Jiu Jitsu discussion / complete beginner!
Discussion
Its been a little over 3 years since I started BJJ and this thread. In all honesty it's been quite a whirlwind and I can honestly say my passion for BJJ is equal if not stronger now than the honeymoon phase of just starting.
Obviously there are ups and downs, good days and bad days but overall every time I can get on the mats I appreciate it. I'm what would be described as a middling blue belt "probably" due another stripe but I'm not that bothered. For me the benefit in BJJ comes from its ability to detach me from whatever reality I have going on - theres no time to think about other stuff when you're trying not to get choked.
Its been a manic couple of months, wrapping up my dissertation (1 week left!) and I've also taken a new contract based in Stockport. Inevitably this means working away from home and also finding a new BJJ gym, thankfully I'm spoilt for choice, at the minute Stealth BJJ is looking good due to their class times and instructors.
I hope everyone's doing well and keeping relatively injury free.
Obviously there are ups and downs, good days and bad days but overall every time I can get on the mats I appreciate it. I'm what would be described as a middling blue belt "probably" due another stripe but I'm not that bothered. For me the benefit in BJJ comes from its ability to detach me from whatever reality I have going on - theres no time to think about other stuff when you're trying not to get choked.
Its been a manic couple of months, wrapping up my dissertation (1 week left!) and I've also taken a new contract based in Stockport. Inevitably this means working away from home and also finding a new BJJ gym, thankfully I'm spoilt for choice, at the minute Stealth BJJ is looking good due to their class times and instructors.
I hope everyone's doing well and keeping relatively injury free.
Coming up on 3 years 7 months now since i started. To give any new readers a sense of time scales, I'm currently a blue belt with two stripes (so half way through my second adult belt), it took roughly 18 months to earn my blue belt. I'd estimate another year or so before I get my purple, thats based on average training of 6 to 8 hours per week. Purple is generally 2 - 3 years, brown 2 years, then finally black - approx 10 years in total.
In April this year I took a job working away which was initially ok for BJJ since I was based permanently in Manchester, however, my most recent project has seen me work in Europe for one week, then one week at home. It's been a real effort to hunt out and attend clubs while I'm away but I'm pleased to say I've mostly managed this and kept up my training - the downside is a lack of consistency at any one club which can mean you fall behind in the grading a little (for example, a couple of lads I know have just been given a couple more stripes than me, even through I received my blue belt before them). Its important to stress here that I'm totally ok with that, we shouldn't be focussed on belts anyway.
Just to keep track I decided to list the clubs I've trained at and all I can say is that if you get chance to go elsewhere, do it. Any club that says you must stay with them would lead to me walking away and finding another, more open club. BJJ is truely a martial art that has / is undergoing development by a wide range of practitioners, each of which have a little bit to add - experience as much as you can:
Doncaster Martial Arts Centre
Stockport - Factory BJJ
Oldham - Stealth BJJ
Aberdeen - Carlson Gracie
Basildon - Lamude BJJ
Grimsby - Fight Ministry
Grimsby - Combat Base
Grimsby - Grant Combat Academy
Lubljana - Gracie Barra
Basel - Team Basel BJJ
Affoltern - Carlson Gracie
Zurich - BJJ Lab
Hull - Invictus
Suzhou - Trinity Martial Arts
Pesaro - De La Riva
Goole - Combat Base
Klagenfurt - 4 day BJJ camp
Maspalomas - Werdum
In terms of my 'game' at the moment, as a big gug (but athletic) guy, there is often an assumption that I like to play a top, smash type game. As a result,. i've been making a real effort over the past 6 months to play off my back alot more, closed guard, open guard etc. This is morphed into a game thats very focused around a lapel / worm guard, little bit of X guard, some single leg X and some leg locks thrown in. I still have a couple of bad habits, like playing too much half guard when its not called for (I'm known as that guy who electric chair's everybody!).
Working away also plays havoc with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I've put a little bit of weight on that I'm now trying to shift. Currently trialling a Whoop band for performance and heart rate monitoring and as an aid to getting this weight off.
Anyway, thats enough from me - hows everyone getting on?
In April this year I took a job working away which was initially ok for BJJ since I was based permanently in Manchester, however, my most recent project has seen me work in Europe for one week, then one week at home. It's been a real effort to hunt out and attend clubs while I'm away but I'm pleased to say I've mostly managed this and kept up my training - the downside is a lack of consistency at any one club which can mean you fall behind in the grading a little (for example, a couple of lads I know have just been given a couple more stripes than me, even through I received my blue belt before them). Its important to stress here that I'm totally ok with that, we shouldn't be focussed on belts anyway.
