have you ever been to a new gym and got owned

O

ozyabbas

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I had been to a few different gyms over the last month mostly due to travelling. I had been training at 4 different academies with a very different feel at each. At two of the academies I was one of the only people above a white belt (im a blue belt) so most of their members weren't really a challenge apart from the purple belt instructors.

Against the purple belts so far I had generally been able to hold my own and had been relatively equal with most of the blue belts at those academies.

I went to a new academy yesterday and again I was one of the only non white belts but one of the purple belt instructors took me apart. I was so surprised, I couldn't believe I was getting swept and mounted so easily. I almost felt like I was a white belt again. It felt like I was sparring a black or brown belt.

Has anyone else here had similar experiences (perhaps new people coming to your gym and owning everybody).
 
nahhh '
when i was a white belt i went
to a GYM down the street and got owned by a purple

lol

and there was another time, where a purple came to my school and i held my own. when i was a white belt
 
Well, you most rolled against a good purple belt that is long overdue for a grading.
I would not worry about it.
 
You have to take into aco**** what level Purple or whatever they are. A three purple is going to be much better than a 3 month purple.

And besides that all schools are honestly the same level across the board. i've rolled with with people coming in for a drop in that where far above and far below what belt they were wearing.

I'm a newly promoted blue myself and I've rolled with a couple of drop in purples that I completely owned and then the next day got my ass handed to me by a fellow blue belt.

A perfect example is a new guy came in awhile back and was wearing a whitebelt. Well he was just going at it with all the purples and even gave a couple of the Black belts a run for their money. Come to find out yes he was a BJJ whitebelt but he had something ridiculous like 17 years of Judo experience at the national level and was some umpteenth dan black belt. Not to mention he as built like a tank.

You just can never tell by belt. But the mat never lies.
 
ozyabbas said:
I had been to a few different gyms over the last month mostly due to travelling. I had been training at 4 different academies with a very different feel at each. At two of the academies I was one of the only people above a white belt (im a blue belt) so most of their members weren't really a challenge apart from the purple belt instructors.

Against the purple belts so far I had generally been able to hold my own and had been relatively equal with most of the blue belts at those academies.

I went to a new academy yesterday and again I was one of the only non white belts but one of the purple belt instructors took me apart. I was so surprised, I couldn't believe I was getting swept and mounted so easily. I almost felt like I was a white belt again. It felt like I was sparring a black or brown belt.

Has anyone else here had similar experiences (perhaps new people coming to your gym and owning everybody).
Click to expand...


What part of the country were you in?
 
Yes....yes I have.

On a serious note, yeah....it happens. I find myself wandering out to other schools when I need a break and a fresh perspective. Meaning, basically, that there is something stalling my game. Those new schools can take a fresh look at your game and really help you out. Even minor things can turn your slump into an amazing learning streak.

Sounds a little different from your story, though.
 
belts have nothing to do with talent. it's at the instructor's discretion.
 
no. my school is great the guys here give me the hardest time. i get beat by some black belts but i also take into cosideration how they beat me. did they really beat me with there skill and knowledge or did they muscle everything
 
lechien said:
Oh right, please elaborate. :icon_chee
Click to expand...

That is pure truth. Especially in BJJ. Theoretically, you get a promotion when your technique is better than the other people at your level, and if your technique is better than logically, you should win.

But that doesn't happen. Everyone has different criteria, and very good competitors who teach often promote people for reasons that go beyond technical efficiency when rolling. They try to explain it off in a bunch of ways, but frankly the rules are arbitrary. That is why no one can come up with a solid purple and brown belt test.

They just give you a list of techniques that anyone can learn from an instructional.

Belt level is a matter of opinion.

Don't think of belt level as a matter of talent. That would be stupid. You are better off thinking of it as a matter of progress, and that's not even acurate a lot of the time.
 
Visiting a gym is in theory putting a lot of factors against yourself, like jet-lag, abnormal diet, lack of sleep, work, etc, and then trying to perform like usual.

I always keep that in mind when we have visiting guys. I have visited a bunch of gyms, and never felt like the top guys at my old gym were worse than the guys I was training with. We would have higher level guys come in all the time and get dominated. Were they worse, or were they just tired and out of their element? Can't make that guess.

With that said, if I was the one performing poorly compared to where I should be, I would be questioning my previous training.
 
