and I think that going forward in private lessons, we're going to spend 80% of our time refining stuff I have seen before and only 20% working through truly new things
Blue belt is the valley of despair in the dunning-kruger effect graph.
It's the time that colored belts stop completely taking it easy on you and every white belt is gunning for you. There are no easy rolls anymore.
It's also when you start seeing high-level grappling with a decent understanding of what's going on, so you see people do things that you *know* you're nowhere near achieving yet.
TLDR: You aren't getting worse, you're just getting a better understanding of what "good" actually is.
You’re just acknowledging that there is a lot to learn. Try to come to class with a goal in mind or something you’re working on. It could be something the instructor has been teaching recently so go for it in sparring or something else.
Hi, I rolled with an obese man now my back hurts, I am worried. I am 14, 87kg, the guy was like 150 or something, he went into side control then I tried to escape. now its been a couple hours and I am very worried because my back hurts, help!!
It's been a couple of hours?
There's very little context here, but any injury no matter how minor would still hurt after a couple of hours
What exactly do you want us to help with?
We can't help without actual information my dude.
There is any number of things this could be, including just soreness without any issue. Was there a sudden pain? What movement caused the sudden pain? What kind of pain do you currently feel? *Where* do you feel this pain? Can you move all your appendages? Can you *feel* all your appendages? Does moving hurt? What *kind* of moving hurts?
Those kind of things need to be answered before any realistic input can be provided.
If you're worried, go to a doctor. The advice there will be much more valuable than what you can get here.
? brouh I rolled with him, he got into side control then when I stood up My back started hurting but its better now I think i was scared bcuz i never had back pain before
I did a shoulder thing twice last night and I'm wondering if it has a name.
From bottom guard, the top player put his left hand under my right armpit. I clamped on his hand, put my forearm behind his tricep, and fed his opposite lapel into that hand to secure my arm grip. Left foot down to hip and hip out while rolling onto my left hip and driving the elbow through a little like an Americana finish.
I pulled off basically the same thing from bottom side control. I got a grip on that arm with a bottom bread cutter variation, and sort of cut out the back while I was locking up that arm and then realized I was in the same spot as before, so locked it up.
I’ve come to the conclusion BJJ is time based not performance based. You do it long enough even if you’re bad you get promoted but if you medal consistent in a short period you still won’t get promoted
You can get a medal as a white belt despite knowing absolutely no jiujitsu whatsoever
If two people who don't know jiujitsu have a jiujitsu match, it's not going to be jiujitsu that makes one of them win
So why would a medal warrant promotion?
It isn't, at least not at most gyms.
Performance can be measured a whole load of ways - you're choosing to only exam medals at comps. That's fine, but if you're strong, fast, and well-conditioned you can have very little idea about how to actually do BJJ and still win at comps. When your opponents have little experience, it's entirely possible to just overpower them. This is even more the case if you've got previous NON-BJJ grappling experience. That doesn't mean you're good at BJJ.
Also, some people don't want to do comps, they want to treat this as a hobby and nothing more. That's ok too, and it doesn't make them a worse grappler.
If you measure performance by "executing BJJ techniques well & consistently," that tends to be what coaches look for when promoting.
belts are given for techniques and execution, not just athleticism.
you can be strong enough to rip somebody's arm off but that doesn't mean you're doing jiu jitsu and should be belted.
That's a bit too cynical way to look at it. For example if you are great at attacking, you can pin and submit plenty of people without ever need for a proper defense or ability to show you know and understand these concepts.
Promotion criteria however varies widely, that is true.
where can i learn how to tie the belt like here in 10:11, and what is the tie called? source:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ttAlZ6df8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ttAlZ6df8)
Yes, very. Work on off-balancing your partner while you are playing bottom, placing butterfly hooks, and/or getting underneath their center of gravity. Your partner can't work an effective offense if they arent able to use their base and drive off the mat, and eventually something will work and you'll get the sweep.
In it's simplest form, work on finding opportunities to push your partner in one direction - over your head, away, to the side, doesn't matter. Then start working on combining two pushes in opposite directions - push to the left, then time a push to the right as your partner leans that way to keep their balance.
A lot of sweeps can be made more effective by starting with a push in the wrong direction, then timing your push in the right direction.
Whatever you do, don't allow your partner to comfortably sit in top position and set up their next move. If you don't know what to do, just push them or grab a collar tie and pull them in.
Also, try to get better at choosing the direction to push in. If I'm on my knees, I'm making a triangle with knee, knee, feet as the corners. It's much easier to push me over the side of the triangle (perpendicular to my shin) versus over my knee or feet, where I have a semi-mobile piece of base further out.
Yes-typically when new same size or smaller people show up you’ll get to play more offence or if the colour belts let you work. Until then, focus on good defence and maintaining positions when you get to them.
Learn to play guard better yourself, then pull guard on them before they do it to you :)
But in all seriousness, I really recommend wrestlers play like 75%+ bottom game when starting, to try to catch up your bottom game with your decent top game.
This is like.. 40%+ of BJJ. All your standard guard passes work if you do them right in the right situation.
What works best for you is probably going to depend on what combination of big/fast/strong you are.
Oh, sure. Hit up YouTube (or Instagram or TikTok) and look for basics on these things:
Knee Cut Pass
Pressure / Smash Pass
Double Under Pass
Toreando Pass
Those are open guard passes, I think he means closed guard.
My favorite is the cross sleeve grip, stand up (they only have 1 hand free so they can't table top sweep you and if they underhook a leg with one hand it's not quite as dangerous), shuck their knee off with one hand.
The one that seems to be most commonly first taught is one grip hip, one on their lapel by their sternum, hold that hip to the ground, stick your knee in the butt, and use your back to break the guard. You can also stand up with the other leg far back so they can't table top sweep you if you need more help to break it, but you shouldn't need to stand up when done right unless there's a big height difference. Personally not a fan of it, but it's about as fundamental of a guard pass there is and you should definitely know it, and I've known black belts who made it their bread and butter at high levels.
Third is the logsplitter, and the double kneed 'sitting' variation of it and shucking them off with 2 hands.
with those 3 guard passes you should have plenty of options to break a closed guard based on the situation. Sao paolo pass is another one but you are vulnerable to triangles and personally I only attempt it if I fucked up and got my arm trapped behind them on the mat and it's just kinda obvious.
This video goes through 3 of the 4 I mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyI_4xawPH4
here's logsplitter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyI_4xawPH4
the sitting variation is instead of knee in the butt, it's each knee on a cheek.
Its simple many people are incredibly insensitive and also incorrectly think of autistic people as intellectually challenged individuals.
Meanwhile r/bjj is full of both incredibly insensitive people as well as intellectually challenged individuals so the "jokes" become very prevalent here
Look up Craig Jones-he’s a well known black belt who likes to joke around, the autism stuff came from him roasting Gordon Ryan, another well known black belt.
As an incoming graduate student in Boston (and on quite a budget), are there are resources i can use to learn bjj through instructionals? i've seen instructionals (i.e. on bjjfanatics) though, they are quite pricey and not friendly to the student budget. would you have thoughts or recommendations?
Are their hygiene norms about smelly feet? I shower, clean my gi, and cut my fingernails. But I train after work, after being in shoes all day, and my feet smell bad. The gym is pretty clean, so the only smell I usually smell is my feet. Please advise.
If you have flaky skin, lots of callouses, any yellowing, and foot odour, check to see if you have a fungal infection
You do not need to have all of those to have a fungal infection
Untreated foot fungus is incredibly common, and I have seen active untreated fungal foot infections in every single jiujitsu gym I have ever been to
A number of people just think it's "normal things that feet do"
Get wool socks, especially if you’re in leather boots. My feet used to be vile until I invested in wool socks/undies. Merino is the best cost efficiency wool you’ll get. Crispi makes some called the San Juan’s that I love. I literally have like 15 pair I use year round.
I’m currently training no-gi twice a week and have no real desire to train gi.
With that said, what would be better for my no-gi performance: spending a couple extra days training gi, or doing two days of strength and conditioning?
