On the wrestling front, we have been doing a ton of arm drag variations over the last couple of weeks. It is starting to pay off as I have been consistently hitting them from various guards, against both standing and kneeling opponents, as well as during wrestling. Such a great technique.

Sprained my thumb last week & have a tournament coming up.
It's getting better but still way below full strength.

Contemplating taping the thumb to my hand & just go monkey paw grip the full time. Will limit my submissions, but I think I can still be competitive.

Had a fun time doing something different this weekend - helping to teach a women's only BJJ-based self defense class. I was the 'creepy aggressor' in all of the scenarios and a female teammate of mine was the lead instructor. Really fun to share BJJ with ladies who have never trained and to show them how useful BJJ-based self-defense can be.

One of the attendees asked if things like triangle chokes, guillotine chokes, sprawling, etc. really work. So my friend/teammate and I put on the gis and went full speed for 5 minutes. I'm 5'11" / 175 lbs and my teammate is 5'11" and competes at 125 lbs (but she walks around at about 135 and is shredded).

I'm a 50 year old hobbyist who trains 3-4 times a week and she's a world champ at Blue/Purple/Brown/Black belt who trains 6 days a week, so I'll let you guess how the full speed roll turned out. Hint: The ladies in attendance all loved it....

A couple of the younger guys I started BJJ with have grown a little disillusioned with the teaching style of my profe.
(He was an instructor under Carlson Gracie & is very old school in terms on style: basics + perfect technique)
We warm up with basic drilling for 10-15 minutes (shrimps, rolling, hip escapes) Occasionally we do a warm up with 5-6 stations around the mats doing basic techniques: Armbar, Escape from back control, triangle choke, etc. Spend a few minutes at each station & then rotate.
Then we do technique: 30-40 minutes going over & over a technique until the details are all done to his satisfaction.
These leaves time for 2-3 rolls max before class is over. Sometimes only 1 roll.

The younger guys I mentioned recently went to another local gym where the format seemed to be this:
10 min warm up, similar drills as my gym
20 min technique (not as technical or focused on doing it perfect as our gym)
30 min rolling, usually 4-6 rolls at 5 min.
They really like the other place's focus on lots of rolling, and the classes are definitely larger & the rolls are fierce. Lots of military, law enforcement & wrestlers at the other place + a heavier focus on competition. They felt the other gym's students were tougher/better at rolling due to the competition, but not necessarily more skilled in BJJ.

I'm pushing 50 as a blue belt so I don't care to compete or go to a meat grinder gym. The goal for me at this point is just to learn & get some exercise.
Just curious how y'alls typical classes/teaching styles are set up. What are your goals for BJJ? What is your gym culture like? I've only been to the place I started, so it is very interesting to learn about other gyms.

We typically do 10 minutes of warmups, 5 minutes of Movements, the 30-45 minutes of Technique. Then we roll for how every long we choose to stay. Sometimes 3 rolls, sometimes 15 rolls.

Lately, I have been skipping the warmups (almost Purple belt here, trying to fit in) because I lift weights at home before practice and I can't fit it all in.

In the past, our technique session has been a little lacking in energy, but we just had a new 2nd Degree Black Belt from Russia join us and he has raised the intensity of the gym immensely.

How many attend a typical class? What is the belt distribution?
(Sorry for all the questions.... just curious)

We do a lot of the same basic stuff at the beginning of class (Gracie Humaita-Royler's version) a lot of the same stuff for a long time....but...i happen to like that because, at least to me, this is Chess not Checkers. It also is the foundation on which a lot of other stuff is built.

We do the "new thing" after about 30 or so minutes of class, then we drill that for 4-5 minutes or so. But, we stay on the "new thing" for a week at at time.

Then, for the last 20 or so min of class, we roll. Some of those can get pretty intense.

At the end of class we "clap out" everyone high fives everyone else etc.....

After class you can stay pretty much as long as you want, to drill etc. and usually I'll go over the "new thing" or something else I have an issue with. You can also just spar or whatever.

Open mats are typically twice a week and those are a lot of fun. Sparring can get pretty intense in those as well.
I hear you on the age, I'm pushing the hell out of 50 here too.....

But, I did roll last Saturday with an 18yr old with my approximate skill level (3 stripe white belt, but he takes a lot of private lessons) We were supposed to do 6 minute rounds or until submission. We went way past 6 minutes and I "fought" him to a draw. Honestly felt way better than getting the "tap" from some of the others in the class.

