Professor, thank you for your advice!!! About two months after starting jiu jitsu I saw a video from Rener Gracie about not fearing bad positions. It was very enlightening. Since then, when in a bad position I take his advice and relax, breath and study where the attack is coming from. I've taken that advice to heart. I don't have a great attack plan but, I am getting a lot better at defense. I'm only a two stripe white belt so I don't do a lot of teaching. But, I do enjoy working with children and will start helping with them at some point. Again, thank you for the advice!! You are an inspiration to me!!! Keep rolling!!!

Started at 42. About to turn 48. Managed to start when I still had enough of the youthful excitement to motivate me, now reluctantly transitioning to the training smarter, listening to your body stage of things. Injuries have piled up. Some are permanent. So who knows what will eventually need to be replaced... In the first few months at the school I'm now at, largely due to insecurity and wanting to make a good impression where I was new, I tried to keep up with the young'ins. Big mistake. This resulted in some worsening issues. Coach understood and takes me at my word when I need to drill slower or sit out some rounds. Despite my coach himself telling me in no uncertain terms that I've "been a blue belt for too long", meaning I have a purple belt test coming up, the hardest pill to swallow has been that I know I can still get my ass whipped by a younger, more muscular and well motivated white belt. Yeah. It's an ego thing. At this point... I've simply stopped trying to keep up with anyone else's pace but my own. I've had to change the way I approached things. If it means I'm the "nice guy" for most during rounds, oh well. But... I have specifically been told by several that they "feel safe" when they roll with me. Even those that I can submit easily. I guess that counts for something. (Additional detail: I have a cochlear implant. Due to my lack of hearing during rolls, I also pause after I set up a sub to make sure someone is able to ready a tap before I slowly continue with it since I can't hear verbal taps. This also means I lose subs because of it, it usually ends up being catch and release.) If I have to pin or lock someone down for as long as I can to tire them out before I can do something effective due to my slower pace, I will. If I have to let them work and do a defense only round because I know I'll hurt myself if I try to keep their pace, I will. This mindset is a relatively recently bit of acceptance on my part knowing that it's not going to get easier due to injuries and age. I've been redeveloping large portions of my game to favor restriction of their movement rather than big movements on my part, eg explosive sweeps. I wasn't sure about how I was doing until about two weeks ago I had a roll with a younger white belt early 20s kid who also did judo. Immediately spotted his osoto gari attempt, hopped out of it and pulled guard. Not fun. But it was safer. He tried some escapes, I kept myself small and defensive: even letting him out of closed guard instead of fighting to retain. He got side control, I was feeling kind of lame just blocking his attempts to mount and settling for locking each arm one at a time over doing any attempts at guard recovery until I realised he was panting heavily and I was breathing calmly. Managed to scoot him into place to do a kimura from bottom. It works. Not exciting. But it works. I save my energy for more trusted partners and kick it up a notch every now and then. Earlier on, the hard rolls I've had were fun, I miss them and the training partners who I got into scraps with. But I'm not an athlete or someone powered by the elixir of youth (TRT), so pragmatism must prevail.

Started at 42. About to turn 48. Managed to start when I still had enough of the youthful excitement to motivate me, now reluctantly transitioning to the training smarter, listening to your body stage of things. Injuries have piled up. Some are permanent. So who knows what will eventually need to be replaced... In the first few months at the school I'm now at, largely due to insecurity and wanting to make a good impression where I was new, I tried to keep up with the young'ins. Big mistake. This resulted in some worsening issues. Coach understood and takes me at my word when I need to drill slower or sit out some rounds. Despite my coach himself telling me in no uncertain terms that I've "been a blue belt for too long", meaning I have a purple belt test coming up, the hardest pill to swallow has been that I know I can still get my ass whipped by a younger, more muscular and well motivated white belt. Yeah. It's an ego thing. At this point... I've simply stopped trying to keep up with anyone else's pace but my own. I've had to change the way I approached things. If it means I'm the "nice guy" for most during rounds, oh well. But... I have specifically been told by several that they "feel safe" when they roll with me. Even those that I can submit easily. I guess that counts for something. (Additional detail: I have a cochlear implant. Due to my lack of hearing during rolls, I also pause after I set up a sub to make sure someone is able to ready a tap before I slowly continue with it since I can't hear verbal taps. This also means I lose subs because of it, it usually ends up being catch and release.) If I have to pin or lock someone down for as long as I can to tire them out before I can do something effective due to my slower pace, I will. If I have to let them work and do a defense only round because I know I'll hurt myself if I try to keep their pace, I will. This mindset is a relatively recently bit of acceptance on my part knowing that it's not going to get easier due to injuries and age. I've been redeveloping large portions of my game to favor restriction of their movement rather than big movements on my part, eg explosive sweeps. I wasn't sure about how I was doing until about two weeks ago I had a roll with a younger white belt early 20s kid who also did judo. Immediately spotted his osoto gari attempt, hopped out of it and pulled guard. Not fun. But it was safer. He tried some escapes, I kept myself small and defensive: even letting him out of closed guard instead of fighting to retain. He got side control, I was feeling kind of lame just blocking his attempts to mount and settling for locking each arm one at a time over doing any attempts at guard recovery until I realised he was panting heavily and I was breathing calmly. Managed to scoot him into place to do a kimura from bottom. It works. Not exciting. But it works. I save my energy for more trusted partners and kick it up a notch every now and then. Earlier on, the hard rolls I've had were fun, I miss them and the training partners who I got into scraps with. But I'm not an athlete or someone powered by the elixir of youth (TRT), so pragmatism must prevail.

