A training buddy i met this year whose become a very close friend is actually on path to getting his brown belt pretty soon. I am in complete awe at this.
When I met the guy earlier this year he was already a purple and had just moved into town. After we rolled and he handed me my ass I asked "So how long have you been training dude? 5,6 years?" he answers "oh no.....2 years now". I literally picked my jaw off the floor.
In March will be his 3rd full year training and the guy had never done even done any martial art in his life! At the moment he demolishes all purples including me, every single brown i've seen him up against and Ive also seen him dominate a couple of black belts.
Now he is freakishly strong for his size as hes only about 175 lbs and lanky however what amazes me is the transitions, setups and submissions he pulls out of nowhere for a guy whose only trained 2 years and change!! I just dont get it!! Jiu Jitsu is such a difficult sport to master due to all the variables involved. After 6 years of training some things have just started to click for me now and Ive obviously got a long way to go. This guy doesn't even have the BJJ book or DVD collection I have. Seriously....Fuck him!!! LOL
Ive heard of prodigies before but it always boggles my mind at how quickly their mind adapts to the sport. Its crazy because we all know guys who started 3 years ago and just recently reached blue belt level performance.
haha that's pretty amazing
is he planning on competing (or has he already)?
We have a guy, Dan Gleaton, in my area who got his black belt in 4 years. He's an absolute nightmare to roll with.
JT Torres was like that too. Got his brown in like 4 years at our club before he went to lloyd.
One day i'm tapping him,
Two months later i'm going dead even with him.
Two months after, he was tapping me.
Two more months later and he's beating the shit out of me.
And four months later he's wrecking everyone at the school.
Some people just have the ability, and then they put work in to supplement that ability and turns them into monsters.
It's rare but I have seen that in a few people over the past 15 years. Sadly, every one I knew that was like that eventually quit training.
I had a student like that. Within 3 months he was tapping all my blue belts, and at 9 months he was giving me a run (I was a purple at the time).
Unfortunately, my experience has been that if it comes easily, they don't cherish it the way the rest of us would, and they move on to other things.
SlapUsilly - JT Torres was like that too. Got his brown in like 4 years at our club before he went to lloyd.
One day i'm tapping him,
Two months later i'm going dead even with him.
Two months after, he was tapping me.
Two more months later and he's beating the shit out of me.
And four months later he's wrecking everyone at the school.
Some people just have the ability, and then they put work in to supplement that ability and turns them into monsters.
And from stuff I heard, he was only training 2-3 times a week. 
guy at my school got his QUICK, maybe in 4 years, he could wear a bb today and no one would question it, it happens bro, you jelly?
twinkletoesCT - I had a student like that. Within 3 months he was tapping all my blue belts, and at 9 months he was giving me a run (I was a purple at the time).
Unfortunately, my experience has been that if it comes easily, they don't cherish it the way the rest of us would, and they move on to other things.
I agree.
Often the most naturally talented grapplers, stop training.
Comprehensive curricula and all that stuff is really for average and less talented people.
Believe it or not, the WORST way to learn anything is to be formally taught it, step by step in a comprehensive manner. This takes the longest for a student to "get" and integrate the material to the point where they are functional with it.
When you engage your "analytic brain" while learning, you are now taking the scenic route to being functional. This is fine in a martial art you are going to do for many years, but it's not optimal. Often people mistakenly think this is necessary. But in reality, most people just ENJOY learning this way. To them it feels like what "learning" is supposed to feel like; step by step, comprehensive with no detail left to chance. They think they are getting "the little details that make the move work" They are, and that is precisely the problem.
You know which people DON'T like learning this detail-oriented way? Naturally talented people. They get bored with all the talking, they understood the move 10 minutes ago when they first saw it and just want to do it, while the less talented "intellectuals" in class ask ever more detail-oriented questions. This is the precise moment where learning gets off-track.
Usually it is people who are not especially talented (i.e. most of us) who like the details most. We often tend to gravitate to teachers who give "tons of details".
Truth is, good coaches tend to know instinctively that they should give only the amount of detail the student needs to do the move well. The goal is, or should be, to get the student to be able to do the move well, quickly rather than to "understand" the move well. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO INTELLECTUALLY UNDERSTAND SOMETHING IN ORDER TO DO IT WELL. The goal is NOT to make the students understand the move, that's later. If you put understand BEFORE integration, you usually put the kibosh on getting functional quickly.
Later on, when they are functional, the student can become aware of the details (may of which he is already be doing).
The BEST way for a human to learn something -though not always possible- is to see it and instinctively know that they've "got it". We have all experienced this plenty in life. You don't need to be told anything, it's obvious to you. No lessons needed. With jiu jitsu, some guys see a sweep once and just "get it" and can do it. Whereas, other people are paying $200 an hour for privates on that same sweep years down the line because it's "just not working for them". Ironically, what they are probably getting at that private is a bunch more details.
^^^ this is why everyone should be doin e-privates with OShensei!!!
shen -
Comprehensive curricula and all that stuff is really for average and less talented people.
Believe it or not, the WORST way to learn something is to be formally taught it, step by step in a comprehensive manner. This takes the longest for a student to "get" and integrate to the point where they are functional with it.
