1.5 months into BJJ and i feel useless

1.5 months, to be honest, is like you just exited the jiu jitsu womb. I've been training 3.5 years now and I only started to feel half decent at this sport within the last year and a bit. It took me almost 2.5 years to go from white belt to blue belt (I'm a pretty small grappler -- -141.0lbs with GI). I almost quit on many instances but I stuck with it.

I forget who said this but... a black belt is a white belt who never quit.

I would say to keep training and ask lots of questions. If you are getting crushed all the time, try to take a step back and see where it starts. Though I'm only a blue belt... I would say the biggest thing for me was learning my jiu jitsu defense. People would always pass my guard. So I'd work hard at my side escapes and always get back into guard... putting your frames in the right spots... smooth hip movements... when you have awesome defense, you'll be confident when people try to attack. This may take a while but work one aspect at a time. Big buildings aren't built in one day. Build you game one day at a time :-)

If you really want a good way to improve faster, start training for competitions and competing. When you compete, holes in your game get exposed. Recognize the holes and fill them in. Also, stepping on the competitions mats the first time makes returning to the gym mats feel very different.

Good luck.
 
As everyone else has said, 1.5 months is nothing....

Hell 1.5 years is really nothing either.
 
Thrawn33 said:
As everyone else has said, 1.5 months is nothing....

Hell 1.5 years is really nothing either.
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Amen to that....and yet, at the same time, explaining something as automatic as shrimping or a proper elbow escape would take at least half an hour.
 
1.5 months is nothing - don't worry about it. If you're committed to getting better, go to class as much as possible, supliment bjj training with lifting and cardio, and get privates (if you can afford it).

When someone catches you, ask him what you did wrong. Ask a lot of questions, it's a marathon not a 40 yard dash.
 
Give it another couple of weeks. I was starting to tap bluebelts pretty regularly at arou d the 3 month mark.
 
I think I've plugged this book 100x's by now, but the Jiu Jitsu University by Ribeiro is pretty useful for me as a beginner.

[taken from a concise amazon review]
White belt: The goal is "survival," which seems completely reasonable to me, at least as a focus. This chapter covers the correct positions to attain and to hold while you're under another player's mount (top, side, back, etc.). Ribeiro lists the mistakes he thinks players typically make when defending against submissions in these positions, and some of his techniques are slightly different from what I've seen taught elsewhere. The point here is that the new player hasn't learned, or at least, isn't proficient at, escapes or submissions yet, and he needs to learn how to survive while thinking of his next move.
 
xchrislee said:
I think I've plugged this book 100x's by now, but the Jiu Jitsu University by Ribeiro is pretty useful for me as a beginner.

[taken from a concise amazon review]
White belt: The goal is "survival," which seems completely reasonable to me, at least as a focus. This chapter covers the correct positions to attain and to hold while you're under another player's mount (top, side, back, etc.). Ribeiro lists the mistakes he thinks players typically make when defending against submissions in these positions, and some of his techniques are slightly different from what I've seen taught elsewhere. The point here is that the new player hasn't learned, or at least, isn't proficient at, escapes or submissions yet, and he needs to learn how to survive while thinking of his next move.
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I second this. Before this book, I tapped regularly. After this book (which I specifically got because I was going to visiting another school in Arkansas and didn't want to be embarrassed), it became significantly harder to tap me....which gave me more time to be calm and think, which gave me more time to start working in techniques....which made me enjoy the entire game better.
 
I have been training for 3.5 months now and i still cant get any submissions, just need to defend and ask for tips, 1 each practice and i get little better each time.
Keep on training and you will be better, also work on your cardio/stamina, after few sparring rounds i get tired and i get submitted faster/easier.
 
two months is nothing. suck it up, be a man. Give it a year. Flow like water.
 
Don't give up now, you've only been training 1.5 months, shouldn't be focused on getting crazy subs right now. Keep at it and you will find yourself getting less and less useless.
 
keep a journal, ask your training partners questions, go over your rolls on the ride home. First four months or so every night I'd leave class saying "screw this crap, I'm paying good money to get the shit kicked out of me every damn night. I'm sure I can find better things to do with my time". Then the next class I'd be right back at it and after class I'd say the same crap. What kept me going back was the next day I'd wake up and think "damn, if only I had done such and such I could have done better".

Now a little over two years later and I still have those bad nights just not as often, but instead of cursing it I evaluate what happened, learn from it and know that the crappy nights are getting fewer and farer between.

