I use short formats to help me find potential study leads. I am a white belt and when i see a submission that i feel is too complicated i now know its not for me right now. If we take the armbar as an example i found a diffrent grip that seems to work better than the one in the 45 min video showed. So its not useless its just not deep enough to be effective on its own
I’m 21, just beat brain cancer for the 3rd time. I have a scheduled procedure to remove my port from my chest and already have my gym planning for me to return in September. We can’t be stopped 💪🏻
It's all about conquering our fears. Most people think it's morbid, but I visualize worst case scenarios so many times that I accept them as a potential outcome, freeing myself from that fear. I imagine dying in an earthquake, being bitten by a shark while peacefully floating in the ocean alone during sunset, breaking a leg in training or a fight, losing an eye, etc, etc, etc. There's great freedom in accepting the fact that we cannot control the future and that any of us could die at any moment. I choose freedom. #FreeLikeThat
At the moment my goal is to get through warmups without feeling like throwing up. Goal after that, is to get through warmups without completly gassing out. After that, to get through warmups and have enough energy to drill without slowing down. After that, to roll and not gas after the first one, etc. I have a game plan, mainly cardio but its a step forward
It's a good point about the ego, it can be tough for people who were previously really good at other stuff. I used to box for my country as a teenager, but didn't enjoy it in the end so I stopped. Now I'm older and I'm brand new at something and I get beat all the time. It's important to remember that you're challenging yourself and that not everyone would be capable of putting themselves right at the bottom of something, after they used to be proficient in their own thing.
So many funny comments about "since I got cauliflower ears, people tend to pick less fights with me", I mean, in what sh*t holes do you guys hang around where random people might pick fights with you? It looks ugly af, just man up and accept it. If you think it's bad ass alpha, I am glad you're getting off by it, at a job interview nobody will like it (unless in the rare 0.0001% cases where your interviewer also does jiu-jitsu), and at a social event, people going to think you're a primitive. Sorry, but it's true, even if you're a nice bloke.
I just started jiu jitsu a week ago. Love it 😂 I get pummeled every round lmao but I have improved 1 week in. Fought with my coach and he was going easy on me ne but I tried my best 😅
I know the feeling. I had to start my Internship a lil' after I had recieved my Brown Belt. There was literally no time for training. When I went back I was so out of shape. I went from training 4 - 5 days a week to 0 days a week for 7 months. That takes a huge toll on you. On top of that I unfortunately developed a lower back hernia which not only took time to heal but I had to go through a significant amount of physicians before they would finally prescribe me some medication.
I already feel discouraged only trained for a week but i can't remember anything my coach shows Im just left fumbling when we do partnered drills and its embarrassing
Egooooo is the problem. It’s about the journey not the destination. For me it’s about the process. Being better than most people that don’t train at all is good enough for me. Jiujitsu is literally a game, it’s very ritualistic and not like actual warfare or combat. Don’t take it so seriously.
Idk I got blue in 8 months and I give every higher belt so far a reasonable shock haha I'm enjoying the journey so far. I wrestled and have other training too though so it's not like I didn't know. 😂
I feel like this same advance maps onto relationships in general. Not to say the move fast - break things - passion filled high doesn't ever lead to long-lasting, fulfilling relationships, but slow and steady gives you time to build a foundation.
Thank you, Chewy! Your videos make me feel better. I strayed at 46. I’m 52. I’m going to train as long as I can. I still have a blast. I have to let go of expectations all the time.
I don't get the point of asking the question in the first place. Belt system in any martial art has little to do with your fighting ability alone. Else would only give high belts to yougnsters in their 20's above 120 kg (and their belt level would decrease when the get older and weaker ?) Of course you won't be able to "compete" all your life with younger, stronger opponents. Begining at 40, 50, 60, you'll crumble till you don't represent a threat to any real athlete. So what ? Winning gold medal wasn't the plan anyway. Aquiring some skill was, and mastering the art (whatever it is), building some self esteem, having fun grinding among friends and teaching etc. Besides, parnter in the gym are opportunities to practice and progress, they're not opponents your supposed to "beat".
50y, blue belt. Step by step is the fastest and most effective option. For example, 5-10 training sessions I force baseball chokes, first on white belts to drill the movement, and then on higher belts to understand problems. Only when I see that I work with it automatically, I switch to another technique. Now I'm starting the ghost escape with attack.
He has a strong weapon to carry him through his black belt promotion. His resilience!! You beat cancer, you can beat anything, special forces selection, prison,… ANYTHING!!
Every now and then I just pick a two week period and tell myself "I'm not going to use any of my A-game against anybody". And sometimes I'll actively choose something to work on. But if not, that approach always makes it glaringly obvious what I need to be working on.
