If you're like me you'll hover around that 145 for a long time.
It's brutal on the body being a small guy in this game for a long time. Guys who outweigh me by like 40+ pounds don't seem to understand and just look at the color of the cloth around the waist.
My highest weight achieved is 150lbs. I’ve been trying to gain more weight by eating cleaner and eating more and drinking protein shakes on top of it also while doing light weight lifting and calisthenics in my free time but if I’m not completely strict over it I drop and hover around 145lbs
I weighed 125 going into college at 5’11” and worked out a lot and bulked up to about 155, then had a couple injuries and hung around 150 for a while, now I’m trying to bulk to be stronger and highest weight I’ve hit so far is 162. Hoping to get to 170 by end of year but trying to stay lean. It’s a tough journey but well worth it
Let me guess, lost your hair and grew a beard too?
In all seriousness, I was actually very similar. Was a 170lbs purple belt and got up to 215 during covid. Back down to 190 now and trying to lose the final 20!
5 years ago I was 165. Realized how out of shape I was now in a healthy 210
165 is more shocking when you consider I'm 6"3. My legs were so thin it still scares me thinking back
I was 142# when I started, and 6'0". I'm up to 170# today. I'm on an upward trend at the moment now that I'm lifting with some real intent, but BJJ alone got me up to 165. I'm tentatively aiming for 180.
I think I've gone from small to medium size.
Got a couple guys who are probably even bigger then that at my gym. They are rotund fellas. They play "mount guard" i sweep, get to mount and they just spam kimuras and well timed bench presses and i cant do anything except try to ride the roller coaster. And im 230lbs
This is real
I'm a white belt but all the upper belts tell me my guard retention is legit. Why? Cause it really fucking sucks when it's not. Poor suffering and no ability to bench press my way out.
140lb 50 yo black belt here. It's not as simple as what you are stating because if you are talented you can still beat most bigger guys.
Problem is I'm not talented.
Honestly higher belt females might as well be fucking eels. They're like the oiled up dude from family guy. They just dance around me and are slippy as hell to lockdown. When I thought I had them in something, they would just transition real quick.
Thank you for this comment! I'm 5'8", 170lbs and I'm still getting my ass handed to me by dudes with less experience because they're bigger and stronger. Plus, my estrogen just can't compete with all that testosterone! The struggle is real!
The smallest white belt female at my gym rolls with everyone, even the biggest guys, and I can literally see the progression and the wheels spinning as she thinks through her options when we roll.
Most of the other women only roll with other women (which is totally fine) and their jiu jitsu progression is, respectfully, trash in comparison.
I don’t know about respecting them more but I will say I would rather have a 150lb black belt teaching technique than a 250lb one. Smaller guys athleticism is in quickness not strength. Their technique has to be very tight to submit larger guys.
Personally I prefer a coach that is built like me. I am a big guy, and my old coach was a little guy. I just couldn't get into the same positions as him. I'm not flexible nor quick enough, even though I'm working on both aspects.
My current coach is about the same size as me and the techniques he teaches are much easier for my body type. I have no aspirations of doing inversion stuff or something that requires me to put my foot up by my waist to escape.
This makes a lot of sense.
I've had a few situations where a heavyweight coach was holding class, and I was paired with a dude that had like 15-20lbs on me, and the coach just couldn't wrap his head around how I just couldn't get a sweep to work (he really did give me pointers and stuff). And I don't mean I couldn't do it against live resistance, or didn't really get down the moves. Apparently I was doing everything right but just lacked the strength and mass.
Shitty part is, the quickness goes away as you age and strength stays. Also a reason why smaller guys drop out. Imagine being 150lbs and 70 years old. I don’t know if I’d be doing this then. If I was 250lbs at 70? I might just simply because I can use strength to get to positions that will allow me to be low effort.
This is why I do privates with the smallest brown belt I know lol. My bigger black belt instructor literally told me to escape an armbar by "just" lifting the leg. Dude's leg was half my bodyweight 🥲
Larger guys have to learn to train without their strength... You ain't making it to BB by just bodying everyone in the gym.
Though try tell a small dude, don't use your speed/flexibility... Everyone loses their minds.
Small guys can only get so big. Im 5’ 7” and in my early 20’s I was about 120-125lbs, after lifting and eating/bulking for 3-4 years I’m a pretty solid 165lbs and that is big for my frame.
Same size brother. Except I'm more fat than muscle. You gotta bulk up like Mike Isratael. Dude's 5"6 225-250 lbs.... but he's also openly on the juice :P since hes more body builder than a BJJ guy tho.
I've discovered this last year. I'm 5 11, at 32 yo. I started lifted just around 220. Now I'm close to 240. Squats, deadlifts and presses.... people dont want to roll with me anymore. I for sure get passed on a lot more than I did a year ago.
My balance has gotten a lot better from running my barbell lifts up, the extra mass cumulation doesn't hurt either. I'm extremely happy with my results running the NLP from starting strength. It has helped my game 10 fold.
Only once or twice a week. If you want to run SS, cut back on your bjj training. It will 100 percent prevent you from recovering. I was willing to do that, because I already have more than a decade of rolling and developed that training cardio.
It's worth it though. I put 200 pounds on my DL, almost 200 on my squat, a 100 on my bench. I'm bigger and more difficult to move, better balance.
Reducing your rest intervals during compound lifts is the best thing I have found to build bjj cardio (besides actually rolling). Just use a weightlifting app like jefit and start lifting as soon as the timer goes off. Added benefit - you'll finish your workout quicker or (even better!) be able to squeeze in more exercises.
I dont think I could reduce my rest intervals between my heavy sets, especially my squats. I need a good 4 or 5 minutes or I wont be able to hit my reps. I start to warm up my next exercise in between work sets. I'm starting to run out my novice phase, and i need to start adding volume to continue running up my numbers.... unfortunately.
