Fat BJJ guys

I have difficulty with full guard techniques when it comes to fat guys, I think it probably has to do with having to pivot further to clear the girth for any type of armbar or sweep. We have a couple of heavier guys but not really Roy Nelson size, and the ones who have stuck around are pretty decent.
 
ArTofF16hT1ng said:
Any of you know some fat BJJ players from your club? I'm talking like Roy Nelson fat or even fatter.

Some fat dudes move gracefully on the mat.
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no doubt there are some athletic fat guys out there. Jiu Jitsu a great outlet for them - though I personally do not enjoy training with fast fat guys...
 
I find it hard to keep mount on big guys. My instructor is pretty big, and when I'm in the mount on him my knees don't touch the mat. I'm 6'2.

Best way to describe it: like riding a barrel in the ocean. (His analogy, not mine)
 
If any fat guy made a habit of showing up halfway through warm up my instructor would kick his arse.

I always roll with the biggest guy I can, not sure if it helps my game or not but if I am rolling with a higher belt who is near double my weight I figure that is roughly as bad as things can get and therefore comp matchs aren't scary in the least.




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ArTofF16hT1ng said:
Any of you know some fat BJJ players from your club? I'm talking like Roy Nelson fat or even fatter.

Some fat dudes move gracefully on the mat.
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They sweat a lot more too
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So, I'm that fat guy. 6' (used to be 6' 1" but sometime between 35-40 I shrank an inch) and right now about 300 lbs. When I was younger and in good shape I was about 220 lbs with 8% bodyfat, wore a size 50 coat to get around my shoulders and 34 waist, and a good athlete - some HS wrestling and a couple years of judo. I was a better than average wrestler (and basketball and football player, also did a little TKD and Shotokan) but my family moved a lot so I never settled into a program and drilled the way I would have needed to to really maximize my talent at anything. I never did do too well in endurance sports but have always been very strong, particularly in legs and core, as well as quick and explosive for my size - That's all still true, even stronger than I was then, even though not nearly as quick and explosive as I was then, I suppose some due to being fat and some due to getting old. I can still cross guys up on the BB court though, especially when they underestimate me.

Even though it was hard to find a gym back then, I started rolling BJJ right after high school when I saw a couple of UFC events and bought some JJ VHS tapes (wish i still had those, I don't even remember who they were by) and found some friends, former wrestlers and guys crossing over from other arts, who were willing to roll with me. My life took a left turn and suffice to say I didn't get to train consistently and somewhere in there got fat to boot. It took years to recover and get back on track and now I train as often as I can again.

Yes, I sweat more than average. :icon_lol: I do wear a T-shirt or rash guard under the gi and try to avoid soaking my training partners - but sweat is part of the deal if you train hard and I think everybody accepts that.

I've been late to class a few times (I have 4 kids still at home, so cut me some slack) but not consistently, heck, I want the warmups to help reduce this middle area I got going on. The things that are different from when I was younger and thinner are that I'm not nearly as flexible first and foremost, though I work on it every day, my hips just don't open the way they used to. I get tired a lot quicker (obviously - even though I do actually have decent stamina, better than a lot of smaller guys) and it is so fricken hard to get this weight off and even when I do a week or two of laziness and it comes back and brings friends. Guys, seriously, don't get fat - its so much easier not to get fat than to get un-fat. I don't absorb techniques as quick as I once did when I could hit stuff live on the same day I learned it. Don't think that has anything to do with being fat, though. I also have a lot more aches and pains, though I don't have any way to know if I have more than normal for a guy of my age with my background.

Mostly I love love LOVE to roll. I'm not bad in most positions, if I do say so myself, and I have to tell you this fat middle is a big tactical advantage in top game, so I understand why Roy is loath to get rid of it. The first time I roll with someone they *always* get surprised by my agility and quickness. Even when I do (rarely) land on my back I have good sweeps and once I get on top I rarely (like, almost never) get dislodged, even when I'm rolling with another big-ish guy. I get through most guards without too much trouble and can usually land in side control at least, except against very very good guys, high brown and black belts. I like to be in side control better than mount (maybe cause I have really short legs and am top heavy) and when I get on my toes and get my weight on a guy he isn't going anywhere. Then once he accepts being on bottom and me in a control position I can move from position to position very quickly.

So, as far as fat-guy BJJ, I don't really worry about being too heavy hurting my game, if anything it helps until and unless I get so fat it affects my mobility, which right now it doesn't. For health reasons I know I need to lose this middle - but I'll have to change my JJ game when that happens... :)
 
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pesadissimo said:
We have a relatively fat guy that's been training forever, although inconsistently. He is freakishly good, though. It's been said that if he ever put on a gi, he'd be a black belt by now (my instructor said that.) I've rolled with him, and I'm a 300 lb dude with decent mobility, and he just crushes me, both with pressure and ridiculously good technique. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the rest of us) he's the anomaly.
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You don't consider yourself fat? Or you just all muscle? 300lbs is pretty big.
 
our resident big guy is 354 pounds brown belt with a really strong lasso gaurd.
 
Hey, you other big guys, where do you get your gis? I still have a hard time finding good fits.
 
Thiago Monstro Borges is one of our instructors.

monstro%20and%20eduardo.jpg


One on the right, if that wasn't reasonably obvious. Very tight technique. Just won the European 2012 No-Gi at black belt.
 
jaystorm said:
LOL! Awesome post! I prefer to describe myself as a chunky but funky player! Big guy, 6' & 270lbs, with little man's guard skills, working to implement inverted techniques, ala Cyborg, in the new year! I've insisted for last couple of years on starting on bottom when rolling to strengthen my guard/sweep game. I find that I have more partners to roll with also!!
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Big guys with technical guards scare the shit out of me, I do not expect a massive dude to pull guard and start playing something like spider
 
HIMBOB said:
If any fat guy made a habit of showing up halfway through warm up my instructor would kick his arse.

I always roll with the biggest guy I can, not sure if it helps my game or not but if I am rolling with a higher belt who is near double my weight I figure that is roughly as bad as things can get and therefore comp matchs aren't scary in the least.






I am the classic lanky dude and I out sweat the fat guys.
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Id out sweat you...
 
BJJArsenal said:
Thiago Monstro Borges is one of our instructors.

monstro%20and%20eduardo.jpg


One on the right, if that wasn't reasonably obvious. Very tight technique. Just won the European 2012 No-Gi at black belt.
Click to expand...

He's not fat. He may have a gut, but he has a lumberjack's build.
 
I do remember my first BJJ class, I was in the circle doing the warm up next to the fattest guy in class (300ish). I was fit as hell when I walked in and he obviously wasn’t very fit.

And yet the bastard just kept doing the warm up, no rest breaks not stopping early or doing things dodgy I died by about half way and he kept going. That combined with getting my arse handed to me easily left me wondering who are these people, and then I was thinking I must become one of these people.
 
ArTofF16hT1ng said:
He's not fat. He may have a gut, but he has a lumberjack's build.
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Yeah a lot of big guys get lumped in with fat guys. But I think there is a pretty key distinction.

Honestly I think it is very difficult for a truly fat guy to do well at BJJ. Luckily, most will naturally lose fat just from training BJJ, so they will automatically transform from fat guys to big guys and become monsters.

BJJ should transform your body for the better -- weak guys get stronger, fat guys get slimmer, etc.
 
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