"Jiu Jitsu for everyone"... is this widespread ?

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Evenflow80

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"Jiu jitsu for everyone" is essentially the dominant business model for Gracie Barra (where I train). I've had a revolving door for people coming in from other gyms and then quit. Overall they seem better than most people at our gym. Another black belt there that teaches our class sometimes subtly makes fun of the whole "bjj for everyone" as it dumbs down the talent pool.

Are all bjj gyms like that now ? I understand running s bjj gym is hard and you need as many members as possible just to survive let alone eke out a profit, but for anyone on here that started training "in the old days" do you see bjj now as too mainstream and dumbed down to the point where a black belt today would be a purple belt back then? Are all bjj gyms now openly accepting and going out to get anyone who isnl willing to put on a gi and pay the monthly dues ?

Thank you
 
No. You do not just get a promotion just for showing up x amount of times. Just because you have gotten your card punched 15 or 20 times doesn't mean you are a blue belt yet. You need to know and be familiar with certain positions and techniques to move on.
 
The people who run my school like to say jiu-jitsu is for everyone, but I'm not sure they believe it. The business model seems to depend on a revolving door of new white belts. Many stick with it, but most don't. To me BJJ isn't for everyone, which is one of the reasons I like it.
 
Half of the people who do BJJ are going to be worse than the other half. If you make the training harder, that's still going to be true.

What you shouldn't do is avoid training physically challenging techniques which are legal, because your students will be at an unfair disadvantage.
 
BJJ is far from being for everyone, the technical part and drilling is, but the sparring is really rough. Just like boxing, kickboxing, wrestling... You can play the ''game'' but when it times to do it for real, most people will scatter away.

We have 15 to 18 years old kids, full of testoterone and ready to bang, the few older guys that comes in are huge MMA fans that want to try it. The ones that manage to stay are mostly boxers, kickboxers, wrestlers, judo guys or some guys that know how to play it rough like football or hockey players.

We don't really give them a chance to start from scratch, it's full sparring at the end of every classes, even if you just learned what a triangle is. Sometimes the guy who is sparring with you will show you some stuff after strangling you 2 or 3 times and he sees no challenge.


But they do it just fine for the kids class, my boy really enjoys it, the mostly roll without submissions, so they concentrate on positions and takedowns and other BJJ related games.

Personnaly, I rarely try to persuade people to start BJJ, I don't want to be responsible for their injuries or having to explain why I keep doing it.
 
but for anyone on here that started training "in the old days" do you see bjj now as too mainstream and dumbed down to the point where a black belt today would be a purple belt back then?
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Sort of depends. The game has changed so much that I don't think it's apples to apples anymore. Over-all, I think people have generally gotten better. When I think of what an average blue belt was when I started, vs what an average blue belt is now, the "modern" blue belt is likely going to crush the "old school blue belt" (assuming some kind of time machine situation where the modern blue travels back in time) in a tournament setting. That same modern blue belt is probably also going to beat up on the purples and give the old school brown belts fits (again, assuming he could go back in time so it was a straight up comparison - you have to assume a lot of the old-school guys have evolved since back then).

On the other hand, while I don't much care for the street vs sport debate, I do think (just anecdotal evidence so not exactly solid lol) you would find more of the "old school" blues doing better in MMA or "self defense" type situations. Not because they were better or worse BJJ players, but simply because that's what they really trained for in most cases.
 
BJJ is for anyone. Not everyone.
 
I get why it's a thing tho. Gym owners got bills to pay and the casuals bring in the cash.
 
i think if you have a look around r/bjj youll have your question answered, it seems that theres a lot of soft people out there who instead of going through hard training and toughening up a bit, expect it to be softened up so they dont get boo-boos

i also agree with whoever said blue belts from back in the day might lose in tourneys but be able to handle themselves better in a fight
 
Jiu jitsu for everyone....as long as they got the $$$.
 
Dogstarman said:
No. You do not just get a promotion just for showing up x amount of times. Just because you have gotten your card punched 15 or 20 times doesn't mean you are a blue belt yet. You need to know and be familiar with certain positions and techniques to move on.
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Sadly , that's exactly how my gym works. They even Mark on your card the exact day you are due a stripe.

Blue at around 1 year, purple at 3 years. It's always bothered me, but people on here keep telling me over and over that's not my concern and let the professor decide that.
 
Crotalis said:
Sort of depends. The game has changed so much that I don't think it's apples to apples anymore. Over-all, I think people have generally gotten better. When I think of what an average blue belt was when I started, vs what an average blue belt is now, the "modern" blue belt is likely going to crush the "old school blue belt" (assuming some kind of time machine situation where the modern blue travels back in time) in a tournament setting. That same modern blue belt is probably also going to beat up on the purples and give the old school brown belts fits (again, assuming he could go back in time so it was a straight up comparison - you have to assume a lot of the old-school guys have evolved since back then).

