we have some killers coming up and training 6+ times a week. strength and conditioning, etc.
here i am w/ a family and career and getting in 2-3 times a week. man i get jealous as i can literally take a couple weeks off and can see the difference in their games.
it really hit me when im rolling w/ this really good blue (im a brown) and he's almost hitting this crazy shit on me. i had to do a double take and look at the bb instructor during class and give him the "WTF is going on" look.
i wouldn't trade my bjj path for anyone's, but man i miss being 21 and just training every fucking day. i miss that 'hunger'.
i still fiend for bjj like i did, it's just my lower back and neck are telling me to chill out and my sons actually want to hang out w/ their dad.
i tell this to the guys in their later twenties who are 'getting serious about jiu jitsu'... i tell them. do not get married or start a family. listen to your body and rest it if you're hurt. be selfish until you're well in your thirties. that is if you truly 'want to get serious about bjj' and do great things in it.... otherwise, you are recreational.
I HEAR YOU!!!!
(wait till you get into your mid 50's)
Amen.
When I was in my late 20's, I simply couldn;t understand the older fellows who couldn;t make it to class on the regular.
My thinking was "hey, just discipline your scheduling enough to carve out a few hours a week. How hard can that be".
I want to slap that younger me.
agreed
Poor old guys :(
'Twas a great feeling being in my mid 20's beating up on old ass brown belts.
I feel like you just wrote my biography, but I wouldn't do it any other way. Got a great wife and 2.5 kids that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world, but I wish I had discovered BJJ in my youth.
big fatso,
i hate getting old simply for the thought of not training full blast.
i don't care too much about growing older (im 32 now), but i thought about not being able to train full blast when im in my 50's 60s, 70s and i got pissed off like a mufucka.
then there's the guy i got started in this in 04. i was ripping him apart as i had 4 years in to his 0.
fast forward 6 years and he's a brown just like me and way better. he has been training 6+ times a week for 6 years now and it's his job (he teaches the whitebelt less than 6 months class). the combo of him training that much AND teaching has made him my nightmare.
i do feel some pride in that i helped them get there, at least.
it's good to have guys that push you again.
as a side not for anyone that is interested, i've been having lots of back and neck pain. started sleeping flat on my back on the floor and feel much better after two days.
So glad I started jiu jitsu at 18, im also in a position where I can train full time and I get paid from my coach, im going to take full advantage of this situation!
youth is wasted on the young,little pricks.
12 - youth is wasted on the young,little pricks.
Haha, this. I'm still pretty young, but I have a lot of responsibility and can't make it in as much as I'd like.
I try not to compare my path to others, though; I'm pretty happy with my jiu jitsu journey thus far even though I started a bit late.
^
all of the above
30 now myself, not even really old... started BJJ at 18 back in 98 and a brown belt now. Less training available then, but i had the time, When i was like 22-25 when the school i'm at picked up a lot of students and training became more available, i trained like crazy. 4 hour training nights, 3-4 days a week, i was like a machine.
Now Married (no kids yet thankfully), and everything that i didn't take care of injury wise when i was in my twenties is starting to collect the bills on my body. Still training, and still love it, but now i gotta push myself to go train instead of just waiting for training
to begin so i could rush over..lol.
I picked up judo too when i was 25, and still doing that too, but that speed that some of the younger kids have in there is not there either.... oh well. Its all good i suppose.
This thread is depressing,
That is why every time someone mentions they "have to leave early to pick up their daughter" I respond with "Yeah thats why I'm pro choice."
Now get to class you lazy old bastards.
-21 year old
I started BJJ when I was 34, I'm 41 now and only a mediocre recreational purple belt. My body aches after every BJJ class. I hear about these killer 21 and 24 year old purples over at Alliance training BJJ twice a day and doing Crossfit every day, winning the Pan Ams, Worlds, etc, and it makes me think "What if". Back when I was 21 UFC 1 hadn't even occurred yet, and Gracie Jiu Jitsu was something I read about in a Playboy article.
that's the thing.
it's not a jealousy thing.
it's a 'what if' thing.
I think it's great when a 20 year old kid who is training 6 days a week asks me where I have been if I miss some classes. I always think, and occasionally say...I have been training in Martial arts for over 30 years, bjj for 10...ask me about my training if you are still doing this 10 years from now.
Empire - do not get married or start a family.
I find it interesting that every time a married guy tells me some advice, "do not get married" is almost always the first piece of advice that's given.
I will take this advice to the grave lol!
i don't mean to never get married.
there's this 26 year old blue. wants to end up doing mma but also excel at bjj at a faster rate. he can do it.. he's athletic, in shape, and fast learner. he also gets to roll w/ a brown belt a lot (me) outside of the class at my house (my basement is all matted up).
he also wants to start small in real estate and build it up from there. he has a lot of goals. and attainable due to his nature and what not.
he asked me what he needed to do to 'get there' as im a brown now and career wise successful. i told him flat out to not get married. he is serious w/ this girl for over 4 years. she's pushing marriage hard. i told him early on in his dating her to be honest w/ her as to what he wants to accomplish. .... so being as he was honest all along, i tell him flat out, "Accomplish your goals before marriage and kids or you never will, at least not w/out divorcing or seriously compromising your goals".
"But she's a keeper and ....blah balh blah..."
i understood all that and it's a choice. i chose to start a family and build my career.
flat out... you need to be single and focused on bjj and your other endeavours if you want to accomplish them in time to enjoy it later on. you will NOT become a bjj phenom or champ without a full time training.
I'm 43,my academy only offers classes 3 times a week. I go twice. I roll and drill w/a friend on thur-sat -sun.
I can barely stay in the same room as the young guys! I can't even do cartwheels....