Just to keep track I decided to list the clubs I've trained at and all I can say is that if you get chance to go elsewhere, do it. Any club that says you must stay with them would lead to me walking away and finding another, more open club. BJJ is truely a martial art that has / is undergoing development by a wide range of practitioners, each of which have a little bit to add - experience as much as you can:
Doncaster Martial Arts Centre
Stockport - Factory BJJ
Oldham - Stealth BJJ
Aberdeen - Carlson Gracie
Basildon - Lamude BJJ
Grimsby - Fight Ministry
Grimsby - Combat Base
Grimsby - Grant Combat Academy
Lubljana - Gracie Barra
Basel - Team Basel BJJ
Affoltern - Carlson Gracie
Zurich - BJJ Lab
Hull - Invictus
Suzhou - Trinity Martial Arts
Pesaro - De La Riva
Goole - Combat Base
Klagenfurt - 4 day BJJ camp
Maspalomas - Werdum
In terms of my 'game' at the moment, as a big gug (but athletic) guy, there is often an assumption that I like to play a top, smash type game. As a result,. i've been making a real effort over the past 6 months to play off my back alot more, closed guard, open guard etc. This is morphed into a game thats very focused around a lapel / worm guard, little bit of X guard, some single leg X and some leg locks thrown in. I still have a couple of bad habits, like playing too much half guard when its not called for (I'm known as that guy who electric chair's everybody!).
Working away also plays havoc with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I've put a little bit of weight on that I'm now trying to shift. Currently trialling a Whoop band for performance and heart rate monitoring and as an aid to getting this weight off.
Anyway, thats enough from me - hows everyone getting on?
New Year New Me!
Or not.
3 months since the last post so I thought it prudent to post a little bit of an update and keep the thread rolling. Towards the back end of last year keeping a consistent training schedule was a bit of a challenge to say the least, in the run up to Christmas I think I managed 5 sessions - not helped by a 2 week stint away with work and no local club!
Onwards and upwards as they say. Had a couple of great open mats in the Christmas / New Year break and ready to dive into this year of training with a renewed focus on competing and pushing for my purple belt towards the back end of the year. Finally got round to converting my garage into a mat space for home drilling and inpromptu sessions and I've been consistent at the gym for a few weeks. Thankfully we have a really solid group of lads at my local club who are all at a similar level so we push each other on.
Hows everyone getting on?
Or not.
3 months since the last post so I thought it prudent to post a little bit of an update and keep the thread rolling. Towards the back end of last year keeping a consistent training schedule was a bit of a challenge to say the least, in the run up to Christmas I think I managed 5 sessions - not helped by a 2 week stint away with work and no local club!
Onwards and upwards as they say. Had a couple of great open mats in the Christmas / New Year break and ready to dive into this year of training with a renewed focus on competing and pushing for my purple belt towards the back end of the year. Finally got round to converting my garage into a mat space for home drilling and inpromptu sessions and I've been consistent at the gym for a few weeks. Thankfully we have a really solid group of lads at my local club who are all at a similar level so we push each other on.
Hows everyone getting on?
Almost 4 years now, March 14th is the date according to the start of this thead.
Recently my training has been a split of Gi and NoGi, however, I still prefer the technical nature of Gi. Recently I've picked up the Tom Deblass half guard series again and also working through Keenans Lapel Encyclopedia (worm, ringworm, squid, rdlw etc.)
Looks like I'll be competing alot more this year also, exciting times.
Recently my training has been a split of Gi and NoGi, however, I still prefer the technical nature of Gi. Recently I've picked up the Tom Deblass half guard series again and also working through Keenans Lapel Encyclopedia (worm, ringworm, squid, rdlw etc.)
Looks like I'll be competing alot more this year also, exciting times.
Heart rate monitors and BJJ / Contact Sports.
Wanting to keep a track on how hard I've been working and calories burnt during a typical BJJ session, I've trialled two heart rate monitors. At first I went for a Whoop band (www.whoop.com) which is designed as an 'always on' personal fitness device which tracks heartrate, calorie expenditure, sleep quality, recovery etc. I tried it for a couple of sessions but due to its location (around the wrist or bicep) I found it was often twisted or moved out of position and eventually the clasp broke. Couple with a monthly subscription cost I decided to send it back and try something else.
Enter the Polar OH1, as with the Whoop band its an optical heart rate monitor which can be worn in a variety of places, although I tend to place it around my forearm and secure it with some tape - so far I've had no problems during sparring and drilling. In the Gi you completely forget its there, NoGi its obviously on how but not caused an issue yet. During a typical 1hr 30 m session of warm up, drilling and sparring the average calorie burn is indicated at around 1000. Battery life is ok, 5 - 6 hours seems to be the norm, charged via USB. Another great feature is live heartrate graphing so you can see how hard you're working and fat burning or aerobic zone training.
The key difference from the Whoop band is that it isn't 'always on' so you do need to initialise it via the app to log work outs (I believe you can also track workouts for later upload without the app).
So there you go, if you're in the market for a heart rate monitor for BJJ / Grappling, I can recommend the Polar OH1.
