My First 4 Months as a BJJ White Belt - What They Don't Tell You 

17:42 - Purple belt instructor here. In my experience, injuries are like getting tired, especially when someone is first starting. People get both hurt and tired out because they're going too hard. I used to jam my toes all the time, but it hasn't happened in years. Same with cauliflower ear. I had to drain my ears one time each when I started, but now I just avoid grinding my ears against people. Also, finding training partners who can roll with you at your preferred intensity is a big help. No one HAS to roll with anyone, find people who work well with and get along with you.

A tip for your shoulders. I’m a brown belt been training for 9 years. The first 2 years I had terrible shoulder soreness and aches. The issue for me was I was wrestling/grappling with my arms too much. When you start Jiu Jitsu your natural instincts are to push your opponent with your arms and upper body. For instance, someone passing your guard to side control and you stick your arms out from bottom to “bench press” or push someone from completing the pass. These tendencies are normal but the faster you get over them the better your skills and shoulders will be. WRESTLE WITH YOUR LEGS. If you don’t know what I mean look up some videos on RU-vid. When I finally understood this concept and put it into training I leveled up. Took me until purple belt to get good at it and I wish someone had pointed it out to me earlier in my journey.

Starting jiu jitsu within the next two months. Excited to start this journey. Already been trying many free trials around me to find my best fit.

I am a 46 year old 2 stripe white belt (6 months along). I have 9 years of previous martial arts experience (Black belt TKD, red belt hap ki do). I have never experienced an art that is so fulfilling and dominate as BJJ. I take pretty good care of myself (lots of yoga, breath work, weight training), but nothing is more humbling than BJJ. I LOVE BJJ. I have my first tournament the end of this month, and I am excited (and a little nervous). I hope my body holds up for me to achieve my black belt. It’s not for everyone, but everyone should try it. I got into it with my 16 yo daughter and never looked back. Good luck in your tournament!

Finding a good gym with a good gym culture is just as important.

Congrats on taking that first step that most folks won't. I've been doing BJJ for 18yrs and always learning new things. I made jiu-jitsu a priority in my life and has led to me living the best life! Good luck!

I'm 39 and 3 months in. This was encouraging to hear. Hope I feel the same way you did in a month.

Purple belt here- spot on about energy retention and choosing where and when to use more will be crucial to figure out in your journey. Not every roll is a death match but an opportunity to work technique. The flow chart is a good idea, guard passing and guard retention will always come before submission. Only thing to add, try finding different ways to take the back, whether you get a finish from there or not back is king.

Man… I started at the age of 44. I’m now 46 and it’s not getting easier. Although I’ve always been active, I’ve never experienced anything as hard on my body as this. The first few weeks, I was only able to do one class per week, spending the rest of it getting over the soreness. After 2 years and a half, it’s getting better, being more resilient to pain and getting less and less sore after practice. But still, some days, I also have difficulties opening jars or any squeezing efforts. Still,… that BJJ,… it’s pretty addictive!!!

I started BJJ this past January, at 42. I've been training 3-4 a week, since. I have a competition coming up at the beginning of October. Super stoked. Good luck at your competition. My biggest tip for someone who is just starting BJJ is to STAY CALM. When your adrenaline is pumping, it's difficult to remember the techniques you've just recently learned. When you are calm, your thinking is easier, and you see the opportunities in the moment.

Just wanted to say thank you to all those that watched, subscribed and left a comment. It's really unbelievable the response I've received and the small community that is being built. I can't say thank you enough to those that offered some really awesome recommendations for dealing with injuries and I can't wait to continue to share my journey as a new BJJ player and also to connect with everyone out there on their journey. I have received a lot of requests for my "game plan." I've emailed a few already but I decided it would be better to make a video on it so that I can share with everyone. So if you haven't already, please consider subscribing to my channel to get a notification when that video is uploaded. Disclaimer: I am a beginner in every sense of the term. So please use it with a grain of salt and consult your coaches, as you always should. Look forward to creating more content and connecting with everyone. By the way, I reply to ALL comments so look forward to connecting.

Bro you were spot on about everything!! I’m 39 started my bjj journey about 4months ago and I love but really frustrated with the injuries!! I’m constantly 1 week on to 1 1/2-2weeks off resting the same injury (upper back)…I’m doing PT now to repair the back and nothing will stop this ride !!! Thanks for your insight and truth 💯 good luck on the 1st comp!! OSS✊🏾

i am also 4 months in my journey with a football background in football as well! I did my first competition 2 months in and im really glad i did! it was nothing like I've ever experienced and it has completely changed my approach to training for the better. Look forward to hearing about your competition, wish you all the best.