Apache said:

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How many attend a typical class? What is the belt distribution?
(Sorry for all the questions.... just curious)

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Typical Class Attendance would be

10-24 people

2-3 Black Belts
1-3 Brown Belts
1 Purple Belt
3-6 Blue Belts
4-6 Experienced White Belts
1-6 New White Belts

Quote:

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2-3 Black Belts
1-3 Brown Belts
1 Purple Belt
3-6 Blue Belts
4-6 Experienced White Belts
1-6 New White Belts

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This is pretty close to what we have (but tending towards the lower end of your #s)
There has been a rash of injuries & several of the higher belts have been out.
The white belts are migratory lol - We get a new batch in every 6-9 months of around 8-10 and then usually a few stick to around to blue belt before they quit.

We have open mats Friday & Saturday morning which is nice, also a No-Gi class Tuesday & Saturday.

I really like the idea of some "free time" after formal class is over to go through questions or certain situations. ie: "Hey man you really smashed me in Kesa during that roll. Let's go back to that situation, I'd like to see what I can do to improve my escape"

Apache said:

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Quote:

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2-3 Black Belts
1-3 Brown Belts
1 Purple Belt
3-6 Blue Belts
4-6 Experienced White Belts
1-6 New White Belts

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This is pretty close to what we have (but tending towards the lower end of your #s)
There has been a rash of injuries & several of the higher belts have been out.
The white belts are migratory lol - We get a new batch in every 6-9 months of around 8-10 and then usually a few stick to around to blue belt before they quit.

We have open mats Friday & Saturday morning which is nice, also a No-Gi class Tuesday & Saturday.

I really like the idea of some "free time" after formal class is over to go through questions or certain situations. ie: "Hey man you really smashed me in Kesa during that roll. Let's go back to that situation, I'd like to see what I can do to improve my escape"

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The numbers seem to fluctuate from 20-25, down to 8...of course sometimes that's weather or school year dependent. (I'm currently working in a Northern state that gets a lot of snow)

Pretty healthy amount of Experienced white belts. Good amount of Blue and Purple.
Brown & Black belts seem to come and go and train with different gyms/instructors at different times.

Also, one thing about where I am. High School/College Wrestling is huge here....so not all "white belts" are the same. You can tell a wrester as soon as you start to roll with them.

Yeah, I'll second that re White belts not being equal. This one kid has been staying after class to roll with me and he's tough.

He's less experienced (4-stripe white belt), but is younger (21) and bigger (6'1" and 270 lbs). I'm more experienced (black belt), but I'm older (50) and smaller (5'11" and 170 lbs).

We rolled hard for 8 minutes....it was his strength versus my experience/conditioning. For 7 minutes, my experience and conditioning was winning. But with about a minute left gravity, strength and a surprisingly nice guard pass won out....he passed my guard direct to mount and head/arm choked me.

Definitely surprised me in the moment, but after thinking through the roll, i realized he just rolled really, really well and is applying learning much better than most of his peers.

White belt here considering doing my second tournament at the upcoming Houston Open on 3/26. I'm in the masters class and my weight right now is around 154 lbs. That puts me in the bracket with up to 165 lbs. The lower bracket cutoff is 145 lbs. How possible is it to lose 9 lbs in 11 days without sacrificing strength and endurance? Is it best just to maintain and roll with someone bigger? In my first tournament last year I rolled with someone taller and stronger and they easily handled me...

rbag08 said:

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White belt here considering doing my second tournament at the upcoming Houston Open on 3/26. I'm in the masters class and my weight right now is around 154 lbs. That puts me in the bracket with up to 165 lbs. The lower bracket cutoff is 145 lbs. How possible is it to lose 9 lbs in 11 days without sacrificing strength and endurance? Is it best just to maintain and roll with someone bigger? In my first tournament last year I rolled with someone taller and stronger and they easily handled me...

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I dont see any Houston Open for 3/26. Which organization is it?

You probably are going to weigh in wearing a gi, so add 3-5 lbs.

Unless the weigh-in is the day before, I would compete at the higher weight class because cutting that amount of weight would be a detriment to you.

Over the next few months though, figure out what weight class you want to live in and start working to stay at a weight where you are happy with in relation to that class.

Over the last few years I've competed between 159lbs(Weigh-in was the day before) and 185lbs (didn't want to cut anything and had a lot of life going on).

rbag08 said:

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White belt here considering doing my second tournament at the upcoming Houston Open on 3/26. I'm in the masters class and my weight right now is around 154 lbs. That puts me in the bracket with up to 165 lbs. The lower bracket cutoff is 145 lbs. How possible is it to lose 9 lbs in 11 days without sacrificing strength and endurance? Is it best just to maintain and roll with someone bigger? In my first tournament last year I rolled with someone taller and stronger and they easily handled me...

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If you eat clean and manage your water intake correctly starting soon, that amount of weight is nothing. There are many online guides for cutting for a fight (wrestling, etc.).

ETA: As someone else pointed out, know the rules about weighing in with your gi.