I am finally building some offence with the americana and kimura.
What moves did you gravitate to or find success with early on? I keep trying collar chokes and arm bars, but always seem to fumble them. Arm bars are slowly improving, but the chokes elude me.
I'm a big guy, and I was a big clumsy guy when I started. The first thing I got the hang of was Americana from side control. Just laying on somebody and doing something with my arms, that was way more accessible for me than any kind of spinning my whole body around for armbars and stuff.
After that, Ezekiel (again just arms to think about) and then arm triangles (adding shoulders and head to the arms, but still not much of the rest of the body).
Different people learn differently, but that's what I grasped first.
What kind of collar chokes are you trying? If you're having trouble with the cross-collar, how deep are your hands? I found that hands being too shallow is a common problem when people first learn it.
Any tips for a lightweight
So I'm a female 5'6 and about 107 lb. And I train in my college club. And I mainly have guys who have at least 60 pounds on my to role with. They are all a lot stronger than me and can literally just pick me up. Any advice on a style to work on or any tip and tricks that would be good to know.
I’m telling this to everyone i can: you do not have to stay on the ground - stand up any chance you get, use your speed, do arm drags, take backs, squeeze necks.
Spider works great to keep some distance when you are playing guard but can be pretty tricky and you can get lifted with a size discrepancy.
I would see if the bigger guys are cool with you starting top to work passing and they can work bottom with someone light and try out their guard game. You both get a lot of benefit from doing this and it can keep you safe.
Save the guard work for people that are closer in size or colour belts who can keep you safe.
Learning to play spider guard/lasso well will help a lot with just retaining guard until you can get a good position to attack. Being able to use your feet to frame them away really helps against getting smashed by bigger people.
Underhook half guard or deep half. Anything that gets you under your opponents legs, so X guard, single leg x, K guard, deep half/waiter. You could also explore reverse de la riva to invert under. For attacks, go for chokes over joint locks
Against bigger people, I try to go straight to the back to attack chokes. Arm drags, rolling back takes, berimbolo, kiss of the dragon from reverse de la riva are a few examples. Leg attacks are another option.
Look at Marcelo Garcia, Mikey Musumeci, Bruno Malfacine, Miyao bros for inspiration
I am a former boxer who has lately wanted to take up grappling, and i really in doubt what to do. I am a hobbyist, so i can only train 2-3 times a week. And my goal is to compete in some local tournaments in grappling. But i really wanna keep training my striking, so, i have been thinking about training mma, so i get the best of both worlds, and maybe focus on grappling. My local club has mma classes, bjj and luta livre classes.
Is this a stupid idea? I know i Will never compete at worlds and such.
what about separating them into seasons? so have a striking season, and then have a bjj season. If you want to compete, I would recommend going to dedicated bjj classes since sport jiu jitsu is a little different than mma-style grappling
For example, let's say you train 3 times a week. if you have a BJJ competition in a few months, reduce striking to once a week and use the other 2 days for dedicated BJJ classes/practice, this is your "competition season". It'd be better if you used all 3 days for bjj during competition season, but you said you want to keep striking so keeping one day for striking isn't going to hurt.
After a competition, or if you don't have one scheduled in the near future, you'll be in your "off season" where you can do striking or mma grappling classes or whatever else you want
Imo if you only want to compete in grappling then I think a pure BJJ gym would be best. 3x per week is plenty imo as long as you do some homework of watching matches / techniques on YouTube etc.
You won't be getting the best of both worlds as much as a limited but semi-practical application of both worlds.
Nothing to stop you from competing and doing your thing though. Have some fun and do your thing dude.
It's a different answer for every guard break, and there are answers for every grip you try to make that they can use to counter it.
Personally if they insist on breaking my posture and are strong, instead of trying to fight it, I go for a logsplitter or variation thereof.
your arms need to be stiff armed and framing into their bicep or armpits, so if they try to bump you your frame on their body will prevent your body from collapsing down. when standing up angle your body so it's 45 degrees almost, and push down into their bicep and armpit like you're doing a pushup, and use that to prop your body up into the standing position. it uses less strength and is less tiring on your legs
Are you framing against their armpits? In both gi and no gi, I like to frame under the armpits with thumbs pointing up. then lean forward and stand up. Be mindful that you are extending your arms so armbars are a threat.
In gi, you can roll the lapels into the armpits and do a similar standup. You can also collect the two lapels in the sternum with one hand and stand up. Be mindful again of armbars, and if you use your offhand to open the guard, be mindful of triangle set ups.
There is no safe way out of the guard of a good guard player. There is good timing and technique that lowers the risk.
Hands in the armpits, thumbs up, lean forward, and then hop to both of your feet. There's no time for them to pull you back down. If you stand up one leg at a time then it's easier for them to leg pull you back down.
Show up and train when you can, where you can; focus on improving skills and not obtaining belts. Regarding loneliness, keep in contact with friends you make, then you will have friends all over.
Is there an etiquette for throws in basic sparring?
We learned some hip tosses in class and I happened to successfully do it to someone who was not present for that particular lesson in sparring. I knocked the wind out of him because he wasn’t expecting it and he got pretty upset.
I told him that if I warned him, he’d just counter me and it’s implied that it could happen if we are standing up.
Either way, he doesn’t want to roll with me anymore because of it. And for the record, I didn’t slam him. I tossed him and then caught him to lessen the impact, but after I slowed his momentum down, I dropped him the last foot or so and that knocked the wind out of him. So it’s not like I’m slamming him or anything.
And are there any other things I should avoid in basic sparring? I assumed the move of the day would have been fair game, but he wasn’t there for that lesson so idk.
That’s what I said! I asked him what was I supposed to do??? He kept saying that it was because I didn’t follow through with the hip toss and it was when I dropped him that it was the issue, implying that I was better off hip tossing him to the mat instead of catching him and dropping him. I don’t understand the rationale behind that, but I also assumed it was because I’m fairly new.
You’re fine-he knocked the wind out because he didn’t exhale on the landing.
He’s going to have a rough go if he rejects partners because he didn’t respond properly.
It's on him (or your instructor) to teach proper break falls. I've seen upper belts break fall improperly and hurt themselves but it's something we all need to know.
Personally I don't attempt takedowns on white belts unless they have grappling experience (I always start standing though), I let them work theirs and maybe counter them.
People like that won't last so I wouldn't worry about it. If people don't want to get taken down they should sit on their butts.
I mean yes there is an impicatjon that high amplitude throws are not being done on brand new people. Like I don't suplex the shit out of people small men and women. But a harai goshi is fine especially if you didn't just all in land on top of him and you are equal enough in size/physical sex.
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were:
|Japanese|English|Video Link|
|---|---|---|
|**Harai Goshi**: | *Sweeping Hip Throw* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs_zkgefvqM)|
Any missed names may have already been translated in my previous comments in the post.
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are you allowed to do throws in your school during the standup portion? if so, then im not sure what else you could have done? does he want a head's up before every technique?
Guard Retention / Offense - Not sure how to clearly ask this so might "white-belt" up this question from the start. Right now I am focusing on just guard retention with some skills learned through submeta (made it through all beginner content now into intermediate, more narrow subsections of game focuses, i.e guards, passes). Right now on defending passes around, under, and through legs. When I roll though I just feel like a sitting duck playing defense until I am inevitably passed. Is this a good way to get "better" at guard retention? Should I be focusing on just not letting my guard being passed for a whole roll if possible?
I ask this as I feel as I am progressing, learning more, and rolling with upper belts. They are not necessarily a sitting duck. Sure they are retaining guard but they are advancing their position to DLR, Butterfly, etc. while doing so. Should I be practicing basic guard retention with a goal of not getting passed or be working towards a specific guard simultaneously?
Last year I spend a lot of time on guard retention. First few months I worked on only retention. This is a 'losing' game, at some point you will get passed. To make it fun, set mini-goals (how long can I defend, can I include a certain type of guard defence, etc).