Great video! My son and I are almost a year in and it’s the best thing I’ve done. Plus I get to do it with my son and watching him grow this last 10 months has been amazing. My shoulders are always sore. I think it’s from keeping frames. Once I get started and warmup I feel fine but after or that night after class it’s kind of bad. Looking forward to seeing kore from you!

White belt with 1 stripe here! Started my journey about 4 months ago and i gotta say; it’s probably been the best choice of my life so far. Jiu-Jitsu has introduced me to to so many wonderful people and i’m enjoying the sport itself to the fullest. If anybody is hesitant about starting their own Jiu-Jitsu journey, all i can say is: the sooner the better. You won’t regret it! Oss💯✨

Hey, randomly came across your channel, i am a year in, starting age..58, the buzz is awesome, the pain is real. My gym is 90% purples, i get smashed every week but hey so what..it's all learning. Good luck in your comp man, looking forward to the updates.

Stretching properly and with some resistance really helped with soreness and tendonitis, i usually train 2-3 hours per session and get there 20-15 just to stretch properly before the warmups. Helps a ton with injuries/strains

I’m a 4 stripe white and loving the journey, and can definitely feel the flow Improving and being able to see what options I have much quicker in different positions, I’ve started to understand a lot more now that when rolling in training instead of trying to submit people, putting yourself in different positions and focussing on techniques is a much better way of training and you get better quicker

When I started, I would put myself in bad position on purpose just to practice on my escape & now that I’m working on my attacks it helps to know how the person might try to escape

Hey man, hope you’re doing well and are still out on the mats! Listening to this video, it somewhat reminds me of myself 3-4 months into BJJ. You’ve been in it long enough where you’ve gained a little hope and confidence after learning a few things and the obsession has really started. You can’t seem to talk about anything but jiujitsu, to anyone who is willing to listen and you’ve made it your entire personality. My advice would be that if you have that many lingering injuries and are unable to train for the 8 days leading up to the competition.. then you probably shouldn’t be competing. In the jiujitsu world we still do consider things that do not require surgery an injury. Anything that prevents you from training or affects the quality of your training significantly is an injury. One of the best pieces of advice my first coach always told me (that I just couldn’t listen to, because I was too obsessed to be out and not knowing what to do with my life) was that ‘the mats are always here’ - meaning that, the mats aren’t going anywhere. They’ll be waiting for you, if you are out for an injury or whatever else needs your attention in life. Everyone gets injured in this game and has to take time off to heal. Remember to have patience in all aspects of jiujitsu & make longevity your number one goal. That’s my advice coming from a fellow aging grappler. Hope to hear how things are going now. Oss!!

36 years old. 2 weeks in. 1 year of judo (still training judo). Getting smashed by 6 month white belts but learning all the time and loving it. Very pleased I've caught your channel at this point. I have 2 dodgy shoulders also and am about 4 months recovered from a broken wrist (distal radius). I'll have to be more patient than I would have been 20 years ago, but I'm determined that none of that will stop me. Let's do this baby!

This video came across my feed and I'm glad it did with all respect I wasn't expecting it to be as interesting as it was I feel the way you tell us about your experience Iis top notch I definitely had to subscribe to this channel I can't wait for more videos

I’m a one stripe white belt 7 months in training. We didn’t have a beginners crash course. My first day, I was pulled aside and shown some basic things. Then after that, for thrown into the fire. I have my days where I suck and I have my days where I see improvement. I’m not chasing stripes or belts, only the knowledge. I love it and didn’t think I would.

My wife is Danish and i dropped in at Arte Suave in Copenhagen when we were visiting. Great facilities and awesome vibe!

