During my formative years (white - blue) I would default to guard/bottom as I was one of the smallest and weakest people in the gym. I didn't have much ability to hold top position or apply pressure properly. I spent too many years at closed guard, sweep, choke or armbar/triangle. Even at purple I was playing a wider variety of open guards but the focus on staying on the bottom was still there. After starting kettlebell training, improving core strength, applying top pressure became easier so I started playing with different guard passes to top attacks. S-Mount attacks comes to mind. Lately (past 5 years or so) I've gravitated more towards Top and passing game and also more recently, NoGi because it means I do less laundry and don't have to faff about with separating the colour clothes for each washing load.

I've noticed that I spend way more time nowadays forcing myself into Positional Sparring rounds to make myself do things I'm bad at. I also structure my training more and spend a lot of time analyzing my overall game and structuring my training to accommodate what I find.

I've just started the transition to "old man jiu-jitsu" where I focus almost entirely on the basics / fundamentals and start going on rants about how great the old school jiu-jitsu is when you have a herniated disc. I still show/teach and will use new school stuff when warranted, but it's so nice just funneling the bottom game to closed guard rather than trying to play fancy open guards. A big part of this is that I'm thinking about totally different things than I would have even just a couple of years ago. As an example, I would previously think "how do I get the arm across the body here?" while now it's more "where's my head in relation to my center of mass?" because if I'm in good posture with my head, hands, and hips in the right spot the rest will come pretty naturally at this point.

Thankfully I’ve always been relatively weak and unathletic. So my old man Jiu Jitsu, with little movement and basic positions, is something I’ve been playing since I was a young man.

Yes it has definitely changed. I used to have a very aggressive style whether on top or guard play.
Now after lower back surgery, knee surgery, a shit ton of nagging injuries and my age (54yrs) I have been forced to adapt.
Now I play more and just try to enjoy rolling when I can. Wish I had done it earlier.

Pretty much this exactly... except for the nogi part. I still very much prefer gi, but have no problem going clothing optional when the mood hits.

My pressure game got better (and not because I put on 20 lbs ... well maybe it helps). My wrestling and fundamentals got better too. Everything else is about adapting to injuries and not getting hurt.

Taught a de la riva class last night and realized how much worse I have become at it when doing positional sparring. My entire open guard game is about getting to half guard now just to save my knees so I never really work them anymore.

Used to be rubber guard guy. Lots of triangles, omoplatas and armbars from the bottom.

Multiple back injuries and finally a severe knee injury and surgery inspired me to move away from some of those movements, and in recent years I've become the kimura guy.

Right there with ya! Who am I to turn down a good time!

My physical therapist told me that seems to be the consensus with guard players. A lot of back and knee issues.

+1 on no-gi to reduce laundry ^^
+1 on adapting to injuries

I had a partial meniscus removal surgery last year, now fully recovered, entire range of motion, feels strong, and I've been doing the Knees-over-toes exercises to reinforce the myriads muscles around, in a bid to reduce direct impact on the knee.

But this injury has definitely changed my awareness of where I put my legs, not just to avoid snappy toe holds and ankle locks, but also to make sure my knees are always in sound positions. Some level of "preventive-positioning" or "most common mistakes leading to injuries" should be regularly taught as fundamentals.

White : discovery, unknown world, probably was an uncontrolled danger to myself and others
Blue : starting to get some control and finishes
Purple : starting to develop signature moves and affinities
Brown : deep-dives... pick a topic and explore every variations for months on end. Recently it's been Kimura and K-Guard for me.


for the first several years of training I was also watching countless videos, actually I have been counting in a spreadsheet :
266 hours of material purchased - mostly on BJJ fanatics/Keenan/Grapplearts
184 hours dutifully studied
81 hours of backlog, yet to watch

I used to feel that hunger to feed my brain with as much material as I could, and now that I've mostly done an overview of all key positions, that impetus to always seek something new has toned down a bit.

I like the + - = mindset
Plus Minus Equal (I think I heard it from Rob Biernacki?)

- when rolling with less experienced folks, I just let myself go to bad position, or fully locked armbars/chokes, and see if I can escape. Garry Tonon recommends that, and it is definitely not an option at the beginning of the journey

= when rolling with people of equal skills, test your A game or whatever you're working on

+ when rolling with obviously better people, don't fight too much, feel what they're doing, try to repeat/rewind key moments.

There was a fun thread on r/bjj recently about stereotypes
- white : spazzy
- blue : quits
- purple : skips warmups
- brown : get fat (from being less active in rolling, lol I can relate)

Right there with ya! Who am I to turn down a good time!

The major shift is massively improved overall body / spatial awareness, especially regarding pressure (when applying and being applied to me).

In the beginning, moves - in my mind, were divided into a sequence of small, progressive steps, that had to be memorized and then ingrained through repetitions / progressive resistance.

Now, I feel I have more of a Big Idea mindframe. More rules of thumb, less neurosis about the details.

The reason this works, for me, now. Is that my body awareness is much better, so I can apply "Rules" more easily, because the body will figure out what to do.

