Rolling competitively in your 40s/50s/60s

[Forceof1]

I will definitely not have old man grip strength- so many years of spider guard are taking a toll. I still feel strong as I approach 40, but opening a jar is getting harder.

 

[dimmyfinster]

Mid 40s purple, light, was never strong. think Helio Gracie, if he was actually as weak as his legend. 1-2xa week training

Going full speed, I'm as good as my belt for one roll. By roll2 I roll at mid blue, by roll3 low blue or super beastly white.thereisis no roll 4 unless I want to sleep ten hours.

I'm ok with that. It's not all about competing.

 

[Nik123]

51 and still smashing young fools...
Actually, I’m doing ok. The top guys crush me or take it easy on me. I don’t duck anybody. I train with a lot of great guys.

Are you a big dude or have you just maintained yourself well?

 

[Nik123]

I am 47, came back after a layoff of over a decade (MMA focus before), I am pretty much 100% BJJ for the last year, and I am just now taking some time off due to bulging disks on my neck.

But for the last year I have been going toe to toe with the young guys. When the guys in their mid and late 30s cry about age, I just clear my throat and laugh.

Nothing makes me feel younger than tapping a 6’6" 22 year old monster who out weighs me by 50 LBS.

Nice one! Same question for you that I asked the other guy. You a big dude or have you just maintained yourself well via weights etc to be able to smash the young guns?

 

[BJJ_Rage]

jesus I came back from 3 months haitus due to staph...

rolled for 20 minutes... Im 38 now, god damn I feel like a damn truck has gone over me.

getting old sucks.... balls.

 

[Gandhi]

Nice one! Same question for you that I asked the other guy. You a big dude or have you just maintained yourself well via weights etc to be able to smash the young guns?

Thanks dude!!!!

I’m 6’3 but only weigh 170 in peak shape and would cut to 155 for an ammy (I’m 175 to 180 if I take a few weeks of reduced training). So I would say middle of the road, size wise.

But I can not smash but still get the better of low levels blues that are easily 20 to 40 lbs heavier me. I’m a 4 stripe blue as reference and sort of run even with the competitive advanced blues and beginner purples that are 10 to 25 years younger that me.

I have not been doing weights, but after 10 years off, I have focused much less on mma and much more on technique for grappling. All the fun stuff like butterfly, single x, x, deep half, half butterfly, half gaurd triple attack and how they all link together. It’s not necessarily the most efficient way to get good (as opposed to say learning how to be a basic grinder) but it is fun as hell. I have used @Stephan Kesting / grapple arts.

Basically in a little over a year I have gone from white to just below purple, although I had some decent mma no GI experience (-3 Years) like 10 years ago.

As far as weight go, I need to start them. Bulging discs in my neck and numbness in my left arm means I need to condition more to prevent injuries if not really to smash teenagers .

 

[mattemate]

39. I look and feel young. Probably genetics mostly. My grandparents all lived to be very old.

Other than injuries stacking uonindknt feel I've lost any speed since my 20s

 

[Gandhi]

39. I look and feel young. Probably genetics mostly. My grandparents all lived to be very old.

Other than injuries stacking uonindknt feel I've lost any speed since my 20s

The bold made me laugh,

Age has not etcedffed me at all lol

 

[mattemate]

The bold made me laugh,

Age has not etcedffed me at all lol

Dammit. For some reason autocorrect works everywhere but F12 on my phone.

Up I don't

 

[thewhiterooster]

I'm 42. brown belt. those young stud whippersnappers got me beat with quickness (not by much tho), cardio (for sure) and they don't have all the nagging injuries that hinder my game here n there. ultimately technique conquers all. most of the upper belts at our gym are in their 40's and 50's. technique conquers all

 

[berimBOWLoh]

I'm 42. brown belt. those young stud whippersnappers got me beat with quickness (not by much tho), cardio (for sure) and they don't have all the nagging injuries that hinder my game here n there. ultimately technique conquers all. most of the upper belts at our gym are in their 40's and 50's. technique conquers all

oh is that why 40 and 50 year old are always winning Mundials titles??


themoreyouknow!!!



Seems this forum is full of mostly guys lifting teh 350 easily and old guys who destroy all the young guns everywhere, must be all masters world champs only, i suppose.



or your gyms just dont have elite competitors so you have no real idea what the level of a world class purple is really like. Those guys smoke hobby older black belts like a blunt.

 

[thewhiterooster]

oh is that why 40 and 50 year old are always winning Mundials titles??


themoreyouknow!!!



Seems this forum is full of mostly guys lifting teh 350 easily and old guys who destroy all the young guns everywhere, must be all masters world champs only, i suppose.



or your gyms just dont have elite competitors so you have no real idea what the level of a world class purple is really like. Those guys smoke hobby older black belts like a blunt.