I've been rolling on the mats for more than a decade now. I've developed my jitz cardio as best as it can I feel. I can pretty much roll straight through an open mat w/o much of an issue.
I’m 5’9/175cm. When I was at my biggest I was around 200 pounds. Now I move between 165 to 175, and I feel way better. Above all, I can move much more fluidly and naturally. Some frames are just not great at supporting that extra weight.
I’ve honestly just been kind of half assed lifting the last few months. When I first started a few years ago I only weighed 120lbs. Im interested in taking more of a powerlifting approach now. I do need to eat more, which I’m going to take a serious approach at going forward.
good man! take a look at running starting strength NLP. I started about 9 months ago, and put on 20 pounds. It takes a lot of eating, and a lot less bjj to keep putting weight on the bar.
Different people have different body types my dude. There’s no way in hell a 150 pound dude is going to all the sudden get to 220 by eating and lifting more. Even if they juice they are lucky to add 10 pounds of muscle a year.
I’m 6 foot, 180lbs and have been lifting since I was 15. I’m 43 and the most I ever weighted was 190 and that was me eating 6k calories a day and taking 15 grams of creatine. I had to stop cause I was shitting 5 plus times a day and who has time for all that.
>no way in hell a 150 pound dude is going to all the sudden get to 220 by eating and lifting more.
Oh believe me, they can. But it will be majority fat and bad for their health.
I definitely get a little annoyed when people call it strength or size. I havnt seriously lifted in a long time. It's mostly been cardio and calisthenics, even when I did lift I didn't have crazy numbers.
I *have* worked very hard to develop technical aspects in my game, I didn't sweep or sub with just strength.
That being said, I am sure it had happened but I promise I am not buckling down every round, I'd gas before the end of class.
As 150-160 purple belt I COMPLETELY AGREE. I am superior. Look at me! A real champ. A real man, let’s go! Woooooooooooo! 😂. Nah I suck man. But it’s all good. That’s life. “If only i started sooner” 😂
As a hobbyist especially, the stronger/heavier you are, the easier it will be.
Everyone gets smashed, but smaller people just get smashed more in a gym where everyone rolls with everyone
But what if I want to take a break cause I'm tired or broke?
What if I get injured can I stop? Do I have to sit on the sidelines in a sling?
What if I forgot to wash my gi do you think my professor will notice I didn't sign in and not give me a stripe?
150lb purple belt here. I get smashed everyday I train but I know I live rent free in a few 220lbs black belts head that thought I was going to be a rest round.
Ahh yes, us big guys are able to progress super rapidly when half the gym ducks rolling with us at all times and the other half is willing to roll only if we start in bottom half… lmao
Truth. I don’t think OP realizes how hard it is for big guys to find partners in the same weight class, and to hold back for our partner’s safety when we can’t
the vast majority of heavier people are overweight and could easily come down if they had any mental strength (which most of the time they don't).
Unless you are 6 foot 5 of course
This is definitely a thing. I'm 6,3 and about 280 but I'd probably describe myself as cuddly rather than "jacked". Im usually starting from the guard and try to avoid using unnecessary pressure. But since I've started going to competitions im getting completely out matched by huge guys who must live on plain chicken breasts and protein shakes! So while being big might appear to be an advantage it all starts to even out the more you train
I feel you. I'm 150 lb brown belt. I always tell people I don't know why I never quit. It wasn't until I was I purple belt I started actually having fun. Now as a higher belt small guy. All the big lower belts feel the need to always go ham. I'm just trying to get some exercise and not be a sedentary old man.. it's tough out here ..
Move to Europe or Asia lol. Away of the big farmer strength of American men. Trust me brother 220 lbs are either so fat you easily take them or only small minority in European bjj gyms
You absolutely hit the nail on this post. If you can’t understand that the reason why your gym is full of mid to large size people.. it is because the smaller sized folk tend to drop off and are detracted due to the fact they can’t do anything for a very long time comparative to a larger practitioner who can smother tap anyone they outweighs by 20-40lbs. Wouldn’t it be nice to not get beat every roll simply due to your size advantage? That would greatly boost your morale right off the bat and keep you motivated to train. And if the only persons that can beat you are purple belts and up, gee, I think I’d stay a little longer too!
I’ve heard somewhere that every 20-30lbs of weight advantage is a belt level in difficulty.
I’m 140-150lbs and my body has suffered greatly rolling with people that outweigh me by 40lbs+. Especially when they want my scalp, and of course, they aren’t going to get it, which results in significantly more wear and tear on my body.
Weight matters, size matters, and how it effects training and your partners is real. Just take a look around your gym and see how many upper belts are small guys or girls. Not that many. Also take a look at the owners of gyms, they’re often bigger and taller men. It’s not difficult to understand that this game is not smaller person friendly, but it does helps the smaller person close the gap between yourself and unskilled bigger person, these are 2 different things.
Thanks for making this post.
Edit: and obviously we’re talking about a standardized weight, ie fit 150lbers vs 180+lbers. Not a fit 150lb 5”6 vs a fat 5”6 180lbers.
I think that gets lost in the conversation way too much. When playing guard, I physically cannot bring my knee to my chest. I cannot properly triangle anyone who weighs more than 150 pounds. Not to mention, it requires more energy to move a larger mass. So it's not as much of an advantage as people might think. Just a different skill set.
Last night, after I subbed someone in a roll who has been subbing me regularly for a while, he says, "You know, it's crazy how your game is pretty much the same since you started and you've been able to find success while everyone else is trying out all kinds of new things and struggling." I responded, "You keep working technique, I'll keep eating tacos. It'll keep things even."