This might not work for people who are uncoordinated AF, so even though I love the conceptual approach in teaching bjj myself, it's definitely not for everyone.

It's kind of hard to describe, but I think that's the biggest change.

Gi / No Gi, I don't care either way. My game is the same. Maximum efficiency, minimal effort, control, control, control, get on top, kill all space, kill the spirit, suffocate or bend a limb the wrong way.

Being 48 now, I've been spending more of my Jiu Jitsu time in class drilling and learning, rather then rolling. It's not a preference, but a necessity for my body. Of course, 10-15 years ago, it was the exact opposite. :)

Gi or nogi... I couldn't care less. :)

At 41, definitely less reliant on physical attributes and more on principles and understanding of common positions. I'm better at expending energy at the right time but I've still got a way to go.
I'm less bothered about learning every detail of every move and happier problem solving from bad positions.

yep all is said

body awareness + injury consequences in your technical choices + not only techniques but concepts instead

As white belt, mostly played closed guard and relied on my legs.

As blue belt, played mostly lapel half guard and spider guard. Fucked up my fingers. Started getting sweeps and play the top game.

As purple, mostly passed guard after butterfly sweeps and chased the back and hunted bown and arrow chokes + other collar chokes.

As brown, shifted to nogi after a year. Played the leg lock and truck game for 2 years. Now I've simplified my game a lot and rely on simple stuff. Been a brown for 5 years now.

Can't wait for the black belt and over-simplify my game. I'll become a full potato.

Lol. Potato guard.

As a white and blue belt, I concentrated on being more aggressive and seeking the tap. As a purple and brown belt, I concentrated more on controlling my opponent from various positions. It wasn’t until the last year, that I’ve really started to get more interested in no-gi and playing more leg attacks and defenses. As I get older (I’m 50 now), I feel training in the gi will always be my preference.

Since I first started grappling in 2003, my game has changed a lot, as back then I was just somebody who thought that Royce Gracie stuff looked interesting and I should give it a shot, but wasn't training anywhere regularly (very intermittent MMA classes, so like 3 a year). But since I started consistently training BJJ from 2006 onwards, I'm not sure my game has changed a whole lot. It is still super defensive and passive, plus I still hate nogi. ;)

I have been meaning to do a proper read of my slideyfoot.com blog from the start, as that would mean I could see exactly how my game has changed. But that's almost two decades of text, so not yet had the motivation to trawl through it all. :P

I turn 52 in Feb. I have always focused on self defense and basics. To my detriment, I am not very good at the new stuff, as I simply can't justify where it would fit into a fight. I find myself on bottom out of necessity. 1. If I'm in a fight, I've probably been suckered punched. 2. From that disadvantage, I need to make sure I can survive, then get out, then win the fight. 3. I teach firearms classes and retention is paramount, so my "game" simply isn't designed for cool. I respect all the cool stuff though and wish I knew it better. Love watching young practitioners!

I was all about closed guard for the first 4-5 years because ... At that time there was no systemic way to learn open guard and I wasn't naturally gearing toward it.

But except adding more and more open guard, I think my overall game has been fairly consistent throughout the 20 years.

I do want to add more taking and submitting from the back though and get better at systemic leglock game.

But wrestling stuff, leglocks, chokes and heavy top and passing have been my main staples since I started.

For me, early on I was a head to head guy, approaching each roll like a wrestling match. I really appreciate the mental fortitude it built up, but as I progressed, my instructors started teaching me to take the path of least resistance - examining what the opponent was giving me and responding to that. I've definitely started to gravitate towards more standing passing rather than smashing because of that

Progressed from being more defensive-minded to more offensive-based. Still more of a top player, but I work to sweep from bottom and attack once I get into a dominant position. Attacks have become more patient and efficient rather than sporadic.

This is exactly how my game has changed. I literally don't work up a sweat in so many of my rolls. I just know when I'm in danger now and don't overreact when I know I'm safe.

Of course!

We know our body better, our strongest and weak points, and with the knowledge, we can use more skills than strengths.
I think our JJ is still changing every day.

Breathing teqniques for better stamina, knowing your body and learing better flow with where balance and weight distribution of opponent is and their pressure for better jiu-jitsu game.

More pressure, slower pace.

I prefer nogi.

I think the two largest changes through the belts has been:

1. Trying to learn and use more and more techniques vs a more conceptual approach to learning and rolling. I think studying tech was good at the time - exposure - but for implementation purposes/progress I now concentrate on micro-habits. Like get my head on the bottom player or win inside position from bottom, look for open elbows or make them post on the mat. Then techniques tend to present themselves from there.

2. Feeling way more confident messing up. Essentially knowing that attempting something less honed is >> than being afraid of “winning/losing” a roll. Part of it is having confidence in my rank/success, but also in my escapes or retention or defense. Versus at lower belts, maybe one mess up and you’re stuck in bottom side for the whole round. That and the unsaid (and silly) feeling of being judged by your instructor. Can’t hold me back from my next promotion, so if I get passed and have to tap…so be it.