Within the next year my gym will officially become a “Gracie affiliate”….im not saying that Gracie gyms are mcdojos but the path mine is heading is not good.

The first big change I’m not stoked about is an “attendance based” promotion system. Basically you get a card and for every hour you train you get to fill out your card. Roughly 100hrs per stripe….now currently my coach/gym is WAY behind on promotions especially low level belts. We have white belts winning in blue brackets pretty regularly and 2 stripe white belts are demolishing pretty much any regular that walks through the door. But the idea of attendance based promotions sounds like a horrible plan to me.

A big push toward kids and law enforcement, we will be cutting some of the adult classes to make room for the growing kids classes as well as a “LEO only” classes where we will be selling certification classes and weapons defense.

The overall kiddie glove treatment of everything to stay on the good side of the Gracie’s….no music over pg13, no cussing, no advice unless coach approved etc etc.

Overall it’s just really weird and truthfully I’m hoping to just speed run my blue belt and get to purple so if I need to train somewhere else I’ll be welcome at all classes.

I’m still new to bjj only about 6 months total experience. Had to stop for a little due to knee issues. A little background i played ice hockey at the junior level as a teenager and tore acl and for surgery. And retore. I was and endurance cyclist doing long gravel rides anywhere from 50-100 miles. Fast forward a little out of shape now but just had scope surgery and now they are saying I need partial knee replacement. I want to continue my BJJ journey just want to know what others have experienced

Hi all,

I am kinda new to BJJ and currently a White belt, I am going 2/3x times a week so I have a Gi for each session, what you guys do regarding belt? Do you always use the same one? Or do you have 1 belt per Gi and use that one and wash it after the session? What happens once you get a stripe? If you using more than one belt do you just add a stripe to your others as well?

Also do you guys size up on the belt? I think it looks better a size up

I went to my first bjj session as a skinny dude and when I tell you I was flipped like a pancake. Probably the most eye opening session ever. You also make it unenjoyable for the person who weighs more than you because it’s so easy for them and hard for you please gain weight and don’t believe anyone saying it does not matter

I’m 38 and have been training consistently for about six months, but only twice a week due to scheduling issues and recovery challenges. The thing is, I mostly train with purple, brown, and black belts, many of whom are in great shape, so it’s hard to notice any progress.

On good days, I focus on surviving and staying “alive” for as long as possible. On bad days, I tap early and feel like my body has been put through a shredder.

I completely understand that more experienced people are supposed to dominate me, but I’m curious to hear from others who’ve been in a similar situation. Did the things you were learning eventually start working against higher belts? Or did you have to wait until less experienced people showed up to really feel like you were making progress?

I’m starting to feel demoralized. I don’t want to quit, but lately, I find myself showing up out of discipline rather than because I genuinely want to be there.

When did jiu-jitsu finally start to click for you? How long did it take, and what helped you get through that initial stage when it felt like you weren’t improving?

In theory takedowns are 1/4 of grappling.

You can grapple standing, on top, on bottom, or in neutral scrambly positions like dogfight or 50/50.

Of these positions, takedowns are the only optional one.

I cannot avoid a strong guard passer getting their passing points by intentionally unlocking my legs and putting myself in bottom mount

I cannot avoid a strong back taker from getting points by just turning my back while I’m in mount.

I cannot avoid a sweep or reversal by simply pulling the bottom player on top of me before they can attempt a sweep

And yet from standing you can avoid takedown points by simply sitting down before the person sits you down.

this is the most important of any of those skills because against a non-compliant opponent the fight won’t go to the ground unless you take it there, and pulling guard won’t be an option in several cases.

I don’t propose that pulling guard is banned, but I do propose that it counts exactly the same as a takedown by redefining what a takedown means to match what takedowns are in wrestling. A takedown isn’t simply performing a technique that causes you to obtain top position, a takedown is the act of establishing top position to begin with

What does this mean? It means you can still pull guard if you think it will offer a strategic advantage in the long run, but people who specifically pull guard to avoid being taken down by a better wrestler still ultimately got taken down, which will force these people to rethink their game and develop better takedowns.

Exceptions:

\* Sacrifice throws where you take bottom position for an immediate sweep, reversal, back taker such as Sumi gaeshi will be counted as YOUR takedown if successful and THEIR takedown if unsuccessful

* Flying submissions or pulling guard into an immediate submission threat like a triangle guard will not count as a takedown for the top player until the submission threat is fully eliminated. If the top player is swept before defending the sub it will score as the takedown of the person who pulled a flying sub

I loved jujitsu as a white belt and now that I finally got my blue it’s just not the same plus I’ve recently broken my shoulder and have been out for 3 months. Should I power through it and see if I fall back in love?

