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9 days ago this dude made a post about how his coach wouldn’t promote him to blue even though he is good, while also stating he never got a sub on a bluebelt.

He now has the brown belt 4 stripe Flair. I guess his coach recognized his incredible skill in sweeping and getting points on blue belts and decided its about time

Hello im a blue belt in BJJ, and I am finding some serious holes in my game and would love some feedback!.

I am currently struggling with retention of guard, and once someone gets passed my guard I am kind of just stuck. Everything goes out of the window. If I am unable to get the sweep I am just stuck there. I am a short stout person 5ft7 inches 230lbs.

What game plans do you guys use for guard retention? What do you do when they get passed your guard? What type of sweeps do you look for? subs? Rule of thumbs? Bonus points if you're about my body type! Thanks you in advance!

I've been running an experiment with roadwork the last couple months. Started out running 4 miles, three times per week, at a very mellow pace (9:30 miles). Three months in I'm up to five days with 5-7 miles on average. Still mellow pace, I rarely break 8 minute miles.

My cardio is unbelievably better. Most rounds I'm not even winded. I can catch my breath mid-round even if there are a ton of scrambles and standup exchanges. This feels like a cheat code. There's so much talk about lifting to improve at jiujitsu, but building a serious cardio base is IMO equally important and maybe even more beneficial.

The noise, being watched, the yelling, and god forbid, the music—even the coaching—make me panic and completely lose focus.

The coaching, in particular, makes me feel rushed and flustered.

Does anyone else deal with this? I honestly wish I could wear earplugs!

I think it’s unfortunate that takedowns are slightly overpowered debatably in bjj

Its not a wrestling tournament after all

What if pulling guard successfully gave you 1 point. Or better yet, consider this what is every time you successfully put someone in your guard it was 1 point

It would also give a lot of us with poor subs a stronger game because I’m actually quite strong at getting my guard, but I don’t have very good sweeps or subs. But if you’re in my guard, good luck passing it.

It could lead to an effective game where I pull guard and don’t let my opponent pass for the full timer. It’s only fair if d1 wrestlers can take you down without having the pass for the full timer

I assume you watch the instructional at home, so where do you do the drilling? Do you just watch the instructional and try to memorize a sequence of techniques and then go and implement it during the live rolling part of you class the next day? I have a hard time imagining the average person is showing up to class early with their phone to drill the instructional with a partner. Or even showing up to open mat with their instructional on their phone and drilling with someone. Im sure more dedicated guys might do that, but not the average person.

How is the average person going about implementing what they see in an instructional?

To clarify, my martial art, Long Southern Mantis Fist (not to be confused with other mantis kung fu styles), is an ancient and obscure kung fu style. My rank in this art is quite rare. I am officially titled Great Grandmaster of Superb Excellency, a rank I achieved after defeating my Sifu in sparring years ago. There are only a handful of people on the planet with this rank, and I’m one of them. In short, I’m basically the kung fu version of Mike Tyson or Steven Seagal.

From a young age, I was taught that BJJ, like wrestling or boxing, is just ineffective sport-fighting nonsense. My Sifu assured me that Long Southern Mantis Fist prepared us to defeat multiple BJJ practitioners at the same time using our deadly techniques. So naturally, I’ve always viewed grappling as a waste of time.

Recently, though, I figured it would be a good idea to prove this by entering a local BJJ tournament and beating everyone. But after seeing the entry fees (I’m poor) and reading the rules (no striking), I decided against it. Instead, I signed up for a free trial class at a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school.

The class itself was surprisingly fun. We drilled a move where you put your legs over your opponent’s face, and I had to resist the urge to bite their leg the entire time because, obviously, that’s what I’d do in a real fight. I figured I’d save my full capabilities for sparring later to make my point.

When sparring time came, I was paired with a blue belt named Dan. He was probably in his late 40s or early 50s, wore a knee brace, and didn’t look particularly intimidating. Still, I was taught to never underestimate an opponent, no matter how harmless they seem.