Wanting to keep a track on how hard I've been working and calories burnt during a typical BJJ session, I've trialled two heart rate monitors. At first I went for a Whoop band (www.whoop.com) which is designed as an 'always on' personal fitness device which tracks heartrate, calorie expenditure, sleep quality, recovery etc. I tried it for a couple of sessions but due to its location (around the wrist or bicep) I found it was often twisted or moved out of position and eventually the clasp broke. Couple with a monthly subscription cost I decided to send it back and try something else.
Enter the Polar OH1, as with the Whoop band its an optical heart rate monitor which can be worn in a variety of places, although I tend to place it around my forearm and secure it with some tape - so far I've had no problems during sparring and drilling. In the Gi you completely forget its there, NoGi its obviously on how but not caused an issue yet. During a typical 1hr 30 m session of warm up, drilling and sparring the average calorie burn is indicated at around 1000. Battery life is ok, 5 - 6 hours seems to be the norm, charged via USB. Another great feature is live heartrate graphing so you can see how hard you're working and fat burning or aerobic zone training.
The key difference from the Whoop band is that it isn't 'always on' so you do need to initialise it via the app to log work outs (I believe you can also track workouts for later upload without the app).
So there you go, if you're in the market for a heart rate monitor for BJJ / Grappling, I can recommend the Polar OH1.
MC Bodge said:
I imagine that it would hurt a lot.
I'm on the lookout for a (pay as you go) mixed styles club with light sparring and no gi grappling/wrestling in Manchester. The MT/combatives club I was going to pre-pandemic isn't restarting any time soon and didn't do enough grappling for my liking anyway.
Have you seen ASW in Altrincham? I think its primarily no-gi with an emphasis on MMA.I'm on the lookout for a (pay as you go) mixed styles club with light sparring and no gi grappling/wrestling in Manchester. The MT/combatives club I was going to pre-pandemic isn't restarting any time soon and didn't do enough grappling for my liking anyway.
ben5575 said:
I can confirm that they hurt. A lot 
Haha, just a disgusting sensation of pain and hobbling for days. I'm really enjoying getting into the technicalities of striking now, much like BJJ I'm obsessed with nailing the specifics of each movement....to the detriment of the next strike sometimes, plus it's a great work out.
Back on the mats tonight for our first legal session, I'm expecting an influx of new faces to be honest.
AJB88 said:
back to training tomorrow night, once a week with the same partner. if you cant make it or your partner cant then neither of you can train.
Been white belt 3 stripes for well over 5 years now, training on and off for ages. Was really hoping to progress last year.
Annoying isn't it! I'd be at, or on the cusp of purple belt right now if it wasn't for the pandemic. Been white belt 3 stripes for well over 5 years now, training on and off for ages. Was really hoping to progress last year.
MC Bodge said:
I wonder if that will be the case? Will people have been sat at home for a year wishing that they were doing covid-compliant grappling? I wonder if people have kept themsleves in shape?
At my main club they've had to set up a waiting list due to demand, but they also have a really busy kids program and school outreach so it drives alot of interest. Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 17th May 12:22
ben5575 said:
I could make a joke blue belts being on the cusp of purple belts for years... . Maybe that's where Boris has got his 'nearly there, just two more weeks, strategy from 
ahaha, go for it, I'm the first person to rinse white / blue belts. Although I think the mantra for blue belt is 'I'll go back next week'. Maybe that's where Boris has got his 'nearly there, just two more weeks, strategy from AJB88 said:
Just had a call from my dojo apparently UKBJJA have decided BJJ sparring isnt allowed at the moment, so after 1 class we are back to no training.
Ah yes, the self-appointed guardians of UK BJJ, thankfully none of the clubs I visit are members but I've seen a couple of threads on UK BJJ Underground around this topic. It's low, possibly in the single percentages. There was some information regarding this floating about but I can't seem to find it now.
Since moving country (UK to Switzerland) I've really found it difficult to find the motivation to get back at it, between work, moving into a new apartment, weekends away etc. so far its been easier to just not go.
That said, I went to one session after a particularly long day of travelling and work....and proceeded to throw up at the end, not my finest moment. Haven't been back since.
I also found out that I was in-line for my purple belt at my old club, they had 6 monthly promotions in July, if I was there I'd have been awarded it, although I'm sort of happy I wasn't as I really don't feel ready, especially with the COVID enforced break we've had to contend with.
Anyway, recently I've felt that niggly feeling of wanting to go back and commit properly again so no doubt I'll be back it before long.
Since moving country (UK to Switzerland) I've really found it difficult to find the motivation to get back at it, between work, moving into a new apartment, weekends away etc. so far its been easier to just not go.
That said, I went to one session after a particularly long day of travelling and work....and proceeded to throw up at the end, not my finest moment. Haven't been back since.
I also found out that I was in-line for my purple belt at my old club, they had 6 monthly promotions in July, if I was there I'd have been awarded it, although I'm sort of happy I wasn't as I really don't feel ready, especially with the COVID enforced break we've had to contend with.
Anyway, recently I've felt that niggly feeling of wanting to go back and commit properly again so no doubt I'll be back it before long.
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