Humbling experience

Hey guys and gals.

I am new to this forum and to bjj. It appears I am the first from the new 10th Planet El Paso to register with this forum. Now to the humbling part.

I have absolutely no bjj, or any other MA for that matter. I wrestled one season 24 years ago ( I am 38) but have wanted to study bjj for a while. When the new 10th Planet opened in El Paso I jumped in as I am more interested in no-gi vs. gi.

Unfortunately I am only able to train two days a week, I have my 4-year old son in wrestling and the practices conflict. So I train one week (two classes) and I throw my back out goofing around at work and miss the next two weeks of training. I finally starting to feel better and go to open mat yesterday.

The instructor has us do a couple of drills trying to get out of side control and then some free rolling. Given my limited training I didn't have very high expectations but what happened was, well, very humbling. I was dominated from start to finish by everyone in the class. Although, I was should we say pissed at myself, on the way home I am now even more determined to not be so bad on the mat.

Thanks for listening (reading) me vent and I look forward to being part of the 10th Planet community.

Chris

I know exactly how you feel man. i just recently took up jj been doing it for about 2 months now. i roll with a couple of friends of mine who used to go to some academy awhile back. they run clinics on me alllll day. but there arent any nogi schools around so we just drill and work off eachother in my garage. everyday ends with me upset with myself and setting personal goals to achieve. i just hope to see some result in a couple months, my dreams are to teach one day. keep pushing it! we'll get there!

Chris, hang in there. You are in excellent hands with Victor! Hit me up in 6 months and we will compare this post to where your at then ;)

"The secret of this sport is, while you're the nail, hang in there, let them hit you, until the day you become the hammer, then you smash them back!"
-Renzo Gracie

I know how you feel, I am 39 and started 2 years ago. The first 6 months was tough, like you I never really wrestled. I was really intimidated by the level of talent but I kept with it and it has totally changed my life and how I work out. I don't touch weights anymore but stretch and do a lot of core exercise. The 10th planet family is very helpful, good luck.

Just change your perspective mate. Its totally fine to get dominated on the mats. Its a good thing even. Trade the expectation that you will be naturally good for the knowledge that through work you will be good.

Im 6.4" and 100kgs but Iv been injured since I took up Jiu Jitsu. Im a beginner too and Im only really as strong as a guy of about 80kgs so people love to beast me and it can get frustrating. Some really good guys will roll with you and some guys will just crush you and give you no room to move at all and just treat you as a grappling dummy. Gets pretty old pretty quick I agree.

Look at it this way, your going home promising you will be better, but the training you just did was a success. You might have been less dominant, but its training, not competition. The aim is to improve. Who do you think improved the most in that session? Theres a good chance it was you.

If I get beasted, I write down in a notebook what I couldnt stop or where I got stuck, then I go home and study up on the net and in Eddies books/DvDs. Its a poor substitute for real teaching but it works. Your actually really lucky. You could be the best guy, whos going to push him? Much harder for him to improve and test himself.

Hope this helps. Sorry if it makes no sense, I just came out of surgery, had a shitload of morphine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dstolf

"The secret of this sport is, while you're the nail, hang in there, let them hit you, until the day you become the hammer, then you smash them back!"
-Renzo Gracie

---

I fucking love Renzo Gracie man.... One of my personal heroes.

Ugh, starting out SUCKS! I was so goddam pissed after my first month. But once you get that first tap, it all seems like it was worth it. Then it starts to get fun, and you can really start to improve. It is a slow process at first, though. Imho, progression hastens immensely after your first tap, but is amazingly slow before then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DesiCuellar

I fucking love Renzo Gracie man.... One of my personal heroes.

---

I'm still having a hard time getting over him stepping on that guys head after a fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F0TvI0m6Gw

When I first started doing jj this is what Eddie said to me: "For the next year, expect to come in here and get your ass kicked everyday." And I did, for more than a year actually, I got my ass handed to me every single time I got on the mats. Not only because I came to 10th Planet completely green and knowing nothing of jj, but more often then not, I am the smallest person in class and the only girl. I still get my ass handed to me daily, I just get to hand out a few ass kickings myself now, which totally makes it worth it!!
I don't know what it feels like to be a man coming in new to this sport and the dynamic that comes along with that. But I can relate to feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and outmatched. Yes, there is nothing more humbling than getting your ass kicked but there is also nothing more elating than the day you realize mid-roll that you know what you're doing and you get your first tap and then keep getting them! The beautiful thing about any MA (IMO) is that the challenge is really you against you, not your opponent. Everyone's time line is their own and their journey is there own. Fight through the frustration of being a newbie, train when you can, you'll be happy that you did. There's nothing like this sport and the community that comes along with it. Good luck on your journey!