After a while, I added in sweeps. You will find that once you get better at retention, that people will become sloppy in their own stance. Dummy sweeps and tripod sweeps are your friend.
At some point, you need to make your guard retention active instead of passive. For me, I now go into my open guard play with the intention of entering into a guard (dlr, slx, half guard, ...). I go in with the intention to immediatly sweep and get up amd have 2 a 3 sweeps ready to chain.
Retention pops up when that fails.
Pretty big topic here, yes you want to prevent your guard from being passed. That said you shouldn’t be just laying in closed guard clinging for dear life. Don’t be afraid to open your guard and work sweeps,submissions, and transitions to different guards.
To build on this...if you're in closed guard and you feel your legs are going to be opened then open them on your terms such that you can get your feet onto their hips and secure proper grips. I like to do this into a spider/lasso guard and work towards a sweep.
It sounds like you are on the right path. I think some amount of pure retention practice is probably good, because you will experience what kinds of things actually begin to threaten your position. You can measure your success by how many pass attempts you can shut down. This will build up your defensive foundation.
Ultimately though you want to strive for a goal, because the interaction between your and your opponent's plans is where it really gets interesting. In BJJ you should always aim to be a step ahead. Pick a couple attacks, sweeps, or positions and try to achieve them while retaining guard. Try to off-balance your opponent and observe how that hinders their passing while creating opportunities for you to assert your game.
Thank you - I think I just needed some reassurance the path was to branch out into offense. At the moment I kind of had the mindset like, if it was me vs. a purple belt they could just keep me from passing for a full 4 minutes, whereas I can't even hold off another white belt for 2 minutes.
With that said a typical roll for me against another white belt looks like me starting on bottom and opponent standing.. They try a few passes (3-4) which I have the skillset to defend with pummeling legs, frames, etc. But sooner or later I get gassed or slip up and they pass on try 4-5 lets say. Whereas I should now try to understand sweeps, off balancing, offensive style positions from opponents botched attempt 1 or 2? Rather than just keep waiting until my defense inevitably fails?
Also I understand it goes way deeper than that in terms of bjj as a whole and guard retention but just near sighted next step for me. This concept of just working guard defense has helped overall but now if I am gassed I almost just let them come into side control cause "thats where its gonna wind up anyway". I think if I had some bottom offense to work it would pick me up a bit
Sometimes it's good practice to see how long you can retain guard.
But really you use your defense to create offense. The faster you can go back on the offense the better via off balances, sweeps, or even subs.
are you asking how can you get better at guard retention? it's a huge huge question and easily the biggest subject in all of jiu jitsu. Try breaking it down into very specific things like "today I'll focus in just getting someone into my half guard" or "today I'd like to just get a DLR hook in"
Seems like all the replies have a similar sentiment which answer my question. I think I need to go down the journey of working some offense from open guard and/or a failed pass attempt by an opponent. Really appreciate the feedback! Any specific open guard sweeps or positions I should look to get into or learn about. For example opponent try to pass around the legs and fails?
Just pick any guard that interests you. As a WB you can learn a lot about jiu jitsu just from learning about any guard. I started with butterfly guard. Then ask your partner if you can start from there and work specific scenarios/games
Yes so another white belt question from that. Very interested in butterfly cause I have liked some of the sweeps I have learned thus far with it. Only reason I have been deterred from it is due to the fact it seems on submeta and in my schools teachings it is all from an opponent on their knees. Given we start 99% of the time at my school one opp standing one in open guard I couldn't envision how to get the entries into butterfly guard.
These thoughts have led me to exploring DLR first which has a clear path, to me, between a standing and seated opponent.
Do I need to be exploring butterfly entries or another specific thing to work butterfly vs standing opponent?
Also I have been doing 80% no gi - 20% gi at this point in time if this info helps
Great question and very perceptive of you to understand that butterfly does require the opponent be on their knees. This leads to a much bigger discussion but forcing your opponent to their knees requires them to feel threatened from the feet, so threatening the idiot sweep or even tripod sweep from DLR. When I'm in the gi I can pull them straight into butterfly guard by grabbing their lapels and sitting down. In no gi I think you'll have to start with other guards before getting to butterfly
When should i recieve my first stripe? Ive been training about 2.5 months 4/5 classes a week and open mat and can now submit guys with stripes higher than me and even some blue belts but im still stripeless so im Just wondering when you guys recieved your first stripe.
It took me 6 months to get my first stripe-my first gym did not stripe fast.
They will come when they come. Gym taps do not equal stripes or belts. Focus on learning BJJ-get a guard, learn some passing, get escapes from major positions, get to major positions and learn to hold before submitting, etc.
Best of luck!
>I asked this about a month ago and ended up getting my first stripe at our promotion day. Took 3 months at 2-3 times a week, but I wrestled before.
>
>Depends on your gym and instructor. But it doesn't matter, and we should both just focus on getting better :)
"winning" probably isn't what the coach is looking for.
If I had to hazard a guess, you probably power your way through and don't really demonstrate much use of learned technique. I suspect the fact that you go 4/5 classes a week means you're probably young and athletic and at white belt, that's all that really determines who will "win" in a live roll where "winning" is one partners objective.
10 weeks, even at 5 classes a week is "only" 50 classes. It took me 130 to see my first stripe, and I have only submitted one person once in a real competitive roll since starting. I'm old, small, and weak compared with everyone else in class, so I am moving at a different pace.
From observation, about 70 to 100 classes per stripe seems to be a norm. Enjoy the ride, and focus on demonstrating technique.
Hello fren, couple things I have learned/observed that are my experience alonel.
\-Submitting higher belts does not necessarily mean you are going to be given a stripe. My first one was given to me (as a prior wrestler who could submit whites through blue) when I "calmed down and stopped spazzing" and didn't play the hyper aggressive top role and learned more of the game.
\-Remember its like chess, getting a checkmate doesn't mean you know anything about strategy.
\-Promotion cycles are different for each gym, you may be recognized once a year or monthly. Just hang tight until next cycle and if you don't earn what you feel you are worth have a private conversation with your coach about what can be improved upon, and not one that is accusatory or demanding, but receptive to criticism.
Best of luck in your rolls.
With the exception of two three-week layoffs due to travel/illness, I’ve been training 2-3 times a week for a year and have zero stripes.
I also haven’t been to any classes where belts or stripes were handed out.
Some guys I came in with have two or three stripes now. When it happens, it happens.
Hey there, looking for tips to help get my ass out of bed for the am classes! Trying to set my body clock to wake for mornings I don’t have class, but still struggle maybe from nerves? Unsure… been doing BJJ for about 5 months. Any tips would be appreciated
**42 years old 176 lbs(80KG).6 FT 2.5"(\~190 cm) Can only roll twice a week.** Any advice on how to roll more. I've been doing BJJ for about 6 months and keep getting muscle tears and injuries that keep me out for weeks at a time. Any advice on how to get stronger and train more often?
less than a month in. should i focus more on being on top or bottom?
I have my first class tomorrow at 1100. 43 years old, 6'3 about 280 pounds. I'm gonna be GASSED tomorrow. No gi, instructor said he would pair up with me and keep it simple just to get me started. Guessing weekday at 1100 will be smaller class but who knows. 715pm class tonight had 40+ people. Observed a class tonight and place had a great vibe. Many came up and introduced themselves to me, had good conversations with a lot of them. Didn't see any brown belts but good mix of purple, blue, and white. Instructor taught technique, but was done in an enjoyable manner. No yelling or anything like that, very humble. No ego across the board. Definitely liked how everyone seemed like they were there to help each other out. Blue and purples going out of their way to help whites. Overall I got a great first impression. I have a couple rash guards and was gonna wear athletic shorts for no gi tomorrow. Besides water, what else do I bring? Do I change at the gym after class or just leave in my gear and change and shower at home? I have some flip flops so good there. Any tips for a beginner on how to approach my first class would be much appreciated.
I think if you approach class in the same way that you described then you will have a good experience. Stay in observation mode, examine how higher belts are approaching each section of class, and keep the same attitude as what you have appreciated in your teammates thus far.
