After 1 year of BJJ this is how I feel...

**Vorpal** · Posted On: 9/08/2012 3:15pm

Forget everything else, concentrate on learning to enjoy the training. All aspects of it, including getting crushed. After that its easy.

**wingchunx2z** · Posted On: 9/08/2012 3:35pm

The way i approach BJJ is with a concept and goal based method. I like to decide on one thing I want to try to do. ex: triangle chokes, passing the guard, retaining guard, escaping the mount ect.. then allow myself to get put in a good environment for this then work to get it. Now the the focus has shifted from not getting tapped to accomplishing the one goal, the only way to lose is to never go for it.

I think this makes it easier to see your progress and has lead to a better outlook on rolling.

Oftentimes, I base what I need to work on off what areas in my game caused me trouble in my last roll.

**Israfel** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 12:38am

Originally Posted by wingchunx2z

The way i approach BJJ is with a concept and goal based method. I like to decide on one thing I want to try to do. ex: triangle chokes, passing the guard, retaining guard, escaping the mount ect.. then allow myself to get put in a good environment for this then work to get it. Now the the focus has shifted from not getting tapped to accomplishing the one goal, the only way to lose is to never go for it.

I think this makes it easier to see your progress and has lead to a better outlook on rolling.

Oftentimes, I base what I need to work on off what areas in my game caused me trouble in my last roll.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh hey for some reason I can't PM, no idea why, but to answer your question yeah that's where I train.

To contribute:
I realize that in the course of training there will be plateaus but I'm still in the "rapidly improving" stage (only been training a few months now) and I sort of dread the prospect of a time coming where I just feel like I won't be getting any better, how do you get through that besides "keep training"?

**wingchunx2z** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 1:02am

Originally Posted by Israfel

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh hey for some reason I can't PM, no idea why, but to answer your question yeah that's where I train.

To contribute:
I realize that in the course of training there will be plateaus but I'm still in the "rapidly improving" stage (only been training a few months now) and I sort of dread the prospect of a time coming where I just feel like I won't be getting any better, how do you get through that besides "keep training"?

Cool, I went to tampa muay thai for a fitness class and ended up staying for the sparring. Awesome facility and great guys.

**Israfel** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 1:19am

Originally Posted by wingchunx2z

Cool, I went to tampa muay thai for a fitness class and ended up staying for the sparring. Awesome facility and great guys.

Yeah the instructors are all pretty awesome in their own different ways and the whole atmosphere makes you feel welcome and respectful. I'm glad I picked this gym to go to and plan on staying here for a long time. Did they let you spar or did you just stick around to watch? They normally frown on sparring with "outsiders", one time this totally inexperienced girl came for a few classes and then started in on one of the advanced girls to spar with her because she "wanted to see what she had"...the girl in question who I have at least a 60 lb weight advantage on who I'm still 100% sure would kick the everloving **** out of me. She politely declined but I thought the whole thing was pretty funny

**Petter** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 1:19am

Originally Posted by Israfel

Oh hey for some reason I can't PM, no idea why

Because you need to rack up a certain (fairly small) number of posts before you can PM, presumably as an obstacle to spammers.

I realize that in the course of training there will be plateaus but I'm still in the "rapidly improving" stage (only been training a few months now) and I sort of dread the prospect of a time coming where I just feel like I won't be getting any better, how do you get through that besides "keep training"?

I like to remind myself that plateaus are normal and not a sign of futility.

Personally, I don’t even think that all plateaus are necessarily problems at all. This is why: When I am doing something, whatever it is, I can only keep a very few things in mind at the same time—fewer in sparring than a less hectic and adrenaline-fuilled situation. For example, when I attempt an armbar, I may be able to consciously remind myself to pinch my knees and get my hips in the right position, but there’s no time and cognitive capacity left over to actually remember more things. Thus, I’m not able at that point to learn any more details of the armbar—so I hit a plateau. With time, though, these details of hips and knees will become so ingrained that I no longer need to think about them. I think this is what I’m busy doing while on a plateau: Performing the reps necessary to take a technique or point of a technique and move it from conscious attention to ‘muscle memory’. Once I do those things automatically, I can start paying attention to new details—the angle I apply the armbar ‘against the thumb’, for instance, or some aspect of weight and positioning to prevent my opponent from escaping. This will be a period of rapid and palpable improvement since I’m doing new things and learning to do them correctly—often followed by another plateau as I grind those into ‘muscle memory’, and so on, in a never-ending cycle of climbs and plateaus.

This is why the notion of a plateau doesn’t bother me much: Because I believe that they, too, are in fact productive, only in a different way that will pay of later.

**Israfel** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 1:23am

It's good to remind myself that in order for it to really become second nature it's really going to be all about repetition and doing that round kick or teep so many times it's just a reflex.

E: thanks for clearing up the PM issue, I figured it was something like that

***jnp*** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 2:39am

I started training BJJ 13 years ago, in 1999. I trained for four months, and then had to wait almost two years to get back to it, due to a work conflict.

I began again in 2001 and I am still training to this day. I've experienced plateaus that lasted for 10 months, as well as periods of highly accelerated growth. During these eleven years I have seldom encountered anything wiser than the cliched platitude, "Shut the **** up and train."

Let me explain using a personal anecdote. I was frozen at purple belt for five years. For three of them, I racked my brain to figure out what was wrong with me. During this period, I saw my peers go to brown and then black belt, while I remained a purple. It got to the point that I stopped enjoying the sport because I was so obsessed with discovering what was holding me back.

BJJ has been a tremendously positive influence in my life. I fell in love with the sport during my very first training session in 1999. In the interim before I could return in 2001, there was hardly a day that went by that I didn't think about it.

Remembering this type of thing helped me to stop worrying about what color the piece of cloth I tied around my waist was. Instead I focused on learning again.

Next thing you know, I got promoted to brown belt.

In conclusion, I stopped the incessant worrying over rank and trained for training's sake. I tried my best not to worry who got promoted, or who tapped me during sparring. I went to class to learn, rather than to win. Shut the **** up and train became my mantra.

Most of us have a tendency to compare ourselves to others. I can tell you from my personal experience, this is rarely a productive thing to do.

**PDA** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 3:30am

If you train in a gym where most people beat you then you are in the right place.
As JNP said STFU and train.
The day you beat everybody in the gym is the day you must leave and train somewhere else.
1yr BJJ is enough to find out how much you dont know , wait till you get your blue belt and every white belt wants to kill you thats when the real anxiety starts.

Get yourself a copy of UFC 1 and remember that you are team Royce and everybody else that doesnt train bjj is on team owned.

**Auszi** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 5:54am

I like what you are saying JNP and the rest of course.

I am down to once every one or two weeks now due to work, but its part of the plan. My goal is to work very hard over the next few years and then I will be able to work six months of the year and train the rest. A bit of sacrifice now.

So rocking up once every week or so, to get my ass handed to me, either through lack of technique or fitness, can be/is depressing.

The OP is in jest but I do love the sport, I will keep rocking up, keep chipping away.