Rolling day that made u change your way of thinking... anyone have had one of those?

W

Wylian

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So today I get my ass completely kicked by whitebelts. I mean, I would start really strong and then would get dominated. Lost the first one by triangle, the second with a ezequiel choke and the third one the guy was just overpowering me. I couldn't mantain mount he would just roll me, it was so strange. I felt so weak and powerless. The last one ended with both us kinda of giving up, even though I came closer to finish, he dominated me. At the end of the roll I started feeling sick, went to the bathroom and had to puke my guts out.
So this ass kicking I got today (I think this was my first day off EVER, I mean, i sucked bad even for my level) humbled me a lot, mad me think about the way I've been training.
I would come to train with an ego, not get tapped by whitebelts, I am a whitebelt myselg, 8 months training, but I had never been tapped out by a whitebelt before but once in the beginning. So i've been thinking, I am not evolving this way, my technique is weak, and as soon as I get out of gas, I lose my speed and then I'm fucked.
I should drop my ego try new things and get tapped, and that's how you learn, right?
Do you think I'm getting the right mindset?

Have u guys had one day that u got so fucked that it made u think about the way u train
 
When I was still a beginner, I got totally owned by this blue belt who I think should really be a purple belt. It made me re-think my approach to submission grappling, and for awhile I was trying to go for the traditional BJJ approach to everything. I think having that mindset had me more patient when I was learning my techniiques, and I stopped rushing my techniques when I learned them and would go really step by step to mnake sure I understood them. Since then, I have improved a LOT in BJJ.
 
That feeling probably won't go away any time soon, and as you progress you'll encounter some more occasional ass whooping days. It's part of the sport.

That said, I think it's a sign that you're progressing and ready for the next step. What's happening is you've gotten a good hold on the basics. You're solid on the basics. Now you're branching out, trying new things, little adjustments here and there, etc. You're trying to go from complete newb to an intermediate novice, which is what you should be doing. The guys you're rolling against are doing "paint by the numbers", and you're starting to grow into a more freeform style.

This just means you're right on track and growing like you should.
 
what do u mean by tradiotinal BJJ approach?

I'm rethinking about the holes in my game, my open guard is shit right now, people are just stepping over and passing my guard. My guard passing is pretty much none. My skills to get a submssion is pretty good for my experience. I think I should work more on maintaining and advancing positioning and not try submissions that much.

Bubble boy, what do u mean by " paint by the numbers"? You mean, they don't know how to improvise or something?
 
Sometimes you have days where everything goes to shit. You also get days when everything just clicks too though.
 
Wylian said:
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Bubble boy, what do u mean by " paint by the numbers"? You mean, they don't know how to improvise or something?

Kind of. I'm thinking that they nothing but the basics so it's easy for them to stick to them. You seem to be at that point of starting to improvise a little, starting to branch into more advanced variations and the such. You're growing out of "the basics." That's a good thing, but it comes at a price, which is you getting whooped on a few times while your improving. If getting better was easy everyone would do it.
 
ClubberLange said:
Sometimes you have days where everything goes to shit. You also get days when everything just clicks too though.

Just had one of those bad days about 2 nights ago. I was getting dominated by everybody anyway they wanted. It was miserable.
 
Growing pains of any sport. Losing is the fastest way to improve.
 
I had one of these....I was getting subbed left and right and would not stop rolling and it didnt matter who I rolled ith that day I would get tapped or caught in stupid positions I was rolling nonstop with anybody and everybody in the gym and was the last one out.....lying on the mat looking upwards with a weird smile on my face like wtf just happned
 
I mean, I gout caught with a freaking ezequiel choke from halfguard. Who gets caught in those? It's unbelievable, I saw him setting up and didn't even worry about it, next thing I know I am freaking trying to power out of it, and now I got a sore throat, hehehe. Unebelievable. This is gonna push me to train harder though. I've been too lazy
 
i've had days where the guys i routinely dominate gave me close calls in wrestling. i havent had enough time with bjj to experiance a peak to fall from, honestly.

it's just life man. it always goes in cycles to keep you in check. right now, i'm seeing one of the lowest dips of that cycle i have ever seen...but that's not for the grapplin board. life, work, school, women, mma.. it's all the same.
 
i dont really have those anymroe because im mostly the only one there. So i get alot of freetie with the instructor.
 
I think the earlier you set aside your ego, be humble, and train to learn rather than just
win, the easier for you to progress in the long run. at the time it may feel like your taking
the long way, but acutally your taking a short cut.
 
btw, I've seen some blue belts that have developed a game plan, a very narrow one,
provided they are good at it, but cling to dear life for it, and they have no other skill,
so when taken out of their game by a higher belt, they are like putty.
can get killed even by a white belt, if they wouldn't fall back to their game plan.
 
Wylian said:
what belt are you guys?
Blue for about a year here.
When I train, I like to have fun. Maybe not the best way to become a BJJ machine. But I don't think I'll ever be a mundial champ, so I figure I'd rather have fun and stick with it, then be all serious and burn out.
I like to play with stuff.Creative BJJ.
:)
 
UNfortunately I missed class today. I'm gonna start working more on positioning and passing.

Clubber... how old are you? I'm 20, I think if I were to train constantly (I've trained 8 months in a period of 2 years) I could become good, so I like to train hard, but I do have my fun too. It's like therapy to me. I come back home relieved.
 
I've had several days that made me change how i train

i think the biggest eye opener was rolling with a whitebelt 2 weeks ago. he had about 2 months experience (i got 6months) but was strong and a boxer with good gas. and like most newish whitebelts he was very stiff and tense. and i ended up being really stiff and tense too and trying to muscle stuff. i was so tense i was gripping his gi so tight my knuckles were red-raw after. so long story short i gassed and he ruled me.

so last night i went slow and light, moving my body instead of my partners. i didn't grip the gi, made a big effort to breathe and tried to get the 'feel' when rolling. i've had a smile on my face ever since.

i used to try avoid tapping but now i don't care. if it hurts i tap. i'm fed up having sore neck/ear/throat for a week at a time. there's one wee pocket rocket bluebelt and when we roll he just taps me over and over and over, but it's great to see where the holes are and where my defense is good. i remember the first time i rolled with him really changed my outlook and made me lose the ego a lot.

and from rolling with better guys i had a day where i realised my guard passing sucks and my guard retention (hip movement) is even worse. i can get to my knees when i'm getting passed but i need to get those hips moving.
 
I had a kind of opposite experience...one day a relative beginner to grappling came to our gym, super athletic, crazy stamina. I rolled with him using little effort, lots of technique, I barely survived to triangle him. Since then he got wise to my bread and butter moves and now he now dominates me if I don't keep up. Conditioning. When a supremely athletic beast has a little skill he can be as dangerous as some of the upper belt gurus.
 
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