Questions about BJ Penn

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Almus Monk

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I know he's not the greatest pure grappler of all time, or doesnt compare to the likes or Marcelo, Jacare or Roger and others, but I was wondering some things and didnt want to ask in the HW forums.

I wasnt a fan of BJ Penn till I started BJJ last year, I realized how hard BJJ is and with his accomplishments, I understood why they call him the prodigy.

But what made him so good? Is there any info on his training or what he did, I know you have to be pure talented, but there must have been something else to it. For supposedly someone who is lazy, how on earth did he do it?


Also has anyone else got a blackbelt in 3 years and win the worlds? Saulo? the gracies?

Thanks
 
He essentially lived at the academy. Once he decided that was what he wanted to do, his Dad(rich) shipped him off to the mainland and he was able to live at/near the academy.
 
bj nickname came from jiu jitsu. He was a phenom and not only did he get his black belt in 3 years he also won the world championships at the black belt ADULT lvl. Had he concentrated on grappling/bjj i think he would have been a dominant grappler at the higest lvl at least in his weightclass.
 
But there are plently of ppl who live at there acedemy and train everyday.
What made him the way he is?
 
I would say natural abilities .. there was a guy who goes to his old
Academy and still hear stories of BJ's talent when he first got there..
he would be shown a move and then do the move on higher level belts
that day
 
I don't really know what you want to hear. Some people are just gifted and/or hard workers. There is no Kool Aid to drink and become good at jiu jitsu.
 
I have actually heard that the whole 3 years thing is bs. Supposedly he trained with his brothers at home until he got good enough to go to the academy and not get dominated. Sort of like a guy who takes privates until he can hold his own because he doesnt want to get dominated. So he was training "under the table" for years.

Don't know if there is any truth to it, but sounds totally plausible.
 
armtriangle said:
I have actually heard that the whole 3 years thing is bs. Supposedly he trained with his brothers at home until he got good enough to go to the academy and not get dominated. Sort of like a guy who takes privates until he can hold his own because he doesnt want to get dominated. So he was training "under the table" for years.

Don't know if there is any truth to it, but sounds totally plausible.
Click to expand...

Come on.....

He didn't become an instant technique-absorbing phenom who Won Gold at the highest level by training "under the table" a few years. What's next? He's not a three year blackbelt because he used to wrestle around with his brother in elementary school?

People are kidding themselves who think that he's not talented, but rather just because he had money and time to train he became a phenom. Nobody who isn't a special athlete is going to win the gold on the biggest stage in the world because there dad was rich and they had a lot of time to train during their three years in BJJ.

I think we'd all like to believe that with a similar situation, we too would be BJJ gods. It's not happening, lmao.
 
lolbjj said:
I don't really know what you want to hear. Some people are just gifted and/or hard workers. There is no Kool Aid to drink and become good at jiu jitsu.
Click to expand...

I know that. Just was wondering why some ppl can live bjj and do nothing else, and bj can do the same and become so damn good.
 
No doubt, though. BJ is a perfect storm. A kid who was into boxing and liked to scrap, so he already had that striking instinct that he would cultivate later...had phenomenal talent for BJJ....and had the absolutely perfect training situation to get the most out of that talent. Not to mention he has a chin of granite and legs like pipe cleaners.

If you want any more proof that life is not fair and that we all aren't dealt anywhere near the same hand, there it is. You can work as hard as you want, you likely would never achieve that. If you were an obsessed enough psycho to achieve that, they should probably study you to see if you have some kind of psycho-obsessive hard-working trait where you can go on where 99% of the other people would crack from trying to work hard enough to achieve that. In which case, that would be your talent.
 
Almus Monk said:
I know that. Just was wondering why some ppl can live bjj and do nothing else, and bj can do the same and become so damn good.
Click to expand...

You said it. It's not like other people haven't been fortunate enough to "live" on the mats. Most still don't come close to that kind of "instant success".
 
thegreenblender said:
No doubt, though. BJ is a perfect storm. A kid who was into boxing and liked to scrap, so he already had that striking instinct that he would cultivate later...had phenomenal talent for BJJ....and had the absolutely perfect training situation to get the most out of that talent. Not to mention he has a chin of granite and legs like pipe cleaners.

If you want any more proof that life is not fair and that we all aren't dealt anywhere near the same hand, there it is. You can work as hard as you want, you likely would never achieve that. If you were an obsessed enough psycho to achieve that, they should probably study you to see if you have some kind of psycho-obsessive hard-working trait where you can go on where 99% of the other people would crack from trying to work hard enough to achieve that. In which case, that would be your talent.
Click to expand...

I am not familiar with that expression nor have I ever met a pipe cleaner. So pipe cleaners have very flexible legs ?
 
Strykerx said:
I am not familiar with that expression nor have I ever met a pipe cleaner. So pipe cleaners have very flexible legs ?
Click to expand...

LOL.


These are pipe cleaners:

50500_big.jpe


They are essentially a piece of flexible wire with fuzzy stuff attached.
 
lolbjj said:
LOL.


These are pipe cleaners:

50500_big.jpe


They are essentially a piece of flexible wire with fuzzy stuff attached.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I've seen those before in elementary school hahahaha never knew their names until today.
 
thegreenblender said:
Come on.....

He didn't become an instant technique-absorbing phenom who Won Gold at the highest level by training "under the table" a few years. What's next? He's not a three year blackbelt because he used to wrestle around with his brother in elementary school?

I think we'd all like to believe that with a similar situation, we too would be BJJ gods. It's not happening, lmao.
Click to expand...


Im not taking anything away from BJ. Nor am I saying what I posted is thr truth, I have not investigated, nor do I care very much.

But saying training or taking privates with a ranked an very proficient bjj player who happens to be your brother is quite a bit different from playing grab ass in elementary school.

Its like saying Rickson did not train, because his dad was just showing him some stuff...
 
A combination of natural talent and hardwork. Just like every other great athlete.
 
The BJ Penn 3 years to black belt thing is a bit of an urban legend. The story according to every source is that he started training with his neighbor, long-time martial arts instructor, and then bjj blue belt early in 1995. A couple years later in 1997, that coach arranged with BJ's father to ahve him move to Ralph Gracie's academy to train full-time. Three years after that and 5 years into bjj training, BJ was awarded his blackbelt, and went on to win the worlds later that year.

What is Tom Callos To BJ Penn?
 
Some people become as good as they will get within a very short period of time. With his dedication and training every day, it is possible that he reached his maximum potential within 3-5 years. I'm not saying that he never improved his game after that, but he is a guy who reached the top level really fast. So the BJ after 10 years of BJJ training may only be slightly better than after 4 years of training. It may have taken other greats like Marcelo, Jacare, etc., longer to reach their potential, but the maximum potential is around the same as BJ's.
Some people are born to do something, and BJ was born for jiu-jitsu.
 
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