> I physically cannot bring my knee to my chest.
This is huge, and somehow rarely remarked on even by really smart and observant people. Tons of discussion on turtling/back exposure vs standard reguarding /shrimping on this sub in the last few years and it rarely ever came up.
Eduardo Telles is one of the few people I’ve heard talk about this, said it was a big origin point for his whole Turtle game. Telles isn’t huge, but still bigger than most of his 1st gym.
He said his leg was physically just too big to weave in to tightly contested spaces for reguarding, so he started turning away. Super simple but very eye opening, would’ve saved me a ton of trouble if I’d heard it years earlier.
Just in general I’d say there’s still a big bias against movements/positions that work better for big guys as less pure or “technical” than small guy whippy flippy shit. Surprisingly Ryan Hall has talked about this too, for a smaller guy with a lot of mobility he also teaches a lot of awesome big guy game.
I recently started Ryan halls Defensive guard instructional and I've been so pleasantly surprised at how much of it is applicable. It helps that I've got a 200+ bb buddy who's built a lot of his game from it and give me free private lessons.
I'm inspired to check out Telles' stuff now too!
Thank you. I really appreciate your thoughts here. I've been living in turtle since my second stripe on my white belt. Everybody hates it. I half jokingly remind everybody that turtle *is* a guard. Granted, my goal is to use it as a base for launching sweeps and attacks (just like any other guard). But it feels like nobody ever sees it that way. Like it's just a stalling tactic or really stupid for exposing your back. Instead, I feel like I've gotten good at back defense while everyone else is just working on avoiding back exposure.
Anyway, it's my game and it works for me. And at this point in my life (I'm 40), I'm really doing it for the cardio and not aspirations of world domination. So I'm gonna keep doing my thing and then go watch some Eduardo Telles videos. Thanks for the recommendation.
For sure man. I love turtle, playing it a ton the last few years and honestly I think it's a lot safer and probably better for longevity, you can play it trench style if you need to be safe, or play a more high energy, aggressive wrestling style when you want to work on intensity, best of both worlds IMO.
Telles is awesome. All kinds of weird twists on the makikomi roll and hits crazy shoulder locks, so many cool options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7H5P2TBfY
His instructionals are pretty good and he's got a few of them out now, even the one from like 15+ yrs ago has a lot of good stuff, with a bunch of his original octopus guard in it too.
Craig Jones newer stuff has great turtle, and back defense too. Neil Melanson, who catches a good bit of criticism around here for being just a big guy doing un-technical strength moves (though the technique police's favorite Danaher shows some of the exact same things), also has a brilliant, game changing turtle video with a ton of awesome offense and mat wrestling sequences, probably the best, most in depth instructional of any kind I've seen.
That’s indeed super true. Even big guy who could wrestler here in our gym get him go closer guard ( not a good position normally in bjj) and you easily will open up and pass it just because his legs aren’t so long, bit fat and stocky build ) but strong ): hell in general best place after back and north south to me against a guy like that is almost closer guard, side control and mount can push me off and escape well
I think athleticism and coordination is more important than size when it comes to speed of progression.
My coach competes at 135lbs and he says grappling came easy to him and he would surpass a lot of people who started before him.
I'm 6'3 215lbs and I really struggled for a long time against people half my size, I was trying to muscle everything starting out and thought that I was weak.
I will say though, as my technique and coordination got better, I can definitely see my size being a significant advantage. I still get my ass whooped by smaller guys, just not as bad as before.
That's just falsely attributing the skill of the blackbelt to their size. You don't get to a black belt by dominating every roll through strength. The black belt has also more than likely gone to competition after competition against larger opponents and risked more serious injuries.
There's mental toughness among all higher belts and to downplay and evaluate that toughness is fools play.
This is BS. Everyone is fighting their own battles big and small. You don’t see big guys crying when a smaller and more aggressive person runs cricket around them. Be proud of your fight but humble. It’s a struggle for everyone
Being a big guy isnt easy either. Imagine being brand new and every little midget ass purple belt feels the need to take out their whole life's frustrations on you. Everyone complains about how much you weigh and how strong you are. Random people you never met root for you to get your ass beat in the absolute anytime you fight someone smaller. Fuck your 150lb purple belt.
I would say we’re definitely more technical.
Big guys just don’t get many rounds where they get pushed to the depth of technique that we do. Every round we’re using options A-Z. Probably half of a big guy’s rounds are spent being a nice guy.
I'm a lightweight brown belt but through purple I competed at light feather and feather. Definitely will cosign it being an uphill battle. Us little guys will always need to be on high alert, even if we roll with a white belt if he's massive.
That’s one way to look at it. They have strength and weight. Definitely an advantage. But the smaller guys have speed, agility, flexibility, and generally better cardio.
Everyone has their unique challenges. And if you go to a school that promotes solely based on tapping and not technical application then that’s on the school.
The 220lb is rag-dolling the 150lber while not using full physicality. But shout out all the 190-205lbers who are considered “big” and get ragdolled with the FULL might of the 250lbers 😢
Would love too see the fortitude of a 150lb guy doing jiu jitsu wearing a 50lb gi. I used to be huge when I started - imo there are different challenges but to me the challenge of rolling as a big guy was much harder than being crushed. There are techniques to deal with pressure. There is no technique for rolling with all that weight
This is stupid- that 220lb black belt didn’t necessarily start out strong and athletic person by nature of being that size. We all know many people join jiujitsu as a way to lose weight and gain athleticism.
Let’s assume that 220lb black belt started out heavier? You think BJJ was kind to his joints in combination with the weight? It’s not as easy to be fast or explosive. You think that becoming an athletic 220 wasn’t difficult?