Oh and since I'm normally a sarcastic prick on here; man up you pussy!!!
 
Rawex said:
I have been training for 3.5 months now and i still cant get any submissions, just need to defend and ask for tips, 1 each practice and i get little better each time.
Keep on training and you will be better, also work on your cardio/stamina, after few sparring rounds i get tired and i get submitted faster/easier.
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Same here... I've only gotten 2 taps in my 4+ months of rolling, and they were both on the same night. One was due to knee on belly, and the other was our 4th roll in and the guy was too tired to defend my Americana.

I won't say I have completely ignored submissions, but my focus has been on survival and escapes. I have been focusing on guard a lot too, mainly half-guard. I feel like I can get better escapes from there. Also, I feel like playing on the bottom has helped my cardio quite a bit too. It used to be tourture, but now it is getitng better..
 
everzzz said:
So basically I'd like some tips on the fundamentals I need to work on, what is it that I should work on as a little guy? Right now I don't really care about submissions, I just want to be able to last long.
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Well I think you have the right attitude about it right now as defense is about all you can really do. If you keep that up you will reach your goal. I can understand how your feeling because ive been there. Im smaller than you and I was getting smashed every time I sparred. And it didnt help that I was training once a week. I recall the first 3 months were like hell.

My best advice is to absorb any info that you can. rather than trying to discover new ways to escape or defend, ask someone you know and trust one tip at a time and try it in sparring. It probably wont work at first but it will eventually start to work especially against other white belts.

Also check my blog bjjchecklist.com it has many basic techniques that you should learn first.
 
ShanghaiBJJ said:
You sure have noticed a theme in the trhead by now... it does take time.

Here is some more specific advice, as you are a smaller guy:

- Accept that you will be playing from the bottom a lot. Still learn about good base and posture when you are on top (ask your instructor), but realize that you will need to play a small man's game, which translates to first getting good with the guard, really good. Then comes everything else.

How to do that?

- Specialize in learning everything about defense and survival on bottom. Drill the hell out of all the escapes on the bottom, especially bottom side control.
[Important note: If you make it your goal to "win", or "last longer", or "hang with the bigger guys", you will get frustrated A LOT. Make it your goal to become the best in the gym at defending your guard and escaping back to guard. That way a roll is succesful, even if you get swept, if you manage to hold your guard just that little bit better than before. Adjusting the mindset away from "winning" towards "executing the technique I want to get better at" has made a huge improvement in my game.]

- Once you feel good with the guard recovery and defense (of course you start doing everything at the same time, but REALLY focus on escapes first) pcik a sweep and one submission from guard and make it your own. Don't pick a new one every week, pick one and stick with it.

- Realize that in a way you are blessed. The stronger heavier guy don't HAVE to be technical, you do. You will always strive for the perfect technical execution.

You are what BJJ was designed for!
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This post is the everlasting truth of BJJ.

You have to take your "small" victories. Getting the tap is not important. Executing techniques is what is important. You will notice the joy of executing a technique well with good timing after a while. How the people you used to get smashed by are now threatened by your guard.

Note. A lot of people will say smaller guys have an "easier" time getting better at technique than big guys because small guys are forced to work on it. This is not true. In fact, it's harder because everything is against you. Your opponent is destroying you, the weight is against you, the strength part is against you. Everything will be against you and it WILL be hard to excel.

But the joy of seeing your own progress a year down the road will be MORE than worth it. Just stick to it and you can't fail. And all those days of getting squashed WILL be worth it.
 
anaconda said:
It took me 3 months before I felt like I was "getting" jiujitsu.

By 6 months, I finally felt like I was "getting" jiujitsu.

After a year, I started to believe I was "getting" jiujitsu.

Two years in, and lots of hard work and competitions, and FINALLY I was "getting" jiujitsu.

I've been training for over four years now and well, I still don't know sh*t! Every new discovery and I feel like "oohhhh, finally I'm getting it!" and then a week or a month or a year later I realize how far off I was. Relax, have fun, and enjoy the journey and don't focus too much on the destination.
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Hahaha. Oh man, I'm nearing my 4th year myself and this is so true ^^
 
I'm about 6 months into training and I still get tossed around a lot, I'm just getting the hang of a few things that are making a HUGE difference. Stay with it and keep working.
 
Get Saulo's Jiu Jitsu University book. He has an entire chapter dedicated to surviving as a beginner.
 
I think i'm in a bit over a year now, and I think the more I learn, the more I realize that I don't know jackshit.
 
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