I was in the same boat last month. I am a black belt and went to a brand new school and knew no one. I had about 7 years off. it is tough. I was super nervous. But it comes back so fast. You need to wear your purple belt. You will be there in no time.
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I’m a blue belt, late thirties, at a new school after not training at all for four years, and very inconsistently for years before that. I’ve been back about six months now and I’m way better than I was when I quit.
The first couple of months I was having a lot of trouble with some strong white belts, but now they give me no issues.
Hit the mats 3-4x a week and you’ll be right back to where you were in no time.
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I’m just about in this same exact spot & signing back up now. Not looking forward to the 1st month & hopefully no injuries.
See you in another 10 years? Haha
Had my first day back today. Fun but pretty brutal. My mat conditioning is soooo bad lol. Gassed hard & was having a tough time figuring out what moves to make. Humbling for sure.
I think my plan is going to be trying to get in as many classes as possible daily & backing off of weight lifting, s&c for a while. I think I’ll get more specific conditioning & efficiency just being on the mats. Save my energy for it.
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And of course, my toes are missing some skin. Don’t take years breaks people. Lol
But great people there, very welcoming & helpful.
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did you put your purple back on though?
I’m a blue. But I considered it.
I’m literally in the same spot as OP. 47 year old super out of shape purple that hasn’t trained in years walking into anew gym. I wore my purple because I worked hard for it and earned it. I find it to to also be more motivating to push for where you left off.
I thought too about what if my instructor who promoted me to blue then purple walked in and saw me wearing a white by my choice……that would feel worse than anything to me.
Wear the purple, keep training, and the rest will fall into place in its own time.
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Yes buddy,
I spoke with the coach
Turns out they know my master even though he’s back in Brazil now so they respect my lineage and the work I’ve put in.
I’m currently not tapping to high stripe whites but not being fit enough to catch them but I’m getting crushed by blues,
It’s coming back though and I’m getting to the gym 3 times a week, I’ve lost a bit of weight and my movement is coming back gradually.
On the down side though my legs are now too fat to finish a triangle which has always been my most successful finish,
I’m up at 257 lbs and I used to compete at 189. (86kg here in the Uk) so I’m having to adapt to playing big man jiu jitsu at more until my weight comes down
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Just be consistent with your training and be patient
It will come back. its most important now that you get back into shape and dont get hurt.
Try not to worry about winning and losing
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great stuff! where in the uk you training?
Hello mate, I’m training at Kabon in Liverpool.
I’m getting in on average 3 times a week so a pretty even split between Gi and nogi and finding it tougher than I should be.
It’s all good fun though and slowly it’s all coming back to me
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This all day
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I got my blue in 2000 quit in 2002. I came back in 2017 and demoted myself to white. After a year back and being able to beat most whites that weren’t college wrestlers I was frustrated that I didn’t just hold my rank as a blue. I was starting to beat blues but now a 2 stripe white trying to work my way back up the ranks. If anything if it was over 10 years I’d demote myself to a blue but not a white. But 6 years off isn’t that bad. Hold your rank because when your a 2 stripe white hanging with purples again your going to feel like crap and it’s a long way to purple again.
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good gym!
Purple belt here, moved house early 2020 to reasonably far from the gym and haven’t really trained at all in 18 months apart from maybe two classes between lockdowns. Just started back on the mats Saturday and felt like a whitebelt, so I feel OP’s pain. Back into it tonight, am going to keep a training journal, which is something I’ve never done before, mainly to set some personal training goals and keep myself accountable.
I definitely echo what people are saying re-keep wearing your purple belt, because you’ve earned it. Once shit starts clicking back into place for you your skills will show.
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I started my third week back today. Only been doing 3x per week. But already things are starting to fall into place. This is after close to a 5 year hiatus. Cardio is getting better, movement, tapping whites, doing well with blues. It really is like riding a bike. It’s there, just some time, work & being humbled for a while.
My biggest issue now is enough cardio to do multiple hard rolls & not overdoing it (joints etc).
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If you’re not going to compete I say do what you want. You earned the purple but at the end of the day it is your journey. If you want to wear the purple wear it and if you want a fresh start just wear a white. In my opinion belts don’t mean much anyway and there a huge differences in skills between people with the same belt.