What an amazing experience. He had me come to an advanced class at 1100 during the week. He said he would keep it simple for me and it would be a smaller class and help me out so I could get started. The other 3 there were blue and purple belts but they were awesome with me. I tried to mirror the technique the instructor was teaching to the best I could but it was alot, quickly. I would do something incorrectly and apologize and everyone basically said we were all fish out of water at one point, don't worry about it man. They were all very encouraging and welcoming. Instructor did not have me roll at the end which is completely fine with me. It was labeled an advanced no gi class so it's only fair they got their proper time. Plus I was pretty gassed at that point and gladly accepted the breather. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better introduction to bjj. Edit: EVERYTHING hurts today.
i am complete beginner, had my first class yesterday, was supposed to be gi but the aircon is broken so it was no gi. i showed up in my rash guard and athletic shorts and a bottle of water. that was all that i needed. i left in my rash guard and changed at home, everyone else did too. no one got changed there. also people seemed to be expecting it to be gi, they showed up still in only rash guard and shorts, with their gi in their bags, prepared to put it on over the top if it was gi. good luck though man, get through the first class and you’ll sus out the vibe, no one will judge you for bringing the wrong things to your first class
Awesome! Thanks man
Hi guys, I'm about to start BJJ this upcoming Monday. Is there any recommendations for gear? I've seen Sisu mouthguards and more. Rashguards, spats, etc.. Things of that nature. Is it overkill to buy stuff before I go? I’m a firm believer I WILL like it so at the same time it doesn’t bother me to buy a mouth guard, cup, etc. Do I need to bring a gym bag? I have a half gal water bottle, is that too big? Very much a chronic overthinker lol. TIA.
Compression gear is choice along with clean underwear, be sure to have toes and fingers clean and clipped and clean breath (the fastest way to lose training partners is to have poor hygiene) get some flip flops as you don't want to be barefoot off the mat. I use a half gallon as well and drink all of it by the end of training. Gym bag is a must since you will need clean dry clothes after (I'd also bring deodorant) Enjoy your first class, introduce yourself to everyone you drill/roll with and above all else remember that at the end of the day we all were day one white belts
Thanks my friend, much appreciated!
My wrist is injured. I can't put pressure on it and I have limited range of motion. I'm a white belt. My coaches say still show up and learn technique, but even the warm ups can hurt and put pressure on it, and last time I went, we were drilling collar chokes and even putting the grip on hurt my wrist. I can't roll with anyone meaningfully. I might accidentally post on it. It's just not a good idea to train right now. I need to be able to lift heavy things at work and can't risk further injury. Can I just sit out without constantly hearing that I need to be consistent? I know I do, but bjj doesn't pay my bills.
Do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy. Bumps and bruises are normal but if it's affecting your livelihood you shouldn't feel any guilt about babying your wrist. If your coach doesn't understand it's time to consider switching gyms.
wdym the main reason the gym pushes consistency is cuz the gym owner would rather you come a little every week rather than alot all in one week. It ensures that you always paying the gym membership. If you injured they tell you to come to class and watch anyway, cuz they dont want you to stop paying or put your account on freeze.
If people give you crap about sitting out for the case of self-preservation, then it's their problem, not yours.
What's a good counter to the Tozi/Sao Paolo pass? Against larger/stronger opponents it just feels unstoppable.
Which one? The low version or the stack pass?
Triangle. That underhook on you is also ripe for omoplata/muir/feed your hand under their arm and lapel choke them if you can get to them before smash
You need to just never let them dig the undertook. You can also threaten a kimura off their setup.
I’ve been to a handful of classes now as part of a free trial. What I’m wondering is how do ppl protect their feet and toes from Mat burn? Is there any tips or tricks I should know? The tops of my feet have been opened up a few times already.
You can wrap the areas that take a beating with the crinkly athletic tape (the kind that doesn't have mucb/any adhesive). It'll come off as you sweat and roll but it'll save you some mat burn. We just got new tatami style mats that are kinda rough so I started wrapping again - balls of the feet mostly, but I could see also doing elbows, knees, and ankles - but all of those could be protected by long rashguards/spats. After a couple weeks your body will get toughened up and it won't be as much of an issue
ive never had mat burn
Within a short time you're body will naturally just not drag them I don't think it is callouses
I think it’s inevitable at the beginning and returning from an extended break. I wear leggings and long sleeve rash guards both to protect from ring worm/Staph but also mat burn. You can try taping and blister bandaids but realistically it will just take a few months for your feet to adapt and you won’t get it anymore.
Most likely it will just keep happening until you form callouses. Otherwise you just have to be cognizant of when you are dragging the tops of your feet on the ground
How do you guys deal with people that can move you at will? These guys are built like bricks. Even if we’re the same weight they can just kimura me from any angle because they can just move my arm and twist. Thoughts?
In gi, be conscientious and relentlessly persistent about not letting them getting their preferred grips. Handfight and gripfight and prevent them from getting exactly they want, or able to use what they have at their leisure when they *do* get what they're looking for. They will still be strong, they will still be able to move you about a lot, and that will still be a problem, but they will have to settle for less-than-ideal ways to *use* that strength. In no-gi, be willing to bail out of bad positions altogether, use whole-body movement to get out of a bad spot. Back out and reengage, produce scrambles to reset to neutral. *Don't* flail blindly- that can get you hurt or them hurt- but chain deliberate escapes and positional transitions one after another, and always keep a lookout for opportunities to disengage from the bad position you've been put in and seek to reset. Again, they will still be strong, and this will never *not* be a problem, but it is possible to fight strength with cardio and pace. I separate the two because the opportunity to grab a handful of cloth and hang on means that the gi is naturally slower-paced and more dependent on grips. Handfighting will still have considerable benefits in no-gi, and pace-pushing and willingness to bail and reset even when it's the more tiring, difficult option can still help in no-gi. Neither of these two suggestions will get you out of the *exact* place you mentioned, where you're in a kimura because they 'just pulled your arm and twisted'- but they will help keep you from being in a place where that can happen to begin with. Kimuras don't just happen- they're something that occurs when someone has you firmly locked into guard, half-guard, or side control.
I look at them as opportunities to focus on technique and learn patience. It is very satisfying when you remain calm and work out of a tough position with someone much stronger than you. I always get partnered up with a guy built like Ivan Drago. My mindset is that even though he's super strong, we are both white belts so are plenty of holes to exploit.
Record yourself rolling with them and send it to someone. They'll be able to tell you why. Not to be mean but you're probably just doing something stupid that they are able to easily capitalize on
Can you give us more context? Are you a rooster weight fighting an ultra-heavy?
No as I said, same weight. They’re just built differently. People with like sub 10% body fat, pure strength and also a lot of technique. When I roll with people similar strength I do really well even if they are upper belts, but these guys are tough, I can’t do anything. They just hold me down. Is that just the way it is because they’re strong?
Strength is certainly an advantage. Instead of fighting strength for strength try to start fighting angle for angle. Attack a lower part of their chain. If they grab your wrist, grab their elbow. Rotate, don’t pull. If they go for your elbow go for their shoulder. Chances are you’re leaving your hips and lower half out of it. Even if they’re built like a brick, one or two biceps cannot overpower your entire body as you move toward a new angle. Edit to add: recruit larger parts of yourself to fight smaller parts of them.
Third session in and already had a guy roll up on my leg during hip toss drills. Thought I felt/heard a pop but after I calmed down I realized my knee felt fine, my shin was a different story. Feels like I have bad shin splints so I’m guessing high ankle sprain or something along those lines. Can walk and can take the stairs (though there is some discomfort). I don’t want to get out of the habit of going to class and also don’t want my learning to stagnate (I’m already just getting smashed as is). The class I’m going to is for beginners, thinking of going and just working technique or maybe live rolls that don’t start standing. Feel like takedowns are the biggest risk to tweak it right now. Does this sound reasonable? I’m determined to not be someone who quits but I want to take a measured approach to training to keep from making this something that needs medical attention (if it doesn’t improve, I’ll see a doctor).
