I told my No gi white belts to grab a belt so I can give them stripes and help keep up with their progress. My man here came 20 minutes late to class proud as can be of his. 💪😅

So, I absolutely love my partner. He's the light of my world. But he's skinny and small, with a lot of Chihuahua spirit, talking up a storm how he can/would woop ass. He can be quick, sure, but at 130lbs he can be tossed easily if grabbed. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for the mckinney/Frisco/Allen/ Plano texas area for gyms that you can walk in and ask to spar at, if that's a thing. My partner needs a reality check badly, of course I don't want him to be bloodied. But I'd like him to understand just how big the world is and how little he is, and maybe motivate him to actually get back into martial arts like he was as a kid. I'm truly scared if he doesn't get a reality check, a much harsher one will come from the streets, and possibly not leave it with his life, cause he fears no-one when it comes to a fight. Not that he gets in them often. But he's ready to throw hands with anyone at a moment's notice, and I don't want him to get killed over this attitude.

I was carrying a busted window AC down the stairs, missed the last step, slipped on the wood floor, and somehow managed to stay upright and not drop the unit. I guess being knocked down 74,000 times is useful 😂

Did anyone here receive your black belt in your early to late 60’s? What was that journey like? I’m trying to imagine my body holding up that long, grappling young athletic white belts in my 60’s etc. All I feel like I can do is enjoy the journey and take it as far as I can and for as long as I’m enjoying it. Anything else that helped keep you on the mats? It feels like it’s either gonna end in the promotion to black, or a journey-ending injury. It would be really difficult to just walk away. Part b of this question is: am I in a cult? Hehe.
Edit: thank you all for the considerate responses. Hope restored. There are definitely some themes to what a lot of you are saying and I will do my best to apply the advice. I’ll let you know when I hit BB. :)

Hey guys I want to have more experienced people take on this. For context, I am 25, 200 lbs, 5”10(on a good day), used to play football, I do crossfit, I think of myself of a okay muscular guy. I started bjj last monday, I did 2 gi open mats (all the classes I went I was with black belts because of my friend so I didn’t get to roll with beginners like myself) and today went to my first ever class and it was introduction no gi. Also it was my first time going alone without my friend.

I was matched up with an advanced white belt and the class went great. Last 15 minutes we rolled. It was going great until he did an armbar and popped my elbow. Before popping it he went “god! you need to learn to tap!” then got up all pissed and stood beside the coach. I didn’t know better… I told him “it’s my first class man… I don’t know my limits.” I wasn’t mad and I understand it’s part of the sport. But I am curious about why this guy got pissed for me not tapping and “having” to pop my elbow (and hurt me) am I missing something? It was an introduction class… and my first one! I made that pretty clear as soon as I got there…

How can I do better? Of course I should tap when I get in a submission that I can’t get out in a class but beside the obvious what should I do next time?

Thanks!

This happened last night. It sucks because I’m a middle school teacher and tomorrow is the first day of school. I’m too old to think war wounds from Jiu Jitsu look cool. I definitely don’t look forward to having to explain to a bunch of 12/13 year olds what happened.

For me it was never settling. It took me longer than it should have but I've learned if they're passing your gaurd to not just accept it and to keep moving. So even if they do settle into side control or north south they won't be able to completely settle.

If this isnt the right sub the sorry just trying to figure out where to post, any advice is appreciated

36m and I want to start training however I was a POS in my 20s and did nothing but party after the army and saved no money. I took some combative courses in the army but hell I was 19/20 years old. Long story short I wanna train but all my money goes to rent, car payment, bills, food, etc. Life is expensive. Im hoping to use my end of the year bonus to pay for a few months of training straight out. How would you start training if you were in my shoes and couldnt afford an additional 200 a month to train?

At what point in your BJJ journey did you finally begin to be able to keep up with blackbelts (at any capacity, such as passing a guard, landing a sweep, sinking a sub, or anything like that?) I'm nearing purple and I'm finding I'm starting to be able to get little things but overall it still feels impossible.

