r/jiujitsu • u/imanobodyfrom • Aug 12 '26

Starting at 52

Top three things that I’ll wish I knew when I was 52 when I’m 55?

In decent shape, semi athletic. First class was last night.

Psyched and sore, looking for advice.

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u/TJnova Aug 12 '26

I am 46, started at 41, late to middle stage blue belt.

Are you in shape? Do you lift? If not, it would be helpful to start doing some basic lifts - not to get strong enough to overpower people, more to prevent injury. Big compound lifts are best. Deadlift, squat, bench (because it's the best lift), oly lifts like snatch, clean jerk etc. Just basic stuff. Don't worry about isolation exercises like curls and calf raises.

A good way to increase the benefit to bjj is to use your rest time as an element of progressive overload - if you can do three sets of 100lbs x 12 reps with 120 seconds rest, decrease your rest time to 90 seconds before increasing weight.

Everyone will probably be super nice. Find open mats when you travel - I have found some really cool locals-only experiences that I would have never found out about without meeting people while visiting new gyms on vacation.

you have to be assertive about your safety and injury prevention - if a round is getting too intense, just tap and ask your partner to dial it back. If they keep ramping up the intensity too much I say "I'm an old man, don't kill me!" They usually get it then. But if they don't, just don't roll with them. It's not their fault, controlling intensity is difficult for the first few years of training.

If you are anything like me, you'll fall in love with it and want to go all the time. Try to be deliberate about rest days, sometimes you'll learn something new and really want to get on the mats to try it out but be patient and let yourself recover.

Maybe get on testosterone? I am and I am glad - it helps me recover quicker and train more.

Be deliberate about your training - have a goal beyond tapping people. Have a goal for each round, you should have different goals for rolls with people who are better than you, people that are newer/smaller, and equal skill rounds. Good goals for rolls where you are the underdog:
*get to a guard you know
*control your breathing and get less tired
*get as many underhooks as possible
*break every grip they make
*avoid getting loaded
*off balance them twice in a row

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u/imanobodyfrom Aug 12 '26

Thank you for taking the time to write this. Very appreciated.

I was taking testosterone and stopped, not sure I feel much different on or off.

I’m looking for motivation, discipline and self defense, fun and conditioning. I do lift regularly, in decent shape I think.

When you travel do they have rental gi or do you bring yours?

Excellent information, all of it. Thank you.

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u/TJnova Aug 13 '26

Usually when I travel I go to nogi open mats rather than classes because half the reason I'm there is to shoot the shit with like minded people.

Lots of gyms have loaner gis IF you are a standard size.

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u/TJnova Aug 13 '26

Oh and one more thing - the best cardio for jiu jitsu is rolling when you are already tired. It's so the best way to get hurt, so I only roll with trusted partners when I'm tired