Intro for 52 Year-old Newb

[fishNjits]

Figured after 5 months of lurking and 5 weeks of training, I'd finally sign up.

Just some facts:
1) 52 now, 53 in August
2) Live in Chicago. In the city.
3) Been training at Redzovic, loop location. Great gym, great people. Very SD oriented.
4) My screen name reflects an 18 year old love affair with fly fishing and fly tying for trout.
5) Interest in BJJ was piqued by the Grantland article (despite its desperate need for editing and date checking). No idea how I stumbled across it.
6) I was 90% sure I was going to start, but T-Bone's initial post put me over the edge.
7) Boxed (in a very mediocre manner) for three years in college.
8) I'm in better shape than 99% of 50 year olds and probably 95% of all American males, but I'm still the first to gas in class.
9) I'm in worse shape now than 5 weeks ago (go figure). My body can only handle bjj two days a week, and I'm so beaten up I can't work out the days after.
10) I've learned I bruise easily.
11) Advil is my new best friend.
12) I tap early and often. I've been told one trip to the ER, and I'm done.
13) I'll decide my view about on-line blue belts if I ever become a blue belt.
14) As a noob, I've found the Gracie Insider, GrappleArts, HowCast, Gracie NEPA, and Osiander videos (among others) to have been very helpful. They gave me an idea about what was going on before I ever started.

I've learned a lot lurking and laughed a ton. The thread about the guy's mom that was taking the class in BBC was brilliant.

Thanks.

-fNj

 

[MatRat75]

Train hard but train smart. With age being a factor this is the motto to live by. don't let it be an excuse to miss training once you have a schedule you are comfortable with. But i must stress recovery will be key for you. if rolling is limiting you to train only twice a week, ask partners to help you do live drilling with some resistance. Jiu Jitsu is a marathon not a race and there's really no reason i can take from your post to kill yourself training, youll burn out quick that way.
Enjoy the journey and try and stay off how-to videos for the first while. class is the best and in my opinion only teacher in the beginning stages

 

[fishNjits]

Thanks for the advice MatRat.

Redzovic was GB. White belts start in the Core program which looks very similar to Gracie Combatives. A student can't do anything but Core until he or she gets three stripes - then sport (Gi) and Judo are available. There are seven core classes per week, and I'm trying to stick to Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings.

There are about a dozen to 15 people per class, the professor and one or two blues to help out. Warm-up/Calisthenics for 10 minutes, 40 minutes of drilling, and 10 minutes of positional sparring.

No de la Riva videos for me.

 

[MatRat75]

that's great to hear i love hearing people getting into BJJ at adulthood. let your professor know your physical restrictions and how you may want to do more than 2 classes a week but your body may not permit it. a good instructor should know how to deal with all age groups. once you're adjusted to the physical workload 3-4 times a week won't be a problem. Just get the right food in and the right amount of rest.

 

[fishNjits]

Thx. Yeah, they're aware. Their suggestion was to start at two per week.

 

[bigkick]

That's awesome. Keep at it. If you can work up to the point where you can handle three a week I think it'd help. I'm 44 this year and while that's not 50 I definitely notice if I don't give my body enough recovery time. But odd as it may sound, I also find that only two a week isn't enough to maintain my endurance or something. I just get sore and bruised up again on that sort of schedule.

Have fun.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

remember that age is relative. I am 35, and already an old fuck compared with the 19 years old in my judo class.

 

[karma2burn]

We had a guy start at 55 about a year ago. He had been doing crossfit and was an ex-wrestler. At first glance he appeared to be a pretty average looking guy with the exception of the monstrous meat hammers he called hands.

First time I rolled with him I was going to take it easy and this guy blasts through my guard, latches on to kesa and squeezed the ever loving shit out of me. I was able to sweep him and eventually catch him but it was shocking.

I couldn't comprehend how strong he was based on how he looked. It was primordial old man strength that can't be understood until you felt it.

Now that he's been doing it for a while he's super dangerous. I have to use every little bit of technique, scramble and strength to survive. If he gets in a superior position it's incredibly difficult to escape as his base is rock solid. He recently went up to a friendly tournament with several other gyms and my coach put him in the blue belt division and he submitted everyone in short order. Watching the shocked faces of 4 stripe blues after getting smashed by a old man two stripe white made me feel just a little bit better about myself.

 

[fishNjits]

That's awesome. Keep at it. If you can work up to the point where you can handle three a week I think it'd help. I'm 44 this year and while that's not 50 I definitely notice if I don't give my body enough recovery time. But odd as it may sound, I also find that only two a week isn't enough to maintain my endurance or something. I just get sore and bruised up again on that sort of schedule.

Have fun.

Thanks bigkick.

Yeah, the goal will be 3x per week (but I travel a lot so that could be iffy), but probably once I'm out of core.

