In other news, my wife just took her first class on Tuesday. I’m incredibly excited by this.
Congrats mate!
I remember getting my blue about 6 months ago and I was thinking “Im not a blue belt!”. There are still times where I think Im not worthy, but its true what you say that the promotion does make you step up a bit more.
How often are you training now?
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I was training 8x/wk from April til about November, then I tore my pec (not a major tear, but bad enough) and had to take a few months off. I’m only getting in 3-4 times a week now but I plan on ramping up soon. I’d like to compete in an IBJJF tourney this spring. Probably the Dallas Open. I’d love to be able to do the Houston Open in March but I just didn’t think I had enough time to prepare given that I just got back to hard rolling a few weeks ago. My weight would also have been an issue on that short of notice.
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Video of my only tournament match from back in September:
My right tricep tendon tore when I snapped him down about 5 sec in. That arm was pretty much useless for framing or any type of pushing motion the rest of the match, so it was a struggle. Still managed to win though, in no small part because my opponent pulled a hamstring when I swept him towards the end (right before we got reset). He made a noise as it happened, which is why I kinda stopped there. I thought it was a verbal tap.
I forfeited the final so I ended up with a silver medal.
This was also my wife and oldest daughter’s first tournaments. My daughter got bronze (out of 4), and my wife got gold in her division. She has since taken silver at the IBJJF Houston Fall Open.
I got the tricep tendon repaired 9/17, so I’m 7 weeks post-op right now. Elbow has full ROM but it feels weird as hell. I can do very light technique work but I’m not even going to try to flow roll until 2020. We’ll see how it feels after New Year’s.
I’ll post pics of the surgery next. They’re pretty cool.
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Torn tendon shown here. It wasn’t a full tear, you can still see there was a small piece still hanging on:
This is the repaired tendon:
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That was a battle. Great back take!
I’ve got my first comp in December. My takedown sequence is snap down, ankle pick, arm drag. Hopefully my tendons remain intact!
Hope you heal up well!
I had severe tendinitis in that elbow for at least 6 months prior to it snapping. Like “wake you up in the middle of the night throbbing,” and “can’t do cable extensions with more than 10 lb” tendinitis.
Prime case of being too stubborn for my own damn good.
Post video please! We don’t see enough of that around here.
Wowee.
That’s no keyhole surgery!
Must be frustrating to be off the mat and out of the gym.
How’s the recovery going?
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It’s incredibly frustrating. I still go to the gym but I can’t do a whole heck of a lot. Just trying to get everything rehabbed right now, not get too fat, and not go insane.
Recovery is going well but it’s a slow process for tendon injuries.
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Nice roll by the way.
I’m a blue belt that has never competed. The rolls at comps look so much more intense.
Good luck with your recovery!
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I decided to get my right shoulder fixed as well since my out of pocket max was met and I’m already out of commission with the tricep tendon repair. So I had that scoped two weeks ago; they fixed a SLAP tear on the anterior labrum and did some cartilage resurfacing. Hopefully that works.
Recovery on the shoulder is worse than I remember from my last scope in 2013. I think it’s because of the anterior repair, when the last one was posterior. It’s just more painful, and motion is more compromised. It’s coming around though.
I’m going to be fat as fuck and weak as a toddler when I finally get back on the mats. I’m hoping to start doing some technique work and very light rolling with partners I trust in late January/early February. We’ll see how PT goes I guess.
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NIce roll.
I loved that back take-way to push thru.
I am so DONE yet I trick myself and try to get in shape cardio wise enough to roll. Neck elbows and bionic knee say no- but Im 48 with lots of milage.
Recover can suck Really suck. 5 years ago I fell at work did my ACL MCL PCL two heads of the hamstring and most ot fhe calf torn from the bone.
its sucked - that being said - recovery sno-bals. you are feeling like shit
but then it picks up- and it really builds up
I remember being on crutches loading plates at the gym and it sucked ass.
but it gave me something to do. Anyway ove the attitude and wishing a speedy recovery
Thanks. I knew I needed 2 to tie but for some reason he gave me his back instead of trying to escape KOB. Strategic mistake on his part but I’m not complaining.
Holy shit, that must have been some fall. I can imagine that recovery was pretty rough. I wouldn’t wish a lengthy stint with crutches on anyone. How’s the leg now?