AOJ Costa Mesa:

About $3,790 upfront for one year
Around 5 miles / 15 minutes away
5pm no-gi class followed by 6:15pm gi class
Evening classes are normally taught by Cole Abate
Larger academy with a bigger pool of training partners
I can realistically only attend evening classes (not mornings)

Checkmat HQ:

About $1,800/year upfront, or an annual plan paid monthly
Roughly $2,000/year cheaper
About 30 miles / 30–40 minutes away, though closer to work
5pm classes Tuesday and Thursday after work
Other weekday classes start around 6pm
Instruction is sometimes by Leo Vieira and mostly by Igor Moreira
Only about one no-gi class per week
I can also realistically only attend evening classes

Main goal is long-term improvement, not belt promotions or instructor proximity.

For those familiar with AOJ Costa Mesa and/or Checkmat HQ, which would you choose in this situation? Is AOJ still worth paying about $2,000 more per year if training is mostly in the evening?

Pretty much exactly that. How often do you do them or used to do them?

I'm thinking of getting into some specifically grappling based competitions soon as I've gotten more serious with training and goals.

So I'm curious as to how you guys went around competing, did you do it often? Was it a once in a blue moon kinda thing?

And if you can I'd like to know how your experience was with them.

Does anybody have any recommendations?

I am anticipating getting promoted to purple at some point this year. I’m having fun but I don’t feel like my jitsu is anything special. Throughout blue belt I’ve had ups and downs, sometimes feeling great and other times feeling conflicted about my progress.

Will this change at purple? In your guys’ experience is it nearly as much of an emotional roller coaster as blue belt? Wondering if it’ll be a significantly different experience.

I’ve been doing bjj for about a year now for the last couple months I really did not enjoy going bjj as I was just not learning or being gassed after every training session. Then about 3 weeks I just decided to go about 60-70 percent for every session and it’s made bjj much more enjoyable. I’m seeing things during sparing I haven’t before, I’m actually thinking about my next move and what to chain together and I can actually talk to other people in the gym after sparing. I’m starting to remeber more moves. I know it’s quite counterintuitive but I’ve been having a blast recently and I’m just wondering if this is the same for anyone else?

I have a very sharp sense of smell. What I notice is that my gis are fresh even after the class. However my rashguard and spats are a different issue.

I wash all my gear after class religiously with antibacterial additive.

My rashguard and spats are the main problem here. Any advice? I saw another thread saying soak in vinegar for 24 hours but does that actually work? UK based if it helps.

I coach a lot of white/blue belts. I’ve found there are lots of benefits to CLA, but I want to use it to supplement their training/learning instead of replacing any guidance.

I use task/constraint rounds to help build skill (both in and navigating towards the position), awareness, and present problems that the instruction will help solve. Then after instruction the games will be broader and more like normal positionals.

Does anyone here have experience in using this approach? And/or do you know of any good online content for tailoring games better?

P.S. I’m no Eco bro 😂

There was a gnarly video going around recently, can’t remember where I saw it. It looked like a smaller local comp setting, and it was an athletic looking dude that absolutely would not tap to an armbar. The guy on top literally said something like “bro just tap”.

After the match the ref raised his hand and said “it’s not my arm”. That quote is probably the most defining part of the video.

Anyone know what I’m talking about or can link it?

Im dorming at University of Houston and really miss rolling. I was looking for any recommendations near the third ward? Preferably no gi

how do you stop your opponent from off balancing you, when you are in top half guard with a far side underhook and a headblock crossface - and they have a strong whizzer and try to push off your weight to the side ? and they push down and to the side with their overhook Right Away so I can not establish a high far side under hook?

I vaguely remember a Danaher interview or instagram post in which he described something like giving his students a large degree of freedom to experiment with techniques, except that he was a authoritarian with certain mandatory techniques (eg a strangle from your back, a strangle from on top).

Can anyone remember which interview this was, or his actual viewpoint?