 

[fishNjits]

remember that age is relative. I am 35, and already an old fuck compared with the 19 years old in my judo class.

I read somewhere that every 10 years and 10 lbs. is equal to a belt. Although this doesn't really explain the 110 lb. woman (I'm at 210 lb.), that made me tap to a RNC.

 

[fishNjits]

It was primordial old man strength that can't be understood until you felt it.
.

I've been told how I have very good grip strength - something that seems very normal for older guys.

In my first class, we were working on kick defense and being the kicker was incredibly painful as I have limited flexibility in my groin (always been that way but gotten worse over time). Guys are lifting my legs really high so I go to the ground, and, of course, I don't really know how to do a breakfall either. I get home, and I feel like dying. And there, placed on the counter by my lovely wife, was an AARP card with my name on it.

 

[karma2burn]

I've been told how I have very good grip strength - something that seems very normal for older guys.

In my first class, we were working on kick defense and being the kicker was incredible painful as I have limited flexibility in my groin (always been that way but gotten worse over time). Guys are lifting my legs really high so I go to the ground, and, of course, I don't really know how to do a breakfall either. I get home, and I feel like dying. And there, placed on the counter by my lovely wife, was an AARP card with my name on it.

Yeah use every advantage you have. The one area where this guy also has issues is his flexibility. I did too when I first started and the longer you do it the more flexible you become. Falling is always going to be rough. I'm only 42 but anytime we do judo or takedowns I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

One recommendation (and I don't recall if anyone mentioned it yet) is to get a foam roller and use it after class. About an hour or so after I get home and shower the adrenaline starts to wear off and I start to feel all the soreness\stiffness. After I use the foam roller I feel a hundred times better. Definitely worth the investment.

 

[fishNjits]

My wife has one. I'll try it out.

 

[Coati858]

Good stuff. I started last June, 2 days before my 49th birthday. I started with one all-level class (only thing schedule would allow) with rolling, on Saturdays. But then within a month or so added two beginner classes on monday and friday afternoons. The coach who teaches these three classes is really into yoga and our warmups for the beginner class include a fair bit of yoga/stretching.

In December, I added two more all-level classes. One immediately after the monday beginner class and one on wednesday afternoons. These are more gonzo classes with a different coach and include some maximal effort drills as well as rolling. So now I'm up to rolling 3 days a week with two more drilling-only classes.

Any day I'm not in class, I make sure to do some kind of aerobic workout, whether a 30 minute walk on my lunch break or riding a stationary bike for an hour before I go to bed. Just low-impact (and not too high effort) stuff that keeps the blood flowing and doesn't cause any further injury ;-)

I've injured my wrist once and my ribs 3 times (2 times me twisting in an escape attempt - don't do that; once a guy smashed me from the side and the rib/cartilage popped at the sternum), but right now everything's good. I weighed 184 in June and weighed 143 a couple weeks ago. Just listen to your body ... and see if the AARP card will get you a gym discount!

 

[fishNjits]

LOL. The AARP discount was the first thing my wife suggested. Sometimes I hate her.

That's fantastic on the weight loss. Congrats.

3x per week will likely be my max - if not for my body then to avoid paying alimony.

 

[Gambledub]

That's awesome dude! Congrats and welcome to the forum. I hope i'm half as badass as you when I get to your age.

Awesome name too!

 

[fishNjits]

Too funny. Crazy maybe, badass most definitely not.
I am pretty proud of the name though.

 

[Crotalis]

Congrats on starting! Actually getting that first class in is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome!

Age is definitely relative. We just had a 72 year old earn his blue belt a month or two ago. I'm almost 40 but I've got a lot of combat sports miles so my body's a bit more broken down than you might expect. If I could offer advice it would be two things -

1. Be careful who you roll with. Even though you mentioned positional sparring and not all out rolling there's still potential danger. Try not to partner up with that 22 year old spaz who downed three scoops of pre-workout and rolls every round like it's the Abu Dabi finals. Your body will thank you.

2. Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed by information. Just try to remember at least one thing each class. If you can retain more, awesome, but don't worry about trying to memorize everything the first time through.

Enjoy the journey!

 

[fishNjits]

Thanks for the advice Crotails.

I haven't spotted the spaz yet. Maybe that means I'm the spaz.

Yikes, I hope not. The one thing I've definitely learned from lurking is to not be the spaz (and to always wash my gi).

 

[Which Doctor]

Thanks for the advice Crotails.

I haven't spotted the spaz yet. Maybe that means I'm the spaz.

Yikes, I hope not. The one thing I've definitely learned from lurking is to not be the spaz (and to always wash my gi).

Never wash the gi - this is the traditional way that saves your essence in the gi and gives the gi the power.