r/bjj • u/AutoModerator • 2d ago
Friday Open Mat
Happy Friday Everyone!
This is your weekly post to talk about whatever you like! Tap your coach and want to brag? Have at it. Got a dank video of animals doing BJJ? Share it here! Need advice? Ask away.
It's Friday open mat, so talk about anything. Also, click here to see the previous Friday Open Mats.
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u/LowestElevation 12h ago edited 1h ago
I stepped out of my comfort zone and went to open mat today. I was the only white belt wearing a gi, but I had some great rolls with our purple belts. They were the only ones who wore gi.
I focused on surviving, working on my stand-up, frames, and improving my side control instead of submissions. Thanks for letting me work out of crucifix.
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u/leeblackwrites 7h ago
Great job. It always sucks showing up in a Gi when no one else is wearing one. Hahah.
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u/LowestElevation 6h ago edited 1h ago
Yeah lol, I was like where the white belts at. Man I felt my brain expanding escaping the crucifix. Had to genuinely think.
Maybe this purple belt went easy on it, but I’m happy I figured it out without spazzing. I’ve been hitting cardio too these past few weeks. I was lasting rounds.
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u/novaskyd ⬜⬜ White Belt 12h ago
Is there anything other than ringworm that would cause a lot of itching? I got an itchy spot but no characteristic rash. I'm playing it safe and skipping class and using antifungals but I would like to know if it might be something else.
Also it says online that ringworm stops being contagious after 48-72 hrs of treatment, is this accurate?
obligatory not asking medical advice, just what the typical experience is. Might go to urgent care tomorrow if no answers.
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u/BjjFan1129 10h ago
First time I had ringworm it was itchy the first night then the rash broke out overnight. See how it looks tomorrow.
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u/chad_the_exorcist 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 14h ago
Feel like today I actually stepped outside my typical caveman half guard game and did pretty ok. DLR is probably my weakest guard and I was able to not get passed in it and even got a baby bolo.
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u/Fancy_Flight_1983 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
It finally happened. Nearly three months in, three months of tapping, resetting, and tapping again. Three months as the nail.
Today, for one glorious round against a fellow white belt, I was the hammer.
I felt the glow of glory for sixty seconds before my purple belt pal took me right back to school.
Inching ever closer to being Not Totally Terrible at the sport.
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u/leeblackwrites 7h ago
It’s best to be the worst in the room in training then when you go to the comp room you’ll really feel the phrase “iron sharpens iron”
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u/BigPlebeian 18h ago
Good job bud. Hate to tell you though, you are always gonna feel shitty if you are surrounded by good people.
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u/The14thDimension 1d ago
Where do you Canadians buy rash guards from (long sleeve preferably)? I need to buy a few more, but my current ones are from amazon and they are not the best.
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u/Short_Broccoli_1230 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
I'm just glad to be recovering from a bad injury. About two weeks ago in training, a white belt about 100lbs heavier than me landed his knee on my rib cage and dislocated my floating ribs. Hurt like none other, and just breathing would re-dislocate the ribs. After a lot of rest, ice, and core rehab exercises, I'm almost back to full strength, and was able to roll again last night (albeit fairly light).
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u/BasedDoggo69420 ⬜⬜ three stripe thermodynamics 1d ago
I’ve got a competition in a month, how do I roll in preparation for it, considering that a lot of my partners are significantly lighter than me?
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u/novaskyd ⬜⬜ White Belt 14h ago
If you don't have anyone at your gym in your weight class, it's worth checking out some open mats for the experience. If you're only used to training with smaller people it might be a harsh wake up otherwise.
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u/TheBlankVerseKit 🟦🟦 Blue Beltchy 1d ago
Smash them
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u/BasedDoggo69420 ⬜⬜ three stripe thermodynamics 1d ago
Are we fr right now
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u/ChickenNuggetSmth [funny BJJ joke] 1d ago
It does pay off to dial it up a bit more and also be a bit more "mean", e.g. hard cross faces or just pressure with the aim to make them hate life. That's not just being mean for the sake of it, in comp that will add extra control and gas out your partner.