Thanks for sharing the video. I watch a ton of jiu-jitsu and almost always enjoy watching regular folks compete more than I do watching the professionals. Much more like the jiu-jitsu most of us actually train in the academy/gym.
Best of luck on the recovery!
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I re-read this whole thread, mainly to review Sento’s advice further up, and came across a few things that deserve an update:
This guy that I talked about 3.5 years ago is also a purple belt now. I haven’t trained with him for years but he posted it on FB. He also trains in the MMA class but I’m pretty sure he isn’t doing it to actually compete in that arena.
Hard to believe I wrote that. I don’t think my words were a good reflection of my actual attitude or approach. My words indicated that I was looking to be a mat bully. I think I really just didn’t know WTF I was talking about. It sounded awful though.
I honestly didn’t really understand this until I started BJJ, which was a few months after my first post. I think I got triangle choked 6 times by a 150 lb blue belt in my first class. That experience left me completely fascinated with the art, and resulted in my current obsession. I didn’t “enjoy” the experience; it wasn’t fun. The best way I can describe it is being completely awestruck that someone that much smaller than me could completely control me.
As for now, I can’t honestly say that I think BJJ is “fun.” I don’t even think I could say I “enjoy” it. But I fucking love it. It’s the perfect thing for someone like me that loves both demanding physical and intellectual challenges. It scratches every itch, and I’d have a hard time feeling fulfilled in my life without it.
Sounds like an addiction when I describe it like that, but at least it’s not a destructive one (my joints notwithstanding).
This couldn’t be more true. Winning in practice does absolutely nothing for my jiu jitsu. Constantly trying to stretch my skillset does. In the same vein, I don’t even compete with the primary goal of winning gold every time. I do it because it makes me extremely uncomfortable (IE pre-comp jitters), the way just walking into a bjj class used to. I also do it to get that intensity that you just won’t get during a normal class or open mat. Winning medals is awesome and I try to win every time, but it’s just not what motivates me to compete now.
Great advice.
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Great write up and you have me thinking about how I’ve changed my thoughts on training in the last three years. I’m sure that will be an ongoing process as I age and work the door less and less,
Competition was two weeks ago but I didn’t get video on my phone. Someone was filming but they haven’t gotten around to editing and posting yet, so hopefully they do soon.
There was only one other shw white belt, a 375 lb former college wrestler with a little over a year of jits. Four rounds, sub only, all draws. Lots of lessons and round 2 was an especially poignant lesson in pressure. I did well positionally in the other three, but holy hell that man could bring brutal pressure.
At this point it’s a backseat hobby for me until I can find a way to train at the same school my instructor does. For now I have to settle for training on home mats, which has been the case for the last year and a half.
Fortunately for me this means I get Jiu Jitsu home delivery, usually with my brown belt instructor running the mats and a good collection of locals coming over to train in my basement.
Unfortunately this means I’ve been a three stripe white belt for the last year and a half too, but I kind of feel like I dodged a bullet by leaving a school that has low standards. I don’t want a blue belt given primarily for participation, especially since I find their curriculum to be lacking in violence.
I’ve never asked my instructor about belts or promotions, but I hope to get a blue belt from him one day. For now I just train when I can.
Always enjoy hearing your thoughts on jits!
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What a nightmare 
. I imagine 375 lends itself pretty well to some intense top pressure.
I subscribe to the “a belt is just a 2” piece of cloth…" theory on promotions, so I agree I’d rather have higher standards than lower. I fear my current school is on the lower side, but I also can’t really argue with any of the promotions I’ve seen so far. We just have a lot of hobbyists and not as many competitors, especially in the upper ranks.
I’ve been having discussions with one of my friends about belt promotions and standards recently, and I don’t think we’ve really come up with anything too profound. It’s a tough subject to think through for me. I would hate to be a sandbagger, but at the same time I think you can be someone that competes very well while still having very little in the way of jiu jitsu knowledge or mastery. Nick Rodriguez is a good example of this IMO. Should he be a black belt because he got 2nd at ADCC and has been doing his fair share of winning against black belts at various super fights around the US recently?
If you get 10 bjj guys together, you’ll have a hard time getting any of them to agree what a rank is even supposed to mean, let alone what the thresholds are for blue/purple/brown/black.
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It does. I weighed in at 288 in my gi. He is the same age as me, 39, so his high-level wrestling days are far behind him but he obviously retained something. He won every takedown except the last, which took me all but 30 seconds of the round to achieve. It wasn’t particularly technical, either, more of a battle of wills. My stand-up was dogshit on this guy.
