6 Myths in Jiu Jitsu

[@fyrdraca77]

Agreed with the whole discussion, especially the last part. Speaking for myself, as a 47 years old, 4 stripe brown belt, I've been training for over 12 years now, and the closer I get to that black belt promotion, the less motivated I feel to train; precisely because I don't want to be one of those 'black belts that suck'. To be honest I'd happily have stayed a purple belt for life; as I do think that is my 'true' level of skill. I have competed occasionally from white to purple; did ok in some competitions but never lit the world on fire with my performances. The closer the promotion to black belt gets, it feels more like something looming over me than something to look forward to. It's the first time in my life I'm actually seriously considering quitting BJJ. The only reason I haven't done so yet is that I've yet to find something I would be as passionate about that would keep my healthy both mentally and physically, else I'd have already stepped away.

[@jamesyo]

I totally feel this and thanks for the honesty. I’m a 51 yr old blue belt. enjoying the journey. I’ve thought about black but this put into words what I struggled to put my finger on. 🙏🏼

[@NextScamdemic]

Damn , you've got to be a legitimate brown belt. (I can just tell lol). There's gotta be better alternatives than just retiring over a darn belt

[@TheArtofSkill]

You have to distinguish between the loss of effectiveness due to age and sucking due to a lack of technique, knowledge, sensitivity, timing, etc. The former is unavoidable as you age--we all slow down and our bodies begin to fail us, but the later is not unavoidable. You can continue to improve technically year after year, even though your body can't execute the way it would be able to if you were younger. Don't confuse the two issues. I might do a video on this subject.

[@wayist1159]

I feel you brother, I'm a 45 year old brown belt. There are legit competitive blue and purple belts in my gym that would smoke me every day of the week. I feel like I don't have anything to really offer them, or the school. I'm an old war horse, but I play the game conservatively at this point, and I feel like it puts me at a disadvantage. I too have felt the urge to hang up the belt. In part, I feel like I just don't enjoy it the same way, as the price I pay for a hard class is much more than I did 10 years ago. I respect you for speaking out, because I feel like the BJJ community is not kind to old men. I think the sport is going the way of wrestling honestly, where you will rarely find anyone in their 30's doing it who isn't a coach.

[@mnrick1960]

A very honest post...

[@armyofficer11a]

Awesome content, as usual! Happy New Year. One of my favorite "myths" you discussed was about position before submission. I'm a 3-stripe blue belt, my view from this position is, it evolves. Meaning, new practitioners, need to understand the positions, for familiarity, which opens up insight to attacks... but having rolled with some amazing brown and black belts, establishing position is "in flight" and not a rigid point, hence why they (you) are able to execute on precision and efficiencies of "almost position" that a lower belt (self included) doesn't see as quickly.

[@skepticalhippo6376]

How do you guys feel about the “Boyd Belt” scale that Rener and Ryron talk about? The Boyd Belts is a training philosophy developed by Rener Gracie to help describe the challenges of rolling with people of different ages and weight classes in jiu-jitsu. The idea is that for every 20 pounds someone is heavier than you, they are considered to be one belt higher. For example, if you are a 160-pound blue belt and grapple with a 200-pound blue belt, the weight advantage of the heavier person is the same as having a brown belt over you.

[@TheArtofSkill]

I think there's some merit to this idea.

[@jameshill8088]

Great conversation, more please.

[@brtm440]

Great stuff

[@RicoMnc]

RE: training in GI. Yeah, people wear clothes, and many fundamental skills or techniques learned in GI don't require grips on the GI or belt anyway. I choose to train mostly in GI and "old school" BJJ because of my age and size. It helps me to slow things down and train at a pace and intensity I can train consistently every week.

[@strych9-oj9uz]

I personally think the strength thing is a lot like position/submission; something told to lower belts. It's not quite true but it's a safety thing. Many have probably seen the 235lb+ powerlifter who has basically no technique and smashes people at white belt, even smashes some blues because, well, he's a powerlifter and can just overpower people. But he's still spazzy AF and the combination is actually dangerous to other people. On top of that he's not actually learning and no one wants to roll with him because he's the type that causes injuries. Spazzy whitebelt powerlifter going for a kimura and wrenching some 150lb dude's shoulder? No one wants that. Toss him in with a purple, brown or black who ties him up in knots and it changes the mindset from falling back on raw power to "Oh, there's things to learn here" and gets such people to calm down and pay attention to technique in a manner that makes them less dangerous to training partners early on and now he is learning because people will roll with him. Unless of course they're 'roided to the gills in which case they should, and usually do, get tossed. Sure, the guy's still a beast but at least he's [self]controlled at that point.