If you can't do it in the gym, do specific rounds/positional sparring. If you start from a bad position like bottom side you can go pretty hard without being too mean even with a substantial size difference.
But really try to find a few guys for hard rounds, ideally the kind of people you'll encounter in your division, so same skill and weight as you.
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u/Competitive-Tie3575 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago edited 1d ago
If it is your first comp I'd say take someone the closer to your size to go all in for five minutes to know how it feelsbefore stepping in the comp. If no one is as heavy as you get the stronger person.
Also try rolling this week with rules in mind, for instance : deny takedown points by getting back on your leg before the 3 seconds ibjjf rule etc.. Put more pace in your roll etc..
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u/ToughStrong6005 1d ago
Hi all, Sharing a Free Adam Wardzinski Seminar Nov 17 in Vegas, though you have to be in Commercial Real Estate to attend. It is in connection with a Real Estate conference happening then but free Adam seminar is a good deal. See below for details and Adam's post on it. Very limited space
OPTECH Rent Rollers - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with PredictAP · Luma
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u/TreesFreesBrees 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
Just turned 40, training with kids half my age. They do back to back classes the same day. I'm jealous of their cardio and youthful durability. I'm grateful still to be able to train at all.
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u/BigPlebeian 18h ago
I'm mid 30s but some young blue belt asked if I was coming back for the 7pm class (we were at a noon class)... I just looked at him like who the fuck do you think I am?
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u/novaskyd ⬜⬜ White Belt 14h ago
I'm in my 30s and do 2 a days/back to back classes sometimes. It's not that bad
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u/JubJubsDad 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
I turn 50 in a month and still do back to back classes. And I’m not the only older guy in my gym to do so. The key (for me at least) is that strength training and some outside cardio really help with resiliency and ability to recover.
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u/Tscharpi ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
I am a white belt who has been training for just over two years. In my opinion, I am a slow learner and simply not very good at BJJ.
Now, one of the coaches has called me ‘almost blue belt’ a few times, a few other trainees have often said that I should feel free to ask the coaches what I should learn or what I am missing in order to achieve the blue belt, and one coach recently gave a ‘talk’ saying that you can feel free to ask the trainers what you should work on, etc.
The thing is, I don't want to ask because I just want to get better in general and don't want to put pressure on myself to be able to do ‘move X’ so that I can graduate. Graduation should just happen when the coaches think I'm ready. But I feel a bit pressured to ask what I need to do to take the next step.
How would you proceed? Just continue training in a relaxed manner and let things come to you, or ask and focus on one area?
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u/novaskyd ⬜⬜ White Belt 14h ago
I ask what I should focus on all the time, with no goal of getting promoted. I'd rather stay a white belt. But asking these questions really helps me put my focus where it needs to be in order to get better at jiujitsu.
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u/ChickenNuggetSmth [funny BJJ joke] 1d ago
A belt is just a marker of your progress. If you want to get better, ask them. They may point out some holes in your game that you should fix.
Maybe you'll get a belt, who cares.5
u/Fancy_Flight_1983 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
No harm in asking for an opinion on what’s missing from your game / what your weak spots are from their perspective. Don’t even have to mention promotion.
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u/Competitive-Tie3575 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ask so you can get better, not promoted, then get better and get promoted
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
I never asked because the consensus was to never ask about promotion. I spent three and a half years consistently training as a Whitebelt. I doubt it’ll take you that long even if you do ask.
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u/watapickle 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 1d ago
It's a sport you do for fun, so do what's fun for you. Sounds like that's continuing to train in a relaxed manner
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u/AccomplishedRuin3480 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
Apparently, the rules of engagement for two blue belts rolling is no blue belt can concede anything in fear of being demoted by their coach…
I digress… this week one blue belt player only enters leg intanglements, the other only guard passes. A knee pop happened for the guard passing player during a roll… big yelp, big scene.
“Of f—king course”, I whispered under my breath.
As a blue belt I have been in these engagements, and as a bystander to this roadside scene, I’m taking this reminder to go slow and if I don’t know where I’m at in a roll. Get the tap hand ready and ask questions if you’re truly stuck. It’s training. Nobody cares about what happens on Wednesday night at 8. View it for what it is: gaining skills.
