Nice to see some criteria for "Old Guy" finally. I fit all of those as well. When the second kid arrived training went bye, bye for a while. Now I've worked out a way to train twice a week after kids are in bed. I'm pretty pleased with myself.
Three times a week is a special bonus.
Old recurring back injury makes me damn careful on the mat and who I roll with. I can't afford to be laid up for a week at a time. Kids like to eat, wife like to pay the bills and I like to see a movie every once in a while.
Back when I was a blue I also thought one of the purples should tell his wife what was up as she always came and dragged his sorry butt out of the school every night. Now I understand, boy what an idiot I was.
I'll be lucky to see a brown belt ever wrapped around my waste. No biggie as I just like to practice.
Sure have seen some younger guys just blow past me in skill level though. Oh well.
Ill be 39 in one month. My body feels every bit of 39, but at the same time I know that I train smarter and if I were to put in some more work at my conditioning and fitness I would be able to be better than ever.
I'm so used to the injuries that they hardly cause me to notice anymore. I roll with Vladdy when he's at 230+ several times a week and the wear and tear from that alone is enough to keep me in a constant state of pain and discomfort...I'm just used to it now.
But BJJ has become much richer for me now that I'm older. It's more of a chess match than anything else, at this point. I'm loving it. even the bad days.
LetsTalkItOut -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!
This needs to be a whole other thread. EVERY married guy I know complain constantly and seems miserable in their marriage. I actually asked a class once who's happy in their marriage and only one guy put his hand up, but this is also a guy that has told me that he can't spend too much time with his wife or they start fighting.
spider guard - Been doing BJJ for over 12 years now. Got my black belt 6 years ago and am now 36, married, with 2 great kids. I train 2x a week now maybe 3 if I'm real lucky. I sometimes think back when I use to train everyday and the old me would kick my ass 8 ways in 3 minutes and ask if I was tired or feeling ok. The thought of that makes me depressed sometimes, but then I realize I have a great wife and great kids and realize just like everything else time will pass and you have to move on.
Can relate completely. Something I am just beginning to realize is that much of the philosophy and energy I have learned in bjj can apply to me being a good dad. At some point last year I concluded that I am a blue belt dad and I want to be a black belt dad.
andre - Ill be 39 in one month. My body feels every bit of 39, but at the same time I know that I train smarter and if I were to put in some more work at my conditioning and fitness I would be able to be better than ever.
I'm so used to the injuries that they hardly cause me to notice anymore. I roll with Vladdy when he's at 230+ several times a week and the wear and tear from that alone is enough to keep me in a constant state of pain and discomfort...I'm just used to it now.
But BJJ has become much richer for me now that I'm older. It's more of a chess match than anything else, at this point. I'm loving it. even the bad days.
After over 12 years of bjj, I have also come to the conclusion that I would rather grow old with recurring sprained fingers, toes and nagging injuries, rather than the normal out of shape person who blames everything on age.
It makes bjj more of a challenge, with a major part being my ability to protect my own body and rely on finesse even more.
i love my wife.... immensely.
i just don't think that you can be elite level if you have the responsibilities of a family and career. if your career IS bjj, then that's a different story.
I think it's extreme to think that without bjj, you'll grow to be an outta shape, junk food eating, fat old guy.Without bjj, you can still work out and try to keep yourself healthy. For me, I was active before bjj and I've had more injuries, surgeries, chronic ailments because of it. It's just the price my body pays and I'm sure long term, I will suffer more physically because of jiu-jitsu. I mean think about it, without bjj, I enjoy cycling, swimming, yoga, eating right anyways so jiu-jitsu just adds injury.
As far as time, my academy has numerous 6:30 am classes and being a morning person and usually sleeping about 6 hours a night, I take advantage of that. If you have 5, 6 am classes you can technically train 5 days a week for 2-3 hours even before work starts! For you guys with wives, I'm sure your wife won't miss you that early, you just have to give up some sleep and time.
No regrets at starting training later in life, I did not need bjj in my life when I was younger as much as I need it now for stress relief, motivation to stay fit, athletic competition and even socially.
If you're in your 30's, you ain't old. I'm 55 and didn't start BJJ until I was 45.
After 30, work and family get in the way. Only after 50 does decrepitude really escalate IMO.
I'm a purple, spent last year teaching two classes a week. I had a knee operation and two of the bigger guys I was teaching were tapping me out (after a while) once I started training again.
Last week a 16 year old kid (a very talented one who almost always gets gold in his comps), who last year I was handling easily without strength, got me in a crucifix and then RNC last week. He'd suddenly got a lot stronger and I was going easy like I always used to, but he's becoming a beast.
At least I can still do hard physical stuff like this, unlike the too many guys my age who get puffed walking around the block or have obesity-related medical conditions.
Ed O'Neill (Al Bundy) got his black belt at 60. I'm still hoping to do the same.
Yeah, work your youth for all its worth. People tell me there are good things about growing old, but they've managed to elude me so far.
Empire - i love my wife.... immensely.
i just don't think that you can be elite level if you have the responsibilities of a family and career. if your career IS bjj, then that's a different story.
Again, writing my bio. Weird.