I'm a 35 y/o white belt training for 10 months now at Madhouse Academy in Neptune, NJ. I never played sports in my adult life, but I've always been very physically capable. I never trained any martial arts before, but have always had it on my radar through watching MMA and such. BJJ has become so much more popular, these days, that I decided maybe it's something I should try. I approached it from an exercise and beneficial skill set standpoint. I would pass my local BJJ gym almost every day and finally decided to pop in for a trial class. Whether you're brand new or have experience, my gym puts you right into the general population, and you start drilling and rolling right away. There's no separation between the belt ranks (i.e. white belts aren't allowed to roll with upper belts at some gyms), so I felt like I started getting a crash course in learning from the second I stepped on the mat. My first drilling and rolling was with a purple belt and, much like yourself, I started asking questions right away. What should I do in this position? What would you do? What are my options? I was instantly hooked and signed up for a full membership. Our coach, Pat, is a phenomenal teacher, and it shows in the rapid progression of his students. I never thought I would get into this to compete. In fact, I swore I wouldn't, lol. But the upper belts I train with are so helpful and encouraging; giving me the confidence that I had a skill set worth competing with. Earlier this month was the New York IBJJF Open and I decided to resign up, knowing that a couple of my fellow white belts were also competing. We had a solid crew go out for the weekend and, not only was it an eye opening experience into the world of competing (IBJJF is no joke), but it was an incredible bonding experience with my teammates. Spending that personal time on and off the mats together really helped further strengthen the fraternal bond that this sport has. Even though I lost my match, I came back with such a positive attitude and desire to hone in on the skills I needed to be better. What went wrong? What could I have done better? There was a local competition coming up in just a few weeks after that (it's this Sunday 08/27) and immediately signed up to compete again. I've been training extremely hard leading up to this. To touch on the plan you had about your training leading up to your competition, my coach recommended that I train hard up until about 3 days before the completion. I agreed with him and followed suit. So, as I type this, I am on my second day off since my last day of hard training, and my body is feeling well rested and my mind is clear. Now I am just focusing on maintaining weight and working on potential game plan options. And on that note, I will say that I am not trying to overthink a game plan too much. I went into IBJJF with this romantic idea that I was going to hit this judo throw that I'd been working on and I'd be in control from there. Well, he pulled guard on me, and after a little bit of a tussle, put up a few points on me and just had me trapped until the clock ran out. So, I'm going into his next competition with a more open mind about having options to work with and not putting all my eggs in one basket. Win or lose, I will take this experience and bring it back to the gym to continue to grow and improve. I look forward to hearing more about your experience along the way! 🤙🏼

Been doing BJJ for 2 years (a "higher level white belt") - and am 37 years old. I find myself in some "the night after rolling" shoulder pain and soreness when I'm opening up my elbows and pulling/pushing. The more I learned to keep my elbows in tighter to my body, the less I noticed getting shoulder soreness. I made a commitment to not get injured this year and here are some tips that have helped get me there (so far): 1.) Keeping my ego in check - my ego made me irrationally do a few things: not tapping as soon as I should have, going for "that one more round" even though I am tired, and rolling with people who naturally have a higher intensity level when I should've just said "no thanks." 2.) Consciously keeping my elbows in tighter - in addition to what I described earlier, open elbows is effectively screaming at my opponent to try numerous techniques on it, so reducing my opponent's ability to manipulate my body has been helpful. 3.) Immediately stop rolling for the day when I feel anything close to a twinge - this is somewhat related to the ego tip, but it is better to rest and return the next session than to continue stressing a part of my body that just told me to stop. Adrenaline will block out any pain and so if you're feeling something at all - then it's is likely to be something worth stopping for. Best of luck on your journey.

37 years old, blue belt. I've been doing BJJ for 2 years now, and even though I've had my fair share of injuries (some worse than others), I've tried to keep going to class as much as possible. I think at a certain age, sitting around does more harm than good. 5 years ago, I was laid up with a messed-up disc in my lower back (L5-S1), and it was getting active again that pulled me through. Started up with BJJ after that and, taking it easy and really tuning in to what my body's saying, I've been doing pretty damn well. I've jumped into 5 gi and nogi tournaments, and I've held my own. Eventually, you just get used to the pain and figure out how to tough it out. My advice for folks around my age who are just getting into this game: don't expect to roll like those young, fit partners of yours. Learn how to score positions instead. Like Rickson Gracie says, you gotta get comfy with being uncomfortable. Train whenever you can - don't skip out just 'cause you're sore. Trust your body; it's gonna get used to getting squashed, and before you know it, it won't even faze you. Watch out for serious injuries - tapping out in time could mean the difference between staying on the mats or taking a trip to the hospital and losing months or even years. Hope my experience means something to you all. Best regards, OSS.

i personally don't train BJJ im a wrestler and i wrestle in high school and have done some free trials for BJJ and i love it im waiting to finish my senior year of wrestling and signing up and a local gym where i live wrestling has helped me in so many ways i have lost 80lbs at the age of 17 because of it and im excited to see where BJJ will take me

Been training jiu-jitsu for the last 5 years. 5 days a week and it's completely changed. My life lost over 100 lbs keep training and keep getting after it

Started 9 months ago at 58, its a grind for sure. No issues with injuries, weight trained for years. Started kettlebell training about 5 years ago. I believe the heavy kettlebell training has been helpful in preventing injuries. Rolling with dudes half my age or more, but i enjoy it alot!

