Really struggling and falling behind in BJJ

While my body feels sore and tired a lot , i only really roll 2 or 3 times each day. Technique drills are pretty low intensity.

6 months ago...damn I can't even remember how good I was :)

As mentioned by others, you might want to look into how you're training. Sometimes do you need to change something up. Are you rolling or fighting every day? In my day to day training, I try to do more flow rolling. Injuries are mounting up and I'm also cognizant of the feeling of balance as opposed to trying to force techniques through. The "fighting" side of rolling only every comes up when competitions are coming up. With training intensity, train as hard as you can so that you can complete the session AND come back the next session.

Don't worry about how good you were 6 months ago, you were worse than you are today
 
Wow... so on average 2.5 years for a blue belt ? That sounds like a lot

Nope.

It is typical.

Edit: I will elaborate.

So I give one stripe for 6 months of consistent training.

By the time, they get to 3 stripes, I will start evaluating of they are ready for the blue belts.

If they are not, then they wait 6 months and then next graduation after 2.5 years I would promote them to blue.

Now, if they win some competition or even place (like get silver or bronze) in a competition with lot of competitors. I will think that they can no longer compete at white belt and therefore I will promote straight away and will not require them to get the entire 4 stripes and then another 6 months.

If they do not compete, then they do not have to worry about getting the next belt in a hurry..they can wait 2.5 years like normal.

if they compete and don't perform well, then there is no need to promote them anyway. they can wait the 2.5 years.

One time, I did promote a student from white to blue belt and he never won any matches at white belt because I KNEW that he was good and ready but he was just nervous.

At blue belt competition, he got a silver medal at the Nationals (even though he never won a match at white belt)....I just knew.
 
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There is no "falling behind", its all moving forward and its just about how fast you are doing so. Keep going, be consistent and stop worrying about it so much that it takes away from your enjoyment of what your doing. You are there in the first place because it is a fun thing you enjoy. Dont lose sight of that.
 
From what i understood from other coaches at my academy, our professor views stripes on a white belt as just motivational tools to retain and motivate new students. What counts is getting your blue and he only gives you that when your ready.

Basically he views all white belts regardless of stripes as just white belts.

Well, I use the stripes as tool to measure how long they been training with me.

Literally, I split the class into 2 groups that get assigned a BB instructor each and a topic.

Quiet often, I will send a white belt 3/4 stripes into the advanced topic If I feel it would be benefitial for him or more like we need another person to pair up for the drill.
 
The change in the class format sucks hard for you.

You have very few rolls that way

I love the technical part but I want my 5 X 6 minutes rounds afterwards. The basic class have only 2 rounds so I do some treadmill before going in. It's martial arts but it's also a workout and you need those workout time to stay in shape. And in BJJ, if you don't roll you don't learn.

I'm pretty much in the same situation as you, I have good sweeps but I get smashed when I get passed and I can stay on my back for the rest of the round against a good top guy.

I've been working a lot on guard retention, proper positioning under side control and escapes from side control and mount.

Mostly every guard retention moves require a lot of combativity and a lot of efforts so if your gas tank is low, it'll be tough for you to get better at it while rolling. In guard retention you need to shrimp, sit, bridge, stiff arm... you can't do that if you're exhausted. You're just gonna lay in your back and hug them instead of fighting for the position.

I love the X guard and the butterfly guard and there's loads of options that comes up when you manage to ''defend'' a torero pass or an X pass by just sitting up and breaking grips.

You also need a good place to relax when you're under. I'm working a lot on the knee shield with the cross collar grip to make them work.

I'm also drilling with other guys my level to just react properly after guard passes, to avoid cross faces and shoulder pressure.
 
Just shut up and train and you will get better. If you want to improve faster then spend more time drilling, sparring, and watching film
 
Man a somber follow up to "I got my blue belt!" thread you had few weeks ago.

I going to fourth that you may be over training. I'm a few years younger than you, and I had a lot of free time I trained 5x a week for a month or so , and again when prepping for a tournament, it ended up slowing me down. I just was sore all the time and felt worn down and I just never felt like moving after a few weeks at that pace.

What works best for me is 3x training three times a week, along with 1 workout at home per week.

I'm going to be in a similar situation to you pretty soon... I have training partners giving me a pretty hard time right now who aren't getting promoted soon however I am. I don't expect the day I come in with my blue belt to all of a sudden wreck those guys. They'll probably just roll harder with me now.

Did you get a heads up you were getting promoted? You know who gives you a hard time and who doesn't. Of course that wasn't going to change overnight.
 
Man a somber follow up to "I got my blue belt!" thread you had few weeks ago.

I going to fourth that you may be over training. I'm a few years younger than you, and I had a lot of free time I trained 5x a week for a month or so , and again when prepping for a tournament, it ended up slowing me down. I just was sore all the time and felt worn down and I just never felt like moving after a few weeks at that pace.

