so i've been doing bjj for a little while now (train hard 3x/week) i've learned a lot and am def getting better by the day but the guys i train with all have 8+ months experience on me and i'm just unable to really compete with any of them and i gotta admit this is kinda gettin me down as i've always been able to pick up new sports quite fast so question is how long after you started bjj (assuming you had no grapling experience before that) did it take you before you were able to tap other white belts on regular basis?
I had a seminar with Royler and someone asked him the same question. He said something like this: At first you are like the guy caught out in the rain without an umbrella. All this stuff is raining down on you and you can't do anything about it. It is very frustrating. Heck it still is frustrating for me (I've got about 8 months in with Sambo). But just the other day one of the advanced guys who is around my size kicked my butt the entire time we rolled and he never tapped me. And so I told him, "Don't take it easy on me. If you have a sub I want you to take it. That is the only way I'm going to get better." His response was that he wasn't taking it easy on me. My sub defense had just gotten better... So you have to look at things in the right frame of mind. I'd spent the entire time on the bottom (getting some escapes only to lose top position again) and barely defending subs. It sucked. It was frustrating as heck. But when I first started he used to tap me in like 30 seconds. So it is progress...
i have the same problem...i can't tap anyone unless if they're yellow belts, which is discouraging knowing that i'm 2 years older than they are and bigger. Anyhow, just keep training bro, the more you go the more you'll see such as openings, also your reaction time will eventually improve. A lot of things take time, if we learned things in 2 seconds that'd just take the fun out of the sport. OR find a friend that doesn't know anything, ask him to spar and make his ass tap -Jon
I think it's all about the type of person you're and the person you're facing is. Alot of whitebelts that have no formal training in anything make alot of mistakes that more experienced people can pick up on. People that are huge, in size and strength usually depend on their size/strength to beat people and sometimes they can tap out other smaller and weaker whitebelts until they gas. And then there are the whitebelts that used to train in another combat sport, usually boxing and wrestling. These people use their old skills to beat some whitebelts but their old arts set them up to make mistakes or to tire themselves out and then they get beaten. It doesn't matter what type of whitebelt you are, you will get tapped out by other whitebelts and advanced people. As you go on, and give up your old habits and improve/learn new things, you'll get better and will have a chance to tap out anyone. All you have to do is keep working hard and try to absorb as much as you can. Also, don't get discouraged.
Work on your defense, escapes and controls. Don't worry about subs. If at any point you control someone with more experience than you, escape their sub/control, or control them for more than 5 seconds, count it as a victory. That is the best way to measure your progress when you are a total beginner. Its also the quickest way to improve. When you really know how to defend against a sub, then you will also know how to best put it in.... same goes for controls. Then you can start to get more aggressive. There are few more depressing things then seeing a beginner with bad defense, escapes, controls flailing around trying to sub people.
I found this when I started too. Even after several months, I wasn't tapping anyone higher than me (only the new guys that joined). Two things to keep in mind I think. Firstly is don't think of tapping someone as a win and being tapped as a loss. This isn't competition, it's all learning. When you get tapped then it's a great opportunity to work on your game to make sure that same sub doesn't happen again. Second thing like others have said, don't focus too much on actual subs while you're starting out. Position and defense. Our instructor said when he started he was pretty much the classes "tapping bitch". If someone wanted to roll and tap someone, they'd do it with him. I don't think he tapped anyone ever in the first 5 months. So he decided if he can't tap anyone, he was going to work on not getting tapped himself. He just worked position; maintain the dominant, defend against the dominant. Yeah like a fairytale with a nice ending, he got so good at it, he became one of the best guys defensively.
Some good advice here. I just returned to BJJ training after being out of it for 7 years. I remember most of the subs, but forgot almost all about good position. I'm getting tapped a lot. Man, I suck!
At Rickson's school, white belts are in a class with primarily other white belts. When I started, I think the first time I tapped someone else was about the 2nd class I attended. Got a guy in a RNC that was an Aikido instructor. I'm about 6'0" and 180 and so I was stronger than some of hte guys that I was rolling with. Accordingly, I'm sure I muscled a couple of taps pretty soon after starting. Smaller guys are definitely going to have to wait longer, but the taps definitely come. I think it took me some time before I started tapping other blues with any regularity once I moved into the more advanced classes.
My first day But I wrestled all through high school, and since then. But it is normal to get frustrated, you are getting better, you just don't realize it, but I am sure members at your gym do.
As every one has already said, position before submission. I've been at it for four months now and I haven't subbed anyone who has been there for double my time there. I'm not worried about the submissions yet, just learning on how to defend stuff.
You are getting better, trust me. Even if you don't think you are improving, wait until the new guys show up.
So true. grappling skill comes from a feel that you get with constant practice. its great. wait till the newbies arrive.
The problem is so few make it to a second class. A new guy comes in and you're like, "Thank god! Now I get to beat on someone..." So you get some taps, feel pretty good about yourself, get all pumped up... Only to have them never show up again and still be the low man on the totem pole!!! Don't get frustrated. I've been doing Taekwond-do for over 20 years. It was tough to go into something where I was a total beginner again. But once you get used to it, it is also fun. Great to be the sponge and learn new skills. There are other milestones besides tapping someone. I was more excited about the first time I pulled off a guard sweep than the first time I tapped someone. First time I successfully defended a guillotine choke also felt like a bigger milestone for me. This is because when I first started I would panic as soon as the choke got locked and tap. The fact that I was able to stay calm, drop them on their opposite shoulder, and get the escape told me I was really starting to learn some of this stuff...
I train with mainly blue belts and a few white belts who are very close to their blue belt. At the moment i can tap out some of the whitebelts and pin and at least pass the guards of the better white belts. With the blue belts i am a better at avoiding subs and recently i have been opening their guards alot more frequently, the trouble that i have run into at the moment is that they start to play open guard and now i have to pass that. It goes from one game to another and it's very enlightening, it always gives me something to work on or towards. if anything my armbar defence is better than every, usually by the higher belts i either get swept or triangled.
It takes a while man. Where I train, all of the guys have 18 months+ more experience than me. I was getting owned. I felt my sub defense was okay though as it was taking them 5+ minutes to submit me but they would have dominant position the entire time. Then my positioning got better and I would get good positioning on them. However, they were tapping me easier when they got good positioning on me. It took me around 6 or 7 months to start tapping people. Don't get frustrated man. I've seen a lot of people only stay a month or so because they didn't like losing on the mat. Just try to learn after each session.
Took me a month or so... Try rolling with some people who dont know any grappling(dad, uncle, friend) and you should be able to keep spirits up when you hopefully dominate them.