TS was asking if us old fuks can hang with the 20 somethings in our own gym etc. not "how would you guys do against world class purple belts". most gyms aren't full of "world class purple belts". I'm sure if my gym was, I'd take a daily whooping. maybe understand the question before the snarky response.

 

[berimBOWLoh]

TS was asking if us old fuks can hang with the 20 somethings in our own gym etc. not "how would you guys do against world class purple belts". most gyms aren't full of "world class purple belts". I'm sure if my gym was, I'd take a daily whooping. maybe understand the question before the snarky response.

good point. my gym is just full of animals.



still, its not true what you said. all things equal there is a reason why there are masters divisions. a 40 year old cannot hang with a 20 year old the same size and experience level, in general. outliers to this of course but in general, no. not in any combat or very physical sport.



seems around here, everybody can. everybody is just as fast as they were in their 20s, just as strong, etc etc. lol sure. maybe alot of you just werent that strong or fast in your youth so you dont feel the drop off but believe me, there is one lol always. unless you got them supplements.

 

[Balto]

I'm not quite there yet (early 30s now) but when I do get there, I'll probably approach it the same way I do different divisions now.

I'm in the Light division. Yeah I can beat bigger guys who aren't as good, but at the black belt level, size matters a lot. I'm just not going to be competitive with guys Heavy and above. Middle and Medium Heavy I can hang a little better, but it's still an uphill battle.

Age is no different. I would get smoked by many guys at black belt Adult. In Masters 1 there are still some guys who can smoke me, but most matches are very competitive.

There's a reason why we have different divisions. You can't be holding yourself up to the same standard as some 20 year old Super Heavy stud from Brazil forever.

 

[thewhiterooster]

Well it’s actually NOT what I said at all. If you’re NOW asking: “if you take a 20 year old and 40 year old with the same talent, who will win?” No one will argue with you that the younger more athletic guy will come out on top... you’re addressing questions and comments that were never brought up.

And I probably wasn’t clear. My point was: when you get older, you gotta rely on technique to hang with the youngsters. And I believe in technique because Jiu jitsu works.

 

[JustTheTip]

My experience with the IBJJF Masters comps is this- for the first two minutes an older guy is just as good as any younger guy. After that the intensity drops. IBJJF level there are no dad bods and chances are good you might get an ex-wrestler.

Nah, IBJJF Adult Worlds matches are more technical than Masters as well. The young guys can train much more. Masters matches are more grinding with less movement.


Personally I felt a huge drop off in athleticism at mid 30's. I have made up for it by embracing technique more and finding games that work best for me. Now at 40 I try and roll with guys more my size (180lbs) and less rolls with guys significantly bigger.In my observations,age is less important the heavier you are because most larger guys use less flexibility and are usually rolling with guys much smaller then themselves in training.

 

[berimBOWLoh]

Nah, IBJJF Adult Worlds matches are more technical than Masters as well. The young guys can train much more. Masters matches are more grinding with less movement.


Personally I felt a huge drop off in athleticism at mid 30's. I have made up for it by embracing technique more and finding games that work best for me. Now at 40 I try and roll with guys more my size (180lbs) and less rolls with guys significantly bigger.In my observations,age is less important the heavier you are because most larger guys use less flexibility and are usually rolling with guys much smaller then themselves in training.

exactly my experience aswell. as a higher belt nearing 40 i often get asked by lower belts my age how to have more longevity and i tell them the exact thing you said. pick your partners wisely, roll with people mostly your size, slightly bigger or smaller.

 

[shunyata]

oh is that why 40 and 50 year old are always winning Mundials titles??


themoreyouknow!!!



Seems this forum is full of mostly guys lifting teh 350 easily and old guys who destroy all the young guns everywhere, must be all masters world champs only, i suppose.



or your gyms just dont have elite competitors so you have no real idea what the level of a world class purple is really like. Those guys smoke hobby older black belts like a blunt.

The key as an older black belt is to train with these guys, then offer blunts. And more training. Even as a younger man there is an obvious massive difference between casual training for years and people putting in 12-40 hours training per week on top of a physical day job.

But yeah statistically there is going to be an exponential decline in all of us. The key is making the decisions to minimize it in our individual case. Keep moving, eat well, get sleep, stay strong.

 

[DanaWhitesButler]

I'm 54, purple, train 6x a week and won no gi pans in 2017 (feather, masters 5). Training as much as possible with the young pros is key. In my org, RABJJ, we have some amazing small guys so I am really lucky to have high quality training partners. Age has nothing to do with quality of technique. I roll with everyone but I only go 100% with guys 160lbs and under or with my Professor. Bottom line is I never feel old, but I do feel small at 145lbs. Its imperative that you take responsibility for your own safety.

Wow you are my hero man. Lol but seriously, I just picked this up a couple years ago, am 35 training 6 days a week, and this is inspiring

 

[freakroor]

dont get too out of shape at any point in your life