I’ve been doing jiu jitsu for almost two years now, I’m starting to come into my own little game. I’ve done two competitions no gi and gi. I didn’t place but I’ve learned a ton from the experience. Im a life long martial arts practitioner, but I’ve fallen in love with grappling as a whole.

great vid Just finished 90 days BJJ at a great place and I'm hooked. Like you I've always been involved in sports, was an ISKA pro kickboxer in College and coached others for years in Kickboxing, Karate, etc. Total striking based. Then Covid hit and for the first time in 25 years I didn't train at all for almost 3 years. Some of my old kickboxing students had been cross training in BJJ and are now higher ranked or black belt and kept encouraging me to join and I eventually did at the ripe young age of 49. lol. I'm still in good shape, have excellent flexibility but those first few months are killer. Bruises, sore shoulders and what I didn't expect, sore fingers and hands. I stretch a lot so I've been injury free but the soreness etc yeah that's there. I have an inversion table that works well and I do a lot of massage etc to the shoulders. My legs are in great shape and they don't bother me. Maybe a little stiff knee for a day after but overall solid. Even in the first 90 days I have noticed measurable increased grip strength and stamina. Our place is a Gi IBJJF place with no A/C so it's rough and everyone drops weight fast. I'm down 15 lbs in 90 days. Buut it's awesome, we have a great fundamentals class with similar student consistency to yours so it makes it a great learning enviornment.

I wanted to enroll my younger brother into bjj who’s a sophomore in HS for self defense the gym also offers kickboxing and judo. I called them up to give my brother a 1 week trial. When I was taking him I’m like screw It I’ll give it a try I’m 31 so both of us finished up the trial and ended up signing up back in March. I got my 2nd stripe a few days ago I fell in love with it my brother ended up dropping out. I enrolled my 4 year old too lol. He loves it as well. Injury wise golfers elbow and bruised ribs which I ended up taking a month off. I am starting to feel some soreness in my knees I bought some bjj compression knee protectors I saw online to give them a try. Competition wise I’m doing one in September. Awesome video btw. Good luck on your competition!

hey man! just started jiu jitsu last week myself and love it! got my first tournament in 4 weeks.

Competed in a Naga in gi at 3 months. Lost but taught me a lot. 8 months in now and got golds at the last two tournaments. So your game will definitely improve. Bad ass for competing at 3 months. Good luck bro. 40 year old 4 stripe white belt.

I agree... I just started 3 months ago and bought my first GI from sanabul... We don't have entry courses where I'm from so you just dive straight into it... I think that you have to learn your escapes first then framing so you don't get gassed out as fast.. I love your video and look forward to tge next one... I will be competing soon as well here in Arizona, USA...

I completely concur with the shoulder issues. I have a right shoulder I'm nursing due to surgery earlier this year. I've learned to frame with my elbow to kneee, and use my legs as much as possible. I get my guard passed a lot and can be frustrating. However, I've used this injury as a way to calm and train my breathing when I'm mounted. I've noticed that my training partners tend to gas out trying for submissions. Thats when I use my shoulder to get out, or reverse. I also jammed my right middle finger! Eventhough I'm sore, and in mild pain I can't help but to love BJJ. For me, I'm interested in how hard it is, amd how mentally involvedthe sport is. The mental stimulation, and commaraderie is worth a few Tylenol after a good roll. Hope you did well in your competition, I hope you report back. God bless.

Started at 44, I have TKD BB's and Karate BB, jujitsu grabbed me pretty quick. Tape is your friend, Ice is Tapes' mistress. I have a Health Professional (Airrosti) on speed dial, when something happens I go to him first for assessment. Have fun in the tournaments, so much to learn from winning and participating both!! There is not a another feeling in the world after the years go by than receiving your Black Belt! to me about 10 years and I would not trade anything in the world for it. Enjoy the journey!

Been doing it for 6 months now! That and mma. I love it. Good days and some not so good days lol. You just gotta start and keep showing up. Good to hear about your experience. I have been documenting my journey as well on my channel.

I’ve been training for 11 months, still a white belt. thanks for reminding me to build a game plan for every offensive more ( I mostly have strict game plans for escapes.)

For you shoulder (I’m not an expert) I recommend some corrective exercises and stretching. Also, be cognizant of you posture both on and off the mats. When you are rolling, avoid getting stacked, avoid inverting. If you are getting stacked, just let go and let them pass and try to recover. FYI, I’m a small brown belt for what it’s worth.

