Today I met two guys in the gym that were quite interesting both my age or older.
There was a 49 year old purple belt. He's been doing BJJ for almost 7 years, so he started around 43. He said he had no background in sports and just saw diet in front of the gym, so went inside and has been doing this since. He's an advanced purple belt. He's obviously not the best at rolling, but he still enters tournaments even given his age. He said he likes tournaments b/c he gets to compete with guys his age and weight. So he would be a contrast vs. the really skilled 21 year old purple belt who has been doing BJJ for just 3 years. The former comes 2x/week, and the latter comes 5-6 times week and he's really athletic and young so can recover quickly. He said that our gym has a lot of blue belts, and said that most people stay at blue for a long time 2-3 years or so. He said getting to blue belt is typically just one year or so if someone is dedicated and most people are, but then at blue belt people kind of fizzle out.
There was also a 41 year old black belt who has been doing this for 10 years. He said that when he first started in his early 30's, he would 3-4 times/week or sometimes 5. Now, he says he comes maybe 2x/week for maintenance and doesn't compete. I had a mini sparring session with him, and I outweighed him by at least 50 lbs. So I had side mount and the goal was just to prevent him from reversing me or getting out. The first few times he got reversed me quickly, but the last few times I held on tight. One time, I got him in a good wrestling move, I had my legs spread out sideways, and had one of his arms in a pinned lock. Of course I couldn't do anything, but he was still able to get his legs over and one of his other arms under my neck to push himself away and reverse me. He was awesome. He was so calm too. He said I was extremely strong, and that he couldn't do what he normally does. Still, he was able to get me off of him.
There is a tournament coming up soon that everyone is talking about. I'm not going to enter, I can't enter that day though I would like to. I only know a few submissions and I tend not to have good balance since I'm still using way too much strength.
I'm traveling so will be going to another BJJ gym for the weekend. Since it's not a GB gym, they let white belts spar so I'll get to do some live sparring this weekend. We'll see what it's like.
There was a 49 year old purple belt. He's been doing BJJ for almost 7 years, so he started around 43. He said he had no background in sports and just saw diet in front of the gym, so went inside and has been doing this since. He's an advanced purple belt. He's obviously not the best at rolling, but he still enters tournaments even given his age. He said he likes tournaments b/c he gets to compete with guys his age and weight. So he would be a contrast vs. the really skilled 21 year old purple belt who has been doing BJJ for just 3 years. The former comes 2x/week, and the latter comes 5-6 times week and he's really athletic and young so can recover quickly. He said that our gym has a lot of blue belts, and said that most people stay at blue for a long time 2-3 years or so. He said getting to blue belt is typically just one year or so if someone is dedicated and most people are, but then at blue belt people kind of fizzle out.
There was also a 41 year old black belt who has been doing this for 10 years. He said that when he first started in his early 30's, he would 3-4 times/week or sometimes 5. Now, he says he comes maybe 2x/week for maintenance and doesn't compete. I had a mini sparring session with him, and I outweighed him by at least 50 lbs. So I had side mount and the goal was just to prevent him from reversing me or getting out. The first few times he got reversed me quickly, but the last few times I held on tight. One time, I got him in a good wrestling move, I had my legs spread out sideways, and had one of his arms in a pinned lock. Of course I couldn't do anything, but he was still able to get his legs over and one of his other arms under my neck to push himself away and reverse me. He was awesome. He was so calm too. He said I was extremely strong, and that he couldn't do what he normally does. Still, he was able to get me off of him.
There is a tournament coming up soon that everyone is talking about. I'm not going to enter, I can't enter that day though I would like to. I only know a few submissions and I tend not to have good balance since I'm still using way too much strength.
I'm traveling so will be going to another BJJ gym for the weekend. Since it's not a GB gym, they let white belts spar so I'll get to do some live sparring this weekend. We'll see what it's like.
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