On second thought, if you're not experienced in cutting weight, you might just want to fight at your scratch weight. Concern would be not knowing how to rehydrate in time for your match, and you're left feeling weak. Much would depend on when you weigh in relative to your matches -- day before vs. day of.

https://americangrapplingfederation.com/tournaments/286

It's the American Grappling Federation tournament. It looks like weigh in is day of without gi.

I'd just go at your natural weight for now and then figure out your preferred competition weight and 'glide path' for cutting later (if you elect to cut at all).

I cut 10 lbs for a small tournament once and my only opponent didn't show up. So they bumped me to a younger and larger division. It didn't go well and I was hungry!!!

We've been working on knee bars lately... completely new for this blue belt & HOLY HELL I'M STOKED TO LEARN THIS!! Even more so to see the Kneebar submission in the UFC last Saturday - seen here:


It's been a fun submission to implement from both top & bottom half guard. (Haven't learned it from other positions yet).

What are y'all working on these days? Any tournaments?

Very cool submission and breakdown! Thanks for sharing!

I use a similar entry to a knee bar attempt and am sometimes able to make it happen. But more often, I end up getting stuffed on the knee bar and end up going after a toe hold or transitioning to X-guard and doing a technical standup. Other times I end up in 50/50 (which I hate).

No competing for me, but I'm training with many of our competitors who are doing the upcoming IBJJF Houston Open. Really looking forward to being able to watch friends, teammates, etc.

Has anyone attended the new Gracie Barra classes in College Station? I'm considering giving it a shot.

Johnny Danger said:

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Has anyone attended the new Gracie Barra classes in College Station? I'm considering giving it a shot.

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If it is similar to other GB schools, I won't be visiting it when I come to town.

I have heard of multiple people trying to drop in at GB schools while out of town for work and ....wow.

One purple belt of ours tried to visit one. They wouldn't let him wear his own guy and wanted to charge like 85$ for a gi rental charge and 50$ for a drop-in fee. Then on top of that, they would only have let him attend the beginner class since they do not recognize any belts but their own. Seems pretty clear that they don't want strong bjj practitioners ruining thier self-appointed image of their superiority.

Maybe some more experienced guys in this thread can chime in as well.

Quote:

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85$ for a gi rental charge and 50$ for a drop-in fee.

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AggieChemE09 said:

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Johnny Danger said:

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Has anyone attended the new Gracie Barra classes in College Station? I'm considering giving it a shot.

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If it is similar to other GB schools, I won't be visiting it when I come to town.

I have heard of multiple people trying to drop in at GB schools while out of town for work and ....wow.

One purple belt of ours tried to visit one. They wouldn't let him wear his own guy and wanted to charge like 85$ for a gi rental charge and 50$ for a drop-in fee. Then on top of that, they would only have let him attend the beginner class since they do not recognize any belts but their own. Seems pretty clear that they don't want strong bjj practitioners ruining thier self-appointed image of their superiority.

Maybe some more experienced guys in this thread can chime in as well.

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I've never tried martial arts with the exception of when I was a kid. I'm 42 and want to take on a new challenge. I workout at the gym 5 days per week and in decent shape re strength training but I heard bbj is very challenging but rewarding. Any thoughts from the "older" guys who may have started around mid 30's / after 40? If I take the jump, I'm all in.

Quote:

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Any thoughts from the "older" guys who may have started around mid 30's / after 40? If I take the jump, I'm all in.

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I started BJJ right after I turned 46... I wasn't in bad shape (ate well) but didn't work out much at all. I signed up for a six week beginner class & was hooked immediately. About 2-1/2 years later I attend classes 2-3 times per week & really enjoy the camaraderie & learning new techniques. The fitness is merely a bi product. BJJ has changed my mindset 100% for the better.

If you work out 5x per week you're in good enough shape, don't worry about that. Maybe work on some flexibility and stretching.

I wish I had started when I was 42. There are a lot of guys late 30's-early 50's doing this, so don't feel like you're going to stand out. Just be smart & don't try and out-muscle guys... use technique. That's what BJJ was designed for anyway.

Thanks Apache!

(Oops, meant to reply to Johnny Danger)....

There's plenty of tough BJJ folks who started in their 30's, 40's and 50's. I started at 36 and have been training for a little over 14 years. Even though I'm in much better shape than the majority of folks I train with, there are times my age (51) holds me back. Mostly in the recovery/injury and joints. While a 20 year old can train 7 days a week, multiple times per day. People in their 40's and 50's will have a much harder time doing 12-14 classes a week.

In terms of schools, visit all of the BJJ schools in the area and choose the one with the best match of $, schedule, goals and overall feel/vibe. Resist the urge to sign-up the same night you take the trial class so you can compare, do your research, etc. at multiple schools. You may choose Gracie Barra or you may choose something else - and it's all good.