The round started with him sitting on the ground, trying to use a “pull guard” on me. I tactically stood my ground, retreating to avoid whatever he had planned. Then I saw my opening: as he scooted toward me, I leapt forward and hit him with a disguised jumping dropkick to the face, pretending it was some kind of grappling technique to stay within the rules.

Dan paused to grab his face, clearly stunned, so I seized the opportunity to go for a choke. I didn’t want to strike again and make my malicious intent obvious. This was my mistake. Dan reversed me, and before I knew it, he had me in a choke of his own.

I tried to escape with eye gouges, but they didn’t work—BJJ apparently trains for that. I tapped. He didn’t let go. Panicking, I did what any street fighter would do: I bit him.

The details after that are a little foggy, but I woke up in my car, sore, with a severe concussion and several injuries. I vaguely remember someone saying I wasn’t welcome back.

Now, I’ll admit this experience convinced me that BJJ might be a decent secondary martial art. Dan thoroughly impressed me with his pull guard and chokes, and honestly, I think he should be a black belt. He had better skills than some masters of my own style. But to be fair, I still believe I could’ve beaten him in a straight-up fight if I wasn’t holding back for the sake of sparring rules.

The moral of the story is this: both sides need to respect each other. BJJ clearly has its place—if biting, striking, or eye gouging aren’t on the table. But I think Dan also learned to respect kung fu and probably realizes now that if I had really wanted to hurt him, I could’ve.

Starting to work through the front headlock one now and I see it's got an included section on the guillotine.

What does the Guillotine one cover that the front headlock one doesn't?

I’ve recently had some success implementing judo foot sweeps in my gi and no-gi game. Specifically with techniques like ouchi gari, sasae, and de ashi harai. However, I do find it a bit harder offensively and defensively when my opponent takes a lower stance. What techniques would allow me to bate them or force them into standing more upright?

I am especially short compared to my training partners, and while I feel this wouldn't be a legitimate threat if I was the same height (allowing me to boot) I'm always getting caught in this bullshit. Is there any way for me to play 50/50 without having to worry about this?

The last post about this wasn't taken too seriously. If you care about what's in your food and water, or you don't cook with Teflon, etc. you should care about what's on your skin, the largest organ you've got. Especially if you're spending many hours wearing these skin tight fabrics in hot/sweaty conditions with your pores wide open. If you don't care, that's cool too.

For those who do, have you found any companies you like? The last post the OP and another commented about starting one. Is there enough of a demand for this? I know there is in the Pilates/Yoga world, and there are some emerging brands, but haven't seen anything dedicated to BJJ/MMA.

I had my first tournament experience in over a decade this weekend. I've wanted to compete but had several injuries and a surgery that kept me from doing so over the past couple of years. I didn't win but am glad for the experience. The pace and intensity were a wakeup call! For those on the fence about competing, give it a shot. You'll be better for the time and effort spent getting ready. Hope to do another in the future.

I’ve been looking into starting either Boxing, MMA or BJJ and I’ve seen great reviews of Ignite. It’s the closest to me by far so it’s a top option for me. I’m also not sure if I should go to a specific MA gym or an MMA gym? Have you had any experience there, or if not, what other gym would you recommend?

Current LEO and blue belt. My gym is in the process of trying to start a bjj based program for local law enforcement. Our main issue is attracting participants

We have advertised on social media, emailed and went in person to department's to hand out flyers and made follow up phone calls. We've got almost zero interest.

Any ideas/marketing strategies anyone has found useful if your gym has a LEO program?

I found this very interesting gym. A little bit gimmicky (and potentially dangerous if unsupervised) but ultimately looks very fun and interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZf3GbDg6w4

Ps. I don't know how to embed videos

I took my first BJJ lesson at the ripe old age of 50 and I’ve enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

It started with my kid (14F) enrolling and being given the option of attending the adult class because of her size or the kids class because of her age. She chose the adult class.

After 2 months of taking her then I guilted myself into it. “I’m already here anyways, and the hardest part is showing up, I might as well enroll myself.”