The second round I didn’t escape fast enough and he settled into side control right away. The only pressure I’ve endured that’s comparable is my instructor’s coach, which is more of a miserable-on-a-point pressure, or a fucking shin across your face.
This guy just crushed my entire torso. I’m not even sure what really happened during the round except making safe from his attacks however I could. He may have taken mount but I honestly don’t recall, and I can usually recall most hard rolls in fairly clear detail. Breathing was hard as fuck. I totally failed to frame him out or use my hips in any meaningful way. I also remember rolling to my side and seeing the clock with 10 seconds left and watching it count down and I heaved a big old loogie onto the mat . It was a long 10 seconds. I need to see that video!
I’ve never rolled with a monster like that before, and I definitely dug experiencing it in competition. I’ve rolled with people of similar size quite a few times, but never someone full-stop bigger and stronger by a pretty big margin. I suppose I had to get my cherry popped at some point. It was just a local men’s tournament, but most of the legit gyms in the state showed up to represent. My opponent trains where my instructor does, which definitely made it a little more meaningful to me to have him as an opponent.
I think I’ve jits rambled in your thread enough, but this might make for an interesting thread of it’s own. I’ve got perspectives from training at and with people from three very different schools, a decent understanding of a first-rate school’s long-term training methodology and basement-training white belt thoughts of my own on this touchy subject.
Bullshit. I like hearing about your training and experiences. Ramble* on bro, I’m all ears! I love talking about jiu jitsu.
As to your competition experience with Kong:
I’ve only rolled with one guy close to that size, and he’s basically a big teddy bear. Strong as fuck but he doesn’t really use it too often, and he usually likes to try and work from the bottom. He also rolls stoned 100% of the time (he’s actually one of the main guys from High Rollerz if you’re familiar), so he stays mellow. So for me he’s easy to “score” on positionally, but I’m not sure I’ve ever subbed him. I’ve seen him roll in competitions, and it doesn’t look like fun. He’s like a different grappler altogether.
Most of the “big” guys I get to roll with regularly are around your size. One is a high level wrestler, but luckily for me his bjj experience is kinda limited. Another is a black belt, but I haven’t rolled with him since I was still a blue belt, and he was pretty nice during the round.
I’d love to see video if you ever get ahold of it. Like burien mentioned above, I’d rather watch video of people I know doing jiu jitsu than just about anything else. Since my wife and daughter started competing I’ve been spending a lot more time at tournaments, and I have to say I really enjoy it. I don’t think I’d rather spend a Saturday any other way.
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So apparently you can get rhabdo from a straight ankle lock. I just got out of the hospital yesterday. Gained 13 lbs from all the fluids they pumped in me LOL.
It started 10 days ago: one of my training partners sat back for an ankle lock, so I put the boot on and shoved my foot deeper into the lock, so his wrist was against the lower part of my calf muscle. He hipped in for the finish anyways, and I was surprised to feel really sharp pain in my calf, so I tapped. No bid deal, I thought.
Later that night, my calf got really swollen, and it hurt so bad I couldn’t walk on it (just kinda hobbled around). It was a little better the next day, and I was able to squat in the gym without any problems. So I went to the gym and trained reasonably hard Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (Sunday is my off day).
Went to the gym Monday, and I got put in the lockdown on that leg. I ended up tapping because I was trying to be mindful of putting any pressure on my calf. From that point on, it started getting more swollen and more painful, to the point where I couldn’t sit in someone’s close guard Tuesday night.
Went to an Urgent Care, and they were concerned about blood clots, so they had me go to the ER for an ultrasound. The ER did the ultrasound, x-ray, and some bloodwork. When the labs came back, my CK (creatine kinase) was around 4500 (I don’t remember the units, but it’s supposed to be below 300). So they admitted me for treatment of acute rhabdomyolysis. I spent the next 48 hours getting fluids and laying in a hospital bed. When they released me, my CK was around 980. Still not good, but not it’s getting better.
So I’m just putting it out there as something to watch out for. I can imagine this happening from a bicep slicer or calf slicer as well. I think in my case the muscle damage was made much worse because the ankle lock pressure was right on the harvesting site for my fibular graft. So basically the end of the bone got ground into my calf muscle, which would explain the sharp pain. Unless you are also missing 80% of your fibula, you probably won’t have the same experience from a simple straight ankle.
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