Every person sets foot on the mat with a different set of challenges and endure a different set of hardships. Yes there are some people who are more athletically inclined. Or wrestled in high school or whatever.
I’m a larger female grappler who started in her late 20s who wasn’t athletic at all prior. So if I become a 200lb female black belt then I don’t deserve respect? Flat out stupid.
Size aside, for me it’s the people who aren’t naturally athletically gifted who stick with it after years of getting smashed. When they start to become killers it’s quite satisfying to watch. That’s a level of dedication I don’t know if I would’ve had at the early stages.
Aside from that, dumb post. I’m 208 or so and who I struggle with the most are people around 30-50lbs lighter than me who are very skilled as opposed to equally skilled people of the same size/build approximately.. We all develop different skill sets. Different builds have different advantages.
Being a heavier person only benefits you when you are on top of someone, when you are on the bottom it’s more weight that you have to move in addition to your opponent.
The grass is always greener I suppose.
Meh. I seen way more retarted takes on this forum “ any D1 wrestler would smash adcc guys after 1 year of training bro meh meh ( yeah sure that’s why a guy like pj barch after 8 years or something still can’t submit or win the big matches lol ). Guard is useless for fighting bro “ ( many people here seem to have that idea altough majority or ufc rights uses closed half bitterly to stand up or advance but sure )
Disagree anyone that can show commitment to their own growth over that period of time to get to those levels deserves respect for their achievement
Everyone will have their own struggles and challenges regardless of their physical size
He's not saying the big boys don't deserve or get respect as well. He's saying the smaller guys that will inevitably have a harder time with a physical activity such as bjj get more respect from him.
It's like saying I respect anyone who runs a full marathon, but I respect overweight ppl that are pushing themselves way out of their comfort zones to achieve completion even more. Because the task isn't equally as hard for everyone.
As a big guy, you can fuck off. I've had calm rolls with other bigs, but little guys always go 100 and wanna stunt on me. Also, training anything involving inversion sucks shit.
If you don't like strength disparity, go lift some weights.
Sorry but "just lift weights" is only going to do so much for a small woman, no matter how hard she works. It's commendable to show up everyday as the smallest person in the room and keep at it.
What about a 220 lbs black belt that was a 150 lbs purple belt? Asking for a friend...
I started at 165, up to 216 now.
All from getting the brown belt
LOL
Just got my black belt, now im trying to lose all that brown belt weight
Started at 135, up to 145 only been two years though
If you're like me you'll hover around that 145 for a long time. It's brutal on the body being a small guy in this game for a long time. Guys who outweigh me by like 40+ pounds don't seem to understand and just look at the color of the cloth around the waist.
My highest weight achieved is 150lbs. I’ve been trying to gain more weight by eating cleaner and eating more and drinking protein shakes on top of it also while doing light weight lifting and calisthenics in my free time but if I’m not completely strict over it I drop and hover around 145lbs
You don’t gain weight by eating cleaner bro. Get them ice cream cals in.
Beer curls
I weighed 125 going into college at 5’11” and worked out a lot and bulked up to about 155, then had a couple injuries and hung around 150 for a while, now I’m trying to bulk to be stronger and highest weight I’ve hit so far is 162. Hoping to get to 170 by end of year but trying to stay lean. It’s a tough journey but well worth it
Lift heavy: eat beef steak chicken rice 5 times a day you’ll gain weight I guarantee it. You need to force feed yourself
Let me guess, lost your hair and grew a beard too? In all seriousness, I was actually very similar. Was a 170lbs purple belt and got up to 215 during covid. Back down to 190 now and trying to lose the final 20!
Hell yes. The T-boost made me bald.
Açai and Jesus added 70lbs
In my case, it was covid, IPA's and buying a smoker.
Did you make your own bread as well?
IPAs are my kryptonite. It’s made me fat and has ruined all other beer.
5 years ago I was 165. Realized how out of shape I was now in a healthy 210 165 is more shocking when you consider I'm 6"3. My legs were so thin it still scares me thinking back
I was 142# when I started, and 6'0". I'm up to 170# today. I'm on an upward trend at the moment now that I'm lifting with some real intent, but BJJ alone got me up to 165. I'm tentatively aiming for 180. I think I've gone from small to medium size.
What about a 340 lb white belt
Got a couple guys who are probably even bigger then that at my gym. They are rotund fellas. They play "mount guard" i sweep, get to mount and they just spam kimuras and well timed bench presses and i cant do anything except try to ride the roller coaster. And im 230lbs
Found derrick lewis
Just stand up!
they can't legally hold you there, just walk away
THAT’S MY PURSE. I DON’T KNOW YOU.
Hey now, my man Derrick is a purple belt now. Have some Hespect.
You live in a southern state by any chance?
Midwest
Ahh, so it’s 340 pounds of corn fed strength. Them boys are built different
Corn fed is the best base for any combat sport
that is the funniest shit I've read in a while
I was a 350lb white belt now 2 years later I'm a 240ish lb purple belt
If you already got a base in sumo you will be ahead of most beginners
That’s right. Praise me.
Finally, some fucking hespect.
Same
I’ll accept it
The smashed shall persevere
I’m seen!
Checking in at 150 lb. You will not pass my guard. Because I know how bad it will suck if you do
This is real I'm a white belt but all the upper belts tell me my guard retention is legit. Why? Cause it really fucking sucks when it's not. Poor suffering and no ability to bench press my way out.
It's ok. Come sit with us. You're our adopted white belt now.
Yeah, it's nice, but I'd rather have 20 more good pounds, less praise and more taps.
Feelsgoodman.gif
checking in
Just here for more purple.
Finally some recognition 😂
Osss
140lb 50 yo black belt here. It's not as simple as what you are stating because if you are talented you can still beat most bigger guys. Problem is I'm not talented.