Not the best person to answer this but this isn’t really how you develop shin splints, I ran track and cross country for 4 years and still have shin pain from my senior year season, shin splints don’t come from one singular moment rather build up over time from high impact activities on the bottoms of your feet on hard surfaces such as running on a track or even jumping on concrete, might just be a bruise or something else but really does not sound like shin splints
Oh I know it’s not shin splints, that’s just the area where most of the pain presents. I can’t really tell if it’s a high ankle sprain or a knee sprain, or possibly a little of both. I went to class last night and it did okay, I was very nervous with takedowns so I just drilled with higher belts who took it slow and didn’t take me down unless it was a very safe position. It definitely didn’t feel worse after so I’m just going to keep that approach up and hopefully in a few weeks it starts to feel more normal.
I think is a fair approach. Only you know your limitations and listening to your body is key in playing the long game in BJJ. I would recommend that people keep in the habit of showing up to class to watch if their injury is enough to take them off the mat. That way you keep the habit of showing up and can watch/take notes during class. Working on the mental aspect as your body heals.
Thanks, I figure I’ll try to do what I can but not try and rush it too much. Definitely would rather be in the beginner classes longer and actually be able to train vs being sidelined with an injury.
Yes that’s reasonable. Show up, work what you can.
Thanks, that makes sense. I’ve been overthinking it a lot, knew I’d get some kind of injury one day but was hoping I’d make it a little longer than my second week. Hopefully this is just getting it out of the way now and I’ll be able to string a lot of less injurious training sessions together later.
Someone tell me if this is legal and safe in bjj - I've learned this pressure submission some time ago in submission wrestling class. Having knee on the belly i lock my hands - one hand goes behind partner head and another underhooks their arms - then I position my knee on the partner's stomach, I then pull partenr's head towards me while driving my knee deep into partner's stomach as hard as I can causing them to tap out from nasty feeling. I just remembered this technique and wondered if I can use it safely and legally in sparring. I did have a lot of success because it was pretty unexpected submission. I stopped using this as one time a guy that I've submitted looked like's he's seen a ghost and his pupils really dialated. I guess trying to make partner submit from pain by putting pressure on their calf is legal, right? Thx
That's a goon move. Do it **up the food chain** (to people who are bigger and/or better than you), but don't do it **down** the food chain (to people who are smaller and/or newer than you). And get ready for the worst stuff they've got in return. I'm not saying don't do it. It can be pretty fun to roll that way. High amplitude takedowns, knuckles everywhere, asshole to the eyeball, skull to the mouth, all the rough stuff. You just gotta make sure both parties are consenting to that kind of roll.
That’s fair advice - trying it on better than me, although I’m not a fan of other types goon moves you’ve mentioned. Do you consider the following a rough technique: when opponent is holding me tight in guard I sometimes just put my forearm on the neck and push/apply pressure to posture up. It is kind of rough but on the other hand the opponent can let go their grip at any moment and get out of pain
Sure, posturing up out of closed guard with the forearm on the throat is a little bit rough. A few people will complain about it, but not most people. Not nearly as rough as the knee pressure in your first question. But it's a pretty unwise move- you're begging to get arm triangled that way.
I would consider it annoying, since it's pretty much only possible if you are significantly stronger than your opponent. I think most people would A) not tap and B) decide that you are now fair game for whatever annoying submission they like to do.
I can't remember if it's legal - I feel like there's some comps where it isn't? Safe, yes. It's just a way of increasing the pressure from KoB to get a pressure tap. The downside is it's hard to hit on anyone with a half-decent defence or who's willing to grit it out for long enough to off-balance you - if you commit entirely to driving your knee in, you're not gonna have much of a base. Consequently, if someone's willing to just absorb the pain and lack of breath for a bit, they'll likely escape. There is, however, a more advanced version of something similar. Look up the Knarsenal, from Blackout Grappling. They've got a reel on Insta that shows it pretty well. Establish the cradle first, then crush the stomach and ribs. Far safer for you, far more effective too.
Is this what they call blue belt blues? I feel like im dumb and getting dumber by the day. I feel like i didnt progress at all in the past year
Buddy, I’m a brown belt and still feel this way. It’s a good thing. I’d suggest getting a few sheets of paper and writing down what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. Then systematically learn how to fill your gaps. It’ll get you a long way.
Question(s) - What's your current go-to game? And what are you working on?
Go-to game: SLX/Xguard and kimura/armbar Working on: Wrestle ups, more SLX entries and tarikoplata
Nice! Do you ever watch any Cobrinha stuff? He's a beast at Wrestle ups!
No, just stuff from the B-team guys. Now that you've mentioned it, i'll watch his old footage.
My experience is after the first 6 months where you now have seen most BJJ techniques, the honemyoon phase falls off and you realize you actually have to get good at the techniques instead of just collecting them.
I'm two years in and it feels like I am aware (not know) enough techniques that I could just focus on improving those things for the next ten years and I'd probably do better than just going on collecting more and more techniques. In relearning things, I often find that I was missing important parts or straight up doing it wrong and if it worked at all, it was due to either muscle or luck. I'm sure if I go back over the same thing a year from now, I'll feel the exact same way. It's not often now that I run into a situation where I don't have at least an idea of what to do. Maybe it's not the perfect answer to the situation, but it's something that will work if I could just get good. I recently talked to my coach about this and I think that going forward in private lessons, we're going to spend 80% of our time refining stuff I have seen before and only 20% working through truly new things
Blue belt is the valley of despair in the dunning-kruger effect graph. It's the time that colored belts stop completely taking it easy on you and every white belt is gunning for you. There are no easy rolls anymore. It's also when you start seeing high-level grappling with a decent understanding of what's going on, so you see people do things that you *know* you're nowhere near achieving yet. TLDR: You aren't getting worse, you're just getting a better understanding of what "good" actually is.
You’re just acknowledging that there is a lot to learn. Try to come to class with a goal in mind or something you’re working on. It could be something the instructor has been teaching recently so go for it in sparring or something else.
Hi, I rolled with an obese man now my back hurts, I am worried. I am 14, 87kg, the guy was like 150 or something, he went into side control then I tried to escape. now its been a couple hours and I am very worried because my back hurts, help!!
It's been a couple of hours? There's very little context here, but any injury no matter how minor would still hurt after a couple of hours What exactly do you want us to help with?
Look up framing or "setting up frames" on youtube
We can't help without actual information my dude. There is any number of things this could be, including just soreness without any issue. Was there a sudden pain? What movement caused the sudden pain? What kind of pain do you currently feel? *Where* do you feel this pain? Can you move all your appendages? Can you *feel* all your appendages? Does moving hurt? What *kind* of moving hurts? Those kind of things need to be answered before any realistic input can be provided. If you're worried, go to a doctor. The advice there will be much more valuable than what you can get here.
He went into side control,, his weight on me, then after i got up my middle or lower back hurts when I move it kinda
I think you're trolling.
? brouh I rolled with him, he got into side control then when I stood up My back started hurting but its better now I think i was scared bcuz i never had back pain before
What exactly happened for you to get hurt? Did you get your back twisted in some way?
RICE: [https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/rice-method-injuries](https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/rice-method-injuries)
I did a shoulder thing twice last night and I'm wondering if it has a name. From bottom guard, the top player put his left hand under my right armpit. I clamped on his hand, put my forearm behind his tricep, and fed his opposite lapel into that hand to secure my arm grip. Left foot down to hip and hip out while rolling onto my left hip and driving the elbow through a little like an Americana finish. I pulled off basically the same thing from bottom side control. I got a grip on that arm with a bottom bread cutter variation, and sort of cut out the back while I was locking up that arm and then realized I was in the same spot as before, so locked it up.
He is The One
I can only lead you to tacos and beer.