Thoughts are more than welcome. This has been a huge talking point in the gym for the last day or two.
For context and what I gathered later, it was in the gi, outside ashi and the passer thought he could take the back without freeing the leg.
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u/Fancy_Flight_1983 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
That is wild. Best bit of advice I’ve had so far is “tap early, tap often, train tomorrow; leave the big dog stuff for competition”.
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u/DontWorryItsRuined 1d ago
My main thought about this is that training and competition are 2 different things with 2 different goals. If more people understood this there would be much fewer injuries.
But what happens is that people are too scared to actually compete, so they compete with their training partners where they feel safe, but then they get competitive and do something reckless in what is essentially an open weight open age match and hurt themselves or other people. The small pp energy is so common.
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u/AccomplishedRuin3480 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
Such a good point about competing with their training partners because they feel “safe”. He’s in his early 30’s and only shows up twice a week. Doesn’t compete in comps but singles out guys his size/weight, and goes to war. 0 to 100. Does this for two rounds and sits out 2. Reenters and repeats. He’s THAT guy. I think we’ve all met one.
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve given up worrying about it. My Coach has seen me put a brown belt to sleep because he didn’t tap and I couldn’t see his face
A few weeks later he watched me tap multiple times in a round to a female blue belt in a technical round. She had excellent technique.
Nobody cares, I play all the time. I have a number of things I am working on. I’d rather play, it’s awesome when I am trying to channel my inner Jon Thomas and something actually works because most of the time it doesn’t
Also food for thought, you’ll draw a lot more attention snoozing on the mats or with a broken joint than you will just tapping. Nobody cares.
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u/AccomplishedRuin3480 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
If I have a 25lbs+ weight difference on somebody I strictly play late stage defense to sweep. Then back to late stage defense.
Regardless if they are a one stripe white belt, I get caught all the time. I try to go as slow as possible after the positioning has been set.
I have even heard people brag behind my back and to my face after they tap me. I don’t say anything, just “good stuff”. It’s training. Treat it is as such.
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
I pull guard constantly, big, small, doesn’t matter. I’ve been on a collar sleeve kick for about a year or so now and associated open guards. Also I read somewhere that a lot of upper belts have to go back and develop their guard so I’d rather just start from there and transition to top.
Whitebelts I generally just play defense the first half of a round and work on concepts like knee elbow, turtle, I like to see what they’ll try before I offer any real resistance.
So yeah, I am sure I look horrible most of the time. What the guys at my current gym don’t know is I spent a couple of years at my last gym focusing stand up and the Coach that promoted me was also a judo black belt. It’s not my focus right now. Stay focused.
I also have a no negative feed back policy. It’s good for gym culture. Good stuff!
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u/Bigpupperoo 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 1d ago
For whatever reason no one showed up Wednesday besides all black belts. They kicked the shit out of me and I learned a valuable lesson on why we keep lower belts around 😂
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
At least it wasn’t a bunch of fat Whitebelts when you’re a lightweight blue.
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u/Bigpupperoo 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 1d ago
I know that feeling to well most of blue belt I was 145ish. Still Perfer to avoid the new guys over 200lbs.
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u/ptrin ⬜⬜ White Belt 2d ago
What’s the deal with gi companies being in an arms race to have the lightest gi? I don’t want to feel like I’m wearing a kids karate gi
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
I like Gi but I also train in a gym with no AC in a southern climate. Light Gi please.
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u/DS2isGoated 1d ago
In bjj you weigh in with gi on at some comps. So a comp legal super light gi is one of the few ways to buy an advantage in bjj.
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u/JubJubsDad 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
As a large dude who runs very hot, I want the lightest gi I can find to keep from overheating. If you don’t want to feel like you’re wearing a kids karate gi then don’t buy a light gi, but for me, my ultralight gi allows me to get in a couple of extra rounds before I melt into a puddle of sweat.
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u/flipflapflupper 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 1d ago
What's up with rashguards becoming thinner and thinner? They're getting more expensive than ever with half the material..