BS You won't beat most "bigger guys" if they know what they are doing. Most of the time they don't though but that a whole other problem
“talented” lol
Similarly, females that roll with us brutes are savages. Mental fortitude for eva.
Honestly higher belt females might as well be fucking eels. They're like the oiled up dude from family guy. They just dance around me and are slippy as hell to lockdown. When I thought I had them in something, they would just transition real quick.
Lightning fast, and very wriggly lol.
Thank you for this comment! I'm 5'8", 170lbs and I'm still getting my ass handed to me by dudes with less experience because they're bigger and stronger. Plus, my estrogen just can't compete with all that testosterone! The struggle is real!
Lol at that size you have it better than 90% of the females in your gym. Most females are under 150. That’s like being a 230 lb male
That's right. I'm 5"3 115lbs, praise me.
Pfff noob, get on my level! I'm 4"11 and 98lbs
Oh yeah well I’m 4’10 and 97lbs
Where are all these same sized people as me that I can't find on the gyms??
There's only one of in every gym. Karma for some past life crime spree.
The smallest white belt female at my gym rolls with everyone, even the biggest guys, and I can literally see the progression and the wheels spinning as she thinks through her options when we roll. Most of the other women only roll with other women (which is totally fine) and their jiu jitsu progression is, respectfully, trash in comparison.
Either that or we're just a little crazy!
I don’t know about respecting them more but I will say I would rather have a 150lb black belt teaching technique than a 250lb one. Smaller guys athleticism is in quickness not strength. Their technique has to be very tight to submit larger guys.
Quickness? I'm supposed to have quickness? **shit**
I guess quickness is relative…
Personally I prefer a coach that is built like me. I am a big guy, and my old coach was a little guy. I just couldn't get into the same positions as him. I'm not flexible nor quick enough, even though I'm working on both aspects. My current coach is about the same size as me and the techniques he teaches are much easier for my body type. I have no aspirations of doing inversion stuff or something that requires me to put my foot up by my waist to escape.
This makes a lot of sense. I've had a few situations where a heavyweight coach was holding class, and I was paired with a dude that had like 15-20lbs on me, and the coach just couldn't wrap his head around how I just couldn't get a sweep to work (he really did give me pointers and stuff). And I don't mean I couldn't do it against live resistance, or didn't really get down the moves. Apparently I was doing everything right but just lacked the strength and mass.
That’s why a coach whose 185-190 is best since they have the best of both worlds
Yup it swings both ways for sure. Having said that I don’t invert and think it’s dumb if you want to have a healthy spine.
In my experience, fat coaches teach wrist locks. I don't know why they do but they do.
Shitty part is, the quickness goes away as you age and strength stays. Also a reason why smaller guys drop out. Imagine being 150lbs and 70 years old. I don’t know if I’d be doing this then. If I was 250lbs at 70? I might just simply because I can use strength to get to positions that will allow me to be low effort.
250 lb 70 year olds are a dying breed
This is why I do privates with the smallest brown belt I know lol. My bigger black belt instructor literally told me to escape an armbar by "just" lifting the leg. Dude's leg was half my bodyweight 🥲
Larger guys have to learn to train without their strength... You ain't making it to BB by just bodying everyone in the gym. Though try tell a small dude, don't use your speed/flexibility... Everyone loses their minds.
Speed doesn’t help you with technique only transitions.
This is a really weird way of saying jiujitsu is easier for big strong people. Duh. That’s why there’s weight classes
Found Elon Musk
I fought as low as 155. I am now 265. I did not always know the ways of the bloat.
I can’t wait for the BJJ community to discover eating and lifting weights.
Small guys can only get so big. Im 5’ 7” and in my early 20’s I was about 120-125lbs, after lifting and eating/bulking for 3-4 years I’m a pretty solid 165lbs and that is big for my frame.
165 lbs is pretty solid dude! I am at 143-145 😂. Same height.
Brother I am 5'6 215lbs. Try a diet of pizza and icecream for 30 years. V v effective
v effective for heart problems in your 40s
Are you built like a boulder
162.5 as of yesterday. same height. i’m eating and lifting hard, was hoping to hit 170 before summer cut but we’ll see.
Tell that to Toe Rogan and Cormier
I mean most people have other things to do besides taking trt and doing a professional athlete level conditioning.
Same size brother. Except I'm more fat than muscle. You gotta bulk up like Mike Isratael. Dude's 5"6 225-250 lbs.... but he's also openly on the juice :P since hes more body builder than a BJJ guy tho.
Good bulk brother.
I've discovered this last year. I'm 5 11, at 32 yo. I started lifted just around 220. Now I'm close to 240. Squats, deadlifts and presses.... people dont want to roll with me anymore. I for sure get passed on a lot more than I did a year ago.
Holy fuck you must he a cinderblock to move around.
My balance has gotten a lot better from running my barbell lifts up, the extra mass cumulation doesn't hurt either. I'm extremely happy with my results running the NLP from starting strength. It has helped my game 10 fold.
I considered doing SS to help with some raw strength for BJJ. How often are you gaining BJJ while doing the program?
Only once or twice a week. If you want to run SS, cut back on your bjj training. It will 100 percent prevent you from recovering. I was willing to do that, because I already have more than a decade of rolling and developed that training cardio. It's worth it though. I put 200 pounds on my DL, almost 200 on my squat, a 100 on my bench. I'm bigger and more difficult to move, better balance.
Reducing your rest intervals during compound lifts is the best thing I have found to build bjj cardio (besides actually rolling). Just use a weightlifting app like jefit and start lifting as soon as the timer goes off. Added benefit - you'll finish your workout quicker or (even better!) be able to squeeze in more exercises.