This past Thursday we both tested for and received our phase 1 white belts, and now she wants me to sign us up for a tournament. I told her I wouldn’t until she memorized the ways to score points.

2 days later she had that on lockdown so now I have to deliver on my end and we are registered.

In our gym there isn’t a lot of time spent on takedowns and I suspect this is fairly common among gyms since the injury risk is higher.

I get the sense that if we spent the couple of months between now and the tournament really focusing on takedowns, we’ll be doing ourselves a huge favor by increasing our chances of scoring 2 points and having an advantageous position early. Thoughts?

My other question is about sandbagging. I witnessed a guy in our gym turn down a blue belt promotion because he was competing in a tournament a couple of weeks later and wanted to compete as a white belt.

How big of an issue is sandbagging in the white belt divisions?

I appreciate and welcome your advice.

Hi Guys Blue belt here from the UK. After 2 years I am returning to BJJ but in those years I have gained a lot of weight and don't feel as nimble. I know this is normal and I will eventually be back at it. I am trying to get fitter and lose weight by going for runs and trying to eat healthy or not as much junk as possible(it's hard). I have 2 jobs so sometimes tiredness, time and laziness get the better of me. But my questions are as follows.

1. What can I do to help my game on the mat, apart from the obvious of trying to lose weight? (ie push ups or stretching in the morning)

push-ups
2. What can I do to help my game as I feel pretty shit even though I have been doing this a long time. Like today had a white belt 4 stripes tap me 3 times and I coundt tap him. ( I know that's not necessarily the goal to tap but to learn from our mistakes and get better, but it seems I never learn), (I also understand this was my first day back and will take some time for me to get back on track)

I created this poll (there were two older threads but I found no poll on this topic) because of my own personal curiosity but perhaps it will be interesting to others as well. It seems to me based on reading this subreddit and other sources that for many the sense of community is an important reason, even the most important reason, to practice BJJ. For example, a majority of a person's friends could be from grappling. Also for many this is a large part of their identity. I'm interested in this because for me it is quite different.

For me, I honestly do not even know the names of some of the people I have practiced with on a weekly basis for years. I'd call the people at my gym at most acquaintances and not friends. I do joke with them and have good or neutral relations with everyone but I almost never talk about anything related to my life outside of grappling or ask them anything about theirs. If someone asks "how are you doing" I just tell them what I'm working on in regards to technique. With some of the more technical people I could however spend hours talking about techniques, tactics, principles and concepts (few times after class when going home I found myself thinking about moment arms and centers of gravity...quite Danaherian isn't it). I find this aspect endlessly fascinating and intellectually stimulating. I do however value greatly not having negativity, drama and stress but I'm honestly perfectly fine with these kinds of positive but shallow relations with everyone (i.e. as long as people are generally nice I'm fine with not being friends with anyone or having a sense of community).

An important contextual factor to consider, however: I'm from an Eastern European country where generally culture is more restrained socially and people seem to be on average considerably more introverted than in the North American context. As for me personally, I've always been somewhat of a "lone wolf" even in relation to this cultural context.

So, how important is the aspect of community for you in relation to other reasons for practicing BJJ (or grappling more generally)?

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Anyone know of any open mats in San Diego that allow teens to participate?

I’m a 21 year old male and competed in the middle weight blue belt division. I went in to the competition confident that I could do well. But after my first match I realized I was completely outclassed. And tapped out in a minute and it was the same story my second match. I realized that there are levels to this. And I am not even close to the level of my competitors. After the comp I told my self that I never want to compete again. Today I feel a bit sad and confused. How could these blue belts around my age absolutely man handle me? Anyone have any advice? Anyone with a similar experience? Should I get back out there when the next competition rolls around? Thank you.

Was drilling the other day and someone had me in mount. I felt a little tingle in my privates when he moved around. I was afraid I might get an erection. Is this why people say BJJ is gay? Have I finally caught it? How do I get rid of it?