Why do they/we quit?

Thinking about what makes people quit jiu jitsu on the way in and one thing that popped in to my head was the slowing of learning curve. As you progress in to blue belt you have got a basic grasp of most of the concepts and it starts to seem like there aren't any big break throughs. What the breakthroughs become are, infact, the little puzzle pieces that fill in the gaps in the techniques. Bit by bit your techniques will become tighter and tighter and your individual techniques mesh into chains. Hitting your first arm bar or triangle is huge but when you can chain them to Omaplata to Twister side to Truck to Twister to Swedish Twister, that's money.

I don't think there is a slower learning curve at all. Its the same at all levels. Rep tech, drill tech and roll, if you follow this and are consistant you will maintain progress. I see attenedance drop occasionally, this could lead to an effect in the learning curve, however not if the student stays consistant.

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For me (from what I've observed) is a lot of the kids who have stopped attending classes my theory is that either they're no longer dominating the majority of the class (because the ones they were beating up on have not caught up technique and rep wise) so now they can't deal with that and quit. Second I think is people get impatient, and despite making gains after 3-4 months they still don't like where they are and just give up. Third is the commitment needed to make progress-I've seen people try to float in and out 1-2 a week (barely, with weeks where they don't make it in at all) and they decide the time isn't worth it either. All of the above come down to a mix of ego, and work ethic.

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Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

I don't think there is a slower learning curve at all. Its the same at all levels. Rep tech, drill tech and roll, if you follow this and are consistant you will maintain progress. I see attenedance drop occasionally, this could lead to an effect in the learning curve, however not if the student stays consistant.

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I"m only a white so I don't have much experience to go off of, but I guess coach confirmed my thoughts. I recall times when we revisited some series in class. Sure I already knew it, but I'd still learn more from it. In fact, I'd learn it better.

I hate to use cliches, but I like the quote "fear not the man who practices 1000 kicks one time...." BJ Penn admits he only has like 2 guard passes. But he's such a badass with those passes. And that's kind of the point. I don't feel like the learning curve should slow. I think it's a matter of perception. Basically, what do you expect to learn? I'm not expecting to learn every single submission in the world. That would be insanity. I want to learn what is high percentage and I want to get good at THAT. And from my experience in repeating series, and getting more the second time around, I realized, you're always learning, even if it looks the same.

What causes people to quit? Not counting temporary hiatus?

Lack of passion: they just don't love it. Some strikers will always be strikers. They just can't get into grappling even though they know they need it.

Unrealistic expectations: some guys expect to be instant killers cuz they know a few moves from TV or youtube. Some guys expect to collect 100 submissions in a year. When they realize the beginning is mostly fundamentals, lotta people probably get discouraged. Or they expect to always be ahead of the curve. I can assume a blue belt who took a year off feels like crap getting tapped by 9 month white belt.

Wrong intentions: Some guys think that they're just gonna jump into MMA. "Oh, I'm gonna learn some BJJ, and I'm a just knock dudes out in MMA." Or maybe they just want to fight in general. Suddenly when coaches reel them in and slow their horses, they don't like it. They think, "I pay you to teach me so I can do whatever I want." They don't respect the position of a coach.

These have been my observations.

I have to assume most people quit for financial reasons or time reasons, if you think about it time reasons can always be solved if you have enough money so I'd have to say $$$ is the number one reason people have to stop. Not necessarily that they cant afford the cost of class but maybe they cant afford babysitters or have to work to much.

Also, jiu jitsu makes you face things head on..in Jiu Jitsu and about yourself, etc. Some people are weak, they're ego is too big and they don't want to learn to manage it, etc. There's a million reasons. Bottom line is...so many people start, but a tiny percentage make it to black belt.

The original reason I stepped away for a month break (re:almost two year break) was due to a shoulder injury. Add to that a marriage and a daughter... Plus starting my own business on the side (not to mention my day job) and it's about time. There are many days when I elect to hang out and play board games with my kiddo instead of heading to the gym. So basically, Life. Course I haven't quit, just slowed way down...

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Originally Posted by Aaron Gustaveson

I have to assume most people quit for financial reasons or time reasons, if you think about it time reasons can always be solved if you have enough money so I'd have to say $$$ is the number one reason people have to stop. Not necessarily that they cant afford the cost of class but maybe they cant afford babysitters or have to work to much.

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I don't consider that quitting though. I consider that a hiatus. I don't think I'll every quit BJJ. I have taken a couple hiatuses due to money and time, but I'm not quitting. I'm still learning. Still do solo drills at home. Quitting is quitting. Never coming back.

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

I don't consider that quitting though. I consider that a hiatus. I don't think I'll every quit BJJ. I have taken a couple hiatuses due to money and time, but I'm not quitting. I'm still learning. Still do solo drills at home. Quitting is quitting. Never coming back.

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i see your point but if that's how you define quitting, then you can never say if someone has quit or is on hiatus until they die. IMO even stopping for an injury is quitting unless you keep working around the injury to whatever capacity you can.

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Originally Posted by Tori Applegate

Also, jiu jitsu makes you face things head on..in Jiu Jitsu and about yourself, etc. Some people are weak, they're ego is too big and they don't want to learn to manage it, etc. There's a million reasons. Bottom line is...so many people start, but a tiny percentage make it to black belt.