Please note that this is to record a YouTube video for a channel, however, location or faces can be blurried if you wish. Only USA. The video is just for entertainment and fun. Channel stats, old content, link, etc. can be shared on PM (not posting here to avoid post removal for self-promotion)

Open to both persons with experience capable of giving lessons or clubs.

$500 are offered, and part can be paid upfront to prove all it’s legit etc.

I have a YouTube channel with over 50,000 subscribers that I’m planning to reactivate/removed as it’s been inactive for years and I’ve pretty much unlisted all my old videos (can send them if you wish to watch some of the content that used to be there. I’m currently traveling from country to country, filming videos in the places I visit. In these videos, I also try out some physically demanding sports to see how someone like me (I have ADHD) handles them in terms of energy and stuff like that. I’m planning to start uploading the videos around November or December.

The idea for the video would be to first explain what’s BJJ, do a beginner’s lesson, showcase somethings related to BJJ and then some rounds of grappling, challenges, and things like that that can be energy demanding to make the content entertaining and fun to watch as well.

I have a little experience in martial arts as I did Judo, but not much, and that was many years ago. I’m 25 years old.

If anyone is interested, feel free to comment or send me a private message and I’ll share more details!

I'm an ex high level boxer but through the last decade I suffered some major injuries from some unfortunate events and am left with many movement restrictions. I still lift regularly, keep in rly good shape, but I'm very limited to specific movements.

I wanted to take up BJJ mostly for self defense and to get some movement in. I've never been to a BJJ gym but is it possible to participate with severe limitations? Are people mostly understanding or do people tend to go hard? Are there BJJ classes that are mostly for self defense without intense sparring sessions? Or is there a better martial art for this?

Good evening, for some context I have been training on and off heavily for 2-2 1/2 years but within the past 3 months I have trained 3-4 times a week.

I was a 1 stripe white belt until tonight when I was graded 3 more stripes making me a 4 stripe white belt now, last weekend I competed in a pretty large tournament for my first ever competition and I won Gold in the GI division.

I couldn’t help but notice I felt very comfortable against everyone in my division and back at my gym I am able to roll pretty well against some of the blue belts and we often submit each other but then I roll with some of the other blue belts and it feels like I’m a fish out of water.

Is it pretty common for there to be extremely large technique and foundation difference within each belt? And how do you know when someone is ready to go from white to blue, blue to purple, etc.

Thanks all for your time, I’m just curious what people think.

I’m going to my first BJJ class tonight, I’ve been taking MMA classes at the same gym for about a month I’m 26F 5”3 and 160- obviously not in the greatest shape - what should I know before I go or anything I can do to make sure I can keep up? I’m excited but nervous to try something new

Hey :)

I've been trying to compliment my usual training schedule with some Yoga classes, I do JiuJitsu which leaves my body quite sore and feel like need more stretching than anything.

Do you think Yoga can be a good complimentary sport and if so, what types? I've tried some Yin and soft classes but it's hard to pick what class to attend to sometimes as I don't understand all Yoga styles. Has anyone mixed these two and has any tips?

Just began to take up jiu jitsu last week, and I was wondering which stance (and the following techniques) I should start off on.
Now it came to my knowledge that for jiu jitsu, (also wrestling and judo maybe?) it's good practice to have your dominant foot forward, so as to lead with your dominant hand for grappling.
That said, I (a natural lefty), being somewhat a tourist in martial arts, have one year background in boxing one year in muay thai, and three years in tkd. Outside of martial arts, I played highschool baseball. So basically, I have always led with my right foot forward and feel comfortable in doing so.
Just kicking off as a beginner in BJJ, I see many pros of keeping my right foot forward stance, not just because I am more used to it, but also because the classes are usually taught from a righty perspective as well.
My only worry is that despite the familiarty of the stance, I am clearly stronger and more dextrous with the left side of my body, so I was wondering if I should start off with a left foot forward stance to begin with, and build up from a lefty pov combination.
It seems for grappling in particular, you'll end up learning to maneuver both ways in the long run, but I was wondering if starting off by learning right hand dominant way would affect my learning curve in the early stages.

Curious if anyone is or knows anyone at their gym training with joint replacements?

I have a total hip replacement and have started bjj and am really enjoying it. My gym is aware of my replacement and I let my training partners know as well. I have seen a handful of guys online talking about training with artificial joints but was curious if anyone in the sub has first hand experience with this themselves or friends/training partners in their gym.