Nah dude I definitely agree, because I joined and started competing 2 months in. Here I am now a year later, 13 wins, couple gold medals and borderline bluebelt…. Competing definitely sped my game up for sure.

I’m 6 months in, but I’m not pure Jujitsu. I’m at an MMA gym, so it’s all no gi with a focus on MMA and a portion of it is dedicated to integrating striking which changes the game immensely. But I’ve considered going to some grappling tournaments and such to test myself but I haven’t yet

Funny how you video showed me on my feed more than once and I got curious to check. Now subscribed! I am brazilian living in sweden for 7 years and I have trained with Max your friend in Gothenburg some years ago (what a small world!) Injuries are part if BJJ and there is no way out of it, so my advice is to listen to your body and never ignore the injuries, treat them and go to a phisioterapist as soon as possible to heal and avoid further damage. I have been training for 12 years and I had both meniscus torn and had surgery in both occasions. I am 39 years old and also lift weights like you, I related 100% to what you said about taking longer to recover and so on. BJJ is amazing sport and I can't live without it but it is taxing to the body. Enjoy your BJJ journey it is really rewarding and fun! Ps: I also have shoulder impingement but not sure if was bench press with bad form or BJJ that caused it.

For me it's the ribs which used to hurt the most, especially after knee on belly sessions. Doing lots of core strengthening work helped, like sets of ab curls almost every day, and thoracic spine mobility exercises.

I am about 3 months into jujitsu and I'm in love with it. One thing I would tell people is before you sign a contract with a gym maybe do month to month and feel it out before signing. I did my first 2 free weeks then signed the contract but after that the instructor in the evening classes started being real smug and rude and the other students were the same way, I started going to the morning classes with a different professor and it is a totally different environment but I was honestly considering just cutting off that card and finding another school until I discovered the morning classes so that is something I would watch out for when finding a school. I am just now starting to get where some stuff is coming together and I am able to make it through an entire 6 minute round. I have been a powerlifter for 18 years and have a shoulder and knee injury that keeps me from heavy squats and presses so I had done zero physical activity for 2 years so I was in horrible shape when I started but i have lost 13lbs. I am a different person than when I started.

Yes, you learn something new everyday

I’m 39, 3mo into BJJ, having weightlifting background (>10yrs). I have had shoulder and elbow injuries. Cupping and acupuncture really help, and highly recommend to stretch 2x/day

If you can pass guard easily, you're way ahead of the curve. Also, you've got the right mindset. Whatever you do, don't get injured. You're not going to learn anything new right before your competition. At this point, it's just a matter of keeping the cardio--and even then, you don't really have to do much to keep your cardio. If you practice, just do drilling and flow rolls.

One thing that takes a long time to notice is that what really hurts the body like you mentioned is people on top of you… side control, mount, half guard bottom. Your shoulders and back usually take Al that weight.

Already finished my first week. Excited to do this new hobby haha

Great! thanks for sharing. 3:18 .. dude just ignore the tapping 😅

Blue belt here with double gold in international competition in Asia, rib, shoulders, forearm and minor nagging pains are normal. You have to adjust your gym days and workout to avoid over training. I roll 2 to 3x then lift 3x a week, I adjusted to 2x lifting days just a deadlift day and bench day and some rows anything more and it affects my recovery. For me I added a few bicep curls to balance my stiff forearms from too much grips to bicep tendon pain that translated to shoulder pain. That fixed my shoulder pain, add a rehab excercise depends on your needs.

also regarding the shoulder injury i see it quite often in the dojo and any sport in general to be honest my take on it is as I said recovery and good conditioning strengthening and a good ohysio

Love seeing your journey! Crush it brother!!🤙🏼

Awesome. I’m 7 months in. Love it.

The shoulder annoyance is a thing to look at, because those little annoyances end up becoming injuries. It's best in my experience is to do mobility (a lot), massages and shit like that. Great video. Thanks.

Enjoy the journey and the process. Oss!