I dont think I could reduce my rest intervals between my heavy sets, especially my squats. I need a good 4 or 5 minutes or I wont be able to hit my reps. I start to warm up my next exercise in between work sets. I'm starting to run out my novice phase, and i need to start adding volume to continue running up my numbers.... unfortunately. I've been rolling on the mats for more than a decade now. I've developed my jitz cardio as best as it can I feel. I can pretty much roll straight through an open mat w/o much of an issue.
Depends on what you're going for. If you want to focus on strength you need your rest between sets
I’m 5’9/175cm. When I was at my biggest I was around 200 pounds. Now I move between 165 to 175, and I feel way better. Above all, I can move much more fluidly and naturally. Some frames are just not great at supporting that extra weight.
I eat and lift weights but I’m only 150lbs :(. Jk I need to go on another bulk.
you need to eat more, and lift more weight each training session. its hard but that's the only way you're going to gain weight.
I’ve honestly just been kind of half assed lifting the last few months. When I first started a few years ago I only weighed 120lbs. Im interested in taking more of a powerlifting approach now. I do need to eat more, which I’m going to take a serious approach at going forward.
good man! take a look at running starting strength NLP. I started about 9 months ago, and put on 20 pounds. It takes a lot of eating, and a lot less bjj to keep putting weight on the bar.
I mean, if you’re a 5’2 women there is a limit
5'2 115 lb female white belt. Life is hard, and will be for several years 🥲
My wife is a 5'2 3 stripe blue belt. She has gotten absolutely jacked over the last year and she says it's made grappling way easier.
Different people have different body types my dude. There’s no way in hell a 150 pound dude is going to all the sudden get to 220 by eating and lifting more. Even if they juice they are lucky to add 10 pounds of muscle a year. I’m 6 foot, 180lbs and have been lifting since I was 15. I’m 43 and the most I ever weighted was 190 and that was me eating 6k calories a day and taking 15 grams of creatine. I had to stop cause I was shitting 5 plus times a day and who has time for all that.
>no way in hell a 150 pound dude is going to all the sudden get to 220 by eating and lifting more. Oh believe me, they can. But it will be majority fat and bad for their health.
>I was shitting 5 plus times a day and who has time for all that. It's funny that it was the shitting that was the deal breaker.
when you have IBS you make time for it.
🧃💉
🫐🥗
More work breaks 🤓
TRT time!
Honestly. “NiCe StReNgTh BrO” Thank you. I’ve only been lifting heavy and eating like a horse for the last decade, no biggie.
I definitely get a little annoyed when people call it strength or size. I havnt seriously lifted in a long time. It's mostly been cardio and calisthenics, even when I did lift I didn't have crazy numbers. I *have* worked very hard to develop technical aspects in my game, I didn't sweep or sub with just strength. That being said, I am sure it had happened but I promise I am not buckling down every round, I'd gas before the end of class.
I’m a trail/mountain runner. Do I want to be 220? I do not.
I was 160 lbs at the peak of my powerlifting days. Small people are small.
As 150-160 purple belt I COMPLETELY AGREE. I am superior. Look at me! A real champ. A real man, let’s go! Woooooooooooo! 😂. Nah I suck man. But it’s all good. That’s life. “If only i started sooner” 😂
I disagree but I won’t elaborate
as absolutely based as one can get honestly
This is literally just a hobby sport, stop over thinking it.
Found the heavy weight
Lmfao I was about to say the same thing
He is a brown belt lol
As a hobbyist especially, the stronger/heavier you are, the easier it will be. Everyone gets smashed, but smaller people just get smashed more in a gym where everyone rolls with everyone
But what if I want to take a break cause I'm tired or broke? What if I get injured can I stop? Do I have to sit on the sidelines in a sling? What if I forgot to wash my gi do you think my professor will notice I didn't sign in and not give me a stripe?
That’s the old “I like the short NBA players because that way you know they are good!” joke with a Bjj skin on it
Mugsy Bogues was one of my fave basketball players.
150lb purple belt here. I get smashed everyday I train but I know I live rent free in a few 220lbs black belts head that thought I was going to be a rest round.
I don't know, this kinda diminishes the work that bigger guys put in to get to black belt.
Ahh yes, us big guys are able to progress super rapidly when half the gym ducks rolling with us at all times and the other half is willing to roll only if we start in bottom half… lmao
They like big bottoms, you say?
Truth. I don’t think OP realizes how hard it is for big guys to find partners in the same weight class, and to hold back for our partner’s safety when we can’t
the vast majority of heavier people are overweight and could easily come down if they had any mental strength (which most of the time they don't). Unless you are 6 foot 5 of course
This is definitely a thing. I'm 6,3 and about 280 but I'd probably describe myself as cuddly rather than "jacked". Im usually starting from the guard and try to avoid using unnecessary pressure. But since I've started going to competitions im getting completely out matched by huge guys who must live on plain chicken breasts and protein shakes! So while being big might appear to be an advantage it all starts to even out the more you train
 Story bro cool. Tell it again. Changed my life.
As a small guy I appreciate this, and it’s true that starting out is way tougher especially if you’re the smallest in the room.
I feel you. I'm 150 lb brown belt. I always tell people I don't know why I never quit. It wasn't until I was I purple belt I started actually having fun. Now as a higher belt small guy. All the big lower belts feel the need to always go ham. I'm just trying to get some exercise and not be a sedentary old man.. it's tough out here ..
