Turned 40 this year. I train 2-4 times/week depending on how the body feels, and take my 17 year old son with me. It's fun to watch him grow and learn. Things are going ok for me. I can hang with the upper belts as well as anyone else and frequently get accused of having "old man strength". The main differences between 40 and 20 are: 20-something year olds recover faster, move faster, have better endurance, but don't know when to tap...
Personally, I focus on technique and try to just enjoy practice instead of going to war every time I walk into the dojo.
my 5 yr. old cries now when i go to jiu jitsu.
he wants to go real bad. thinking i will start bringing him then enroll him within the year.
i can't wait for that.
i have two rowdy sons and i just know they will gravitate to this.... shit, they stare at the vids and clips i have and start emulating it on the living room floor.
i wouldn't trade anything for that. had i not gotten married and chose my path as it is, i wouldn't have my wife and sons. it was an easy decision for me. i just have 'what if' moments a lot lately cuz i'll tell you, these twenty year old fuckers w/ free time to burn are making it happen. there is a few of them that do the striking class, bjj class, mma drilling and strength and conditioning 6x a week.
their timing is getting good reaaaaal fast.
and it's forcing me to up my game on them.... which is good outcome, if anything.
39 YO WB, almost a year of training. Some day, someone is going to sit me down and tell them that I am too old for this crap. (But it won't be anyone that I roll with).
I don't dislike rolling with the young guys, I'm always up for it. But it's like part of my potential growth for the match has been sucked away by the effort of just slowing the kid down. Let him spin like a top, and the catch him when he gets impatient.
I wish I had discovered this years ago. But I didn't, so I go to class and roll and roll and roll... But I am sure that I am the only one in the gym who has ever had gout...
For me, when I see relatively newcomers training all the time, I actually wonder if they are going to stick with it.
I've been in the game (recreationally of course) long enough to see a ton of people with real potential that end up quitting.
Sure, these guys may kick my ass now, but I know I will be training 15+ years down the road....will they be?
LetsTalkItOut -+1Empire - 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!
kying418 - For me, when I see relatively newcomers training all the time, I actually wonder if they are going to stick with it.
I've been in the game (recreationally of course) long enough to see a ton of people with real potential that end up quitting.
Sure, these guys may kick my ass now, but I know I will be training 15+ years down the road....will they be?
well. one is a brown belt who also fights mma. i think he'll be in it.
the other is a purple and has been it it long enough. im sure he's in it for a while.
one is a seasoned blue but he's just started getting super serious about it. he has the mindset that i have so i see him in it.
im glad. i love having good training partners.
Getting married and having kids is awesome.
But before you do...
max this jiu jitsu thing out!
- Go to Brazil.
- Train full time.
- Compete at the mundials.
So many young guys at my gym complain they don't have the money or time to pursue BJJ as much as they like. It's bullshit.
They spend their time and money chasing tail at the bars. Which is fine and all. But if they want to make BJJ a priority the time is now. By the time they're in their mid-30s, life is going to catch up with them.
Almost 60, 2nd BB in judo (18 yrs) , 4 stripped blue in BJJ (10 yrs), train 2/week in judo,sometimes BJJ , 1 day /week cardio/weights/flexibility. My conditioning is excellent, skills excellent but the body cannot take hard core training/fighting all the time. Tend to fight people more my weight-165. Quit competition 4 years ago.It is age, period.
I just think aging is more of an process that shows you something about your own training than a limiting factor.
I´am 33 training for 15 years now and being a blackbelt and having the chance to train with many blackbelts that are 10 or even 15 years older than me and still crushing me shows me that a lot is possible.
On the other side I saw people loosing a lot of their skills even in their laste twentiees and early thirtees.
For me age has brought some little arches and pains (which I had ten years ago also, but didn´t connect them to my age;-) but other than that I think it is pretty much a thing of style and training.
If your style is agressiv, ruthless and attribute based e.g. speed, explosivness, etc. you will have a lot of injuries and you will feel your age much quicker or maybe we should just say the years of training sum up.
If your game is technically, tight, controlled with flow, timing and pressure you can get better and better every year of your training even in your thirtees.
I talked to Roy Harris and Joe Moreira who are both in their late fourties and they say they still learn and get technically better every day.
And on the other side you have BJJ Blackbelt and Fitness Coach Steve Maxwell who turns 58 this year and is still in AMAZING physically shape.
Other guys like my Systema teacher Alex Kostic or his teacher Vladimir Vasiliev are in their late fourties early fivetees and can move so fluid and flexible much more than most 20 year old guys can do.
I think if you train smart, have good training partners. Supplement your BJJ with Yoga and good strength training (don´t kill yourself with too heavy stuff) you should be able to expand in this art for nearly your whole live.
And from time to time you showcase your skills to a younger brownbelt and blackbelt and enjoy your work.:-)
Take care
Björn Friedrich
LOL @ being in your early 30s as being "old".
Just wait.
Empire - 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 can feel for the spending time with kids thing.