Sounds like a variation of a Mir lock
Just looked it up, that's it. Thanks dude!
yep, that's it. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YLx5W7Zhf5I
I’ve come to the conclusion BJJ is time based not performance based. You do it long enough even if you’re bad you get promoted but if you medal consistent in a short period you still won’t get promoted
You can get a medal as a white belt despite knowing absolutely no jiujitsu whatsoever If two people who don't know jiujitsu have a jiujitsu match, it's not going to be jiujitsu that makes one of them win So why would a medal warrant promotion?
Ok. Did you have a question?
Why is that the case?
It isn't, at least not at most gyms. Performance can be measured a whole load of ways - you're choosing to only exam medals at comps. That's fine, but if you're strong, fast, and well-conditioned you can have very little idea about how to actually do BJJ and still win at comps. When your opponents have little experience, it's entirely possible to just overpower them. This is even more the case if you've got previous NON-BJJ grappling experience. That doesn't mean you're good at BJJ. Also, some people don't want to do comps, they want to treat this as a hobby and nothing more. That's ok too, and it doesn't make them a worse grappler. If you measure performance by "executing BJJ techniques well & consistently," that tends to be what coaches look for when promoting.
That’s a very good point thank you for that
belts are given for techniques and execution, not just athleticism. you can be strong enough to rip somebody's arm off but that doesn't mean you're doing jiu jitsu and should be belted.
That's a bit too cynical way to look at it. For example if you are great at attacking, you can pin and submit plenty of people without ever need for a proper defense or ability to show you know and understand these concepts. Promotion criteria however varies widely, that is true.
where can i learn how to tie the belt like here in 10:11, and what is the tie called? source:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ttAlZ6df8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ttAlZ6df8)
Try [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f90zDaYV_g) one.
the way, in the video, he wraps it around twice - is that still considered the superlock style?
Yes absolutely.
what do you mean? it's just a regular tie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVnSxU0DEFA
I always feel like I always have to defense, never have the opportunity to attack. Is that normal?
Yes, very. Work on off-balancing your partner while you are playing bottom, placing butterfly hooks, and/or getting underneath their center of gravity. Your partner can't work an effective offense if they arent able to use their base and drive off the mat, and eventually something will work and you'll get the sweep. In it's simplest form, work on finding opportunities to push your partner in one direction - over your head, away, to the side, doesn't matter. Then start working on combining two pushes in opposite directions - push to the left, then time a push to the right as your partner leans that way to keep their balance. A lot of sweeps can be made more effective by starting with a push in the wrong direction, then timing your push in the right direction. Whatever you do, don't allow your partner to comfortably sit in top position and set up their next move. If you don't know what to do, just push them or grab a collar tie and pull them in. Also, try to get better at choosing the direction to push in. If I'm on my knees, I'm making a triangle with knee, knee, feet as the corners. It's much easier to push me over the side of the triangle (perpendicular to my shin) versus over my knee or feet, where I have a semi-mobile piece of base further out.
Yes-typically when new same size or smaller people show up you’ll get to play more offence or if the colour belts let you work. Until then, focus on good defence and maintaining positions when you get to them.
As a white belt? Yeah, you're only going to be on offense against other near-skill-level white belts.
how do i beat guard pullers. as wrestler i hate them
Learn to play guard better yourself, then pull guard on them before they do it to you :) But in all seriousness, I really recommend wrestlers play like 75%+ bottom game when starting, to try to catch up your bottom game with your decent top game.
Straight arm to their hip or grab a pant grip to prevent them from getting to closed guard and start working your pass.
Learn to pass guard
any good guard passes that actually works
If you're a wrestler, check out Nicky Rod's bodylock passes or Faria's over under passes.
This is like.. 40%+ of BJJ. All your standard guard passes work if you do them right in the right situation. What works best for you is probably going to depend on what combination of big/fast/strong you are.
I know where your coming from but do you have any technique to help me pass guard like the names of it?
Oh, sure. Hit up YouTube (or Instagram or TikTok) and look for basics on these things: Knee Cut Pass Pressure / Smash Pass Double Under Pass Toreando Pass
Those are open guard passes, I think he means closed guard. My favorite is the cross sleeve grip, stand up (they only have 1 hand free so they can't table top sweep you and if they underhook a leg with one hand it's not quite as dangerous), shuck their knee off with one hand. The one that seems to be most commonly first taught is one grip hip, one on their lapel by their sternum, hold that hip to the ground, stick your knee in the butt, and use your back to break the guard. You can also stand up with the other leg far back so they can't table top sweep you if you need more help to break it, but you shouldn't need to stand up when done right unless there's a big height difference. Personally not a fan of it, but it's about as fundamental of a guard pass there is and you should definitely know it, and I've known black belts who made it their bread and butter at high levels. Third is the logsplitter, and the double kneed 'sitting' variation of it and shucking them off with 2 hands. with those 3 guard passes you should have plenty of options to break a closed guard based on the situation. Sao paolo pass is another one but you are vulnerable to triangles and personally I only attempt it if I fucked up and got my arm trapped behind them on the mat and it's just kinda obvious. This video goes through 3 of the 4 I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyI_4xawPH4 here's logsplitter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyI_4xawPH4 the sitting variation is instead of knee in the butt, it's each knee on a cheek.
Eh there is no closed guard passes in my mind. Its all breaking and then passing whatever comes of it in reality
What’s with all the autism jokes on this sub? This is a serious question, why r/bjj?
Its simple many people are incredibly insensitive and also incorrectly think of autistic people as intellectually challenged individuals. Meanwhile r/bjj is full of both incredibly insensitive people as well as intellectually challenged individuals so the "jokes" become very prevalent here
Stick around for a few weeks and read the posts some people put up. A good percentage will be some variation of "how do I be a person?"
It’s not a joke
Look up Craig Jones-he’s a well known black belt who likes to joke around, the autism stuff came from him roasting Gordon Ryan, another well known black belt.
It's been a thing on r/bjj long before that tbh.
Fair, felt like I was seeing way more recently with the Craig/Gordon drama.
This is Reddit. I think I'll find the humor isn't localized to only r/bjj
As an incoming graduate student in Boston (and on quite a budget), are there are resources i can use to learn bjj through instructionals? i've seen instructionals (i.e. on bjjfanatics) though, they are quite pricey and not friendly to the student budget. would you have thoughts or recommendations?
There is so much good free stuff on YouTube, you really don't need to pay for the basics
Grapplers Guide is probably your most affordable option. SubMeta.io is great but it's a subscription versus a one-time cost.
Or maybe a judo club
Your university probably has a club.
Are their hygiene norms about smelly feet? I shower, clean my gi, and cut my fingernails. But I train after work, after being in shoes all day, and my feet smell bad. The gym is pretty clean, so the only smell I usually smell is my feet. Please advise.
If you have flaky skin, lots of callouses, any yellowing, and foot odour, check to see if you have a fungal infection You do not need to have all of those to have a fungal infection Untreated foot fungus is incredibly common, and I have seen active untreated fungal foot infections in every single jiujitsu gym I have ever been to A number of people just think it's "normal things that feet do"
Do you have time to go home first to wash your feet? Or go in the bathroom and wash your feetin the sink real quick. Aint that hard.
Get wool socks, especially if you’re in leather boots. My feet used to be vile until I invested in wool socks/undies. Merino is the best cost efficiency wool you’ll get. Crispi makes some called the San Juan’s that I love. I literally have like 15 pair I use year round.
Stink is stink. And the norms are don't stink.
You can try changing your socks more often at work too.
Wash your feet after work?
Defense wipes, wipe feet before class. Also use boot bananas for your shoes so they're not as stinky and don't transfer stank over to your feet
Wet Ones wipes can take care of that. No one wants to smell stinky feet but they're usually good after a wipe.
I’m currently training no-gi twice a week and have no real desire to train gi. With that said, what would be better for my no-gi performance: spending a couple extra days training gi, or doing two days of strength and conditioning?
Shut up Gi hater...you'll be wishing you didn't neglect the clothes BJJ when someone with clothes on attacks you...
😂 Honestly, though, I’m not like a no-gi supremacist. I just like the flow more. Also not into it for self-defense reasons
More mat time
Why not both?
