Two times to maintain, Three times to get better...

[dmwalking]

Obviously this is a subjective matter so there is no right and wrong. Only what each individual sees as right and wrong.

I think it's foolish for someone to focus their life on the sport if they have other obligations that should come first....like children, spouse, work. But if you're young and have no strings, I don't see why you wouldn't immerse yourself in your passion. That said, in the long run, I'd hope that they plan to do something with those belts and medals besides put them on a wall and talk about the good ol days.

So it could be a good thing as long as guys aren't neglecting other aspects of a healthy lifestyle. But if they are negligent, then they'll end up miserable. Wall full of golds, home void of life.

 

[redaxe]

2011: Trained 5 days a week on average, competed 5 times
late 2011: got married
2012: Trained 2 days a week on average, competed 0 times

I probably could still do more BJJ than I do now, but I feel the returns are diminishing. But I guess I'd rather spend the extra time lifting weights, hanging out with my wife, or working on learning web application programming (taking an online course about it now).

I also had a pretty bad injury that put me out for about 3 months this year, so I kind of had to develop some other interests.

 

[Aethyr]

The thing that people need to realize is that you can't really make a living as a BJJ athlete. Yet I've seen young kids sacrifice school and vocational/professional training in order to become a BJJ world champ. If and that's a big IF, they do get the coveted medal, then what? Put out a DVD perhaps and make a few grand? Only if you've been dominating like Buchecha. If you squeak by with advantages like Bruno Malfacine, forget it.

Hillary was world champ. But she's now in med school. That should be a sign to all the medal chasers.

As for opening a school - you can do that without a medal. But BJJ will generally be revenue inferior to other types of gyms. Why? BJJ is freakin hard work. And women hate it. So you've automatically lost 50% of the population. You will always have more people in the Boxing Club doing cardio boxing or Zumba fitness because its easy. And because women don't hate it.

 

[freakroor]

I didnt know women hate bjj. Most females i Talk to say they would love to try it but are too nervous about training with big strong men.

Most men on the other hand are quick to put
Down bjj as some sort of *********ry

...On topic, I train 5-6 days a week. Already graduated
college and my job requires minimal
Time.

 

[100%Jiu-Jitsu]

I didnt know women hate bjj. Most females i Talk to say they would love to try it but are too nervous about training with big strong men.

Attitudes vary a lot, in my experience. That said, it's frustrating that their initial reaction is so often to say that BJJ seems gay because it involves guys rolling around with one another. That automatically sexualizes the activity in their minds, which makes it hard for them to imagine ever stepping onto the mats.

My current gf was SHOCKED that there were actually women who trained seriously.

 

[Aethyr]

I didnt know women hate bjj. Most females i Talk to say they would love to try it but are too nervous about training with big strong men.

Most men on the other hand are quick to put
Down bjj as some sort of *********ry

...On topic, I train 5-6 days a week. Already graduated
college and my job requires minimal
Time.

In general, they find close contact with strangers very unappealing. There will always be exceptions, but on average, women don't like grappling, at least not enough to overcome their distaste for that contact.

I think men would feel the same, but as males, we immediately see it as a war for superiority, so our instinct to win/dominate overcomes whatever initial awkwardness we might have. My guess is that women don't have that instinct so all they're left with is the awkwardness. So women who do grapple tend to have either a strong win instinct or some other motivation such as self defense, etc, or they're just one of the few who don't mind the contact.

 

[PCypert]

My friend, it seems you have found what is known as a "keeper".

Yeah helps she's hot and into video games too She can't roll hard yet, but we enjoy flow rolling at almost every class and she's starting to roll with others now too. Her technique is easily better than mine, just wish she weren't so shy on the mats.

 

[ASMBJJ]

I'm 24 years old , no GF , i rarely go out. All i do is work and BJJ almost everyday.

My name is also Alex, I was born in 1988 (Now 24 years old), I don't have a gf (I've actually had two relationships end because I focus too much on bjj), and all I do is work and train bjj lol.

 

[dragonslayer131]

If you have a dream to become the best in BJJ you certainly have to train 2-4 times a day. It's true what you say, these guys do miss things in life, but I don't think they care. They can easily, for example, put family on hold to make that dream come true. I know i will.

 

[Poom]

I do 4 a week if i can , one of them is Sat morning and the rest are in the week , 2 hour sessions 7-9pm , sat one is in the morning though, this has been the case for about 2.5 years

Puts a lot of strain on my relationship as its means if i see her in the week (dont live together but been together 4 years ) It's most likely around 9:30pm so 2 hours awake time max before sleep, then when I see her on Friday i rush off to training the next morning ,

Sometimes I do wonder if i'm in too much of a rush to get good and should spend more time with GF and friends while im in my late twenties , but if I did i'd probably drink a lot more which would not be a good thing . I enjoy BJJ so much though and really hate my job so it's the thing i look forward to the most in the morning even over seeing friends etc , so I dont think i could cut my hours down.

so anyway back to the original post, I have no idea what balance is but certainly people can be too obsessed if they train so much and take it so seriously they never go to party etc when they are young, so this is ok when if you see it as a career but if it's just a hobbie i do think you have to be careful or you might miss out on things like girlfriends and having a social life, but who says these things are important anyway eh...