What works best for me is 3x training three times a week, along with 1 workout at home per week.

I'm going to be in a similar situation to you pretty soon... I have training partners giving me a pretty hard time right now who aren't getting promoted soon however I am. I don't expect the day I come in with my blue belt to all of a sudden wreck those guys. They'll probably just roll harder with me now.

Did you get a heads up you were getting promoted? You know who gives you a hard time and who doesn't. Of course that wasn't going to change overnight.

Yeah I knew because my professor kept joking about me getting my blue then one day told me make sure i come next weekend
 
Pull back a bit
Breathe
Stop worrying everything happens at a different pace for different people. One day you’ll just ....get it.
 
As a general rule, I think Dan John's advice for breaking plateaus in training is very helpful and can apply to a lot of things; 'Same, But Different'.

Sometimes you can become 'overadapted' to a certain training method, and stop getting appreciable benefits from it, falling into a rut; in such cases, especially when it is a capacity that is otherwise critical to your sport, what you do is divine other methods that select for that same capacity, but from different directions.

As an example, the gluteus complex is very important for a discus or hammer thrower, and hip thrusters are a great way to develop glutes, perhaps the very best single way even. But if hip-thrusters are the only thing you're doing besides practicing throws themselves, you're liable to run into a ceiling much quicker; in such cases other exercises that also target the glutes, such as farmers walks, long jumps, sled pulls, pushes, or heavy weight throws, are each and altogether excellent methods of breaking the stiff 'boxes' you can psychosomatically get stuck in.

Maxing out your strategy in jiu-jitsu is a lot like maxing out your snatch in powerlifting; you're not going to reach your highest peak by just pulling snatches, well planned assistance work will take you even higher.
 
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Duh should have mentioned that..sorry.

Class changed a few months ago and now instead of 15 minute warm-up, 30 mins technique drills with a partner, and 15-20 minutes roll the professor now just uses up whole hour to do techniques. It sucks and many of us complain about it because some of us have to go back to work family etc and moving the live rolling to open mat after class sometimes I can't roll as much as I want.

Generally i squeeze in 2-3 rolls a day, but Saturday class is 45 minute straight rolling only which is nice.

Thank you for any help or advice
This is your problem. No rolling and all technique is not training. Thats called a technique seminar. You are literally doing a technique seminar every day and expecting to not get tired during real training.
 
Sounds like you are where you should be. Just keep it up. I would see if I am overtraining. Have fun even if you are getting tapped!
 
This is your problem. No rolling and all technique is not training. Thats called a technique seminar. You are literally doing a technique seminar every day and expecting to not get tired during real training.

I agree but I don't know why our professor gradually started taking up entire hour of class for techniques rather than reserving st least last 15 minutes for rolling. He does have open mats after class but I usually have to go to work , pick up son etc so an hour is all i have.

In your opinion , and for a relative beginner at my level, how many 5 minute rolls minimum a day should I do if I go 4-5 or even 6 times a week ?
 
This sounds all normal to me to be honest. You got promoted to blue just now and you have hard times with younger guys that are still white belts. That happens. A new blue belt isn't really far from a white belt with 3/4stripes. This doesn't sound like a crisis. If you are still having fun then keep showing up and train as much as you can.

Don't worry about comparing yourself to people in your gym. They will learn what you do and ways to counter what you do. Then you need to find something new to do that will work. Then they will learn how to counter that new technique. That will happen forever. That is why we call it the circle of life. It is the way you guys all learn together as a team.
 
I agree but I don't know why our professor gradually started taking up entire hour of class for techniques rather than reserving st least last 15 minutes for rolling. He does have open mats after class but I usually have to go to work , pick up son etc so an hour is all i have.

In your opinion , and for a relative beginner at my level, how many 5 minute rolls minimum a day should I do if I go 4-5 or even 6 times a week ?

At your age? Unless you are already in very good shape training 6 days a week is really too much...
 
Another note that I feel is being overlooked, so not worry yourself with the 2 stripe 20 something. You say he wrestled in college

That means that while you have a year and a half of grappling experience, he has 12 years, with 4-5 of it at a very high level, and now some months of the specific grappling art you’re engaged in. Plus a decade of youth and athleticism.

Try and learn even just new ways to survive against him, or tricky ways you can catch someone with a collegiate wrestling background. If you ever had to use your bjj skills in a set defense situation, there’s a better chance that it’s against someone who used to wrestle than someone who does jiu Jitsu

This is most likely not an opponent on your tier you should measure yourself against. Treat him differently
 
Just shut up and train and you will get better. If you want to improve faster then spend more time drilling, sparring, and watching film

Well that is the freaking problem.

He is already training 6 days o'er week.

What do you recommend: train 22 times instead.
 
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