Father Tells Teenage Son To Quit BJJ to Focus On Wrestling 

Last time I was this early I did warmups

Retired MMA fighter, D1 wrestler, BJJ brown belt.... enjoy everything. Focus on wrestling during wrestling. Focus on BJJ during non wrestling season. Wrestling makes BJJ easier and mat time is mat time as long as it’s quality. I’d pay money every day to go back to HS wrestling.

I'm friends with a man that was very into body building when he was younger. His family told him he was wasting his life. He went into the fitness center business. Now, not only does he own one of the best fitness centers in the US, but his whole family works for him.

Wrestling is only there for as long as the high school season, and high school for that matter, is there. Jiu jitsu will always be there.

Chew I just wanted tell you i finally earned my first stripe as a white belt 🤙🏽🥋🤼‍♂️🦍

Looking back my step dad had the right idea with me. Growing up he always seeded the physical education stuff with me, it’s kinda what he does, outdoor experiential education. When I hit 8th grade he sat me down and literally just had a conversation with me, this is why I want you to do wrestling, it’ll teach you these life skills, it’ll make you stronger, give you a tribe to belong to, make you carry yourself better day to day (I’d argue the back problems make this one a lie) but generally just sitting me down and being upfront like “hey your not gonna like it but it’s gonna do these things for you, I NEED you to do it for a year, you don’t have to do more” Just that distinction and the autonomy I felt being given the choice to continue year to year honestly kept me in longer. I dropped it my senior year in exchange for more band things since I was going into college for music but nonetheless I’ve legitimately never seen a better method then just “communicate with your child like they’re a human deserving of basic respect”

the dad is so right in this scenario. The USA alongside former Soviet countries are unique in having highly competitive world class wrestling training and competition available to school age youth. If you live in either of those two places and don't capitalise on that you are a fool. Even Brazilians would kill for that opportunity. High school wrestling in the USA can very efficiently take you to world class competition at NCAA or Olympics. The comprehensive, honed nature of wrestling training in the USA is very very special and an MMA athlete would struggle to find anything as good at any other time in their lives. So while at school and college for gods sake focus on the wrestling. Most good wrestlers can steamroll BJJ folk with the same years of experience anyway. And it is physically much easier to compete in BJJ as an adult , even older adult. Compared to wrestling which is a young person's game. You cannot find quality competitions for wrestling for people older than 25. You retire from the sport at that age, and can win an Olympic medal at as young as 16. You can do high level BJJ as a 40+ year old no problem.

Every top athlete in pro sports encourages multi sport athletes. Rarely are the top guys only did 1 sport in school. So that off season idea is good.

No matter what, make sure whatever you do is your decision. Commit to that as your choice. Nothing burns more than regret and you don't have the right to blame others when you were the one in control.

"It's not about who's best, it's about who's left."

I wrestled in high school and started jiu jitsu after I finished. Focus on wrestling. It will make your jiu jitsu so much better. Not to mention it is the fundamental martial art to basically all UFC champs currently. Wrestling teaches you grappling skills, but even more it gives you heart and confidence in competition which is vital to be a pro fighter

Hey man I don’t know if u remember me but I’m the guy who told that he trains with my cousins but now I’m training with them in a gym and I’m a 2 stripe white belt and your videos helped me out because one time I ran out of air in the middle of a roll and tapped then I just sat next to the couch trying not to tear up because I thought i wasn’t worthy of my 1st stripe but I got back home saw one of your videos that talked about white belt giving up or something like that and that really made me rethink my decision of quitting and ur chill and cool attitude inspired me to become a cold guy that doesn’t get angry all the time, so thank u so much man u have no idea how many people u inspire with every video.

My nephew is a wrestler and a senior. He's ranked in the top 20 in the state of CA. The further he goes in the state tournaments means better offers from colleges. We're talking FREE or ALMOST FREE EDUCATION ! Can't pass that up

My son started out in BJJ. He started when he was 6. He won NAGA tournaments all across the country. He then wanted to start wrestling to help his takedowns. He probably did BJJ another year and went all in wrestling. I would say he was 12 at that point. He then went on to wrestle D1 in college. I do miss the BJJ days. I think if he was to pick it up again he would do very well.

The idea of working his BJJ during the off-season and focusing on wrestling during its season seems solid to me. It keeps him grappling, reduces the chance of burnout, and the no-gi in particular can be helpful experience. The only caveat to this would be if he's got local wrestling camps to work out in during the off-season, that might be preferable if he truly wants to go "all in" -- possibly even compete in the private circuit for folk and the Olympic styles. Hard to go wrong either way.

I wish there were more Wrestling classes over here in England. My club currently has 1 wrestling class per week however we have Lyubo Kumbarov coming down soon to run another weekly class!

When it comes time to forge your own path, you eventually have to go your own way.