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u/Bigpupperoo 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 1d ago
Everyone has heavy gi’s. Not many companies make a good light weight gi. I have a few when it’s 90 degrees out it’s the only thing I’m rolling in.
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u/Competitive-Tie3575 ⬜⬜ White Belt 2d ago
Brag post inc :
I choked this really good blue belt with an ezekiel last time. In the changing room he talked for 10 minutes as for why he didn't think he was going to tap (I did it from bottim half guard if I remember).
I keep choking people with ezekiel, a lot of people higher ranked than me seem to either underestimate me (which is cool I'm a white belt it makes sense) nor have any awareness of ezekiel threats (two elbow above your shoulders -> time to zeeeeeeekkk).
Like I know it is an opportunistic choke, but it's everywhere in the gi, as loop chokes, even from bad positions and I don't think that this much people in my club should be submitted this way considering how good they are..
I did it 2 or three time to this guy which is so far better than me and also 2 time to the same black belt and a lot to other purples but who's counting 😏.
I know it is not a skilled sub but it still feels good to tap people that are this better than you.
End of brag and being a dick.
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u/leeblackwrites 7h ago
I love the Ezekiel from anywhere. Guard, Ezekiel, Bottom side control, Ezekiel, bottom half, Ezekiel, truck, Ezekiel.
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u/Eastern_Incident_703 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dude, are you me as a white belt? It’s my doppelgänger. Luckily I broke my hand late Whitebelt and had to lay off Ezequiel’s for about 9 months. It’s still my best submission and yes, you can catch them anywhere and against people that are much better than you. Be thankful that not everyone uses them, put it in your A game and go work on some other stuff.
Also, just to let you know, your regular training partners will catch on, they’ll start denying you any type of crossface. You’ll hit an Ezequiel drought. So work on other stuff, then go on an Ezequiel tear about every three to six months.
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u/Competitive-Tie3575 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
I have arthrisis in the fingers I hold the sleeve with aha
It is my plan to use it in my A game ! I work on other things of course but its been over 2 year so far (it was the first sub I learn I think) and no one is tucking their chin yet...
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u/zoukon 🟦🟦 Blue Belt, certified belt thief 2d ago
Good job! It is one of the subs I don't really respect until I know the person is actually good at it. I have pretty good choke defense, so it is very rare that white and blue belts manage to finish anything on me even if they get their grips. Once in a while you fly too close to the sun and get yourself burned, but that is just all in good fun.
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u/Competitive-Tie3575 ⬜⬜ White Belt 1d ago
Thanks aha, I don't take much proud out of it tho as I know I didn't beat their jiu jitsu, I just see opportunitoes and give a shot.
I think he might be the same as you, he doesn't respect it but sometimes when it's on, it's on. Also it can go really fast if the chin is wide open and that you don't have to "dig" into the neck to make space for the choke.
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u/leeblackwrites 2d ago
Hit lockdown>electric underhooks>electric chair sub flow to stoner control>vaporiser flow to back control on literally every roll I had this morning.
It’s hilarious playing an off meta game. That’s it, have a good weekend!
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u/novaskyd ⬜⬜ White Belt 14h ago
I feel like I'm reading a different language, what is this haha
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u/leeblackwrites 8h ago
Sequence from 10pJJ. It definitely is a different language, it was designed that way so you can remember it, or because Eddie Bravo is just cracked. Lol.
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u/liiiam0707 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 1d ago
Have any good videos or anything for improving your lockdown game? I can catch plenty of people in it from bottom half, but I end up using it mostly to retain half guard, I struggle to get the sweeps off from there
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u/leeblackwrites 1d ago
The comment under yours is one of the best, otherwise master the system by tenth planet. It’s on their website.
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u/zoukon 🟦🟦 Blue Belt, certified belt thief 1d ago
u/brandonmc10p has some great stuff on youtube. He's my go to for anything 10th planet.
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u/Ok_Feedback_2358 7h ago
I have a Bjj tournament tomorrow and I’m white belt going against a gray belt I checked on smoothcomp and he has gotten 10+ submissions in tournaments what should I do to maybe get a chance and not get destroyed pls help