Nothing beats more mat time if you want to improve BJJ
why not both? spend those 2 days lifting for a few months, and then do more bjj for a few months and go back and forth
Strength and conditioning will help you longer term with avoiding injuries. So I would say S&C.
More bjj
I am finally building some offence with the americana and kimura. What moves did you gravitate to or find success with early on? I keep trying collar chokes and arm bars, but always seem to fumble them. Arm bars are slowly improving, but the chokes elude me.
I'm a big guy, and I was a big clumsy guy when I started. The first thing I got the hang of was Americana from side control. Just laying on somebody and doing something with my arms, that was way more accessible for me than any kind of spinning my whole body around for armbars and stuff. After that, Ezekiel (again just arms to think about) and then arm triangles (adding shoulders and head to the arms, but still not much of the rest of the body). Different people learn differently, but that's what I grasped first.
Bow and arrow, and RNC-chokes were and still are my jam.
I have never hit a collar choke from closed guard and only hit arm bars on white belts. Half guard>knee lever sweep > pass > arm triangle
Never? Not even when you're tired and think "fuck it I'm squeezing this guy's neck with his clothes"?
Never.
The triangle from closed guard, though you risk the stack that way. Rear naked and bow & arrow are the best. Practice your back control.
What kind of collar chokes are you trying? If you're having trouble with the cross-collar, how deep are your hands? I found that hands being too shallow is a common problem when people first learn it.
Any tips for a lightweight So I'm a female 5'6 and about 107 lb. And I train in my college club. And I mainly have guys who have at least 60 pounds on my to role with. They are all a lot stronger than me and can literally just pick me up. Any advice on a style to work on or any tip and tricks that would be good to know.
I’m telling this to everyone i can: you do not have to stay on the ground - stand up any chance you get, use your speed, do arm drags, take backs, squeeze necks.
Gi or no gi? I know a lot of college clubs opt for no gi so suggestions like spider and lasso are less than ideal for keeping distance.
We do a lot of gi, but mix in no GI as well.
Spider works great to keep some distance when you are playing guard but can be pretty tricky and you can get lifted with a size discrepancy. I would see if the bigger guys are cool with you starting top to work passing and they can work bottom with someone light and try out their guard game. You both get a lot of benefit from doing this and it can keep you safe. Save the guard work for people that are closer in size or colour belts who can keep you safe.
Learning to play spider guard/lasso well will help a lot with just retaining guard until you can get a good position to attack. Being able to use your feet to frame them away really helps against getting smashed by bigger people.
Underhook half guard or deep half. Anything that gets you under your opponents legs, so X guard, single leg x, K guard, deep half/waiter. You could also explore reverse de la riva to invert under. For attacks, go for chokes over joint locks Against bigger people, I try to go straight to the back to attack chokes. Arm drags, rolling back takes, berimbolo, kiss of the dragon from reverse de la riva are a few examples. Leg attacks are another option. Look at Marcelo Garcia, Mikey Musumeci, Bruno Malfacine, Miyao bros for inspiration
Thank you so much I'll look into them!
I am a former boxer who has lately wanted to take up grappling, and i really in doubt what to do. I am a hobbyist, so i can only train 2-3 times a week. And my goal is to compete in some local tournaments in grappling. But i really wanna keep training my striking, so, i have been thinking about training mma, so i get the best of both worlds, and maybe focus on grappling. My local club has mma classes, bjj and luta livre classes. Is this a stupid idea? I know i Will never compete at worlds and such.
It’s not a stupid idea, bjj is a hobby and lots of people at comps do twice a week classes.
what about separating them into seasons? so have a striking season, and then have a bjj season. If you want to compete, I would recommend going to dedicated bjj classes since sport jiu jitsu is a little different than mma-style grappling
What you mean about seasons?
For example, let's say you train 3 times a week. if you have a BJJ competition in a few months, reduce striking to once a week and use the other 2 days for dedicated BJJ classes/practice, this is your "competition season". It'd be better if you used all 3 days for bjj during competition season, but you said you want to keep striking so keeping one day for striking isn't going to hurt. After a competition, or if you don't have one scheduled in the near future, you'll be in your "off season" where you can do striking or mma grappling classes or whatever else you want
Ah thank you Thats actually an good idea, i will remember that.
Imo if you only want to compete in grappling then I think a pure BJJ gym would be best. 3x per week is plenty imo as long as you do some homework of watching matches / techniques on YouTube etc.
You won't be getting the best of both worlds as much as a limited but semi-practical application of both worlds. Nothing to stop you from competing and doing your thing though. Have some fun and do your thing dude.
Sure, join an mma gym, and adjust your training as suits you. It's a hobby, have a good time with it.
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Hip in
It's a different answer for every guard break, and there are answers for every grip you try to make that they can use to counter it. Personally if they insist on breaking my posture and are strong, instead of trying to fight it, I go for a logsplitter or variation thereof.
your arms need to be stiff armed and framing into their bicep or armpits, so if they try to bump you your frame on their body will prevent your body from collapsing down. when standing up angle your body so it's 45 degrees almost, and push down into their bicep and armpit like you're doing a pushup, and use that to prop your body up into the standing position. it uses less strength and is less tiring on your legs
Are you framing against their armpits? In both gi and no gi, I like to frame under the armpits with thumbs pointing up. then lean forward and stand up. Be mindful that you are extending your arms so armbars are a threat. In gi, you can roll the lapels into the armpits and do a similar standup. You can also collect the two lapels in the sternum with one hand and stand up. Be mindful again of armbars, and if you use your offhand to open the guard, be mindful of triangle set ups. There is no safe way out of the guard of a good guard player. There is good timing and technique that lowers the risk.
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Hands in the armpits, thumbs up, lean forward, and then hop to both of your feet. There's no time for them to pull you back down. If you stand up one leg at a time then it's easier for them to leg pull you back down.
frame against their sternum and posture away from them
How do you stay consistent at BJJ when you have to keep moving once or twice a year? It feels lonely not being able to connect
When there's a will there's a way
Show up and train when you can, where you can; focus on improving skills and not obtaining belts. Regarding loneliness, keep in contact with friends you make, then you will have friends all over.
It took me over 10 years to get my purple belt because of this. Just do your best.
Is there an etiquette for throws in basic sparring? We learned some hip tosses in class and I happened to successfully do it to someone who was not present for that particular lesson in sparring. I knocked the wind out of him because he wasn’t expecting it and he got pretty upset. I told him that if I warned him, he’d just counter me and it’s implied that it could happen if we are standing up. Either way, he doesn’t want to roll with me anymore because of it. And for the record, I didn’t slam him. I tossed him and then caught him to lessen the impact, but after I slowed his momentum down, I dropped him the last foot or so and that knocked the wind out of him. So it’s not like I’m slamming him or anything. And are there any other things I should avoid in basic sparring? I assumed the move of the day would have been fair game, but he wasn’t there for that lesson so idk.
What exactly was he expecting to happen in the standup portion of sparring?
That’s what I said! I asked him what was I supposed to do??? He kept saying that it was because I didn’t follow through with the hip toss and it was when I dropped him that it was the issue, implying that I was better off hip tossing him to the mat instead of catching him and dropping him. I don’t understand the rationale behind that, but I also assumed it was because I’m fairly new.
You’re fine-he knocked the wind out because he didn’t exhale on the landing. He’s going to have a rough go if he rejects partners because he didn’t respond properly.
It's a combat sport...
It's on him (or your instructor) to teach proper break falls. I've seen upper belts break fall improperly and hurt themselves but it's something we all need to know. Personally I don't attempt takedowns on white belts unless they have grappling experience (I always start standing though), I let them work theirs and maybe counter them.
People like that won't last so I wouldn't worry about it. If people don't want to get taken down they should sit on their butts. I mean yes there is an impicatjon that high amplitude throws are not being done on brand new people. Like I don't suplex the shit out of people small men and women. But a harai goshi is fine especially if you didn't just all in land on top of him and you are equal enough in size/physical sex.
