In the moment I was thinking armbar, but I think he slipped out and rolled through as I was making space to put some force on it.

FYI Rogan dropped a podcast today with Royce Gracie. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I definitely will when I have some time.

Max Power said:

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FYI Rogan dropped a podcast today with Royce Gracie. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I definitely will when I have some time.

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It was a fine podcast. Nothing said was that revolutionary.

I credit his podcast with Jocko for getting me into BJJ.

It had my attention more on fights with pits that have electrical fence and piranhas.

Moral High Horse said:

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It had my attention more on fights with pits that have electrical fence and piranhas.

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That part was awesome

Had a conversation with a coworker last week and he told me about BJJ. He said he picked it up in his mid-30s when he was out of shape and needed to find something he could stick to. He said it changed his life.

I'm 31 and out of shape and need to find something. Any advice on getting started? Is this something I should look into?

Absolutely. I'd just google gyms in your area. If you live an any decent t size city you'll be surprised how many there are. They usually offer a free class to come try it out. I did that with 4 different places. Honestly I liked them all. My decision came down to location and class schedule.

texasaggie2015 said:

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Had a conversation with a coworker last week and he told me about BJJ. He said he picked it up in his mid-30s when he was out of shape and needed to find something he could stick to. He said it changed his life.

I'm 31 and out of shape and need to find something. Any advice on getting started? Is this something I should look into?

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For sure! Do it! What area are you in, if you don't mind?

I'm in the Woodlands and work in downtown Houston

I'm in the Austin version of this one, it's the Royler Gracie lineage. Not sure how far out of the way it is for you.

Academia Gracie de Jiu-Jitsu Houston | Gracie Houston Jiu-Jitsu | Gracie Humaita Houston The authentic Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school in the city of Houston, TX. Our Professor is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) black belt from the original Gracie school from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Thanks man. I'll look into it.

Sorry if this is considered derailing.. but can anyone explain to be the pros and cons of BJJ vs boxing?

texasaggie2015 said:

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Thanks man. I'll look into it.

Sorry if this is considered derailing.. but can anyone explain to be the pros and cons of BJJ vs boxing?

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So, I can just go from my experience, others here may have a different take on it.

In Boxing (I did Thai Boxing/Muay Thai before BJJ for a couple of years) you are standing and striking. I do feel that people need a good striking game if they are going to be working a dangerous job, or if they are going to be competing in any kind of MMA type tournaments.

However, BJJ is primarily grappling and, although may start standing, it usually ends up on the ground. BJJ gives you the ability to control your opponent on the ground. MOST people think they can box, or think they have "hands"......that usually remains to be seen.

MOST fights that I saw/was a part of when I worked for TDCJ ended up on the ground and I wish that I knew then what I know now, and I'm just a blue belt. (I have heard a correctional officer say that he was "equivalent to a purple belt because he had been in so many uses of force", ......I can assure you, he was not)

Even with Muay Thai and all of that behind me, when I was new to BJJ, I was completely helpless on the ground until I started learning techniques. What I thought I knew from TDCJ, and I had even been an instructor for defensive tactics, failed hard against experienced BJJ guys.

Great info, thanks! What about in terms of fitness?

texasaggie2015 said:

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Great info, thanks! What about in terms of fitness?

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Can't speak to boxing, but BJJ is interesting in terms of fitness.

Your first year is incredibly taxing on your body, but as you get better at it, you use less and less energy IMO. This results in incredibly fit Blue Belts, and out-of-shape Purple/Brown belts.

I think BJJ keeps my baseline fitness high enough, but I do need to add in lifting and stretching as BJJ "gets easier". I add cardio by just doing more BJJ.

Thank you!

Quote:

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and out-of-shape Purple/Brown belts.

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Beware higher belts with bellies.

This is like ballast on a ship.... makes them hard to unbalance & puts a crushing weight on you when they are on top.

Also makes it harder to perform a ghost escape for example when you can't get an arm under their gut no matter how much you bridge.

AggieChemE09 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Great info, thanks! What about in terms of fitness?

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Can't speak to boxing, but BJJ is interesting in terms of fitness.

Your first year is incredibly taxing on your body, but as you get better at it, you use less and less energy IMO. This results in incredibly fit Blue Belts, and out-of-shape Purple/Brown belts.

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When you get to purple/brown change gears to No-Gi to avoid getting lazy.

AggieChemE09 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Great info, thanks! What about in terms of fitness?

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Can't speak to boxing, but BJJ is interesting in terms of fitness.

Your first year is incredibly taxing on your body, but as you get better at it, you use less and less energy IMO. This results in incredibly fit Blue Belts, and out-of-shape Purple/Brown belts.

I think BJJ keeps my baseline fitness high enough, but I do need to add in lifting and stretching as BJJ "gets easier". I add cardio by just doing more BJJ.

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I think fitness in terms of BJJ is defined by three categories: strength, cardio, and mobility.

Strength wise I definitely recommend lifting in conjunction with BJJ classes. I've been lifting more consistently over the past couple of months and I know that's helped me in class. I normally go to three classes a week and lift three times a week.