 

[kintana]

The thing that people need to realize is that you can't really make a living as a BJJ athlete.

You can make some sort of living but I doubt it is comfortable. I had a friend give up a law Degree from UCL to train BJJ fulltime. He seems content but I know he struggles quite a bit financially and ramen noodles are his main dish. But he doesnt complain.

I dont know why so many people think they can make money doing BJJ. I have studied 3 different martial arts before BJJ. And even my previous instructors had a full time job. It may be a passion of yours and if your happy living that lifestyle I say go for it. But if your someone who is going to complain that BJJ doesnt pay well what did you think was going to happen?

How many freestyle wrestlers make big bucks? You may have 1 or 2 like Jordan Burroughs that makes 200000 from USA wrestling for the olympics but 100 of others can't

Even Matt Hughes complained that for a collegiate wrestler there were only two paths before MMA. WWE or coach. Unless you become a WWE star there is not much money. And hughes didnt want to go that route.

For a BJJ guy wanting to make 5 figures or more money to fight. MMA is your venue. If you dont want to do MMA, there isn't much money in BJJ competition and I doubt there will be much in the next 10 years.

Correct me if I am wrong but other martial arts competitions like Judo, Karate etc. dont pay either.

 

[Fedorzilla]

I think of it like becoming a priest or something. It's not the path for everyone or even most people. Once you go down it in earnest, you pretty much give up any shot at a "normal" life. And even if you choose to leave that life later on, it is impossible to ever really get back into normal life in quite the same way as before.

Still it's the right path for some people. It is just their calling.

This is a good analogy.

 

[Einarr]

I do 4 a week if i can , one of them is Sat morning and the rest are in the week , 2 hour sessions 7-9pm , sat one is in the morning though, this has been the case for about 2.5 years

Puts a lot of strain on my relationship as its means if i see her in the week (dont live together but been together 4 years ) It's most likely around 9:30pm so 2 hours awake time max before sleep, then when I see her on Friday i rush off to training the next morning ,

Sometimes I do wonder if i'm in too much of a rush to get good and should spend more time with GF and friends while im in my late twenties , but if I did i'd probably drink a lot more which would not be a good thing . I enjoy BJJ so much though and really hate my job so it's the thing i look forward to the most in the morning even over seeing friends etc , so I dont think i could cut my hours down.

so anyway back to the original post, I have no idea what balance is but certainly people can be too obsessed if they train so much and take it so seriously they never go to party etc when they are young, so this is ok when if you see it as a career but if it's just a hobbie i do think you have to be careful or you might miss out on things like girlfriends and having a social life, but who says these things are important anyway eh...

Having a girlfriend these days essentially amounts to trading huge amounts of time and money on a woman for a small amount of mediocre, vanilla sex. Not worth it IMO; no great loss to prioritize Jiu-jitsu over women.

 

[NateTx4112]

One day you will grow up bud. It's not just about sex, it's deeper than that. Until you have that person that you can lean on and share your life completely with and truly expose your fears too, you won't understand.

Partners in life are far more important than you give credit too right now. BJJ is a huge part of my life, but it's a simple choice if it comes down to it.

 

[woooo]

Yeah helps she's hot and into video games too She can't roll hard yet, but we enjoy flow rolling at almost every class and she's starting to roll with others now too. Her technique is easily better than mine, just wish she weren't so shy on the mats.

And the winner of this thread ..... ^^ this guy! ^^

 

[Uchi Mata]

Having a girlfriend these days essentially amounts to trading huge amounts of time and money on a woman for a small amount of mediocre, vanilla sex. Not worth it IMO; no great loss to prioritize Jiu-jitsu over women.

That's pretty cynical. My wife makes almost as much as I do (maybe more with bonuses), she probably spends as much money on me as I do on her. Not going to go into details about my sex life but it's very satisfactory. I do BJJ 4 times a week, more than that if I'm gearing up for a tournament, and she's cool with it. I just make sure that when I'm not doing BJJ that I spend time with her. She knows it's very important to me, and if we have something she really wants to do then I skip a class or two...but that's not very often, because again she knows it's a priority of mine.

Maybe you just need a girlfriend who cares about your priorities and doesn't suck in bed. Not that that is necessarily easy to find, but I wouldn't assume that a girlfriend/wife destroys your BJJ. I don't imagine most top competitors are celibate warrior priests.