[@NextScamdemic]

I can't conceive how the guy could train every day for 3+ years and not possibly have attained at least a blue belt level of knowledge.

[@Bradley9967]

I can. He's been dead drilling.

[@NextScamdemic]

@@Bradley9967 he was Rick's student from what I surmised.

[@TheJs1971]

Thanks so much! Love the content you provide! In my experience, there is too much emphasis on the sport aspect early in BJJ and not enough training focused on reliable self defense. Most people stop training at blue belt so why not, as an instructor, ensure that a person can defend him or herself at that level? In my mind, that's the instructor's responsibility to the student and to the preservation of the art. I too have encountered many intermediate and higher ranks in BJJ that cannot execute basic self defense from various positions but they can show you how to go to the kiss of the dragon if your partner defends the omoplata. At blue belt, self defense should be very fluent, effective and somewhat instinctual. Best wishes!

[@BOBBOB-tx7ox]

Not everybody can be a brown or black belt, just because you train doesn't mean you get the belt after 10 years. When I was a blue belt, I rolled with many upper belts some were very good most were horrible, they couldn't submit me, and I don't have a wrestling background, a lot of people get belts they don't deserve. Just because I trained really hard to make the US Olympic track team, I wasn't good enough, just because I put in the effort to beat Usain Bolt in 100 meters it's not going to happen. Some people have to accept that they will never be a black belt or great actor, or CEO of Apple.

[@HenkvanMierlo]

The idea that every ten years older is a belt lower. That means that a 60 years old black is a 20 years old white belt. Which I find ridiculous and also doesn't work like that during rolling. And how much should an instructor consider age during promotions? I sometimes feel that it should not be a factor, meaning that you might never get to brown or black if you miss the physical abilities to hold it up.

[@TheArtofSkill]

The idea is that every ten years in difference between you and your opponent is equivalent to a belt in terms of difficulty. In other words, a 60 year old black belt going against a 40 year old purple belt experiences the same relative challenge that the 60 year old would face against a black belt of his same age.

[@garrettmastantuono8043]

Eyy first comment, thanks for everything Rick 🙏🙏🙏

[@mnrick1960]

Interesting discussion. In seems that BJJ has evolved to be a contest against itself. Like chess. Can it help you with other things, of course. Can it be fun... sure. Fulfilling... I suppose if you enjoy what it is then fine, more power to ya. Like other MA, it is a process and a grind using consensual violence to challenge yourself. Competative proficiency requires improvements in all physical and mental parameters. From that perspective... it is excellent. Delusions aside; Intelligence helps, Technique helps, Strategy helps BUT physics cannot be ignored. When talent and experience are comparable then Bigger, Stronger, Faster always has the edge. You cannot beat father time.

[@markdhenderson1]

I’ve heard “control before submission” rather than position

[@rstlr01]

Your partners don’t don’t pull your gi over your head?😂 happens to me all the time!

[@CoachSteveJandS]

That evolution happens with all forms of art, most newer heavy metal bands don't sound anything like the Beatles...

[@honeyhole411]

Time stamps please

[@markzuckerberg3128]

"Position before submission" Thank you for dispelling that myth.

[@josephmoreau9615]

When did BJJ become a sport?

[@blankbandits]

"Jiu-jitsu" absolutely was designed such that the weaker person could defeat the stronger guy or at least the trained guy could beat the untrained guy. Kano literally designed judo for this purpose, who was a very small person. No one says that it was invented for this purpose for jiu-jitsu vs jiu-jitsu. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, which is what you should be referencing (i.e., sports bjj is not the reference here) is pretty much what judo is except that the emphasis is merely on the ground portion of judo; that's really the only difference between Gracie Jiu-Jitsu vs judo. Your entire frame of reference is sports bjj, but many of us don't care about sports bjj. I train to takedown, pass, and submit. I don't want to roll on my back, butt scoot, or practice weird guards that will just mess your body up. If i get taken down or end up on my back, my entire game is to get back up on my feet.

[@ByronC900]

Shhh.

[@terrynichol577]

This right here 💯 Jiu Jitsu was definitely designed to shit can bigger opponents that arnt trained.

[@NoBody-ro3xj]

People do make fun of Gracie Jiu-jitsu and gracie University, but their Jiu-jitsu is really good... their live grappling doesn't get good until purple, though, unless they had previous grappling experience.

[@danilecashin4126]

Ild school gi jiu jitsu is the only on that is real Brazilian jiu jitsu