Cardio wise to me there's nothing like BJJ cardio exept for other martial arts or combat sports because it's aerobic and anaerobic at the same time. I don't think anything helps your BJJ cardio better than BJJ class in my experience. I know some guys in class that are runners and they can confirm that cardio from running is not the same as cardio for BJJ.

Mobility is the hardest for me because I'm in my 40s. It's not just about flexibility, it's about movement. I can't remember any sports that are as demanding of hip movement as BJJ. I try to stretch a few times a week at home and I always stretch for about 15 minutes prior to starting class.

I don't think I've paid attention to the fitness level of blue belts vs purple and brown but now that I think about it you're right. There's overweight white belts at my gym and some purple and brown, but blue generally doesn't have them so that's a good observation. I've rolled with a couple of purple belts that are bigger and while they have a great knowledge base, I would also say they're not nearly as in shape as I feel I am at a similar age. They are able to apply enough pressure to just gas me out or just immobilize me, but we're talking about guys that outweigh me by at least 70 pounds. I can roll with guys that size at my experience level and be ok because I have a chance to escape when they make a mistake, that's not happening with purple belts at my gym. I would still rather roll with them though than a really young overly-aggressive white belt though.

Confirmed yesterday rotator cuff is torn and needs surgery. I'll be out for a while. Boo

Dammit, I hate to hear that. I just resumed classes again yesterday after taking about three weeks off with a shoulder injury. Pain is basically gone, but the shoulder is just weak and I feel really vulnerable with it.

Good luck with it

That sucks. Good luck and Godspeed with the surgery.

Open Mat on Monday, Labor Day from 11am - 1pm. No Regular classes.

Gracie Humatia Austin.

Gracie Humaita Austin (ghaustin.com)

Had an awkward roll yesterday. Got stuck in a crucifix, where I was just going to lean on the guy till he made his move. Well, he made a quicker than expected move and pretty much americana'd my arm and my elbow popped. There was no pain during or immediatly after, but today it feels pretty bad. I think it is a sprained UCL.

Congrats

That is a big deal, awesome job! I got injured before my first stripe and all my kids already got their first stripe. You have to freaking earn it at our gym. One of our guys was a green beret and taught combatives in the army and I think he only has a purple belt.

Speaking of, its crazy the difference in belts between taekwondo and BJJ. My kids used to do taekwondo and during one of the test a girl was promoted after she failed to even hit the board 32 times in a row doing a spinning back kick. My nephew just got his green belt and he failed at half the things he had to do including breaking the thinnest board.

Curious what happens if someone joins a gym and they clearly aren't as skilled as their belt would indicate? I'm a noob so I wouldn't know good if I saw it, but figured this must happen sometimes.

bam02 said:

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Curious what happens if someone joins a gym and they clearly aren't as skilled as their belt would indicate? I'm a noob so I wouldn't know good if I saw it, but figured this must happen sometimes.

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You keep the belt you came in with, but you won't get promoted for awhile till you have earned the next belt in the eyes of your new school.

Additionally, word will get around of how crappy your previous school is. It isn't the student's fault the professor sucks.

Yup, and once everyone else figures out that you didn't deserve the belt you will get smoked for a while. The unspoken rule of you don't make someone of lower talent tap easily goes out the window. We had someone come in with a 3 stripe purple belt that was at par with a high white/low blue belt talent and the first couple weeks he got put in his place. After that they laid off of him and treated him to his talent level and not belt

OK, maybe I am mistaken on belts. There is a lady who has been in several of my beginner classes who has what clearly seems to me to be a brown belt.

To this clueless white belt she seems to be less skilled than most of the blue belts in the class.

Another paper belt excuse:

There are a lot of schools that get started and for whatever reason the coach who at some point was probably legit ends up going away. Where? Who the hell knows. But what's left ends up fending for themselves and gradually the school is in decline and the students who remain just don't improve and are rolling with only new students which is not great for anyone. Then those "upper belts" go somewhere else and get destroyed.

Either way I wouldn't put too much stock in belts. The truth is on the mats. Be cautious who you roll with because it might be what I described above or a white belt former collegiate wrestler from the midwest(I'm not bitter).

Yeah, happens plenty. Generally, the person quickly realizes how bad they are compared to others. And if they are nice, humble and train hard, people accept them and help them 'grow into' their belt. If they are obnoxious though, they tend to get hammered.

But as far as belts go, it's really hard to measure skill by the color of their belt. Skill can be knowledge, crisp technique, ability to coach, observations, etc. Or it can be what they bring to the mat during live training and who they smash . Or it can be both....but there are so many variables (age, experience, injury, previous training in other sports, etc.) that it's all over the board.

In general, a black belt should be able to smash most white belts without breaking a sweat. But there are Judo black belts, MMA fighters, wrestlers, etc. who are highly skilled grapplers masquerading as white belts.

We don't see it as much down here but wrestlers can trick you too, they come in as white belts but have a lot of the basics down already and are quick.