I'm a 2 yr white belt. First of all, we have two hour classes that include an extensive warm up (BJJ related though) and stretching, so maybe that helps too. Second, I'm a light, weak dude, I know I can't wrestle these dudes, so I try to just be technical, or accept a bad position if I need to, as I then get to practice escaping. If someone has a submission on, I tap (if my arm is extended for an Armbar, I don't try to escape. I already messed up too much there, and I don't make millions off of BJJ like Gordon Ryan). If someone puts on a Kimura or Americano lock, same idea. If it's tight and on, I don't wait for it to be potentially cranked, they got me. In other words, I'm a big fan of early escapes, and in general prevention and not being dominated in the first place lol. So I don't spar "hard" in terms of risking injury, I spar hard when an opponent is trying to take a dominant position, or has just established one, then I try to get out (technically, not muscling) and do my best there. I've gotten stupid minor injuries from stupid things that aren't even really BJJ related, and knock on wood that it stays that way. But, everyone doing this has to accept that injuries, especially minor ones, WILL happen. That being said, you shouldn't be injured all the time, then you're doing something wrong (or your partners are not respecting your tempo/size difference etc.)

I am a 51 year old purple belt. I started training because I saw what Royce Gracie did in the first few UFC matches and happened to see a Royce school near my house several years later. I signed my son up and then after a number of months of him training I signed up too.

5 months in now, enjoying it !. But, one month in I (62kg ) was doing a light spar with a brown belt ( 80kg ) who is always safe and understanding with lower belts. He accidentally hit my tail bone with his shin. Day after I was legit freaking out as the pain was really uncomfortable while walking, sitting down and doing everyday tasks. Thankfully it healed on its own after a couple of weeks ( did not train at all during the healing period ) .

Been doing BJJ for 6 weeks now, surprisingly decent and got my first comp up in 2 months

This is good stuff bro! Congrats on walking through those doors! That’s the hardest part of JJ. I’ve had a brown belt for almost two years. If I can suggest anything to help you excel in your training it would be to enjoy the journey. Don’t worry about the promotions, those will happen. It’s a marathon not a sprint. The best way to learn JJ is to just show up. Good luck my brother! Osss!!

Yo, I’d go to class the week of comp. If you don’t want to further injure yourself, just don’t roll. But at least go to stay sharp. Just my 2 cents. 4stripe blue belt here 🤙

Signed my 10 year old son up last year. I wanted to do it myself, but I've had 2 back surgeries and was afraid to start. Finally around January I decided to give it a try and I absolutely love it. And overall, my back has actually felt better, other than 1 time I tweaked it doing a throw on someone bigger than me (we usually practice a judo throw or 2 at the beginning, then ground game stuff). I assume it's probably bc it strengthens my core, and gets me moving my back around and gaining flexibility. Then we couldn't go basically all summer bc my son's baseball and just started back up again this week.... man am I sore lol. But every practice I leave I think... "I've never been more tired.... man I love BJJ" haha. So my total time is probably 3 or 4 months. Jan to March, missed a few weeks when I tweaked my back, then missing for baseball. So basically I feel like I'm kind of starting over but I'm intent on not missing a practice if there's anything I can do to help it. It's so fun, challenging, great workout, and the mental aspect of it puts it over the top for me. It's like a puzzle. Ive always been an athlete at as well, but idk if my back can handle basketball and BJJ... and if I have to choose 1, surprisingly (to myself more than anyone), I'd rather do BJJ. And I've loved basketball my whole life, but there's just something about BJJ. If I can only do 1 sport, that will be it.

I started BJJ because my daughter started found a passion for the sport last year. I thought this was a great opportunity as a father to collaborate or work on our BJJ journey together. I also wanted to educate myself about the best martial art (in my opinion) and surround myself around a good community in Markham Ontario.

hi there ive been doing bjj too for a while my tips so far would be warm up and condition well your ankles arms shoulders etc and the moment u got pain id recommend tog o to a good physiotherapist helps a lot and always rest and be careful who you roll with , I wish u a great fast recovery

I'm a 66 life long mix marital artist. I've been blessed to have trained with legends,started with boxing and wrestling in early 70's. I'm 5'6" 130lbs ,played HS and some college hoops. Now listen to body, tpt roller is great every day ! Find respectful monsters!,

Not every session needs to be high intensity, and having great control is also controlling the intensity. I am over a month in, and I have gone through the soreness, and an injury. There are freak accidents but a lot of injuries can be prevented through active and passive recovery, which seems that people don't always get enough of. E.g. flexibility, mobility, food, sleep.

Just found your channel, this was my first video, and Iooking at your videos, I can already tell I'll be watching them all. Looks like you are more knowledgeable than me in all the topics you have videos for except being a father. I'm a father of 6 ranging from 17 to 1 year old so if you have any questions in that area maybe i can give back a little of the help I receive from your channel. Mostly interested in your Jiu-jitsu journey and your Airbnb strategies. Thanks for the content and good luck in the competition!

