I started training at the age of 41 at a Relson Gracie academy in Waco in 2012. Earned my blue belt after one year in 2013, a purple belt in 2016, a brown belt in 2019, and a black belt on August 25, 2021 at the age of 50. Despite my age, I've competed pretty regularly, with a total of 51 events and 116 matches. Overall record is hardly impressive, but I've won 24 gold medals and 26 silver medals.

My wife trains as do both of my kids so its a family affair. It is fun to have an activity that we can enjoy together but pursue individually and without having to compete with each other.

Hello friends! Former Sherdogger turned pajama wrestler here. Longtime r/bjj lurker (but not contributor because I don't need a Reddit account tied to me). Started out on New Year's 2012 shortly after moving down to the Lowcountry and needing a new hobby with my amateur football days behind me. My wife was working 3 12s overnight at the hospital and we had no kids, pets, or anything else to keep me occupied at the time. First stumbled into a hole-in-the-wall Aikido place and marveled at their silly pants but was disturbed after they made me sit there for over 2 hours to watch them play ninjas and asked me to come back and watch them do that again for the next two weeks at $200/month. No thanks. Then I remembered a friend of mind tried to get me into BJJ back in 2007 or so but I couldn't afford it at the time. 5 years and 750 miles later, I was in a better place to pursue something like that. Back then there were only two options in the Charleston area and one of them never picked up the phone. Their doors also appeared to always be locked. So I tried the other one, which was also closer to my house, and got the then-standard one year contract @ $90/mo pushed on me. Begrudgingly accepted and proceeded to get all 205lb, 12% body fat, 20-something self turned into a pretzel by a 16 year old blue belt JV wrestler. Promptly threw up in the bathroom (due in no small part to the 1000g Atama gi I borrowed), returned to the mat, and never looked back. There were a lot of politics, a mutiny, an explosion of the sport, and many life events in the interim, but I made my way to black belt on 09/18/2021 with very little downtime for injuries and personal issues. Averaged 5-6 days a week, sometimes 2x a day, before my first son was born and towards the end probably more around 3-4 days a week, with a long period teaching some blue belts in my garage pod during COVID. Watching this sport evolve over the past 10 years has been insane. As an example, I got into leg locks 'early' as a blue belt in 2013-2014 and was constantly criticized, chastised, and warned about the risks and low rewards for daring to pursue them. Look how far we've come! I have no plans to get on the IBJJF pyramid scheme and am still many years away from having the time to open by own school, so I've come here for validation instead. Might do some privates here and there + continue to teach classes at our gym (Holy City Jiu Jitsu, FYI). Would be nice to have students look me up and know I'm not going to be teaching the Lug Nut any time soon. Thanks all!

You were smart to stick to the leg lock game early. While I was never ridiculed, I never developed or practiced a system until 2 or so years ago. Then covid hit and my progression halted. I’m slowly developing a few sequences now but most people still shut me down quickly.

If nothing else, learning how to defend leg locks will generally be enough to disrupt the average hobbyist's leg game. You don't need to go full DDS to impose your game, just know how to shut theirs down / avoid it (e.g. Low pressure passing instead of standing passes)

True, I just find the entanglements fun and frequently use them as transitions for guard passing. Also, since getting my black belt, I’ve been trying to relearn everything as a system. It helps me remember things bettet

Hello! My name is Clifford. I’m from Philippines but I’m currently living in Singapore. I started Jiujitsu in Juggernaut fight club in August 2013. Initially preferred to train Muay Thai but I was convinced to try 1 class and I’m hooked at the art since then. In late 2013 I moved to BJJ Singapore. I got my blue belt from Jason Quek in March 2016. In May 2016 I moved to Fitness and Martial Arts (FAMA), where i’m still currently training. I received my purple belt from Zorobabel Moreira Junior and Robyn Goudy. I also received my brown belt from both professors including Thiago Gaspary. Apart from Jiujitsu I am also training wrestling at Meerkats wrestling club as well as Judo at Jagsport. Looking forward to connect with most, if not all, with you. If possible, I would also like to get a vote to be verified. Thank you! Stay safe!

Hi everyone! New to BJJ and martial arts in general. I did taekwondo when I was a kid but packed it in after a few months because I didn't instantly get promoted to black belt! Now that I've grown up (a little) and have the discipline to really stick to something I thought I'd give this a try after a friend tried a taster session and mentioned how much he enjoyed it. I've been training with Oliver Lovell of Gracie Barra Barnsley (England) and I've immediately fallen in love with the art. It's instantly become an obsession and lifestyle. I've been training for only a month so far but train at least 4 days a week and don't plan on slowing that down any time soon. Still learning the fundamentals but hopefully I can keep up this pace and keep getting my stripes. As well as training most spare time is spent watching tutorials or watching fights. Really looking forward to this journey.

Hello from Montreal! My name is Nick and I am a black belt under Sylvain Moroney, himself 4th degree under Royler Gracie. I started Jiu-Jitsu in 2008, and got my black after 12 years of practice. I just opened my school, Saint-Laurent Jiu-Jitsu, as a project of the community organisation RAP Jeunesse, which provides services to young people of the northern neighborhoods of Montreal. Our school aim is to give free bjj, muay thai and MMA classes to vulnerable or at risk teenagers and young adults. We also have a community Jiu-Jitsu program which offers low price Jiu-Jitsu classes to the population of disadvantaged neighborhoods. I joined beltchecker because I love the idea behind it, it makes belt checking and networking in jiu-jitsu accessible to anybody. If you come by Ville Saint-Laurent in Montreal, feel free to drop by and roll with us, we are open to visitors! Thank you!

Hello from Montreal! My name is Nick and I am a black belt under Sylvain Moroney, himself 4th degree under Royler Gracie. I started Jiu-Jitsu in 2008, and got my black after 12 years of practice. I just opened my school, Saint-Laurent Jiu-Jitsu, as a project of the community organisation RAP Jeunesse, which provides services to young people of the northern neighborhoods of Montreal. Our school aim is to give free bjj, muay thai and MMA classes to vulnerable or at risk teenagers and young adults. We also have a community Jiu-Jitsu program which offers low price Jiu-Jitsu classes to the population of disadvantaged neighborhoods. I joined beltchecker because I love the idea behind it, it makes belt checking and networking in jiu-jitsu accessible to anybody. If you come by Ville Saint-Laurent in Montreal, feel free to drop by and roll with us, we are open to visitors! Thank you!

Hi All, I'd like to kindly say hello to everybody in this forum. My name is Vladimir, I am from Kolárovo, Slovakia, and I am training bjj for about 4 and half years now. We are training at our locan gym Contendo Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We are affiliated under Six Blades Jiu Jitsu and our head instructor is Tomas Bilishich. He runs his own Tomas Bilishich Martial Arts Academy in Nové Zámky, which offers a big scale of martial art you can learn. He is a bjj purple belt under black belt Johannes Wieth (Six Blades Jiu Jitsu Münich), 6th dan Aikido, 4th dan Iaido, 3th dan Japanese Jiu jitsu and Kempo karate black belt. I've started training in July 2017, then in June 28th 2018 I've received my first two stripes, and then in July 6th 2019 I got promoted to green belt (Yes, we have adult green belts). In December 21th 2019 I got my first, and July 4th 2020 I got my second stripe on my green belt. The pandemics made the training a little bit more difficult, but I found the way and continued during the lockdowns and everything. We are back now, until they dont close us again, but for now I am doing everything to attend at least 5 hours of bjj weekly. Have a nice day, Regards, Vladimir

Hello and welcome!