how would you describe your WHITE BELT experience?

[TalkShowOnMute]

sometimes i leave class like wow that was awsome...sometimes like..why am i doing this?

Good. If the the awesome times outweigh the shitty ones, you might consider staying. IF not, you should find something you do love and put your time and money there IMO.

 

[Doctor Gonzo]

I made a thread here a few months back talking about being burnt out but not wanting to lose mat time, and someone replied with "If you dont want to train dont push yourself to train that day or you will no longer enjoy it and see it as a chor", maybe Topic Starter you should take this into consideration

 

[Balto]

Being a white belt is like making out with girls in middle school.

It's hot, sweaty, you aren't sure what you're doing, and all you are really hoping for is that nobody else sees you.

 

[Cash Bill 52]

I didn't mind getting my ass kicked. I needed to be brought back to reality. You really know where you stand on the mat. I will always be thankful for that.

 

[Cash Bill 52]

Being a white belt is like making out with girls in middle school.

It's hot, sweaty, you aren't sure what you're doing, and all you are really hoping for is that nobody else sees you.

I was a stud in middle school. I can't relate...:icon_twis:icon_twis:icon_twis

 

[TalkShowOnMute]

Being a white belt is like making out with girls in middle school.

It's hot, sweaty, you aren't sure what you're doing, and all you are really hoping for is that nobody else sees you.

That's what it is still like for me.

 

[thedoc56**]

nothing like bein in n/s and hav a 300 lb guy smother u with his belly. lol learn to love it

 

[LowBG]

Do you think Ali stepped into the ring without getting punched in the face? Do you think Marcelo, Jacare, Maia and Roger never got tapped? My first like 7 months training I never tapped anybody, and weighing 120 lbs at the time didn't help, so being muscled around on the bottom of side control is nothing new. You will always be tapped, it's how you deal with it that changes your perspective on grappling. Are you an instant gratification kind of person? If so, jiu jitsu is not for you. Period.

 

[ShogunMan]

This is all really encouraging for me, I'm just barely starting bjj and loving it, but it's good to hear that it gets better and eventually things will click

 

[elbigsam]

This seems like a good spot for a wall of text talking about my favorite subject, me.

I started judo and bjj in 1997 at the athletic club in mcallen texas. I was 17 at the time, but I had wrestled in grade and middle school. I met a guy there that knew some mma fighters and we would go roll with those guys a couple times a week. Later that year I graduated hs and moved to san marcos. I joined the university judo club and took judo as a class.

At judo club I met a machado bluebelt, he was a military guy going to school also, we rolled twice a week on top of going to judo class. The next year I stopped college and moved to austin. This was early 1999. I didn't train much until around 2003 or 2004. I started driving to harlingen and rolled gi with some guys over there a couple times a week. About late 2004 I joined a school that had a royce bluebelt teaching. In 2005 I moved back to san antonio and didn't do anything for a while.

Late 2006 I started training with sergio "marra" correa. I also started a journal. I was with marra about a year, however about 6 months of that year I was not very regular with training. At this point, skillwise, I was the guy that if I got beat in a inhouse tournament, the guys that beat me got blue belts. I had no stripes at this time, and it was a bit frustrating.

2007 the gym opened a second location near my house, which I started attending. Politics led to the 2 gyms becoming seperate entities. After about six months I saw guys around me getting promoted to bluebelt, but I was not a part of the in crowd with our new coach, rodrigo pineiro. At the time it was very frustrating, I was a no stripe whitebelt. Mostly I just enjoyed myself tho, although in the back of my mind it was discouraging.

Rodrigo left the gym to start his own business and travel a bit. The owner sold to another guy who brought in 2 blackbelts. Andre monteiro and marcelo salazar. This is 2008. I like both of the new coaches, and shortly they promote a guy to bluebelt who works at the gym. About 6 months later I get my blue from the proffesors in sept of 2008. Politics split the gym again, I stayed with proffessor salazar. I'm a purple belt now.

Took over 10 years to get ranked in bjj, but in the end it really didn't matter, when I look back at it I was improving and staying active, I've got about 5 years of solid training time strung together since 1997. More like 6 I guess. And I'm right where I should be as a fresh purple.

On a long enough timeline its all pretty minor.

 

[Bruce Calavera]

I'm currently a white belt. If I don't get tapped, it hasn't been a good day.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison

 

[blfdgrappler]

Being a white belt is like making out with girls in middle school.

It's hot, sweaty, you aren't sure what you're doing, and all you are really hoping for is that nobody else sees you.

Classic!

Keep at it TS, you will be fine.

 

[CRAZYRIC]

Stop being a pansy and just keep stepping on the mat.

This sums it up. As far as my white belt exp. I'm loving it best idea I made was stepping on the mat TS. wow turn in the man card

 

[BJJsb]

I'm still a white belt, I get smashed by some, but things are finally starting to click.

 

[jarra22]

you should probably quit

agreed

 

[bora y]

description: de-fucking-lightful.

 

[gocubs1815]

LEt me ask you this TS.

Do you wanna be ripped... or do you wanna learn a skill?

Because you can still get in shape and workout doing BJJ. Like all sports in requires a certain specific type of athleticism. In this case, a lot of muscular endurance and flexability.

I posted this philosphical thread in another forum. Would you rather be ripped like a body builder, and be stiff as a twig and NOT have the grappling skills?
OR
Would you rather have the body of Roy Nelson, BUT be flexible like a gymnist AND have Black Belt level skills?

As cliche as it sounds...
So, you wanna be a fighter???

 

[Game Bred 516]

My white belt experience so far has been....interesting and full of peaks and valleys. I'm now entering my third month of BJJ. First I know I made the right decision stepping on the mat finally in my mid 30's. Time, injuries and $$$ always got in the way.

My journey so far has been interesting, for a time I actually felt I was getting worse. Got a few subs my first couple of weeks, but haven't got one in about a month. i do see alot of progress in my sweeps and escapes. My cardio is finally good and I can roll for about 30 minutes with no problem. I took some Sherdoggers advice and started slow, about twice week. Next week I'm gonna bump it up to 3 times a week. looking forward to continuing my BJJ progression and competing in the future.

To the TS, If this is something you want, stick with it. If your forcing yourself to continue then do some soul searching and walk away, after a few months you might wanna come back or try a different school. My only negative is that my school seems to have a small click of guys who are tight with the instructor. I'm still not "one of the guys" but as long as it doesn't affect his teaching I'm allright with that.

 

[iluvballz]

i considered my experience as a white belt short cuz i got promoted to bluebelt within the first two month.

 

[Bebop]

so you suck. the important questions to ask yourself are, do you enjoy what you're doing in bjj? if not, then you can keep going until you do, or just stop. do you want to improve? if not, then you better get used to getting your ass handed to you. how much effort are you willing to put into improving and how quickly do you want to improve? if you want to improve quickly, you better be prepared to put in more effort and reps. otherwise, you should accept the fact that we all learn at different paces.

p.s. don't listen to people saying that how you approach bjj is indicative of your approach to life. people say the same thing about everything else, including chess and cooking. i spent 4 years feeding the same words to fraternity pledges. all your approach to bjj shows is your interest and dedication to it in comparison to the other things you have going on.