 

[Einarr]

One day you will grow up bud. It's not just about sex, it's deeper than that. Until you have that person that you can lean on and share your life completely with and truly expose your fears too, you won't understand.

Partners in life are far more important than you give credit too right now. BJJ is a huge part of my life, but it's a simple choice if it comes down to it.

Women aren't like that anymore - I doubt more than 1% of the female population in the West is "wife-material". Women these days think the height of fun is getting drunk out of their minds at a club and being borderline-raped by some Jersey Shore douchebag, not anything approaching romance. I'm also of the generation of men who has seen their parents' marriage end in a messy divorce, usually instigated by the woman, after which the man is robbed blind by a divorce court. I don't think I've seen a relationship among people my age last more than a coupe of years and frankly I'm too jaded to even try. The number of women who casually cheat on their boyfriends/husbands is also ridiculous. So, yeah, Jiu-jitsu > women/relationships.

 

[Einarr]

That's pretty cynical. My wife makes almost as much as I do (maybe more with bonuses), she probably spends as much money on me as I do on her. Not going to go into details about my sex life but it's very satisfactory. I do BJJ 4 times a week, more than that if I'm gearing up for a tournament, and she's cool with it. I just make sure that when I'm not doing BJJ that I spend time with her. She knows it's very important to me, and if we have something she really wants to do then I skip a class or two...but that's not very often, because again she knows it's a priority of mine.

Maybe you just need a girlfriend who cares about your priorities and doesn't suck in bed. Not that that is necessarily easy to find, but I wouldn't assume that a girlfriend/wife destroys your BJJ. I don't imagine most top competitors are celibate warrior priests.

I never claimed not to be a cynic.

 

[domman24]

You can make some sort of living but I doubt it is comfortable. I had a friend give up a law Degree from UCL to train BJJ fulltime. He seems content but I know he struggles quite a bit financially and ramen noodles are his main dish. But he doesnt complain.

I dont know why so many people think they can make money doing BJJ. I have studied 3 different martial arts before BJJ. And even my previous instructors had a full time job. It may be a passion of yours and if your happy living that lifestyle I say go for it. But if your someone who is going to complain that BJJ doesnt pay well what did you think was going to happen?

How many freestyle wrestlers make big bucks? You may have 1 or 2 like Jordan Burroughs that makes 200000 from USA wrestling for the olympics but 100 of others can't

Even Matt Hughes complained that for a collegiate wrestler there were only two paths before MMA. WWE or coach. Unless you become a WWE star there is not much money. And hughes didnt want to go that route.

For a BJJ guy wanting to make 5 figures or more money to fight. MMA is your venue. If you dont want to do MMA, there isn't much money in BJJ competition and I doubt there will be much in the next 10 years.

Correct me if I am wrong but other martial arts competitions like Judo, Karate etc. dont pay either.

Im going on 23 and finishing my undergraduate degree this year, and after i get it I would love to try to make a go of being competitive on the scene. I feel like if someone has there degree they have a better end game once their time competing is up and thats why when i started training i said during school i would focus on my degree and take jiu jitsu even more seriously after i graduate.

 

[Gabicho]

One day you will grow up bud. It's not just about sex, it's deeper than that. Until you have that person that you can lean on and share your life completely with and truly expose your fears too, you won't understand.

Partners in life are far more important than you give credit too right now. BJJ is a huge part of my life, but it's a simple choice if it comes down to it.

Some people just aren't interested in the whole partnership, marriage, happy forever after thing. This has to do a lot with age and family/cultural background.

I don't train as often as i'd want to - right now i train at least 3 times a week, but it used to be 6 times a week.
But i have a business to run, and a carreer i'm passionate about. AND it pays about 20 times more than i was making teaching and fighting MMA professionally.
Some people don't realize the difference in between the kinds of practitioners you can be.
Sedentary: You watch dvd's and go to the odd class or seminar.
Recreational: You train for fun and health. You may even compete once in a while.
Amateur: You train often, for fun, health, and are aiming higher while not completely devoted to training because you have a job and stuff that's more important.
Professional: All in. Training, teaching, competing is your living and profession.

So for some people it's perfectly ok to train once a year and for others to train 4 times a day. The problem lies when the "just-bleed" recreational/amateur pretends he'll be like the professional without making the sacrifices, and criticizes the sedentary because he doesn't aim high enough.

I remember seeing an interview where they asked Fedor how did it feel to be the greatest fighter, and if it was an overwhelming feeling. He answered that, to begin with, he didn't think he was the best, and that being a good fighter was no different than being a good mathematician or a good architect. It's just a profession like all the others.
Kick in the nuts to those who feel they're Jesus' second coming because they can smash and choke anyone that crosses their path.