I can recommend 2 books in relation to the topic of being a matured or older grappler, independent if you start late or already have lots of mileage on the body because of training BJJ for a long time. The one book is from Rick Ellis, who is a blackbelt of Roy Dean and runs the channel on youtube "the art of skill" and hosts the "old grappler summit", who wrote the "Old Grappler Handbook - how to thrive in Jiu Jitsu over 40". The other book is the one my friend Glenn Lambdin, 70 years of age and blackbelt with 2 artificial knee joints, BJJ Globetrotter and late starter of the art trainsitioning from Muay Thai to BJJ in his 50s, wrote: "the art of staying on the mats for life - confessions of an older grappler". The thing is, and nobody can deny it, that people come in different sizes, ages, physical abilities and athletic profiles, plus other variables and prerequisites, like volume, frequency, intensity of training, hobbyist or professional, health restrictions or disabilities, etc.... To quote Rick in his book:"...you are a 48 year old purple belt with a bulging disc in your back, a demanding job, family obligations and you train twice a week. Yet somehow you expect to soundly defeat a 28 year old blue belt in his athletic prime with nothing but time and energy to train..." i think there a lots of "older" guys, who will recognize themselves in it... In the books you find some really good strategies to stay on the mat sustainable and thinkink longevity, how you should train for that goal, what to avoid and especially how to think about training BJJ for longevity from the mental/ psychological perspective: - what do the belts "really" mean: does every brown belt hast to tap every belt below?? of course not! _ the "Boyd belt"/ or 10/20 rule, shortly said age and weight matters a lot, like every 10 years and 20 pounds approximately equals one belt rank... - Frequency, Volume, Intensity: Rick Ellis points out, that the reality for older grapplers is, that they sometimes only can choose two or only one of these, the older you are - the "Ego": everyone has an ego...."the unhealthy ego gets you hurt, the healthy one gets you on the mat" - tap early, tap often -success, reimagined and redefined and the "comparison trap": .....Rick again writes about, for example "the 60 year old brown belt wondering wether he truely deserves the rank, gives his struggles against youth and athleticism ...the physiology is different, the recovery is different, the durability is different, the explosive capacity is different.... One sentence Rick wrote stodd in my mind:"...Success after 40 isn't about being the best person in the room. It's about being the best version of yourself that your current reality allows. And if you can accept that, you'll discover that the the journey gets better over time.." Of course there aren't excuses, but the correct context, Rick writes.: "Context prevents frustration. Context protects your ego from inventing stories that aren't true. The story your ego wants to tell:" i am terrible." the reality is you are fighting uphill against physics and physiology. And yet, you are still in the fight!"...... The books helped me a lot to change my perspective and accept the reality. I really could identify myself with a lot what the guys wrote in their books, especially what Rick Ellis wrote in the "old grappler handbook". I still like to challenge myself and roll a lot, but i accepted that i am 50, just a hobbyist, training 3 session on a recreational level having a fulltime job, being a husband and father with other commitments to do, even with shifts working on weekend, struggling with Asthma, injuries etc....no excuses, but context...... -I tap more often and more early, -i don't get frustrated if the 25 year old athletic bluebelt taps me or the 106kg Judo blackbelt with 29 years of Judo in the 1st and 2nd Judo league -i don't think as a brownbelt i have to tap every belt level below me, -i don't compare myself to other guys, but i compare myself with the "old" me, who started training bjj the first time more than a decade ago, -i think about frequency, not intensity or volume - i roll, but take a break every 3 or 4 rounds - i don't roll when i don't feel to and just say "no" to people if i am not in the mood or my body is aching - i try to stay balanced, i sleep more, i drink more water, i eat healthier and cleaner (lost 10kg and feel way better) - although i am passionate about jiu jitsu and i enjoy training and learning it very much, there are lots of other things i enjoy, so balance is very important for me, especially as a father, husband, working in the Law Enforcement environment 12 days in a row with 2 days off, etc...... life is short and you only have one.......... i am getting philosphical, sorry.

Mirco, Thanks for the recommendations!! I'll pick up those books. I listen to Rick's YouTube channel and want to attend one of his Old Grapplers Seminars one day. As you so wisely stated, you can't judge yourself against the 20-30 year old practitioners. At 63 I can't even keep up with the 43 year old college wrestler, even though we are both white belts. My body doesn't more that quickly anymore and I've accepted that. But, it is still fun rolling with him. I try to focus on how I'm improving each day. As long as I see my improvement I'm happy. Thanks again for the advice!!!

Hello all, I started jiu jitsu at 63. I just received my second stripe on my white belt. I'm curious how many of us started late in life and how do you adjust to "old man" jiu jitsu as I call it. Also, just had my first competition in Albuquerque. How many of us compete. I'm looking forward to my next tournament.

One resource I can add to your list to study is the Defensive BJJ (https://www.defensivebjj.com) by Priit Mihkelson. Personally, it has transformed my appreciation and enjoyment for BJJ. One of my students coined this as their "shield" in their game. If you always find yourself in bad positions and want to know what to do there, this is one resource you can't ignore.