Who trains without a blackbelt on the mat everyday? How do you approach this?

[OpenMatRadio]

With OpenMatRadio I get a lot of requests to have "regular joe/jane" people on and not just people on the professional level competition circuit. On this week's show I had my best friend and longest training partner Matt Godden on.

We talk a lot about his training over the years, and how it's been a struggle as he never had a blackbelt coach on the mat with him everyday. We discuss how he has dealt with progressing through the belts, dealing with affiliations, "creonte" vs loyalty and more.

I'm wondering how many other people are in this situation and what your approach to it is.

Not trying to turn this into an ad for the show, I'm really interested in what everyone's training situations are like. You don't need to listen to the interview but if you'd like to check it out here is the link

http://www.openmatradio.com/2013/10/20/episode-88-matt-godden/"]http://www.openmatradio.com/2013/10/20/episode-88-matt-godden/"]http://www.openmatradio.com/2013/10/20/episode-88-matt-godden/

[Greg W]

Lots of travel!! Visit lots of gyms! Roll with as many different people as I can. Get a mentor you can contact if needed. Watch a ton of videos, not technique videos, but BJJ Theory and mentality videos. With todays media, you have access to Black Belts for mental philosophies/ structure. Between Eddie and Rener vids, I get plenty of high level BJJ wisdom. I rely on the stuff Eddie says ,on MTS and at seminars, before and after he teaches the specific technique, almost more than the actual technique. I also think that watching high level Black Belts roll is very worth while, and it doesn't really matter if you watch it live or on video. Vids might be better cause I can rewind!! While not having a Black Belt instructor is a serious handicap to speed of development, you can make the best of it with no ego and hard work.

[Josh Passini]

Lots of travel!! Visit lots of gyms! Roll with as many different people as I can. Get a mentor you can contact if needed. Watch a ton of videos, not technique videos, but BJJ Theory and mentality videos. With todays media, you have access to Black Belts for mental philosophies/ structure. Between Eddie and Rener vids, I get plenty of high level BJJ wisdom. I rely on the stuff Eddie says ,on MTS and at seminars, before and after he teaches the specific technique, almost more than the actual technique. I also think that watching high level Black Belts roll is very worth while, and it doesn't really matter if you watch it live or on video. Vids might be better cause I can rewind!! While not having a Black Belt instructor is a serious handicap to speed of development, you can make the best of it with no ego and hard work.

Truth. I high level black belt(not Eddie) told me Jean Jaques talked about building your own squad up to the level that you do not need to travel get the training that is needed, which is an interesting concept. I travel, train, etc but mainly are focused on turning my athletes into Monsters!

[Slick Rick]

Truth. I high level black belt(not Eddie) told me Jean Jaques talked about building your own squad up to the level that you do not need to travel get the training that is needed, which is an interesting concept. I travel, train, etc but mainly are focused on turning my athletes into Monsters!

I totally agree Josh. This day and age we are surrounded by so many guys that we can all learn as a community! Black belts would be awesome to train with every day but to build an army from the ground up, that' shows character!

[DavidBaut]

Reppin, lots and lots of reppin.I started in gi and went no gi about a year ago.When I started I didn't have a black belt instructor to learn from and still don't other than from MTS, Video and books.I've always been self taught.I've been blessed with the guys that I roll with now.I'm constantly learning every day.I try to go to an actual affiliate as much as I can but the nearest is 5 hours away.So I'm doing what I can to bring our community and knowledge to the area that I live in. I've recently just got comfortable at tournaments. Before I just couldn't get comfortable and I was losing but now I think I just got use to it and I finally placed first. Anyways besides the point there aren't any black belts in our area so we have to do with what we have. I think we have a great squad coming up.