Anyone play?

I took up BJJ a couple of weeks ago. Now I wish I’d started 10 years ago!

Use to, did it for 10 years. Did enjoy it but the class kind of fell apart and use to turn up and they’ll be no instructor, so quit going in the end. Version I did was non competitive.

About 5 years deep here.. my fingers look like ET’s and ive neck like a stegasaurusrex but on the plus side at a mighty 70 kilos i can submit bodybuilders that are nearly twice my weight multiple times in a five minute round.

The fist couple of years are great becaise the progression curve is really steep.

Where you training??

I train under the banner of Roger Gracie Academy in Aylesbury. I’ve been training since the beginning of September, and I’m starting to understand the basics now I’d say. I can usually understand what I’m supposed to be working for; whether or not I can achieve that is another question!

The last few weeks I’ve been concentrating on sllloooowwwing myself down, and trying to remember my breathing. I think that’s really helped. I’m getting much less of the whitebelt panic / rage that I got initially.

Haven’t trained for a few years now but have a hankering to go back. Do miss rolling very much. My gammy wrist forced me out but thankfully it’s fully working again (seee the CBD thread)

Trained at the griphouse up here in glasgow

I would say avoid clubs that have a beginners class. People who don’t really know what they’re doing who are still learning to leave egos at the door is a recipe for accidents and injuries.

I trained for about 6 months and hyper extended my elbow in the first three weeks. Gradually eased myself back into it and then hyper extended the other elbow. It was the same way both times with someone landing on my arm. Since it happened twice in the same way I suspect there was something fundamental I was doing wrong but since you’re not rolling with anyone who knows what they’re doing you just keep doing it.

I am planning on going back but at a MMA gym this time who don’t lump all the beginners in together. I’ll avoid the gi since I was getting genuinely worried about popping tendons in my fingers (I’ve already lost the use of one finger grabbing a shirt during a rugby game many years ago, I don’t fancy losing anymore).

Have trained for just over a year and got my blue belt last weekend. Addictive isn’t the word. I’ve competed as well which is great fun.
Our gym has a 6am class which is what I’ve done pretty much 5 days a week.
What amazes me about it is how accessible it is to the top competitors in the sport, Like getting to role with mateus diniz.

Basically it’s taken over from biking for me. 🙂

Class.. anything with big hodges name on it will be 100 percent legit but youll already know that by now!

Jiujitsu and mtb go pretty good together too. Just turning up to a nice clean room with a clean gi and a bit of water is pretty refreshing and on the flip side the cardio boost you get from riding will do your jj game the world of good.

Most decent clubs will have a white belt class and an advanced class ime. The level of grappling of a lot of mma guys really isnt a patch on dedicated grapplers. Youve just gotta be pretty selfish with your training and avoid the people that you get nothing from or worse, people who have the potential to injure you.

🙂

One more thing..

When you get the chance to go to seminars it can be really valuable. Theres loads of big characters in jiujitsu and learning from different guys who are either at the top of the competition game or veterans of 20 or 30 your on the mats can really influence your path.

The gym I go to predominately does bjj and I’ve tried a couple of sessions. The worst bit is the drills up and down the mat which kill me. We had Kurt Osiander doing a seminar last weekend but I couldn’t go, which I’m pretty gutted about as apparently he’s real big on the fundamentals and I’d probably have enjoyed it. Will stick to muay thai for now tho as my wrist is still not healed 100%

Any of you guys know of reputable gyms in Cheshire? Looking to get back in to a Martial Art and never really tried grappling before.

Theres a bunch of good gyms in and around the manchester area.. ASW is pretty central.. stealth bjj in the north and factory bjj in the south. Asw is a bit more mma/wrestling focused whereas the other two are more about the Gi.

I’m reading this thread at a competition in Cardiff. Two of my daughters are competing – they are pretty good. (One is junior world champ in her age group/experience. She obviously learned everything from me. 😂 ). I’ve never done it but can definitely see the attraction.

been training with the same Ju Jitsu club for the last four years, some of the dan grades are from a judo background and more recently new folk have some BJJ experience.

from my experience of the groundwork side of JJ, i think that its quite important to have a reasonable martial arts background before you embark on BJJ or MMA training, particularly if you will be training with equally inexperienced folk. have a basic understanding of how to break-fall and avoid anywhere that folk are allowed/encouraged to apply locks that they have little idea how much damage they can do…. and more importantly, how little extra movement/angle/effort they or their opponent could reasonably take!

I enjoy the groundwork, but as part of the overall package

found it a great crossover to mtb, different type of fitness required for starters, but also the stretching and flexibility which i almost completely ignore if i just ride

I did Traditional Jui Jitsu for a few years. I loved it, and I was lucky to have a world class instructor. Wish I could still do it but shifts meant I couldn’t keep a regular class.

on the plus side at a mighty 70 kilos i can submit bodybuilders that are nearly twice my weight

I wouldn’t have believed it before, but I definitely do now. I was still in my first month when I got rolling with a brown belt. I ended up tapping out to purely mount pressure.
I’m 95kg, and he’s 65kg. I can squat 150+kg, but that makes exactly zero difference. He grapevined me and I just couldn’t take it.

I’m getting better at coping with top pressure, but it’s still my biggest challenge. That, and constantly putting my arms across the centerline.

Yeah its awesome when you realise how big the void between you and a good blackbelt is. Thats what gets you hooked i think.. you realise the legitamcy of the techniques and strategy.

I still suck pretty bad and im 5 years in ffs 🤣

Been doing it a good while now. Nogi only, after years of Judo left my fingers in a pretty crap state.
I totally agree with the accessibility of top competitors in it. We had Craig jones at our gym not long ago, which is like having Messi turn up to your regular 5’s game.

Does anyone else have real trouble with being upside down?

Usually during our warm ups we’ll do sets of breakfalls, shrimping, etc. But sometimes we’ll do some forwards and backwards rolls, and I end up getting what feels like travel sick (dizzy, disoriented, nauseous). We had a big training session on Thursday which started this way, and I was useless for the next couple of hours…