Frustration with Training

***jnp*** · Posted On: 10/12/2006 9:17pm

Originally Posted by Yrkoon9

Things won't change at blue, purple, brown, or black belt. There will times when you are on and times when you are off. Sometimes things flow. Sometimes nothing seems to work. Sometimes you own. Sometimes you get owned. Learn to cope.

Just to reiterate Y9's point. The frustration generally comes in waves. Sometimes the gaps in between are longer, sometimes shorter.

If you grapple long enough, you will encounter a nemesis or two. A nemesis is anyone who dissects your game on the mat.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Nemeses are really good training partners. They force you to train 'outside your comfort zone'.

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 10/12/2006 10:32pm

you gotta know happy - you gotta know glad
because you're gonna know lonely
and you're gonna know bad
when you're rippin' and a ridin'
and you're coming on strong
you start slippin' and slidin'
and it all goes wrong because

sometimes you're the windshield
sometimes you're the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're a fool in love
sometimes you're the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you're the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're going to lose it all

***JohnnyCache*** · Posted On: 10/12/2006 10:52pm

oh man I feel this

But I choose to look at it like, "Why would I train in a place where the people couldn't frustrate me?"

Also, I've noticed that mat time, mat time, mat time works to counter-balance this - fighting is intuitive work, and if you're someone who was pretty good at a stand up system, having that intuition "reset" as you start to learn the ground can be so humbling that you don't even want to go through with it at times. . . in the words of Marcellus Wallace, "that's jus' pride ... fuckin' with you..."

**Oscar Goldman** · Posted On: 10/13/2006 12:57am

Originally Posted by Ryno

It's funny how matchups like that can work. There's a guys at our club with a similar amount of experience to me, yet he'll beat me 4 out of 5 times. He in turn is almost always a loser to a third guy, who I regularly massacre. It's just weird that certain people will totally expose the holes in your game. Just take it and learn from it.

Hey man. When I read Sam's post I immediately thought of that side control we talked about that kills me. Man that pisses me off.

To Amp: it can get weird when you roll with the same guys all the time. Then one day a new guy with 50lbs. on you shows up and you have your way with him and you realize how much you've progressed.

A BJJ BB who is a friend of mine told me to always just have one or two things in mind for each position when I roll - like always be working on a subset of everything I know just to have a game plan. This helps me a lot with white belt brain freeze.

**rino86** · Posted On: 10/13/2006 1:56am

Originally Posted by WorldWarCheese

"Well, at least I know what not to do" .

At this point I find most of my game consists of avoiding stupidity. I hope to someday progress to embracing medocrity and eventually mastering Competence.

**Southpaw** · Posted On: 10/13/2006 6:19am

Thanks all for your comments.

**FLMikeATT** · Posted On: 10/13/2006 9:14pm

Frustration does come in waves. Today I was frustrated because I managed to sneak in an arm triangle on my instructor, but couldn't finish it (of course). He then proceeded to kimura me 3 times from 3 different positions, and brabo choked me (ack!). I love it though because it only helps my game.

**Bustardo** · Posted On: 10/14/2006 5:16pm

I'm a BJJ newbie, been going for about a month (about 6 hours a week). The majority of people who go on nights I go have been going for a year or more and I always get owned. Always.

Another guy started at the same time as me and goes a little less, he's roughly the same size. Today I rolled with him exclusively and I was able to tap him 4/5 times. It was nice, because we've been in it roughly the same amount of time, so it showed me I've progressed a little and I left the club feeling great.

I think rolling with people who have vastly superior skill really forces you to learn quickly. They're great training partners.

**PoleFighter** · Posted On: 10/14/2006 5:54pm

Man, my nemesis is always "long-legged, flexible rolling guard"-guy. I just seem to have trouble with these guys everywhere I go.

I used to have trouble with the whole fear of getting tapped, and when I tapped to a guy I should not have tapped to, I started asking myself what I was even doing on the mat: I obviously sucked. Then I just thought about the fact that, two years ago, I couldn't even imagine myself doing a competitive sport. I've decided that I am not, nor will I ever be, a particularly great BJJ player, and I'm fine with that. I do jiu jitsu because I love performing the art, not because I love winning or want to prove I'm a badass. The ups and downs come mainly from the fact that I feel uninspired and like I'm not evolving, but that usually passes after a week or two.