4 months Training submitted a few blue belts, some white belts, but been submitting over 500 times.. pain in the fingers.. but stronger and more conditioned… I would recommend incorporating animal locomotion flows, weight training and / or calisthenics with Yoga for strength, mobility and flexibility. Train at least 1 hr before your jiujitsu training

I can’t wait to see the competition video. I’m competing in November

The numb injury happened to me too actually. It does take awhile to heal glad I'm not the only one

Renaissance Periodazation Dr.Mike has a bjj/lifting video that can help with your program hope that helps, and congrats on sticking with BJJ. It's an extremely hard sport but very rewarding like all combat sports

Easy subscribe! I just started BJJ 3 weeks ago. Gonna be fun hearing your thoughts along the way. I’m 42. I’ve also worked out for 20+ years, play beer league hockey and pretty good shape. I also had shoulder pain and some finger soreness. Are you still strength training? I just added it back in and I feel great after. Upright rows helped my shoulders right away and even my grip feels better. I plan on doing simple 5x5 routine (again) 2x a week min. That’s with at least 3 days of BJJ, hockey, rest. Anyway, my body always feels 10x better when I’m doing weighted compound movements, even if I’m not totally taxing my self. Especially with my shoulder/elbow/wrist/finger soreness I’ve gotten over the years in hockey/golf. But doing some kind of row may help your shoulder pain. I also am trying to be mindful to keep my shoulder back and in tight when I need strength.

Very interesting video, thanks for sharing! I trained for about a year and a half before breaking my toe in a competition. 7 years later (now!) I started again, super motivated! I find your idea of having “go to” moves / reactions for each positions really really good! I’ll definitely try to build a similar system! Would you be ok to share what you managed to gather so far in your notes, based on these tips received from more experienced jiujiteiros?

Nice topic ,1yr in journey its nice to survive guys who used to kill me when i first started ,take it day by day im 41 not training for adcc 😅

Brown belt been training for over 10 years, I can attest that when I started training I was watching alot, I mean alot of videos on RU-vid. Very important distinction, the vidoes were NOT to learn techniques they were specifically to just get my mind immersed in to art. My advice is to not see your rolling session as a match, I know it's hard. Try to see the pattern, try to see how everything connects. Once you do, you will improve immensely. Never had any shoulder issues, but stretching and mobility training helped alot with minor injuries. I used to be sore all the time training 4-6 days a week.

Day 1 here lol I was taking my kids to a trial class and ended up training myself then signing up. 😲

Welcome to the club bro. 7:17 and take it easy. You’ll pick up the knowledge as you go. Biggest rule… don’t get hurt.

Fact: Every Jiujutero needs a good Chiropractor on speed dial. You need a professional to set your joints back in their sockets. The pain you are feeling will be gone in a day or two. I don’t know how many times I have suffered for 6 months and then once the joint is set back the pain goes away instantly. Reality is that BJJ main goal is to threaten injury to your opponents joint. That is what we are signing up for when rolling and our egos get the better of us.

Just started a month ago … I got into it to work on cardio and be calmer in conflict situations and just life in general …. This is the hardest thing I have ever attempted and I trained karate and Krav Maga in the past … this is waaay harder … its murder yoga

A few months behind you I feel this shoulder pain

The shoulder pain is most likely rotator cuff sourness. Lifting generally doesn’t strengthen the small muscles surrounding the rotator cuff but there is a few movements you can do strengthening this area. With time and work these nagging pains go away. Fingers in the other hand will always be an on and off pain.

Started jiu jitsu for some fitness 2 months later I entered my 1st comp

56 yo white belt just started wish I started earlier because I really thought I knew how to defend against any situation until my 1st class and felt helpless .

Iam 37 and i feel u bro 😢 ive been weight lifting since i was 18 and started bjj 5 months ago. My elbows get so freaking sore if i roll more than twice a week to the point that my hands start shacking. I do streching, drink a lot of water , ice , anti inflamatory cream, supplements , suana, they do help but my body just crubmles if i go beyond this limit. I think we need to respect our age thats it 😅

I'm about to start again at a new gym after 10 years of not rolling. I have no cartilage in either shoulders, so I'm going to try and see how they do.