On the other hand, while I don't much care for the street vs sport debate, I do think (just anecdotal evidence so not exactly solid lol) you would find more of the "old school" blues doing better in MMA or "self defense" type situations. Not because they were better or worse BJJ players, but simply because that's what they really trained for in most cases.
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This really shocked me. I really thought the opposite and that if you transported a blue belt from the old days he would mop the floor with today's purple and even brown belts.
 
Calibur said:
BJJ is for anyone. Not everyone.
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This. Applies to all combat sports, I coach every kid who comes into my room. Don’t give a fuck about their ability just attitude and effort. The actual sport itself filters out the ones who it’s not for.
 
BJJ is for everyone if they are genuinely interested in learning how to defend themselves, learn a martial art, learn the art of BJJ, compete in competitions, or want to fight mma. Those are legit reason to learn BJJ.

If they do it as a way to stay fit, workout, socialize, or because its a fad are not good reasons to train long term, those types normally quit after getting their blue belts anyway.
 
Evenflow80 said:
Sadly , that's exactly how my gym works. They even Mark on your card the exact day you are due a stripe.

Blue at around 1 year, purple at 3 years. It's always bothered me, but people on here keep telling me over and over that's not my concern and let the professor decide that.
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If you're not comfortable with it go try another school. At my school we get some guys who left Gracie Barra. Some guys like it some guys don't. You don't need to stay there.
 
Evenflow80 said:
"Jiu jitsu for everyone" is essentially the dominant business model for Gracie Barra (where I train). I've had a revolving door for people coming in from other gyms and then quit. Overall they seem better than most people at our gym. Another black belt there that teaches our class sometimes subtly makes fun of the whole "bjj for everyone" as it dumbs down the talent pool.

Are all bjj gyms like that now ? I understand running s bjj gym is hard and you need as many members as possible just to survive let alone eke out a profit, but for anyone on here that started training "in the old days" do you see bjj now as too mainstream and dumbed down to the point where a black belt today would be a purple belt back then? Are all bjj gyms now openly accepting and going out to get anyone who isnl willing to put on a gi and pay the monthly dues ?

Thank you
Click to expand...

I think Gracie Barra is going after the more affluent communities, at least the GB schools in my area. It is more profitable to have a school that makes people feel good, and is more accepting, than a survival of the fittest gym. On one hand it is kind of fraudulent, because people pretty much pay for their belt. On the other hand, I can understand a middle aged guy who was never into athletics not wanting to be smashed by testosterone fueled (synthetically and natural) meatheads.

There is a method to the madness, the Gracie Barra schools in my area are pretty profitable, where as most BJJ schools are barely getting by financially.

Edited

To answer your question it depends on the person, if you want to be a hardcore competitor than go elsewhere, if you just want to do BJJ as a hobby and you can afford the training, stay at GB.

Regarding the belts, as much as I seem to be ragging on Gracie Barra, the actual instructors that run the school in my area are legitimate black belts. It is the business model that waters the training down, however if you have a legitimate black belt instructor I imagine you could become a legitimate BJJ guy going to a GB school.

I actually think black belts today are better than ever because BJJ has evolved in the last 20 years, and due to the excessive competition of all the BJJ schools, instructors can't hold back.
 
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It depends, jiu jitsu is not for everyone, i realized this a couple of years by now. No matter how soft you make the class, not everyone gets hooked on rolling, some people just can’t take it, the physical aspect of the game, the long learning curve and the ego crushing, some can, some enjoy and some just don’t like it. GB is one of the most competitive teams in the world, you can , be a competitor, you can be a gym Rambo or you can just do it to enjoy yourself lose weight whatever. There are other teams which are way more focus on competition though. It’s your choice, if you are at a gb gym, and you want to compete, the training should be good enough as in most other gyms, at least if you are in a real gym and not a mcdojo
 
Daniel Fox said:
I think Gracie Barra is going after the more affluent communities, at least the GB schools in my area. It is more profitable to have a school that makes people feel good, and is more accepting, than a survival of the fittest gym. On one hand it is kind of fraudulent, because people pretty much pay for their belt. On the other hand, I can understand a middle aged guy who was never into athletics not wanting to be smashed by testosterone fueled (synthetically and natural) meatheads.

There is a method to the madness, the Gracie Barra schools in my area are pretty profitable, where as most BJJ schools are barely getting by financially.

Edited

To answer your question it depends on the person, if you want to be a hardcore competitor than go elsewhere, if you just want to do BJJ as a hobby and you can afford the training, stay at GB.

Regarding the belts, as much as I seem to be ragging on Gracie Barra, the actual instructors that run the school in my area are legitimate black belts. It is the business model that waters the training down, however if you have a legitimate black belt instructor I imagine you could become a legitimate BJJ guy going to a GB school.

I actually think black belts today are better than ever because BJJ has evolved in the last 20 years, and due to the excessive competition of all the BJJ schools, instructors can't hold back.
Click to expand...

Oh my instructor at Gracie Barra is a very legit black belt. I have no doubts about that part. You're right though about the GB business model watering down skill level, but what I pay a month is only $150 which seems very reasonable for what you get in return
 
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