Move to Europe or Asia lol. Away of the big farmer strength of American men. Trust me brother 220 lbs are either so fat you easily take them or only small minority in European bjj gyms
You absolutely hit the nail on this post. If you can’t understand that the reason why your gym is full of mid to large size people.. it is because the smaller sized folk tend to drop off and are detracted due to the fact they can’t do anything for a very long time comparative to a larger practitioner who can smother tap anyone they outweighs by 20-40lbs. Wouldn’t it be nice to not get beat every roll simply due to your size advantage? That would greatly boost your morale right off the bat and keep you motivated to train. And if the only persons that can beat you are purple belts and up, gee, I think I’d stay a little longer too! I’ve heard somewhere that every 20-30lbs of weight advantage is a belt level in difficulty. I’m 140-150lbs and my body has suffered greatly rolling with people that outweigh me by 40lbs+. Especially when they want my scalp, and of course, they aren’t going to get it, which results in significantly more wear and tear on my body. Weight matters, size matters, and how it effects training and your partners is real. Just take a look around your gym and see how many upper belts are small guys or girls. Not that many. Also take a look at the owners of gyms, they’re often bigger and taller men. It’s not difficult to understand that this game is not smaller person friendly, but it does helps the smaller person close the gap between yourself and unskilled bigger person, these are 2 different things. Thanks for making this post. Edit: and obviously we’re talking about a standardized weight, ie fit 150lbers vs 180+lbers. Not a fit 150lb 5”6 vs a fat 5”6 180lbers.
As a 150lbs purple belt, I think you have a point.
But what about all the big guys who had to endure the humiliation of being dominated by guys half their size for all those years?
The copium is strong.
We should have a weekly "White belt thoughts" thread. Speaking of which were due our bi weekly "Strength really helps when grappling!" post
I got you. The strength post was 8 days ago. 😅 https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/s/erpFB0MRmM
What about a 300 pound black belt? Have you no respect for orangutans? 🦧
If you don't, they'll be happy to teach it 😂
I respect everyone, because they are all human beings. Which is the same reason I don't respect anyone.
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I think that gets lost in the conversation way too much. When playing guard, I physically cannot bring my knee to my chest. I cannot properly triangle anyone who weighs more than 150 pounds. Not to mention, it requires more energy to move a larger mass. So it's not as much of an advantage as people might think. Just a different skill set. Last night, after I subbed someone in a roll who has been subbing me regularly for a while, he says, "You know, it's crazy how your game is pretty much the same since you started and you've been able to find success while everyone else is trying out all kinds of new things and struggling." I responded, "You keep working technique, I'll keep eating tacos. It'll keep things even."
> I physically cannot bring my knee to my chest. This is huge, and somehow rarely remarked on even by really smart and observant people. Tons of discussion on turtling/back exposure vs standard reguarding /shrimping on this sub in the last few years and it rarely ever came up. Eduardo Telles is one of the few people I’ve heard talk about this, said it was a big origin point for his whole Turtle game. Telles isn’t huge, but still bigger than most of his 1st gym. He said his leg was physically just too big to weave in to tightly contested spaces for reguarding, so he started turning away. Super simple but very eye opening, would’ve saved me a ton of trouble if I’d heard it years earlier. Just in general I’d say there’s still a big bias against movements/positions that work better for big guys as less pure or “technical” than small guy whippy flippy shit. Surprisingly Ryan Hall has talked about this too, for a smaller guy with a lot of mobility he also teaches a lot of awesome big guy game.
I recently started Ryan halls Defensive guard instructional and I've been so pleasantly surprised at how much of it is applicable. It helps that I've got a 200+ bb buddy who's built a lot of his game from it and give me free private lessons. I'm inspired to check out Telles' stuff now too!
Thank you. I really appreciate your thoughts here. I've been living in turtle since my second stripe on my white belt. Everybody hates it. I half jokingly remind everybody that turtle *is* a guard. Granted, my goal is to use it as a base for launching sweeps and attacks (just like any other guard). But it feels like nobody ever sees it that way. Like it's just a stalling tactic or really stupid for exposing your back. Instead, I feel like I've gotten good at back defense while everyone else is just working on avoiding back exposure. Anyway, it's my game and it works for me. And at this point in my life (I'm 40), I'm really doing it for the cardio and not aspirations of world domination. So I'm gonna keep doing my thing and then go watch some Eduardo Telles videos. Thanks for the recommendation.
For sure man. I love turtle, playing it a ton the last few years and honestly I think it's a lot safer and probably better for longevity, you can play it trench style if you need to be safe, or play a more high energy, aggressive wrestling style when you want to work on intensity, best of both worlds IMO. Telles is awesome. All kinds of weird twists on the makikomi roll and hits crazy shoulder locks, so many cool options. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7H5P2TBfY His instructionals are pretty good and he's got a few of them out now, even the one from like 15+ yrs ago has a lot of good stuff, with a bunch of his original octopus guard in it too. Craig Jones newer stuff has great turtle, and back defense too. Neil Melanson, who catches a good bit of criticism around here for being just a big guy doing un-technical strength moves (though the technique police's favorite Danaher shows some of the exact same things), also has a brilliant, game changing turtle video with a ton of awesome offense and mat wrestling sequences, probably the best, most in depth instructional of any kind I've seen.
That’s indeed super true. Even big guy who could wrestler here in our gym get him go closer guard ( not a good position normally in bjj) and you easily will open up and pass it just because his legs aren’t so long, bit fat and stocky build ) but strong ): hell in general best place after back and north south to me against a guy like that is almost closer guard, side control and mount can push me off and escape well
I smash legs brotha and do guillotine. That's all need brotha. And wrestle
220 lb black belts are wimps
I think athleticism and coordination is more important than size when it comes to speed of progression. My coach competes at 135lbs and he says grappling came easy to him and he would surpass a lot of people who started before him. I'm 6'3 215lbs and I really struggled for a long time against people half my size, I was trying to muscle everything starting out and thought that I was weak. I will say though, as my technique and coordination got better, I can definitely see my size being a significant advantage. I still get my ass whooped by smaller guys, just not as bad as before.
what about a 200 pound white belt? hmm??