Great words of wisdom.. Man I miss the wrestling room...

Wrestling is free training and free competition. The experience, you can get 10 matches in 1 tourney. Hundreds of free matches, the only time I got to travel out of state. Duels, I didn't realize it at the time, but the tumult of the crowd made me feel unbeatable in a duel. After high school a lot of normal guys went to prison because they had no guidance for their aggression. Transitioning to jiu jutsu after high is wise. A lot of jiu jitsu guys say they wish they they should have wrestled looking back.

Wrestling might take you to college to, jiu jitsu won’t take you to college.

Such an underrated channel, love your content nick 🥋

I started bjj at 12 then wrestled through highschool and back to bjj after highschool. For the last two years my bjj has accelerated just from the new perspectives given from just doing something awkward.

My coach told his son this too, He's an mma coach but he said, my son can become a bjj black belt later, he can't be d1 or Olympian unless he starts now

I currently do mma and I HIGHLY recommend wrestling. So much u learn about fighting in a wrestling season.

You have a point! You'll always remember that last match it's a bitter sweet moment and if you're not going to college to wrestle then take advantage of the time you have doing it.

Liked the side tangent a lot. "Work very hard to focus on just being better, but not expecting to get there quickly. Embodiment of knowledge inside the body takes much more time than we think."

Wrestling is very good. They can stand with bjj and judo. That being said , focus on studying. Most fighters will not make any kind of money specialy in UFC

Chewie, you are legitimately awesome. I love this channel. You've given me some really great perspective through my training and I really appreciate it, it's helped me a lot!!

Aikido is far better than bjj

In the internet age full of bad advice, finally some good. Good stuff you are 100% correct... on all of it.

Great advise brother i think this is the best thing to do. 🙏

100 percent brother... from making the change from wrestling to ju-jitsu has been a change. A lot of my wrestling is the base line for my jiu-jitsu matches but in wrestling you can’t go to your back but in jiu-jitsu you can. I say all that to say, in the off season go do jiu jitsu it will help but in season it may force bad habits brother.

This was excellent advice not only for this case but can be applied to all of us

Amazing advice

Great advice from a great coach. Nice work Chewy🤙. Big picture thinking here.

I can see where wrestling is the best way to go for another reason. There has been talks about in some tournaments people from judo and wrestling causing a belt sandbagging. He will get a more authentic progression within wrestling at high school than he will get from a bjj tournament if there is any of this issue happening from where he is from. Personally I do not hate the idea behind sandbagging due to it can ground some lower level belts reminding them that there is a lot to learn and deal with. Is it fun to get sandbagged? No, but as Chewy has said you got to learn from your lumps, and going with wrestling first will allow him to learn from others how the mixed wrestling and bjj later down the road.

Also, you're only a teenager once. Keep some time to be a teenager. When you grow up too fast you'll wonder what happened to your childhood. Be a kid, and if you're lucky you'll keep a piece of that with you your whole life. Take things too seriously while young and you'll regret it when you're older.

Twist answer: if youre still in your mid teens you shouldnt be doing 2 grappling styles. Do 1 grappling and striking, weapons, parkour, or something else, or all of the above, while your brain and body are still developing. This will make your future mma training easier to adjust to because youll have developed the talent to do anything. You will not be able to increase your learning capacity when youre older. Dont forget mental training either.

Facts though. I only wrestled for two years, but wrestling became one of my largest passions. Goes by quick. I actually might turn to bjj to fill that void left by the end of my career

As a wrestling coach I tell all my kids to quit every other sport if they’re gonna do wrestling. Being a good wrestler takes year-round training

Honestly, I would say if your doing both, treat your jiu jitsu as if it was wrestling, use wrestling tactics, let those guys get your back, role them off, use wrestling defenses, you will get way better in wrestling if you do, look up catch wrestling even

this kid needs to wrestle as long as he can. it sets up a body awareness and a fire that takes forever to develop anywhere else. There's a kid in my BJJ class, I think he's a green/ white belt, that seriously has no clue. it's hard to roll with him because just has no aggression, no awareness. going against someone who has wrestled, you get that competitive feeling. not to mention the brotherhood that develops on the mat that sticks with you through life. better than a fraternity. And being a white belt, going up against a higher belt that can't sweep me and get that confused look on their face? there's something insanely satisfying about knowing they underestimated me because if the belt.

Surely lots of wrestling experience would make him a takedown and top playing boss?

