For those of you posters that quit BJJ, what was the reasoning behind it
it’s always a cost-benefit thing.
i’d say most people end up quitting because of injuries or the risk of injury. at a certain point it just isn’t worth it
Injuries. Time with the family. Cutting into work. General lack of interest in the BJJ competition scene.
My whole reason for getting into BJJ was to be able to handle combative subjects (I’m in law enforcement). As a 15 year purple belt I feel like I’m capable of that. Now at age 49 I’m more into staying in the best shape possible and staying injury-free so I can stay on the SWAT team and stay in the game so to speak.
Fast Pitch -Injuries. Time with the family. Cutting into work. General lack of interest in the BJJ competition scene.
My whole reason for getting into BJJ was to be able to handle combative subjects (I’m in law enforcement). As a 15 year purple belt I feel like I’m capable of that. Now at age 49 I’m more into staying in the best shape possible and staying injury-free so I can stay on the SWAT team and stay in the game so to speak.
I hate BJJ competition, I see what you're saying there
Wouldn’t say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus age
walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.
Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
TheBearStare -walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
maybe you guys need to form a garage gang…have fun with guys with similar goals nand motivations.
Health reasons. It took me over 5 years to finally get my blue belt bc of my health. Then I had to stop and I dont think Ill be able to train again. And I miss it so much! I still watch videos daily and have a glimmer of hope that some day ill be back!
I started training when there were zero black belts in the entire state and there were only a handful of gyms in the area. Combination of back injury and moving further away from the gym I trained at. I then had kids and that took me further away from training.
I just started working from home about 3 years ago and am able to take long lunch breaks and started training again. Big difference is I pass at least 4 quality gyms to train at my gym.
I am now on the shelf after I ruptured my Achilles, but hopefully will be back no later than April 2018.
TheBearStare -walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
So you hate how chill everything is? Do you want a super aggressive room? Or more self defense?
Injuries
I had moments where i thought about quitting. For over 3 years I trained 5-7 days a week and watched countless hours of JJ on the internet. JJ was basically a partime job for me. This past year, I got a new job and it took all my time. I was training once every other week.
I started to be abnormally sore all the time, not training as hard, loosing interest, getting tapped by lower belts, not having good days in open mat. I remember going to an open mat at another school and having very bad anxiety cause i havnt trained in over a month but i wanted to roll with new people to test my game. I passed a white belts guard and he got me in a "school yard" headlock and swept me. That was rock bottom lol
Now Im back training again 3-5 days a week and making sure I make time to stretch. Told my self i will commit to 7 tounaments this year to ensure that I stay focused and cardio ready. Still in love with JJ :) osss
The Closed Guard -TheBearStare -walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
So you hate how chill everything is? Do you want a super aggressive room? Or more self defense?
While I can’t speak for BearStare, it’s my opinion that the competition game these days is completely removed from BJJ’s original purpose. Back when I started, and when I imagine he started, the people who were interested in BJJ were influenced by vale tudo/MMA. Yes, grappling competitions existed independent of these, but no one was practicing the art without real fighting in mind. Most of the big names back then either fought themselves or trained closely with someone who did. Now you have an entire generation of people who happily slide around on their asses like wormy dogs looking for an advantage point.
As far as BJJ vs wrestling, I’ve always appreciated how wrestling is treated, by both coaches and athletes, as a real sport. It’s not a hobby, it’s not something you do to lose weight, be social, or just get out of the house. Expectations are placed upon you and you’re forced to push yourself. You show up to practice and leave it all on the mat, blood, sweat, and pain. To put it bluntly, wrestlers and their coaches take their sport seriously. It’s the difference between real Muay Thai and cardio kickboxing (BJJ is cardio kickboxing in this example).
Soul Gravy -The Closed Guard -TheBearStare -walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
So you hate how chill everything is? Do you want a super aggressive room? Or more self defense?
While I can’t speak for BearStare, it’s my opinion that the competition game these days is completely removed from BJJ’s original purpose. Back when I started, and when I imagine he started, the people who were interested in BJJ were influenced by vale tudo/MMA. Yes, grappling competitions existed independent of these, but no one was practicing the art without real fighting in mind. Most of the big names back then either fought themselves or trained closely with someone who did. Now you have an entire generation of people who happily slide around on their asses like wormy dogs looking for an advantage point.