Also just 4 months in myself. Am a 44 y.o gym rat. Also shoulder injuries. Very relatable to say the least..i also had an option to compete last month, but decided against it because i didnt see gaining any more experience than I would at an open mat day at my gym and couldnt justify the entry fee for that reason. Last week i finally started to feel the "flow" that you speak of. It was an awesome feeling being able to anticipate an attack and escape then attack myself only to have the same thing happen to me. What really helped is having ideas from youtube and then setting goals to ask my instructor or training partners questions. Do you set mini goals for yourself before each session. If so what goals are you focussed on now?

im about 8 months in training, no-gi and for the first 3-4 months I had no issues now I have severe shoulder pain in the right arm, and elbow pain in my left arm lol... now to be fair these have both flared up during weight training esp when the weight gets heavy but Ive held of training for it to heal, I go back and the pain begins all over again because its almost impossible not to use those joints for framing etc... my plan now is to go get an MRI and see if there is anything I can do to alleviate it. Ive done some rotator cuff work that has helped but not solved it 100%.

Im a massive fight nerd. Listening to joe rogan talk about jiujitsu is one of the reasons i got into jiujitsu 😊

great tips brother. Curious how did you end up doing in your tournament? and have you done more since?

I made blue belt last December. I'd say the difference between me as a blue belt and me as a white belt is I still don't know very much but I can fake it a little bit better now. Also, even though you intellectually know as a white belt that you don't know very much, you've not yet had that fact ground into you over and over by getting tapped by loads of people. Then blue belt and you want to be slower and more technical and so you very rarely submit people you roll with...everybody you hit blue belt with is about as good as you and sometimes better, except for the ones you see hardly at all anymore. You can pretty much take a lot of white belts, except you want to become better at your bottom game and there are a lot of holes there and a lot of other places besides. The extremely athletic white belts just won't tap out unless you've really got them, and you don't want to actually hurt them so that can be a little frustrating. Guys that were blue when you were white are still blue but some of them are still pretty much untouchable; others have stepped their game up so much you can't catch them like maybe you used to once or twice. As for my motivation to start, I was over 350 pounds, and I remembered once being 250# and ripped. The easiest weight loss I ever could do was as a wrestler in HS. I did TKD in college, and I've lifted weights for several years (though life gets in the way so it wasn't always that regular). When you're on the operating table getting your gall bladder out and you're 359#, it's kind of like life slapping you upside the head. My walking-around weight was probably a fair bit more than that. It's easy to kid yourself when you're strong enough to lift whatever you want, and flexible enough to do the spits, but I was very out of shape, and too heavy. Two and almost a half years later, I can wear size 40 pants for the first time in a very, very long time, I can wear size XL shirts (2xl still fits a little better when you're 6'4" though), and some days I'm under 300#. The scale at the MMA club I train at says 280 but the one at the tournament I did last November said 299 when I weighed-in for no-gi, and more when I weighed in for gi. My story's a bit different from some; there are a couple people taller than me in the gym, but nobody heavier, and nobody stronger. Very few people more flexible either, which I'm trying to make work for me. There are some purple belts that can't submit me just because of the physical disparity, but they know a lot more than I do obviously so I can't get them either. A lot of people talk about being crushed as a white belt; I wasn't crushed so much as arm-barred a lot and choked out a fair bit. My shoulders are fine; most of the bits of me that ache are my fingers (especially if I'm training gi), elbows, or knees. Knees is from an old injury; elbows less so nowadays even though I still get arm-barred a bit. I've always been into gaming. I wouldn't describe myself as hyper-competitive, but I don't like to lose, and I like to figure out solutions to problems and be creative. I like the chess-match aspect of jiu jitsu, and the fact that you have to know a fair bit is actually one of the plusses IMO. I've lost consciousness three times so far in training, the latest yesterday. We were working chokes and I didn't tap in time. I only rolled with two people and left a little early. But I'll come back tomorrow, and more times as well. Not really sure why; it's kind of a combination of having the right mentality, being in a good community, and training in something which may be practical for what I do in "real life" (I earn my money inside San Quentin talking to inmates on my caseload and preparing them for release).

“What’s the worst thing the can happen?” - someone can break your arm 😂 Jokes aside, I think it’s a great mindset!!

Focus on principles (vs memorizing techniques)

On and off for 4yrs and noticed by me that most gyms warmup followed by 10 min of instruction- after that, it’s nothing but rolling which makes no sense to me

6 months in, I train 4-5 days a week, everything hurts 🤣 Seriously tho, the worst has been some minor knee swelling and a little bit of cauliflower ear 🤙🏽

best way for me to build up my shoulders was basically chin ups

Day 2 my wife broke her finger. Week 2 I broke my toe. Can't wait to get back in. It's so addictive. My wife took 2 days off, wrapped her fingers and kept training. She loves it too. We're both 34. Late start so hoping our bodies will adapt over time

Great video how long would you say it took you to get a hang of the techniques?