When you engage your "analytically brain" while learning, you are now taking the scenic route to being functional. This is fine in a martial art you are going to do for many years. Often people mistakenly think this is necessary. But really, most people just ENJOY learning this way. To them it feels like what "learning" is supposed to feel like; step by step, comprehensive, no detail left to chance, etc. You know which people DON'T like learning this way? Naturally talented people. They get bored with all the talking, they understood the move when they first saw it and just want to do it, while the less talented "intellectuals" in class ask ever more detail-oriented questions.
Usually it is people who are not especially talented (i.e. most of us) who like the details. We also tend to gravitate to teachers who give "tons of details".
Truth is good coaches tend to know instinctively that they should give only the amount of detail the student can handle to do the move well.
The goal is or should be, to get the student to be able to do the move well, quickly. Not to "understand" the move, but to do it. The goal is NOT to make the students understand the move well. That is later. If you put the understand BEFORE the integration, you usually put the kibosh on getting functional quickly.
Later on, when they are functional, the student can become aware of other details (which he may or may not already be doing).
The BEST way for a human to learn something -though not always possible- is to see it and know that you've already "got it". You don't need to be told anything, it's obvious to you. Some guys see a jiu jitsu sweep once and just "get it" and can do it. Whereas, other people are paying $200 an hour for privates on that same sweep years years down the line because it's "just not working for them".
voted up
Anarkis -EasyTapper -SlapUsilly - JT Torres was like that too. Got his brown in like 4 years at our club before he went to lloyd.And from stuff I heard, he was only training 2-3 times a week.
One day i'm tapping him,
Two months later i'm going dead even with him.
Two months after, he was tapping me.
Two more months later and he's beating the shit out of me.
And four months later he's wrecking everyone at the school.
Some people just have the ability, and then they put work in to supplement that ability and turns them into monsters.
Training a day at Lloyds is like training 3 days for most people.
this is before lloyds and him taking the credit
chitownbjj - ^^^ this is why everyone should be doin e-privates with OShensei!!!
OSU!
E-privates + Paypal account = success!
To the OP, is your friend a LA guy? I know a purple belt on the same track.
We have a white belt at our gym who is has all the potential to be a champ. He's won 1st in every comp entered and he finished all but one match with a submission. He taps blue belts regularly, positionally dominates purples and gives us browns a hard time.
Shen,
Excellent post.
I actually made that very point before and was essentially sent to the gallows by some of my "fans", LOL!
Like I said many many times before, Bjj is a physical activity, something one does with ones body. Bjj follows the same rules all other physical activities/sports follow. The key to mastering Bjj or learning it quickly is having high levels of motor skill: i.e body control, body awareness, body mechanics, etc.
So much of Bjj is intuitive especially for those who are naturally athletic.
In my opinion the people who struggle the most with Bjj are those who NEVER really mastered a physical activity before in their life or Bjj is the first and only physical activity they have really tried to master. Such a person, for some reason, tries to make up for their lack of physical/motor skill experience and ability, by approaching something like Bjj as if it is an academic subject.
subd
paw -shen -
Comprehensive curricula and all that stuff is really for average and less talented people.
Believe it or not, the WORST way to learn something is to be formally taught it, step by step in a comprehensive manner. This takes the longest for a student to "get" and integrate to the point where they are functional with it.
When you engage your "analytically brain" while learning, you are now taking the scenic route to being functional. This is fine in a martial art you are going to do for many years. Often people mistakenly think this is necessary. But really, most people just ENJOY learning this way. To them it feels like what "learning" is supposed to feel like; step by step, comprehensive, no detail left to chance, etc. You know which people DON'T like learning this way? Naturally talented people. They get bored with all the talking, they understood the move when they first saw it and just want to do it, while the less talented "intellectuals" in class ask ever more detail-oriented questions.
Usually it is people who are not especially talented (i.e. most of us) who like the details. We also tend to gravitate to teachers who give "tons of details".
Truth is good coaches tend to know instinctively that they should give only the amount of detail the student can handle to do the move well.
The goal is or should be, to get the student to be able to do the move well, quickly. Not to "understand" the move, but to do it. The goal is NOT to make the students understand the move well. That is later. If you put the understand BEFORE the integration, you usually put the kibosh on getting functional quickly.
Later on, when they are functional, the student can become aware of other details (which he may or may not already be doing).
The BEST way for a human to learn something -though not always possible- is to see it and know that you've already "got it". You don't need to be told anything, it's obvious to you. Some guys see a jiu jitsu sweep once and just "get it" and can do it. Whereas, other people are paying $200 an hour for privates on that same sweep years years down the line because it's "just not working for them".
voted up
Awesome!
We have a guy who got his brown in 3 years. He's been giving our black belts trouble since purple belt. He got his purple belt in Jan 2010, then went to the Worlds a few months later and submitted all four of his opponents to take gold. I know he trained in a striking art when he was younger. He also lives at the school, which probably helps. He's not just a great competitor, but he's one of the best teachers I've had. I've never asked a question of him that he didnt have an answer for.
I know of a guy who started at the end of 2008 and is now a brown. He competes regularly locally and internationaly and generally gets gold. If it aint gold, atleast a bronze. Not sure if he juices or not but he trains everyday for 4 - 6 hours... most people kind of envy him.