I need help with some techniques

[Greg W]

All great posts above. You will do well if you take it all in and really digest it. Remember 3 mths is NOTHING in the grand scheme!!! If you can even run through the basic rubber guard path on a person resisting 50% at 3 months your doing great. Please don't take this next part wrong, it is only my personal view and offer it as help.... It sounds like maybe your EGO was seriously involved in this roll. Please DO NOT RISK INJURY from a strongman newbie, just tap. Newbie's do not know the limits yet and their ego may be raging when they get a "regular" in an armbar the first day, they typically use pure strenght, little technigue. They also are not your training partner yet and typically do not have your best interests(well being/growth)in mind. An injury can set your learning back far worse than a tap to a newbie. It is fine to work armbar escapes, but that is best done when rolling with someone with more experience. I would have tapped, asked him to stay in position, said" good armbar,this little tip will help the armbar be more effective for you" then showed him how to turn the thumb up for a more effective armbar. Then asked him to go slow and reapply again, then tapped again. Go back to knees, shake hands, and tried it all again. EGOless roll.

[Harry Evans]

That image posted above is AWESOME. Should be shown to every white belt. Yeah man, stick with it. If you could learn to be a black belt in 3 months, would BJJ really be worth learning?

What makes it so amazing is that, if you put in years of work, no beginner can just get lucky. It's not like puncher's chance in boxing, it's like chess. You just can't beat a grandmaster, ever, because there is too much skill involved, and they are WAY ahead of you in what they are thinking about. Think about the karate master in 70s movies, who always just calmly anticipates his opponent and handles them like a child without breaking a sweat. Karate almost never looks like that in a real fight ... BJJ almost always does.

[Sam Sales]

I myself have have recently changed schools, to a place where i have gone from being one of the large ones (i walk around at 170) to basically one of the smallest. The guys in my new gym are huge, mostly 200lbs+ and i have a VERY low success rate with RG stuff, most of the guys can just blast out of my mission control still. I have many HORRIBLE sessions, in fact 75% of my sessions i am just getting minced, i go home and sulk. However, i take comfort in knowing/telling myself i am in there at every jj session and not all of them are, so it is just a matter of time, i will get there eventually. I will be the best guy on those mats. That is the plan.
I think one thing all us white belts can do with a little more of, is patience. :-)

[Harry Evans]

Every time you get "minced", think of it this way: the thousands of sessions of getting smashed are part of your repertoire of experience. They are what you draw from when you are behind in a tournament, when you are out of position, when you are near tapping. You can think, "I've been here a million times, and I've been in worse spots against better fighters a million times. I can handle this." These experiences are the difference between you and lesser fighters. Each of these sessions is another piece being added to your experience. When you fight someone who has not gone through it, that experience will be the difference.

[Sam Charette]

I have been doing the gracie combative course and when I mix that with the rubber guard I do much better than just staying with 10th planet moves. I am very small at 5'5" and 125 lbs when I get people in the RG they can just pick me up and smash me. RG works best for me when I start wearing them down which doesnt take long when they keep trying to pick me up.

[Jason Koh]

Thanks for all your stories and advice's. I know being a white belt is tough and depressing but I'll continue to roll more, and hopefully I'll be able to see some progress.

[Liquidrob]

Just keep training, you're a newcomer also

[Paul Hannan]

When I first started using rubber guard I thought this rubber guard shit is garbage and will never work. Some 3 to 4 years later of hard drilling it is just beginning to work for me and only now after getting smashed hundreds of times and being told that I'm wasting my time by various people, do I realize the mistakes I was making at first. The main 'mistakes' were my clinch wasn't developed enough and my flexibility wasn't ready to go. There's no magic bullet I'm afraid, only through trail and error and effort will you achieve your goal - it will all be worth it in the end. Good luck with your journey and don't be too hard on yourself, every time you fail is an opportunity to learn.

[Kyle Spalla]

Thanks for all your stories and advice's. I know being a white belt is tough and depressing but I'll continue to roll more, and hopefully I'll be able to see some progress.

Consider your body is still growing too, take it as a chance to completely focus on flexibility and most of all technique. Rolling with larger guys or stronger guys will make you stronger and eventually you will be able to clinch and hold them down with rubber guard or the lock down whatever position you chose. But the ability to use and transition between techniques if one is not working that is how you beat the "smashers." Commit to the sweep, if you feel like you have Old School, drive into him if you can't get it go back to closed guard or work the Electric chair sweep. If you feel yourself getting discouraged just remind yourself, just because he is stronger you have more time in the books and you have techniques to shut them down. When you start feeling like it's not progressing the way you want just know Jiu Jitsu isnt a sprint it's a marathon. Refine technique and find what fits your game and talk with Scott, he will work with you and see what is best to fit your game. Good luck. Keep rolling!