Sounds like a lot of the big guys I know. You might be getting compliant using catches instead of clean set ups and being physically tough to control/choke due to size, but the higher belts are crafty enough to make it work. I know a lot of heavy weights who got used to snatching kimuras and toe holds from bad spots and getting panic taps up until purple belt, when everyone started defending and smashing them. Not sure if that's you or not but it's definitely something to look out for in your habits
My coach has given us the same advice in the gym. He went through a similar situation where he'd keep using the same move or series of moves. Sure, he got better at doing those things, but he wasn't really growing as a BJJ practitioner. As he began trying new things and forcing himself into situations to work different techniques/approaches, he developed much more.
You have described my current training focus as a blue belt, although I'm not quite as ambitious. I go into rolls and drills looking for opportunities to be more aggressive, take risks, and improve my weak spots. Relative new but much younger, larger ( I'm > 60yrs old, 130 lbs) can still overwhelm me at times physically. I'm working on being more disciplined and technical, not trying to match their physicality, because if I do that I just tire out quicker. I may have to accept a poor, defensive position, but when I'm there I work on my defense and make them work harder for anything they get. One example is my being very susceptible to having my guard taken, they get side control, get technical mount or gift wrap, then arm bar me or take my back and RNC. When I end up there instead of dwelling on that failure, I now I look at it as an opportunity to work on my counters, escape etc. Recently I've had a bit more success, sweeping and reversing on them and passing guard and threatening submissions. I don't get many taps, but I am making progress. I am much more aware of what is going on now than when I was a white belt, and know what I could have and should have done better, and make mental notes for next time.
I remember feeling like I was drowning in technique. So much stuff - I knew a little about a lot . I didn't always know the finer details of a technique to pull it off, or I was applying a technique when I should have been applying a different one....or the technique I knew wasn't very sophisticated. Then I reminded myself I was "just" a blue belt and I was putting way too much expectations on myself. I decided to stop it. My goal was to show up, once that was done I wasn't going to worry. I'm not trying to be a BJJ professional - I'm just trying to learn something cool, have some community and fight back obesity heart disease and depression. If Monday was closed guard on the rolls I'd do my go to stuff on the people my size, age and skill level. Anyone smaller, newer, etc. I'd do those sweeps and submission I really wasn't good at. Something I'd tell myself, "Stop trying to win practice" and that got me to just roll to learn and enjoy myself. YMMV
I've not long been a blue belt, but personally I don't compare myself to anyone, I just try to concentrate on developing my game . When I was a white belt I used to think too much about comparing myself to everyone, I used to look at people and think things like 'he's good I can't beat him' or 'he's a purple belt I can't compete with him'. As soon as changed my mentality and believed in myself, I started competing with everyone at all levels. A large part of Bjj and all combat sports, is the mental game.
All gym "charges" for promotion but its more of participation belts. They want you to keep coming to the gym so they will promote you at a certain time(aka 1 to 2 years to get blue, etc..) so by promoting you, you keep paying your monthly membership to the gym which goes back to yes you are technically paying for promotion. I really dislike gym who promote by attendance and number of times you train and have lack of skill. Seeing a 2-year person training as a white belt and still doesn't know how to do some basic moves and get promoted to blue just because they been training for 2 years is just bad. Same with a very talented white belt that trains for 4 months that can rekt all blue belts will not get promoted cuz of time trained at the gym. So in overall, I think you should be able to pay for belt promotion if you feel that you meet the criteria of the next rank belt at the same time you can get promoted without paying and having your professor promote you naturally. thanks Chewy, love your content!!
I'm 6'3" and built a full game around pulling to closed guard. The game allowed me to get 3rd at Master's World's a s blue belt. I built the game specifically because I felt like so many people, especially lower belts, were sleeping on it. It's the OG guard because it works...people always want the fancy, but the fundamentals are built around the most efficient and effective techniques. In close guard you control the pace and action. You can have counters set up for every reaction. It can also allow you easy entry into some of your favorite open guards. Crazy they are discouraging it.
For so many people even knowing they are still learning and some people are so much better, ego can get involved. I would recommend letting your partners know beforehand that you are working on certain positions or transitions. This way relieving any ego that may get involved if they get the better of you and then claim such. It also opens up the door for more communication between rollers which makes for a better training session and they may be more inclined or open to the idea of training with you since you both progress faster.
Thank you for answering my question I appreciate the feedback! The née perspective has been helping, tried doing more passing on my off side, S mount stuff and my back control - been a big help, but you nailed it for sure i was staying to the same gameplan.
Just playing devils advocate so by your definition of leaving ones ego at the door then why even have belts? I do no gi and have done so for 5 years and am a white belt because while I have nothing against gi I train nogi and my school promotes based off of gi. So at the end of class we stand in line and you know we stand in order of progression but I couldn't care less. So while we are told to leave our ego at the door why do we have things that point towards ego?