As far as BJJ vs wrestling, I’ve always appreciated how wrestling is treated, by both coaches and athletes, as a real sport. It’s not a hobby, it’s not something you do to lose weight, be social, or just get out of the house. Expectations are placed upon you and you’re forced to push yourself. You show up to practice and leave it all on the mat, blood, sweat, and pain. To put it bluntly, wrestlers and their coaches take their sport seriously. It’s the difference between real Muay Thai and cardio kickboxing (BJJ is cardio kickboxing in this example).
I could agree with this. Sport bjj is so lame to me, sadly no one around here really cares about self defense. My plan is to get into some Muay Thai, likely tune down my bjj training or stop all together.
Started 18 years ago. Have never even thought of quitting.
Chris -Started 18 years ago. Have never even thought of quitting.
Uhhh...cool
Circumstances. My girlfriend worked part time and we needed more money so she took a job working nights paying good money and I work through the day.
Is what it is. We have more money and no longer pay any child care for our daughter plus one of us with her all day every day.
I’ll go back to training but for now other things come first.
Injuries mainly. Outta shape. Getting old. Not into the latest competition scene techniques, too much to learn now. Other interests and hobbies.
Soul Gravy -The Closed Guard -TheBearStare -walbjj - Wouldn't say I quit. I train maybe 6x a year. But time, injury and lack of interest. Plus ageThis.Would be cool to have the degrees on my black belt but after I got the belt I had several life occurences. The ratio of costs to benefits of training really shifted. Though I really enjoy teaching I had no desire to open my gym and had no intention of being some world champ so I felt my energies were better utilized when directed towards new endeavors. The personal satisfaction from training also greatly diminished.
Also Il the many changes in the sport really turned me off. Not at all the sport I started with. Honestly if I could find a gym to do just wrestling id probably train more. Bjj has become too much nonsensical pajama drama disconnected from reality
So you hate how chill everything is? Do you want a super aggressive room? Or more self defense?
While I can’t speak for BearStare, it’s my opinion that the competition game these days is completely removed from BJJ’s original purpose. Back when I started, and when I imagine he started, the people who were interested in BJJ were influenced by vale tudo/MMA. Yes, grappling competitions existed independent of these, but no one was practicing the art without real fighting in mind. Most of the big names back then either fought themselves or trained closely with someone who did. Now you have an entire generation of people who happily slide around on their asses like wormy dogs looking for an advantage point.
As far as BJJ vs wrestling, I’ve always appreciated how wrestling is treated, by both coaches and athletes, as a real sport. It’s not a hobby, it’s not something you do to lose weight, be social, or just get out of the house. Expectations are placed upon you and you’re forced to push yourself. You show up to practice and leave it all on the mat, blood, sweat, and pain. To put it bluntly, wrestlers and their coaches take their sport seriously. It’s the difference between real Muay Thai and cardio kickboxing (BJJ is cardio kickboxing in this example).
The difference is that wrestling is really a SPORT, where almost 99% of people who train for competition are under the age of 25. BJJ, like most martial arts, are ARTS where competition is one aspect. No one in their right minds would train a 40 year old like he is an 18 year old wrestling competitor. Wrestling is an Olympic sport and varsity/university sport.
But that’s really nothing to do with why people quit BJJ. In fact, it’s nothing irregular. The martial arts have a ridiculous turnover rate, something over 90% of a couple years.
If we are looking at BJJ as an ART, then it’s up to the instructor to tailor training to the group and individuals.
Sadly, a lot of school train similar to serious competitors, it wears bodies down, and they are forced to quit, or simply become injury managers.
Fast Pitch -Injuries. Time with the family. Cutting into work. General lack of interest in the BJJ competition scene.
My whole reason for getting into BJJ was to be able to handle combative subjects (I’m in law enforcement). As a 15 year purple belt I feel like I’m capable of that. Now at age 49 I’m more into staying in the best shape possible and staying injury-free so I can stay on the SWAT team and stay in the game so to speak.
Very similar in age and do the same job. I train a bunch of LEOs in my day classes, I think getting like minded individuals like sarge said is key to avoiding injury and still keep in shape. Legit purple can handle most anything the job will throw at you though.