Serious question chewy. I'm sure you are married, have kids etc. I dont know how to balance my family life with bjj. I only get to train bjj about 3-4 times a week, and I train weights 1-2 times a week. My wife has a problem with this, she feels as if I'm just trying to avoid my duties as a father and husband and escape to a fantasy world. I dont have any aspirations of becoming a world champ or anything crazy, I just want to be the best I can be and become competent at something I love to do. However, I always feel at odds with my wife now because of it. I have finally developed a sense of belonging which I was lacking for many years until last year. As a recovering alcoholic, I tend to become addicted to things quickly. I replace alcohol with jiu jitsu basically. Now my wife has the same problem all over again. I just feel I cant win. I just want to belong somewhere and feel like I'm progressing in life but I dont want to alienate myself from my family either. Do you have any experience with this? Because just to be on par with my peers, I feel I need to train at least 3-4x a week with some lifting included. I just dont want to see my teammates pass me up and get promoted while I sit on the sidelines not being able to train. It literally makes me jealous that I cant train as much as them and with how little I do train I'm still getting yelled at fot it. I see it as I'm just trying to put effort I to something I want to do, I dont want to halfass this and fizzle out again like I've done before. I want my family to join me and train one day but my wife has no interest in it at all. My dream is to have my whole family do it with me and we can all share it together. Anyone whose been here before or is currently dealing with it please share your thoughts.

It's all grappling do both and as much as humanly possible. The only way to get better at wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu (Grappling) is mat time. At 15 he certainly has all the time in the world for both. I don't recall what state he was from, but In Pennsylvania, if you want to compete at the highest level of scholastic wrestling (Regional qualifier / States) you best be on the mats all year long anyway.

Hey Chewy I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and I like them even though I train Muay Thai it still gives me tips. My question today is what do I do because I’m at a gym right now where it’s in a church with not the best facilities as it’s a small space with carpet I like the trainer he’s legit but I’m not sure if it’s best in the long run as I want to compete and have fights however I don’t believe anyone has had a fight there in the last few years or ever he himself has but I’m unsure if it’s at the current gym should I stay or should I go to a different one where I live that has fight cards every 3 months. Thank you I know it’s a different martial art but please can you help me I need advice and guidance

Wrestling makes you great at bjj. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the other way around (most cases).

Leading a less fear-based life whenever you can is good advice.

not one single dislike. love it

Chewy can you maybe make some more videos on setting up takedowns with punches?

Unless your GPA is 3.75 or greater, then your energy and finances are best spent invested on grades. Chances of even a good wrestler nailing a full scholarship to a college are slim and then that scholarship has to be maintained which is not always a easy thing to do. Chances of a great student nailing a academic scholarship are much much greater. Wrestling, MMA and BJJ only have a limited lifespan... once that is over he still needs to pay bills, support a family etc. Its like a kid saying he wants to be a NBA player...

Good advise. you can only wrestler for a few years. Might as well spend all his time on Wrestling and can re-start BJJ in College or early 20s

Depending on what state he lives in and how far he made it into the state series, he may be done for the season which may have promoted this question and conversation with his dad

on the off season I wrestled 2 days a week and did BJJ and Muay thai 2 or 3 days a week. During the season I would wrestled as practice and matches went, and I would get some extra mat time, or use BJJ and Muay thai practice as something that would help me cut weight or build cardio 1 or 2 days a week Some of the sweeps in BJJ really helped me in matches I would also be in the gym at 5 or 6 am in season 2 or 3 days a week lifting, and off season 4 or 5..Only about 90min each session. I may have been over doing it, but it kept me from doing a lot of stupid shit

Well said 👍

See.. I've had many dreams when I was young but never got to start any of them because of well laziness in the first place and not really caring back then about what the future would bring. Now I'm 23 and I have all the time and money to pursue by dream of getting knowledge in kickboxing and bjj, however.. on all these videos with experienced fighters they talk about their youth and how they were already high up in rank in their chosen martial arts. It's really offputting since im starting to feel old to even begin pursueing my dreams, but I only started caring last year when I turned 22, thats where I wanted to accomplish things in my life. Still didn't do shit till now.

Wrestling better for MMA anyways. BJJ is cool and all, but wrestling is a whole another level.

wish i was born in america and had sports in school, where i am from they want you to grind for that 9-5 “dream job”

My parents made me pause because of grades and junior year grind. Luckily I can come back in the summer.

The better you get at wrestling, the faster you will move up through belts in jiu jitsu.

I wonder what instrumental is used at beginning and end. It’s so chill

Chewy- Can you reccomend the best bjj academy in Lansing, Mi? I saw that a Machado "descendant"(Brazilian, high level competitor) had several schools in Ohio before he went out West to Cali... I BELIEVE he earned his black belt and "blessing" to instruct in Brazil and then started in Ohio when he first came to the states. Long story short, I want to explore the art, but I wouldn't even start unless the school has a highly respected lineage. Can you reccomend a school in the Lansing, Michigan area? Thanks for your time. *Excuse the long post. I was just trying to explain what I am looking for. Lol

This question may be a bit irrelevant to this video, but: I'm a wrestler and I experience an insane amount of fear while wrestling against an opponent and it makes me really question whether I want to continue. I'm not a sore loser, but the level of fear I feel during a match or while wrestling with one of my teammates is honestly so overwhelming. Does this ever go away?