I was training hard back in the 90's. The injuries were mounting up and one day my son said "You're not going to jujitsu AGAIN?" I took the next decade off to coach a shitload of sports, etc.
Now my son is a teenager and doesn't want me around so much anymore, so I'm back to doing BJJ in my 50's.
35 years old..been doing JJ for 10 years but have quit so many times because of work and then always come back...finally got my blue last year and am doing well...going off to Brazil i think in a few weeks to train for a month if my body can stand it..I regret not sticking with it as the guys that started when I did are now browns..I am doing loads of privates and just really enjoying it.
You folks that aren't in your youth and travel to Brazil for a month, how in the world do you do that?
I got career, wife, kids, money, etc. preventing me from doing it. How do you manage?
Yet another thing to value about youth and training, nothing tying you down at home. Take advantage of that.
Some people are getting the wrong impression about the 'don't get married spiel'
It isn't don't ever get married.
Its don't get married, till you are ready to settle down.
Started bjj in 98. Loved it from the beginning. Traveled a bit over the years to train with notable names of the sport and began a club with a friend in 2002 as there was nothing in my hometown. It grew and grew.<br />I was a personal trainer / ran a fitness facility and had my bjj club in the same place, but rural (was able to train a lot with this combo, even though I now was married and had kids, but quite a struggle)...<br />About the same I became a black belt, my job was not quite holding up. Had to find something new and now work in management (classic middle class corporate america). Some stress is off as it pays the bills and provides the needed benefits for my little ones.... SO..<br />The last couple of years I have been teaching here and there (different schools throughout my area that now have bjj programs) and I make sure I get my training in (sometimes 4 days a week sometimes one - have learned not to fret).<br />Last year I was quite depressed about this as I watched young students training 5 plus days and progressing so quickly... Now giving me a run for my money.<br />THEN ONE DAY IT ALL CHANGED...<br />I'm rolling and my 4 year old daughter who is on the sidelines (whom I just finished telling to stay off the mat during live roll for the 20th time)is talking to a student explaining THAT'S MY DAD... MY DAD'S THE ONE WINNING (I was stuck under mount at the time attending to my depressed thoughts of self pitty about age and heard this like a SLAP IN THE FACE!).<br />The thoughts cleared, and with the experience of a mat veteran I scooted my hips, like I had so many times before (i got years against this kid's 5 days a week!)Then swept and got stuck in some weird x-guard shit, I simply put my hips down and "smashy him" (as I have for years) then proceeded to finish.<br />Since this day - THIS IS WHAT I DO<br />I'm getting older, but to my kids I'M SUPER DAD. The guy who walks into class and spreads a little old school every time I "smash them with the basics" <br />To them I never lose (even though I tap plenty) they just see their super fit dad that still can walk on his hands and make young punks say uncle at will.<br />I can't fully explain it except that now everything I do is "jiu-jitsu" in a sense and I seem to still get better even with the struggles after my kid's reminded me of who I am.<br /><br />My mindset was getting in my way more than I thought.
I now realize that the thing that impresses me the most about bjj is seeing Helio looking like an old man, but still wrestling around with his grand children on the mat like a spry child until his final days.
-That's a goal to shoot for and one that drives me every day to be a better dad
Good post .
And Holy Lurker !!
Nice post mainemouler! I can relate! :)
Zero1 - I just think aging is more of an process that shows you something about your own training than a limiting factor.
I´am 33 training for 15 years now and being a blackbelt and having the chance to train with many blackbelts that are 10 or even 15 years older than me and still crushing me shows me that a lot is possible.
On the other side I saw people loosing a lot of their skills even in their laste twentiees and early thirtees.
For me age has brought some little arches and pains (which I had ten years ago also, but didn´t connect them to my age;-) but other than that I think it is pretty much a thing of style and training.
If your style is agressiv, ruthless and attribute based e.g. speed, explosivness, etc. you will have a lot of injuries and you will feel your age much quicker or maybe we should just say the years of training sum up.
If your game is technically, tight, controlled with flow, timing and pressure you can get better and better every year of your training even in your thirtees.
I talked to Roy Harris and Joe Moreira who are both in their late fourties and they say they still learn and get technically better every day.
And on the other side you have BJJ Blackbelt and Fitness Coach Steve Maxwell who turns 58 this year and is still in AMAZING physically shape.
Other guys like my Systema teacher Alex Kostic or his teacher Vladimir Vasiliev are in their late fourties early fivetees and can move so fluid and flexible much more than most 20 year old guys can do.
I think if you train smart, have good training partners. Supplement your BJJ with Yoga and good strength training (don´t kill yourself with too heavy stuff) you should be able to expand in this art for nearly your whole live.
And from time to time you showcase your skills to a younger brownbelt and blackbelt and enjoy your work.:-)
Take care
Björn Friedrich
Good post. Agree about the thing you said about grappling styles and how they relate to injuries. I think that there are going to be a lot more busted up grapplers that aren't able to grapple well into their 50s or 60s due to multiple surgeries as a result of the popularity of aggressive grappling and the obsession that is happening with competition now.