Unfortunately some injury complications when I was younger forced me to get a THR way earlier than normal and I live a very active life. Prior to starting BJJ I still trained and worked out daily, dirtbike, surf, hike, etc.

Not looking for medical advice necessarily, really just looking to hear from or talk to anyone else that has a similar factor in their journey.

What are your thoughts on training 7 days a week? Is it important to take rest days if my job is a desk job? My body feels good regular soreness you can expect from bjj but nothing that stops me from training or performing at 100%. Really the only time I rest is the days leading up to a comp. Mon-sat I train 3ish hours a day 1 hour of technical instruction with resistance and then 1-2 hours of open mat plus consuming bjj content always ( breakdowns watching matches the useful stuff) Sunday I do 2 hours of open mat. Has anyone see benefits of taking a step back to fully consume mentally what they are doing and experiencing in their rounds? I feel like when I take a week off for vacation or minor injury I come back better than I was when I left. Has anyone else experienced this? I don't know if I should even consider changing anything because at this rate I will have my purple in under 2 1/2 years from starting bjj. the complements I receive are that I'm technical, efficient and very positionally aware which I attribute to training so ofte . I feel my ADHD brain thrives with the massive amount of new info I get going everyday but like I said above anytime I'm forced to take a break I feel like I come back and break through the barrier and take a big step forward with my game. Any thoughts or experience with this yourself?

I guess if you're a white belt this question means less. But for those who have been training 5+ years are there any techniques, positions, you still feel like you're a total newb?

My confession. I don't know how to heel hook. I know what it is. I can recognize it being done to me. However, I don't know how to apply it effectively to someone else.

Leg locks in general are still foreign territory to me.

Also anything that ends in "plata" is gonna be a hard pass for me. Fascinated with them. Wish I could do them. But can't wrap my head around the techniques.

What about you guys?

JiuFlow 🥋

I'm building a SaaS platform for the jiu-jitsu community!

The main focus is academy management, helping jiu-jitsu gyms manage their daily operations more efficiently.

But that's not all! The app will also include forums and communities where practitioners can connect and share experiences.

I'm also thinking about adding a social network and a Tinder-style feature for finding nearby academies and training partners.

Do you think this idea has potential? What features would you like to see in an app like this?

This is probably super random, so, mods, please feel free to remove this post if it’s in violation of rules of the sub (though I did check them beforehand).

I’m working on a novel, and in one of the flashbacks there’s a scene where Character A is helping Character B practice BJJ. CharB has some bad habits due to lack of a good trainer, and CharA is trying to offer some guidance. 

Normally, I would research the subject properly and get a baseline for what I’m trying to describe, but I’m on day 3 with this and feeling pretty overwhelmed. I think I understand the basic principles of jiujitsu but I lack the experience to talk about specific challenges.
Also, BJJ is not the central focus or a major theme in the novel, but I still want it to read authentically. 

So I figured maybe asking people who actually know the subject well would help. 
If you feel comfortable responding, here are my questions (and please feel free to correct me if I’m missing the entire point):

1. What are some typical mistakes/bad habits someone who’s not a beginner but was taught haphazardly would be likely to have?
2. Are there chokes/holds/etc that especially depend on the angle/position of limbs in order to go from impossible to doable? I suspect that’s, like, most of them, but asking anyway - from my noob perspective, the guillotine choke seems like a good candidate, but, as the kids say, idek. 
3. Any other considerations, like improper clothing or whatever, that I should think about? I’m going for a whole bad habits rescue mission type thing. 
4. How would a professional talk about it in a way that didn’t sound like foreign language to a layman? 

What I mean by that is if, for example, I were to write a book geared towards professional graphic designers, it might have sentences like: “He added bleed and made sure to call out every instance of overprint, then exported the file using GRACoL and uploaded it to FTP, praying the darn connection would not time out.”
A normal person sort of knows what’s happening, but not really. 

If the book was meant for an average reader, it would be more along the lines of: “He sat at his desk until midnight, tweaking colors, fonts, and spacing, then spent another hour double-checking the file against Bob’s Printing House specs to make sure it would print as intended.“ 
Still some design-ish words, but something a wider audience can understand. 

Is there a way to apply the same principle to BJJ in a way that won’t sound wooden or unhinged? Don’t worry about sounding literary, I just need perspective and phrases. I'm also happy to do more research on my own if anyone can suggest a direction.

Again, sorry if this is way out of left field, and thank you in advance for any and all the advice and guidance!