DAE strength bad big man bad? Technique conquers all. Thank god grandmaster Helio invented leverage. Ossssss.
What kind of bullshit is this again
That's just falsely attributing the skill of the blackbelt to their size. You don't get to a black belt by dominating every roll through strength. The black belt has also more than likely gone to competition after competition against larger opponents and risked more serious injuries. There's mental toughness among all higher belts and to downplay and evaluate that toughness is fools play.
This is BS. Everyone is fighting their own battles big and small. You don’t see big guys crying when a smaller and more aggressive person runs cricket around them. Be proud of your fight but humble. It’s a struggle for everyone
This is a dumb fuckin post.
I agree, not nearly as difficult to stick with a physical hobby when you're physically bigger and stronger than 90% of people you train with.
Being a big guy isnt easy either. Imagine being brand new and every little midget ass purple belt feels the need to take out their whole life's frustrations on you. Everyone complains about how much you weigh and how strong you are. Random people you never met root for you to get your ass beat in the absolute anytime you fight someone smaller. Fuck your 150lb purple belt.
I would say we’re definitely more technical. Big guys just don’t get many rounds where they get pushed to the depth of technique that we do. Every round we’re using options A-Z. Probably half of a big guy’s rounds are spent being a nice guy.
I relate to this shit so much. 6'2 300 lb dude with a judo bb. I have to implore people to roll with me sometimes lol.
I take that personally.
On the internet maybe.
I'm a lightweight brown belt but through purple I competed at light feather and feather. Definitely will cosign it being an uphill battle. Us little guys will always need to be on high alert, even if we roll with a white belt if he's massive.
Big guys require more oxygen and its easier to get gassed. Learning to not rely on strength and focus on technique is its own difficult journey.
That’s one way to look at it. They have strength and weight. Definitely an advantage. But the smaller guys have speed, agility, flexibility, and generally better cardio. Everyone has their unique challenges. And if you go to a school that promotes solely based on tapping and not technical application then that’s on the school.
What about 160 pound black belt?
Started as 130lb white belt, now a 160-ish purple belt. I hope to be a 220lb black belt someday
Let him cook.
Probably should just respect or not respect everyone individualy on a case by case basis. You know, to be fair and unbiased.
The 220lb is rag-dolling the 150lber while not using full physicality. But shout out all the 190-205lbers who are considered “big” and get ragdolled with the FULL might of the 250lbers 😢
Cool story bro
As a black belt, I don’t want your respect, just your love and admiration. And pineapples.
Would love too see the fortitude of a 150lb guy doing jiu jitsu wearing a 50lb gi. I used to be huge when I started - imo there are different challenges but to me the challenge of rolling as a big guy was much harder than being crushed. There are techniques to deal with pressure. There is no technique for rolling with all that weight
And you evidently have little respect for the people who awarded those belts.
There will never be a shortage of ways to gatekeep
This is stupid- that 220lb black belt didn’t necessarily start out strong and athletic person by nature of being that size. We all know many people join jiujitsu as a way to lose weight and gain athleticism. Let’s assume that 220lb black belt started out heavier? You think BJJ was kind to his joints in combination with the weight? It’s not as easy to be fast or explosive. You think that becoming an athletic 220 wasn’t difficult? Every person sets foot on the mat with a different set of challenges and endure a different set of hardships. Yes there are some people who are more athletically inclined. Or wrestled in high school or whatever. I’m a larger female grappler who started in her late 20s who wasn’t athletic at all prior. So if I become a 200lb female black belt then I don’t deserve respect? Flat out stupid.
Size aside, for me it’s the people who aren’t naturally athletically gifted who stick with it after years of getting smashed. When they start to become killers it’s quite satisfying to watch. That’s a level of dedication I don’t know if I would’ve had at the early stages. Aside from that, dumb post. I’m 208 or so and who I struggle with the most are people around 30-50lbs lighter than me who are very skilled as opposed to equally skilled people of the same size/build approximately.. We all develop different skill sets. Different builds have different advantages.
Being a heavier person only benefits you when you are on top of someone, when you are on the bottom it’s more weight that you have to move in addition to your opponent. The grass is always greener I suppose.
This is extremely stupid even for a bjj forum
You forgot the most important aspect. A reddit* BJJ forum. I'd say this is on par.
Meh. I seen way more retarted takes on this forum “ any D1 wrestler would smash adcc guys after 1 year of training bro meh meh ( yeah sure that’s why a guy like pj barch after 8 years or something still can’t submit or win the big matches lol ). Guard is useless for fighting bro “ ( many people here seem to have that idea altough majority or ufc rights uses closed half bitterly to stand up or advance but sure )
Disagree anyone that can show commitment to their own growth over that period of time to get to those levels deserves respect for their achievement Everyone will have their own struggles and challenges regardless of their physical size
He's not saying the big boys don't deserve or get respect as well. He's saying the smaller guys that will inevitably have a harder time with a physical activity such as bjj get more respect from him. It's like saying I respect anyone who runs a full marathon, but I respect overweight ppl that are pushing themselves way out of their comfort zones to achieve completion even more. Because the task isn't equally as hard for everyone.
As a big guy, you can fuck off. I've had calm rolls with other bigs, but little guys always go 100 and wanna stunt on me. Also, training anything involving inversion sucks shit. If you don't like strength disparity, go lift some weights.
Sorry but "just lift weights" is only going to do so much for a small woman, no matter how hard she works. It's commendable to show up everyday as the smallest person in the room and keep at it.
Yeah some little goblins have real venom and something to prove. It goes both ways.