Great video Chewy. Question I'm a white belt who drilled and rolled with a blue belt and the same training partner injured my ribs and now I have to take two weeks off. I'm flattered that the blue belt needed to excert himself to that exctent. Is a non frature to the ribs a common minor setback in chewjitsu.

I would also say that you can only wrestle for so long in your life. You should focus on wrestling while it is available then devote yourself to bjj. BJJ will always be there from when you're young to when your old but wrestling has a short amount of time in your life.

I’m 1 stripe white belt and I have been gone for 2 days (I’m sick) and this week we where getting stripes we stand in order of belt so what do I do if a fellow 1 stripe got 2 stripe but I’ve been there longer but I missed the stripe day do I stand behind them or where I normally stand which is in front of them edit: the tides have turned should I stand in front of people that where in front of me because I have 3 strips and they two

I know hes right my son feels the same. But theres only a short time I get to train with my son as well. I'm not standing in his way during wrestling season he wont train with me but after the season hes back

I want to do mma

That’s a stupid question, HS wrestlers have the lowest conversion rate to college NCAA because of the physical commitment it requires. BJJ is a martial art that you can do for life. I told my son, you can wrestle all you like, but you may never be top notch, but you can one day be the best martial arts practitioner because sport and art are held it different regards.

Yea I’m 27 and I wrestled from 7yo to 18yo coached when I was 21&22 and booooy do I miss it I just started mma and Bjj (2 different gyms) and not to many people can fuck with me at the Bjj gym because I use wrestling knowledge and never get in full mount!!! .... But should my first Bjj competition be a combat Bjj competition

Do both.....,

Hey man I’m a junior in highschool and have done jiu jitsu for about half a year and have never done wrestling. I don’t plan on mma just bjj competitions. Do you recommend joining the wrestling team if I can only do 1 year of it to help my Jiu Jitsu?

This is kind of my situation im stuck between choosing to do bjj and wrestling or just wrestling all year round for highschool

good advice

I’m thinking about doing jiu jitsu but i can’t make the leap to actually do it, it’s weird, I can’t stop overthinking about the negative things that will happen

Hey Chewy! I've recently joined a local BJJ gym and am having an absolute blast! Since i'm so new I don't really know any submissions so I tend to just try my best to survive. I felt like I was doing a reasonable job managing to hold off opponents and making life a bit more difficult before getting tapped until I came across one of the bigger (Strength wise) guys at my gym. He started the same time as me so we're similar in skill but he keeps getting hold of both my arms (from my guard), I cant seem to break his grips due to his strength advantage, any tips? Thanks coach.

I’m at the point where I just train whatever I feel in the moment

Nobody: Chewy: ALRIGHT BROTHER THANKS FOR THE QUESTION

Wrestling is the best preparation for jujitsu

Hello Chewy, I got a question man. I would love to start BJJ but my shoulder has been dislocated several times this year due to rugby. Do you think that this weaker shoulder would work against me whilst doing BJJ?

Easier to learn BJJ as an adult than wrestling

Wrestling compliments BJJ in so many ways.

Why can't you do both? im currently learning muay thai about 1 year already and im starting to learn Jiu Jitsu too

This literally came up at my gym last night. So weird.

I'm getting taped out by white belts sometimes with no grAppling experience ...Am I at a bad place?

I think catch wrestling is superior to bjj in every way and would do it if there was any place teaching it in sweden.

His father is doing the right thing. Butt scooting doesn’t work in a cage. Purple belt level submission knowledge is enough. Everything else is all about advanced wrestling,boxing.

Im late , can I come on the mat?

well wrestling gets you there faster tho bjj has more room for progress

Damn, I'm extremely early

had a free class a year ago and the instructor told me that I am talented. But do they say that to get you in or do they really mean it. Like I mean it is a certified gracie barra gym.

You tell dad " ok, only if you can submit me"

How old are you Chew?

Stick to the Wrestling kid, your Father is right. There is no Wrestling in Australia, I envy you so much that you have the opportunity to Wrestle

I think the kid is right. He can use some of his JJ skills, that are allowed in his wrestling. If he;s wrestling during school hours, why cant he do JJ afterward??? Sounds like an over-controlling dad. Let your son do what he wants.

Is wrestling just takedowns and pins?

This guy is the Elliot Hulse of BJJ.

And pretty sure gets scholarships from the wrestling if your good enough. No scholarships for BJJ or MMA.

Veggies or meat? Both! Otherwise pick wrestling while season is in and you're in school cuts its paid for by the state whereas as jujitsu is a rich martial artist's activity. Wrestling and boxing pretty cheap. Then win some fights to pay for jiu-jitsu

There's no BJJ scholarships either.