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very true but these people dont even make it to a year of regular training right? This is a good response to the op's question of why people quit at the entry level. I dont want to hijack the thread but Im more curious why people quit after several years of regular training or legit blue/purple status.

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Originally Posted by AKRhino

The original reason I stepped away for a month break (re:almost two year break) was due to a shoulder injury. Add to that a marriage and a daughter... Plus starting my own business on the side (not to mention my day job) and it's about time. There are many days when I elect to hang out and play board games with my kiddo instead of heading to the gym. So basically, Life. Course I haven't quit, just slowed way down...

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If you were rich
-you could get high level medical care and get back faster (you can still study videos and do certain exercises injured too)
-your family could just give you the money to start a new business and you could live for a time off savings instead of working a day job allowing you to focus on your new business.
-you can pay people to plan your wedding.

enough money can overcome the obstacles that make most people have to stop. When gene labell was on JRE recently he said he when he was young in japan, he trained 6-8 hours a day 7 days a week. I was fucking enraged with jealously wondering how the fuck he afforded food? My head coach and my shotokan coach train me for free (i give what i can though) If $$ wasn't an issue Id go spend some time with denny then dave terrell,(my coaches suggestion) then train for some time at HQ and with Gokor and then relocate to Rochester.

Obviously im kinda making this about what i see as my own main obstacle, am I wrong ion thinking this is what keeps most of us from the level/amount of training that we want?

Life priorities and what you're willing to sacrifice. Like coach said, all about showing up. Some aren't willing to part or find balance with time, money, or family. Its in you, or it isn't. Good instructors are huge, but even they see potential turn their back. Just that way it is.

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Originally Posted by bobby rivers

Life priorities and what you're willing to sacrifice. Like coach said, all about showing up. Some aren't willing to part or find balance with time, money, or family. Its in you, or it isn't. Good instructors are huge, but even they see potential turn their back. Just that way it is.

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true if i left my awesome gf and gave up wanting a family, sold all I have, I could sleep at a hostel and be training with denny. Of course the first major injury I had would bankrupt me and Id have to get a job and then its back to square one. Maybe getting a position teaching martial arts in a country with first world health care is the solution?

sorry for posting so much and hijacking the thread. I gotta start a new thread for my own question.

Well, our wedding required very little planning. We invited our families to an engagement dinner and then surprised them before desert by getting married right there. But if you figure I work 8-5 five days a week (during the winter), and during the summer field season my schedule is that I work whenever the contractor says I work (8-5 being the minimum), jits is 6-8 mwf, 10th planet no gi is 7-8:30 t/th, that means by the time we get home it's pretty much feed the kiddo and get her in bed. That leaves very little time for anything else. If I was rich and had nothing to do but hang out with the wife and kiddo all day, then sure, I'd have a greater degree of flexibility towards training. As it is, it's not that I've lost passion, or love for jits, I love it just the same, it's just that there are now things in my life that I love even more. So it gets prioritized accordingly.

As for the injury, I didn't want to have surgery, so I hoped if I took a bit of time off it would heal up enough that I could deal with it. I do have insurance, so I could have treated it far more aggressively then I did.

Think my wording was clumsy. By "learning curve" I meant the chunks of knowledge you learn. Its a different focus. More on finesse. If you follow me.

I think there is a perception that the learning curve drops off, but it's an artifact of the learning process. As you progress you learn how much you DON'T know. When you first start, you don't know how big the world is and everything is new. So you feel like you're learning at a mile a minute. But as you grow and develop you learn that you only know a fraction of what is out there. As a white belt you might say "yeah, I know how to do an armbar." By the the time you're a purple, you've learned just how much nuance there is to a simple armbar and just how many set-ups there are. So instead of feeling like you're learning at the rate you were before, you feel like you've stagnated -- but only because you SEE how much more there is to learn. If you could see the whole world from your first day the way a 20-year black belt does , you would see the regular progression of your art.

I'd say, people quitting abruptly after they have reached blue or purple, has a lot to do with over emphasis on belts. Some people treat the belts like world titles. Belts shouldn't be goals. I know that sounds crazy, but if you make a belt your goal, you may slack off or completely drop off after reaching it. Starting over every time you get a belt and setting a goal to get the next one can get redundant and overbearing for some people. Once again, it's all about the person. I have seen this several times though. We call it the blue flu

The Applegates are dropping some truth on this thread. I agree with them. Especially the note about over emphasizing belts. Jiu Jitsu, and many other pursuits, are a life long conquest, an endless marathon, there is no finish line. Even the few men who achieved the rank of Red belt didnt stop training...

I'm not at all surprised at how many quit. Jiu jitsu is physically demanding and requires time and effort above most endeavors. I'm amazed at how many of us hang in there. Through the injuries and other set backs. Be proud and just keep showing up!

Some guys would just rather sit a home and get baked then come to the gym and train. Lol.

Most people are bitches.

Blues are too easy to get, people figure they have the basic concepts down and if they wanted to, they could continue progressing, so they proved to themselves that they could do it if they wanted and feel satisfied, not recognizing that one of the most difficult aspects is dedication. Same with most sports.