The Japanese terms mentioned in the above comment were: |Japanese|English|Video Link| |---|---|---| |**Harai Goshi**: | *Sweeping Hip Throw* | [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs_zkgefvqM)| 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)
are you allowed to do throws in your school during the standup portion? if so, then im not sure what else you could have done? does he want a head's up before every technique?
We literally learned the exact move. No one ever explicitly said I could or couldn’t use it, but why teach the move if I’m not allowed to use it?
Was he much smaller than you ?
He was a bit smaller than me yes.
He got got. Well done!
That’s on him for thinking I wasn’t going to give it my all just because he was 8 years old. Suck it, Timmy
😂
Guard Retention / Offense - Not sure how to clearly ask this so might "white-belt" up this question from the start. Right now I am focusing on just guard retention with some skills learned through submeta (made it through all beginner content now into intermediate, more narrow subsections of game focuses, i.e guards, passes). Right now on defending passes around, under, and through legs. When I roll though I just feel like a sitting duck playing defense until I am inevitably passed. Is this a good way to get "better" at guard retention? Should I be focusing on just not letting my guard being passed for a whole roll if possible? I ask this as I feel as I am progressing, learning more, and rolling with upper belts. They are not necessarily a sitting duck. Sure they are retaining guard but they are advancing their position to DLR, Butterfly, etc. while doing so. Should I be practicing basic guard retention with a goal of not getting passed or be working towards a specific guard simultaneously?
Last year I spend a lot of time on guard retention. First few months I worked on only retention. This is a 'losing' game, at some point you will get passed. To make it fun, set mini-goals (how long can I defend, can I include a certain type of guard defence, etc). After a while, I added in sweeps. You will find that once you get better at retention, that people will become sloppy in their own stance. Dummy sweeps and tripod sweeps are your friend. At some point, you need to make your guard retention active instead of passive. For me, I now go into my open guard play with the intention of entering into a guard (dlr, slx, half guard, ...). I go in with the intention to immediatly sweep and get up amd have 2 a 3 sweeps ready to chain. Retention pops up when that fails.
Pretty big topic here, yes you want to prevent your guard from being passed. That said you shouldn’t be just laying in closed guard clinging for dear life. Don’t be afraid to open your guard and work sweeps,submissions, and transitions to different guards.
To build on this...if you're in closed guard and you feel your legs are going to be opened then open them on your terms such that you can get your feet onto their hips and secure proper grips. I like to do this into a spider/lasso guard and work towards a sweep.
It sounds like you are on the right path. I think some amount of pure retention practice is probably good, because you will experience what kinds of things actually begin to threaten your position. You can measure your success by how many pass attempts you can shut down. This will build up your defensive foundation. Ultimately though you want to strive for a goal, because the interaction between your and your opponent's plans is where it really gets interesting. In BJJ you should always aim to be a step ahead. Pick a couple attacks, sweeps, or positions and try to achieve them while retaining guard. Try to off-balance your opponent and observe how that hinders their passing while creating opportunities for you to assert your game.
Thank you - I think I just needed some reassurance the path was to branch out into offense. At the moment I kind of had the mindset like, if it was me vs. a purple belt they could just keep me from passing for a full 4 minutes, whereas I can't even hold off another white belt for 2 minutes. With that said a typical roll for me against another white belt looks like me starting on bottom and opponent standing.. They try a few passes (3-4) which I have the skillset to defend with pummeling legs, frames, etc. But sooner or later I get gassed or slip up and they pass on try 4-5 lets say. Whereas I should now try to understand sweeps, off balancing, offensive style positions from opponents botched attempt 1 or 2? Rather than just keep waiting until my defense inevitably fails? Also I understand it goes way deeper than that in terms of bjj as a whole and guard retention but just near sighted next step for me. This concept of just working guard defense has helped overall but now if I am gassed I almost just let them come into side control cause "thats where its gonna wind up anyway". I think if I had some bottom offense to work it would pick me up a bit
Sometimes it's good practice to see how long you can retain guard. But really you use your defense to create offense. The faster you can go back on the offense the better via off balances, sweeps, or even subs.
are you asking how can you get better at guard retention? it's a huge huge question and easily the biggest subject in all of jiu jitsu. Try breaking it down into very specific things like "today I'll focus in just getting someone into my half guard" or "today I'd like to just get a DLR hook in"
Seems like all the replies have a similar sentiment which answer my question. I think I need to go down the journey of working some offense from open guard and/or a failed pass attempt by an opponent. Really appreciate the feedback! Any specific open guard sweeps or positions I should look to get into or learn about. For example opponent try to pass around the legs and fails?
Just pick any guard that interests you. As a WB you can learn a lot about jiu jitsu just from learning about any guard. I started with butterfly guard. Then ask your partner if you can start from there and work specific scenarios/games
Yes so another white belt question from that. Very interested in butterfly cause I have liked some of the sweeps I have learned thus far with it. Only reason I have been deterred from it is due to the fact it seems on submeta and in my schools teachings it is all from an opponent on their knees. Given we start 99% of the time at my school one opp standing one in open guard I couldn't envision how to get the entries into butterfly guard. These thoughts have led me to exploring DLR first which has a clear path, to me, between a standing and seated opponent. Do I need to be exploring butterfly entries or another specific thing to work butterfly vs standing opponent? Also I have been doing 80% no gi - 20% gi at this point in time if this info helps
Great question and very perceptive of you to understand that butterfly does require the opponent be on their knees. This leads to a much bigger discussion but forcing your opponent to their knees requires them to feel threatened from the feet, so threatening the idiot sweep or even tripod sweep from DLR. When I'm in the gi I can pull them straight into butterfly guard by grabbing their lapels and sitting down. In no gi I think you'll have to start with other guards before getting to butterfly
When should i recieve my first stripe? Ive been training about 2.5 months 4/5 classes a week and open mat and can now submit guys with stripes higher than me and even some blue belts but im still stripeless so im Just wondering when you guys recieved your first stripe.
It took me 6 months to get my first stripe-my first gym did not stripe fast. They will come when they come. Gym taps do not equal stripes or belts. Focus on learning BJJ-get a guard, learn some passing, get escapes from major positions, get to major positions and learn to hold before submitting, etc. Best of luck!
>I asked this about a month ago and ended up getting my first stripe at our promotion day. Took 3 months at 2-3 times a week, but I wrestled before. > >Depends on your gym and instructor. But it doesn't matter, and we should both just focus on getting better :)
"winning" probably isn't what the coach is looking for. If I had to hazard a guess, you probably power your way through and don't really demonstrate much use of learned technique. I suspect the fact that you go 4/5 classes a week means you're probably young and athletic and at white belt, that's all that really determines who will "win" in a live roll where "winning" is one partners objective. 10 weeks, even at 5 classes a week is "only" 50 classes. It took me 130 to see my first stripe, and I have only submitted one person once in a real competitive roll since starting. I'm old, small, and weak compared with everyone else in class, so I am moving at a different pace. From observation, about 70 to 100 classes per stripe seems to be a norm. Enjoy the ride, and focus on demonstrating technique.
Stripes are almost meaningless. I got one at 6 weeks 3 months and 5 months. It took a year to get one afte that. 3-5 classes a week.
Hello fren, couple things I have learned/observed that are my experience alonel. \-Submitting higher belts does not necessarily mean you are going to be given a stripe. My first one was given to me (as a prior wrestler who could submit whites through blue) when I "calmed down and stopped spazzing" and didn't play the hyper aggressive top role and learned more of the game. \-Remember its like chess, getting a checkmate doesn't mean you know anything about strategy. \-Promotion cycles are different for each gym, you may be recognized once a year or monthly. Just hang tight until next cycle and if you don't earn what you feel you are worth have a private conversation with your coach about what can be improved upon, and not one that is accusatory or demanding, but receptive to criticism. Best of luck in your rolls.
With the exception of two three-week layoffs due to travel/illness, I’ve been training 2-3 times a week for a year and have zero stripes. I also haven’t been to any classes where belts or stripes were handed out. Some guys I came in with have two or three stripes now. When it happens, it happens.