I'm not scared of heel hooks much more than anything else, armbars and kimuras more scary to me because of my personal injury history. I just think everyone needs a very solid understanding of how heel hooks work, where they are hit from and what your window and method to escape is. Heel hooks don't work without securing the knee line, so you start your escape when your knee becomes trapped. If you haven't cleared the knee line by the time they've dug out your heel then you need to be tapping like a woodpecker. I'm far more 'scared' of training seriously for a competition and losing a damn match before it even gets going - it happened to kelvin gastelum at the weekend and he's a 10th planet black belt! I actually have a ticket for the defence camp and not the leg lock camp, i want to get on the leg lock camp too though. The main reason I didn't sign up for it before is that a lot of the leg lockers love positions like 50:50, X-guard and RDLR which I have pretty much zero interest in. I also have a short attention span for shin-to-shin guard and truck.

I rolled with a competitive cyclist when I was a WB and it was a painful experience being stuck in his closed guard. Quads o'doom ...

I can literally stop some purple belts from passing my guard entirely....especially if they are not competition purple belts if I want. Not trying to brag, its just what I specialize in. Especially if they are not the aggressive type that's not willing to take chances. What gives me the hardest times are people who truly know how to use consistent constant pressure on the quads and fatigue the quad muscles or have the strength to actually close all the space. A purple belt that is not near my size or strength is going to have a very hard time against me if they are not aggressive and know how to use there weight and control my legs. Now obviously a competition purple belt should destroy my world and everything in it and smile slowly while doing it... There is a huge difference in general between people who compete and people who don't compete. And also people who are not aggressive and people that are aggressive. You combine that and I'd be willing to wager that I can stop any purple belt who doesn't compete and lacks aggression or the willingness to take risks for 5 minutes easy without much effort. And prob a 10 to 25% that I could actually tap them if I want...I've literally practiced the hook sweep over 10,000 times and prob have a better efficiency at it then some black belts. Does that make me a black belt or blue belt...no. Because I lack the overall well roundness and general knowledge of those that are. I don't really care about belts. In general I think they are stupid. The only reason why I ever even care is when certain competitions will not let you compete up in rank to challenge yourself as I am tired of being told that I am sand bagged I've stopped competing against white belts period and only compete at tournaments that let me go against blues. Again I don't really care about winning... I prefer to lose at least once a tournament so I have something to work on as normally someone will show you what your weakest at and then I can go back to practice and work on those weakness's that my opponents try to take advantage of. But just because your a purple belt or even a brown belt doesn't mean that you can pass my guard. Maybe you can. But maybe I can stop you, to think you can pass all white belts guards is I would say arrogant. I mean you should be able to...but I guarantee you there are some white belts that will give you trouble especially if they have already competed in over 100 matches regardless of the opponents competed against. And again I am a white belt...over 90% of white belts can not get past my guard unless I let them. Which that is very boring then If all I have to train with is white belts I have to let them work so I can also work on other things... At least 50% of blue belts will still really struggle to get past my guard and prob even 20% of blue belts can not get past my guard unless I let them work as well. Not bragging just my reality so in order for me to get better I have to let people work sometimes. If I just crush people or never let them get past my guard it hinders my growth. Even though I will never be Rickson Gracie I like letting people work at the start of a roll then working my way out of it then kinda starting the roll like most people do after I work out of something because at least then I will have gotten something out of each roll instead of just trying to win straight from the start and maybe not getting anything out of the roll at all. Once I successfully escape or counter whatever there initial plan is then I will go on the offensive if they are near my skill level. This ensures that I get something unique out of each roll hopefully.

Sounds like you are referring to your rank or belt level, not skill level. Rank doesn't always reflect skill. It doesn't take into consideration things like age, size, weight, strength, aggression, or competitiveness. For example, once we get past a certain age, our skill my deteriorate, but our rank does not.

Wow, lots of professor white belts here. Interesting.

Yeah, this is EXACTLY why I never, ever put a leglock on somebody, I'm terrified of something like that happening. Saying that, that's with the exception of kneebars, for some reason. Those feel safer, I guess because I'm wrapping most of my body along the length of their leg.

The problem is with young, fitter, stronger or better 'warriors' with a point to prove, and sometimes little interest in proper application.

When I do 'avoid' a roll, it always comes with bit of a mental battle. 'Why am I really doing this? Should I be good to go with everybody?'

That's a good philosophy. When I do 'avoid' a roll, it always comes with bit of a mental battle. 'Why am I really doing this? Should I be good to go with everybody?' The truth is, of course, you are 100% correct. These crazy rolls are a danger to everyone, and a benefit to nobody.

Nice sentiment. Whenever I roll (even comps) I try to be mindful of my partner and myself. In 'old man bjj', everything is slower and generally submissions are applied carefully. The problem is with young, fitter, stronger or better 'warriors' with a point to prove, and sometimes little interest in proper application. I hate these battles, because whatever the outcome on paper, there is generally a healing period involved. Guess I just need to toughen the heck up.

I kind of like the idea of having 2 types of belts for each belt rank. For example the normal belt for normal non competition style rolls. And a belt with maybe a blue bar instead of a black one that says that either that person is a competitor or that they are choosing to roll extra hard today. Either or. Like if you wake up and feel amazing and decide hey I want to roll hard today well you would wear the belt with the blue bar to let other people know. Or even if you are a competitor and your sore and need to recover and aren't trying to go as crazy as usual wear the other belt and that will let people know easier what type of spar your looking for. Even could have some other belt bar like yellow if your really injured and want to warn people. lol I know all that sounds absurd but it would be useful especially for more diverse gyms that have a huge mix of older and younger, competitors and super casual type people. Though I'm sure then people wouldn't want to wear the yellow bar or any other thing as it would hurt there ego and were back and square 1. lol

I love this Murray, You hit it exactly right - Long Live 'Old Man BJJ' - Look after your training partners because, as we are seeing in lockdown, its bloody difficult to train without them :-) I get tapped by everybody in the club when we roll. Some smash me and fold me into all the wrong shapes, some get me because I'm working on new stuff or areas where I am weak, some because I put myself in a situation where they can sub me. Save rolling hard for competition build up and competition.

What does DTF mean?

What does DTF mean?

I thought being DTF means that person is a Danaher Tutorials Fan.