I've trained at two Gracie Barra schools for the past 14 years (Webster, TX and Pearland, TX) and rolled at 10 or so other GB schools as a visitor and had a fantastic experience. Others have trained at GB or dropped in and it wasn't for them. To each their own, just find which school seems best and enjoy training.

One more question, if I want to continue weight lifting 3 days per week and incorporate 2 days bjj per week, is 2 days enough to progress? Or should I sacrifice 1 day of weights and train bjj 3 days weekly for further progression?

Johnny Danger said:

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One more question, if I want to continue weight lifting 3 days per week and incorporate 2 days bjj per week, is 2 days enough to progress? Or should I sacrifice 1 day of weights and train bjj 3 days weekly for further progression?

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35 here.

Balancing my weight lifting and BJJ is always a battle with how much I can do without outpacing my recovery/diet.

I manage 3-4 classes a week and 3 lifting sessions a week. I try to line up my lifting on NoGi days since I want to be fresher for GI days as they take more out of me and are more important to me.

In general, though, I lift to stay strong for BJJ, not to hit no PRs. My progress lifting has slowed dramatically because I prioritize BJJ, not lifting, and I can only do so much.


2 days a week of BJJ is enough to progress. 3 days is better than 2, and 4 days is better than 3. There is no substitute for mat time. But, BJJ is a long-term activity. Takes about a decade to get a Black Belt, so enjoy the journey! It is not a sprint.

All depends on what your goals are for lifting and BJJ. 2x per week will keep you on pace with most of your classes and you'll learn cool stuff, have fun, etc. 3-4 days a week will help you learn faster and be one of the better folks (at your belt level anyway). Competitors are a different story...they live on the mats but rarely have real jobs, families, etc.

A lot of folks over train BJJ when they first start and end up either A) Injured by a fellow spazzy white/blue belt B) Burned out or C)Their families get tired of constant BJJ training. Give it a try and see what balance works for you.

I'm 51 and I train BJJ 4-5 classes per week (3 days), but end up coaching a bunch (which means I'm not training as much), run 5x per week and do park workouts 3x per week. No weightlifting, but my game is built on technique, speed, flexibility and monster cardio. Plus, my family is older now than when I started back in 2008 so it makes frequent training easier.

I'm probably a little more extreme but:

2 sessions a week is meh
3 sessions a week is preferred and the minimum in my opinion in order to progress

When I say three sessions I mean 2 of instruction and at least 1 open mat of at least an hour or so of rolling.

2x per week would be a minimum for training BJJ.
3x is ideal... that extra day per week really adds up over the long haul. You'll progress much faster AND you'll get to know the folks at the gym a lot better. I found that I wasn't really taken seriously as an early white belt (they come & go so frequently). It wasn't until I started showing up to Saturday morning classes & training No-Gi that I was truly "let into the club".

Hey fellas, long time lurker but just getting to chime In.

Johnny Danger - I started at 48 and am 54 now so you're definitely not too old, and based on your what you say about your current regimen, you're good to go. Have fun and don't be too pissed you didn't start earlier!

Sweep 4-2, if you're ever on the west side, come train with us at Rilion Gracie Energy Corridor. Only place I've been and an awesome group of people there.

I started BJJ when I was 35 (38 now). When I started I had previously been lifting 3-4x a week consistently for about 2 years and figured I was in decent shape and had a good base of strength to work with. I have the bandwidth for about 5 workout sessions a week as well, however when I started BJJ I decided to completely drop weight lifting and focus all my bandwidth (time + capacity to recover) on BJJ. It allowed me to get 5x classes/sessions a week in which really helped me to progress quickly. And 2+ years of mat time later (took a year off b/c of Covid), I'm in far better shape than I ever was just lifting weights.

You will hear a lot of people say the best way to get good at Jiu Jitsu, is to do more Jiu Jitsu. Strength will not be your limiting factor on the mats- not knowing Jiu Jitsu will be. Also the conditioning needed for Jiu Jitsu can only really be developed doing Jiu Jitsu.

2x a week, you will probably be frustrated by your speed of progress compared against the same people you see every session who are training daily. Plus, BJJ is one of the more expensive options in terms of fitness- will you really be getting the ROI you want with just 2x a week?

TLDR- My advice for starting Jiu Jitsu is put all your bandwidth for working out in a week into Jiu Jitsu. Give that a try for at least 6 months, and then re-assess if you need to get back in the weight room. You may be surprised at how good of shape you can get into.

OaklandAg06 said:

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On the wrestling front, we have been doing a ton of arm drag variations over the last couple of weeks. It is starting to pay off as I have been consistently hitting them from various guards, against both standing and kneeling opponents, as well as during wrestling. Such a great technique.

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Working in a northern state where wrestling is huge in HS/College. It makes a huge difference when rolling with a "white belt" that was also a D2 wrestler, as opposed to someone (me) that had no previous real wrestling experience.