First post here and need some advice.
Welcome.
Ok where to start. I practise BJJ at an MMA gym in London UK. Have been doing it on and off now for around half a year and have just recently decided to take it seriously.
Okay, here's the start of the problem. Six months isn't much time to have been training. It's even less if you don't train consistently. This says to me that you've taken some classes, but you're probably still a novice.
I'm a white belt and at the gym, there are two different profs - both black belts. One under Mauricio Gomes.
I usually go to the class that I'm used to, which is very challenging for me and I usually train each day at 1pm.
Just to point out, here's your problem. Nothing will help your development more than training consistenly. You can't pick up a guitar for 10 minutes every other week and expect to play like Eddie Van Halen, and the same is true for jiu-jitsu.
I decided to go to the evening class to try it out with the other dude and just got completely destroyed by everyone, especially the purple belts. I got completely owned and was wondering is this normal? It may seem like a silly question because obviously they are very high level.
1) Yes. Totally normal. A purple belt should be able to destroy a novice white belt. Easily. To the extent that even if he's taking it easy on you, you'll feel like he's destroying you.
2) The guys who only train during the daytime at my dojo tend to progress a little more slowly than most of the evening guys. This is generally because the morning guys classes are more relaxed. The hardcore guys don't go too hard because they also train in the evening, and the morning-only guys don't generally experience evening classes due to demanding schedules.
3) Your experience level is likely comparable to that of an evening white belt who has been coming in consistently for a few weeks. This isn't to say that your morning class isn't good, just that consistent training and working with better training partners will make you better faster.
4) White belts generally get smashed for most of their first year, longer if they don't train consistently. You simply make bigger mistakes (and more of them) than advanced belts. In turn, the higher belts know how to take advantage of smaller and smaller mistakes as they advance...they also learn to make fewer (and even smaller) mistakes of their own. Having those mistakes exposed is
good, because that's something you can work on improving.
Is this normal though? I left the gym feeling completely humiliated and think from now on I'm gonna train the midday classes because they seem to be more relaxed.
Not really sure what to say but any advice would be appreciated.
It's normal to feel a blow to your pride when you get smashed. You should. It's normal. Someone who gets smoked and can just brush it off, IMO, isn't a man...they're a victim.
Your midday classes likely are a bit more relaxed. That's good and bad. It's good because you're comfortable learning there. It's bad because you're not learning as fast as you could.
And let's keep in mind, this isn't a sewing class....if you compete or have to use jiu-jitsu to defend yourself, your opponent won't be going at a relaxed, easy pace. It's important to be calm and make sure you're not relying on strength, but make no mistake...you're learning a method of fighting.
I had a similar feeling my first day of class. I walked out the door feeling glad that I did my first class. I got in my car and was feeling a little humiliated. By the time I got out of the parking lot, I got
mad. I told myself that being this bad was simply unacceptable to me. I
had to get better or I'd never forgive myself.
So my advice? Take it as a challenge rather than as a defeat. Go back to the evening class, bearing in mind that steel is hardened by being placed back in the fire again and again. Those training partners in the evening class are tough, but they'll make you better. As iron shrapens iron, so too does one man sharpen another.