Every morning and before/after every practice I do some of the stretches I found in the Mastering the Rubber Guard book. I also sit on the floor while watching TV or if I'm home alone and do little solo movements. I'm 43 with 3 kids @ home,a job,wife's in school+works. I put in the extra time so I can make the most out of my mat time and NOT get injured. Keep at it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by D.Stachovak

Every morning and before/after every practice I do some of the stretches I found in the Mastering the Rubber Guard book. I also sit on the floor while watching TV or if I'm home alone and do little solo movements. I'm 43 with 3 kids @ home,a job,wife's in school+works. I put in the extra time so I can make the most out of my mat time and NOT get injured. Keep at it!

---

thats awesome determination right there and good work ethics. keep it up.

I see new guys come and go all the time. EVERYONE gets humbled when they first arrive. Those that keep coming eventually get good.

Stick with it and you'll be better for it. If you think about it, BJJ would be a pretty weak art if a guy that walked in off the street with 1 years experience in wrestling 24 years ago could hold his own. Be happy that you got schooled, because it means that the school you went to has a lot to teach you.

Oh, and I'm 39 and started when I was 37. You'll can hang with those young guys and eventually, when you are crushing some of them and they ask how old you are, they'll hang their heads in shame that an old guy could own them.

EDIT: One more thing, don't give up on the gi before you even start. No gi is great and so is gi. They are different, but both are a lot of fun. If you go to a school that teaches the nasty gi techniques, you'll have a lot of fun catching people unaware.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dstolf

"The secret of this sport is, while you're the nail, hang in there, let them hit you, until the day you become the hammer, then you smash them back!"
-Renzo Gracie

---

Quoted for truth, however, what Renzo left out, is there always seems to be a bigger hammer somewhere out there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian Boum

I'm still having a hard time getting over him stepping on that guys head after a fight.

---

You do realize that guy was calling Renzo all night the night before on the phone in his hotel room, telling him he had eyes like his GF and that he planned to F^%K him, right?

We have all been there, man, even the giant guys. The beauty of ground fighting is that it takes out a lot of the x-factors, like strength and instincts. Don't get me wrong, both are important, but not nearly as much when you don't have fundamentals. Side control is particularly frustrating at first: it's hard to hold position on top, and it sucks when someone has their weight on your chest/diaphragm/solarplexus/etc. Think of it in reverse - if your fundamentals get better, you can make it that shitty on other people, and they will have just as hard a time keeping you there. To be honest, BJJ doesn't really get interesting until you get the basics down - the cool stuff is learning how to use the basics on other people who know them as well. Stick with it, it'll start to click, and by the time your son is a teenager, he'll be a complete badass from the wrestling in class and the BJJ from dad.

ANd one thing no one has said yet, is a lot of the time the greener guys are often become better at defence then the guys they are initially rolling with. Because you don't have the reps in for offensive positions and submissions you are always working harder on your defence then the other guys. It's when you get better at your defence, and learn more offensive positions, that you use a lot less gas defending guys, and actually start submitting them. That's just my opinion as someone who was in your situation, and would be if I trained at a 10th planet gym.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by D.Stachovak

Every morning and before/after every practice I do some of the stretches I found in the Mastering the Rubber Guard book. I also sit on the floor while watching TV or if I'm home alone and do little solo movements. I'm 43 with 3 kids @ home,a job,wife's in school+works. I put in the extra time so I can make the most out of my mat time and NOT get injured. Keep at it!

---

great advice

agreed, that was some bitch shit

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian Boum

I'm still having a hard time getting over him stepping on that guys head after a fight.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dawna

When I first started doing jj this is what Eddie said to me: "For the next year, expect to come in here and get your ass kicked everyday." And I did, for more than a year actually, I got my ass handed to me every single time I got on the mats. Not only because I came to 10th Planet completely green and knowing nothing of jj, but more often then not, I am the smallest person in class and the only girl. I still get my ass handed to me daily, I just get to hand out a few ass kickings myself now, which totally makes it worth it!!
I don't know what it feels like to be a man coming in new to this sport and the dynamic that comes along with that. But I can relate to feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and outmatched. Yes, there is nothing more humbling than getting your ass kicked but there is also nothing more elating than the day you realize mid-roll that you know what you're doing and you get your first tap and then keep getting them! The beautiful thing about any MA (IMO) is that the challenge is really you against you, not your opponent. Everyone's time line is their own and their journey is there own. Fight through the frustration of being a newbie, train when you can, you'll be happy that you did. There's nothing like this sport and the community that comes along with it. Good luck on your journey!

---

Thanks, Dawna!!! I have been doing JJ for almost a year and have gotten so discouraged at times because it feels like I am not getting anywhere. I don't get frustrated when I lose because I roll expecting that to happen. I get frustrated when it seems like I can't successfully pull off any move.

You really hit the nail on the head with that post. I could not have worded anywhere near that good. Thanks! :D

Totally agree with everyone, yesterday i was rolling with my main partner. He and I usually roll daily the other guys come to my garage about twice a week. It's just like i read in one of your post becuase he's constantly smashing threw me my defense is really coming into its own. Ive started to pick up his little tricks and learned how to block'em. no taps yet but im working towards it!