The value of training with lower belts | John Danaher and Lex Fridman 

You can't practice offense if your always on defense.

I always appreciate when a guest looks at the camera when “talking to us”

I literally was talking to one of my professors yesterday about this. I am a (3) striped blue belt, knocking on the door to purple belt. I started doing Sat, and Sunday open mats for an additional 6 hours of rolling/training. I started working with (3-4) striped white belts, and baby blue belts. I have found my game flourish doing this over the last 3 months. I get to come up with specific drills for me and specific positions I want to work. With the lower belts I am able to put myself in those positions at will, multiple times per roll. It gives me some really effective, realistic live drilling for me, and great opportunity for the lower level belts to counter and respond to what I am doing multiple times per roll.

When Joe Rogan said "you get better in jiu jitsu by strangling blue belts", many in the jiu jitsu community (including black belts) were flabbergasted and upset. Now, when the greatest jiu jitsu coach in the world is essentially saying the same thing - I wonder where the outrage is? 🤷🏿‍♂️ I hear nothing but crickets.

A lesson Earned always feels a lil tiny bit better than a lesson learned 💫✌

Smurfing in real life.

This is exactly why I teach my wrestlers to tech fall kids more than pin them. Especially kids that aren't that good.... You don't know what tools are rusty until you pull them out of the tool box and you can't build the confidence to sharpen those tools without using them on lesser opponents first.

For 5 years i trained in a gym where i was the "new guy" until i left the gym...... Moral of the story: If you are "stuck" in the way that i was, try other clubs. On occasions there would be a blue-belt i could spar with, but they where not regulars. Totally new people where almost non-existant and did not stick around for more than a month or two.They had recruitment issues regarding their No-Gi classes and did not care to do anything about it as there was "no room on the mats anyways". They where great guys to hang out with and that made me come back to training every time..... But man it sucked to be rolling with purple and brown belts all of the time. I really missed sparring partners i could take more risks with and not being stuck defending rare naked chokes and mimicking a turtle for half of the training sessions.

I'm a purple belt and was just talking about this tonight to a brown belt. I get home and it's crystallized in this video from two years ago. RU-vid, stop listening to my brain!

I appreciate this insight. I've heard this general concept before, but to hear John Danaher expound on how he utilizes it is more than helpful. I moved from a much larger gym, to an area with just a couple small gyms. I am definitely the big fish in a small pond here.

this is extremely valuable to me, thank you!

When you roll with lower belts (or less skilled opponents), it gives you time to think. When you roll with higher belts, you are usually thinking less because the movements are faster and more linked, thus, once you start thinking you will fall behind. I find rolling with less skilled opponents is a great opportunity to hone in on your defense and to become more unconscious with fundamental movements that a skilled opponent would know.

I dont think this guy is capable of saying something uninteresting

I can hear him talk about BJJ all day.

Interesting point. Gave me something to think about.

Ryron mindset....put yourself in uncomfortable positions to learn....

as someone who has practiced a lot with lower "belts", one thing ive learned is; when you relax the competitive edge, you can relax and learn a lot more. you can always find a place where it's interesting to work on things, even if it's a much smaller or less experienced person. a lot of this depends on being able to be both good at offense and defense. really good defense is very relaxed. working with all sorts of people and basically not resisting them but also subtly thwarthing them or guiding the action is great training and fun for both. we learn our best when we are playing. there's time to be in super competitive situation and that's perfect for it's own use. but most people are training to gain skill and experience. winning is really for competitions. training is for everyday.

4:00 tito ortiz telling his lion story

Im a lower belt and i approve this message

Spot on

I've noticed something similar to this when I spar with people. If I'm sparring against someone that is really good, generally I'm under a lot of pressure. When fighters are under pressure we revert to things we KNOW, like things that are instinctually basic to us. When that's happening you don't have as much time to think and process information in general. So it's much harder to try new things. On the other hand if you're playing around with someone who isn't on the same level as you, you can experiment, and try silly shit because you're not risking getting smashed the way you would be sparring someone who is as good or better than you.

I appreciate Mr. Danaher’s insights and analogies. They resonate with my very long Karate background. I’d love to get into Jiyu Jitsu, but I’ve got a bad case of “old man’s skin” and would just end up bleeding on everyone with the slightest contact. I did a tiny bit of practice in JJ with a nice group of guys in Lancaster, CA in the ‘90s. I dropped in to just watch a class and they ended up inviting me to train with them. Then they had me teach striking to their kids’ class and asked me to give a Karate demo. I picked their biggest adult student and told him to hit me as hard as he could. The student got nervous and asked me if I was sure. I told him not to worry and just hit me. I did the most basic block and counter possible and the JJ guys were astonished. Kind of like when I watch Aikido Randori and see their falling abilities.

Sold...ima have to watch this full podcast!

As a white belt, when you’re rolling with higher belts you can’t even test things out because you’re the one being tested on. I find it way less productive. It’s only good for learning defense.

Why comedians go to local clubs to test material

Interesting and worthwhile video.

Belts don’t always equate to time on the mat

Lex is a Philly Boul?????

thanks for your advice

A conversation between two geniuses....

This was important for me to know. Thanks

Interesting

Great points of view!

I’m a brown belt have mixed feelings about this. A lot of lower level belts are spastic and higher the chances of injury imo. Obviously that’s all predicated around the individual.

Dang for a meathead ( ;) ) this guy has some truth to speak.