Calibur said:
That is pure truth. Especially in BJJ. Theoretically, you get a promotion when your technique is better than the other people at your level, and if your technique is better than logically, you should win.

But that doesn't happen. Everyone has different criteria, and very good competitors who teach often promote people for reasons that go beyond technical efficiency when rolling. They try to explain it off in a bunch of ways, but frankly the rules are arbitrary. That is why no one can come up with a solid purple and brown belt test.

They just give you a list of techniques that anyone can learn from an instructional.

Belt level is a matter of opinion.

Don't think of belt level as a matter of talent. That would be stupid. You are better off thinking of it as a matter of progress, and that's not even acurate a lot of the time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree.

I know some instructors who use time as a heavy indicator of grading. My instructor promotes to blue belts after they understand the basics, compete in two tournaments, have been around for a year, and do not suck really bad. Higher belts are mostly done by tournament success, time, teaching, and overall knowledge.

From what I've seen, our school promotes to blue belt faster than other schools, but our purple belts and above are pretty competitive within their own belt level.

I really don't know how instructors decide who is ready for promotions. It's easy when you have about 15-20 guys who are serious, but some schools just have a ridiculous amount of students, and it's tough to keep track.
 
When I first walked into BTT as a fresh blue I got owned pretty bad...:)

It's good to check out different academies as all academies have different styles and philosophies to rolling.

I really liked BTT 'cause they emphasized the standup.
I really liked Fight Zone Copa 'cause they emphasized DLR and spiderguard and massive amounts of rolling.
I really liked Gordo JJ 'cause they emphasized long technical sparring rounds.
I really liked Gracie Barra 'cause they let you roll as much as you wanted at the end of the training.
 
I trained for a few year s as part of a college mma club. I wrestled in college and did judo for a couple of years. I had even won som tourneys. I thought i knew my level. Then i went to my new school and got completely tooled. by the purples, browns, and blacks. Even some of the blues were beating my ass pretty bad. our blues are all over the place, some are really good, and and some would get hurt pretty bad by alot of whitebelts.

long story short, i got my feelings hurt pretty bad.
 
To be honest I was very glad that I sparred that guy and got owned. It was a university club and I was basically told by one of the guys that runs it (not the instructor) not to expect too much because as people get skilled they have to leave the university. So the retention rate was pretty low.

Now I know there is a guy I can learn a lot from and is extremely challenging as an instructor. To be honest he must be feeling a bit irritated that there isn't anyone at his level in the club.

It was just the way I got owned that surprised me. Just being caught in simple sweeps that I would almost never get caught in before surprised me.

To the guy who asked what gyms I have trained at (some of these were for only one session)
1) Eddie Kone in London
2) Gracie Barra gym in Sheffield
3) A Royce Gracie network one in Sheffield
4) John Frankl bjj in Seoul, Korea (the one I consider my main gym, I got my blue belt there)
5) Mark Walders Gracie Barra in East London (my main club in London)
6) A Gracie Barra in Sandiacre, Nottingham
7) A sort of non-affiliated gym in Nottingham, the instructor was trained by Michael Jen
8) University of Nottingham BJJ club, Gracie Barra, it was the assistant instructor, a purple belt from Jordon (Team Mirza) who owned me.

Every gym had a different vibe, some were taught by Black belts others by purple belts and one club had a blue belt instructor.
One of the clubs had an mma emphasis, I stood up to pass the guard once and one of the white belts at this club thought I was cheating. He didn't know that there are standing passes.
 
Usually when I go to a new gym I roll extremely light and slow with lower ranks the first few times, and pretty much let them do whatever they want. This is my method of injury prevention, and practicing self-control. After they get the initial competitive "destroy" spirit out of their system is when I start to pick it up a little. I've found this not only avoids injuries and helps me keep my ego checked, but it also disarms that "invaded" feeling some students get when a guy from another school comes in.

Obviously with higher belts I still roll normal.
 
I stood up to pass the guard once and one of the white belts at this club thought I was cheating. He didn't know that there are standing passes.
Click to expand...
Now that's funny.
 
ozyabbas said:
One of the clubs had an mma emphasis, I stood up to pass the guard once and one of the white belts at this club thought I was cheating. He didn't know that there are standing passes.
Click to expand...

it was not explained in eddie bravo's mastering the rubber guard.
 
There is a difference between those who wear a purple belt and are aspiring pro athletes, and those who wear a purple belt who do BJJ as a hobby.

I'll let you guess the difference.
 
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