Discouraged BJJ Students

For the past couple of weeks there as been a huge amount of individuals who are contemplating leaving their academies, unsatisfied with their training, or even quitting the game. Although this seems outrageous, don’t be too quick to judge. As shocking, quitter like, traitor style this may seem this is a common occurrence that happens today in our sport. In this blog I will enlighten you on why bjj students fall in this very depressing stage in their pathway.

Leaving your academy- For a student to leave it academy it has to be for 4 reasons.

1. False advertisement- this is probably the shadiest form of why people leave academies. Lets say a world champ moves into town, students flood in and sign that 1 year contract in hopes of being developed into a world class athlete, only to find out that he is a flake, cant teach, or simply put “you” cant be them. I guess some instructors finally are catching on that the sport is growing and use it as a way to exploit people and get their money while not giving a damn about their progression. (Note: don’t get me wrong there are some great schools out there that don’t do this and have made their students into world champs).

2. Students expectations are too damn high- Although some instructors simply don’t care much about a students progressions. Sometimes it’s the student’s insecurities that get in the way of their evolution. Why aren’t you making me into a world champ like your student so and so, the move set doesn’t match what I do, I’m losing every time I compete and other issues. Students that walk into bjj now days need to realize that being a world champ is a lot harder than it was 10 years ago. Why you ask simple the sport is growing. More schools, new moves are being created & larger divisions at tournaments. To sum it all up it's a tougher road.

3. Student isn't motivated- this is when a student leaves an academy but even worse the individual ends up quitting. This is really more of a mental thing for most students. As good as they may be they may get tired of not getting help from their instructor, tired of seeing others rise in the ranks while your stuck at this same rank for god knows how long, or worse you feel your not growing and feel you reached a stage which I like to call “the Flat line Stage” in your bjj progression...

4. Other- this just consist of off-mat life things like your job, money, personal issues, or your family ( which should not be criticized in any way). Handle your business

Although this problem will continue to happen 3 things need to be improved ...................

1. Instructors need to be more dedicated to helping their students. If students are putting money in your pocket the least you can do is..put 100 % effort into making their money worth it.

2. Academies (owners, managers,-etc-) needs to lessen their promotion schemes unless they can follow 100 % through with it. A customer hates to be lied too. That’s like going to a used car dealership and the dealer tells you the car is OK and come to find out it is a “lemon”. NOT GOOD

3. Finally students need to be more open about the issues they have at the academy because of course how would anyone know there is a problem if it wasn’t brought up. Another option for students would be to build friendships outside the academy or visit other academies. This is give you the opportunity to not only make new friends but also learn something new as oppose to what your normally learn. All about building your blocks sorta speak.
In addition don't rely too much on the instructor. 1 man can not focuses his attention on 1 individual. Seek help from your brothers (training partners) on the mat because those are the ones that you are bleeding & sweating on the mat with.Shees in my experience i get more pissed when people don't wanna train way more than an instructor paying me attention.


THE END

monta

Training Hard vs Training "Hard"

Sitting back I always reflect on different shit that goes on in my mind whether it is past situations in my life or things I see on a daily basis. So in this case over the past couple of hours i been really thinking about something that i saw today at my bjj academy.It's not so much what happened its more so of what happen afterwards in terms of no one wanting to really training with the poor guy. So it got me asking myself

" Is everyone you train with a good training partner" ?


Tonight I'm going to discuss the difference IMO of training hard with your training partners vs your training partners training hard. Yeah you may look at the title and be like WTF am i talking about but let me explain the difference in "MT" ( monta terms)

training hard with your training partners- it is simply getting a great workout, going all out while at the same time being aware of your surroundings and actions. Its kind of like driving a car. You are aware of traffic and peoples movements so you are able to react if a situation does arise such as avoid hitting another car or stopping at a red light to let pedestrians cross the street. This theory can be applied in training in bjj in situations like escaping an armbar or realizing your bout to go off the mat. In all it about doing your thing and being aware of the person your training with. Sure a small accident may happen but at the end of the day no one comes out hurt.

vs

Your training partners training hard- In the case which is common (well not that much really) at almost every bjj academy. It basically describes an individual who has no regards for the people they train with. They constantly injured people, not being aware of their surroundings, and only care about destroying anything in their path toward showing their skills and dominance on the mat. I like to call those type of people metro rail blue line trains ...because if your in its way(male, female,child,cat,or dog) you are getting your ass ran the fuck over. In all in this case it "All about them".

If you still don't get what I'm saying let me give an example of each.

training hard with your training partners-For instance in my case I like training hard with people that I don't get hurt by. It a great feeling to go all out giving it everything i have and being able to walk out with nothing wrong to me or the person I'm training with.

Your training partners training hard- doing a double leg take down and taking your training partner into the wall knowing damn well a wall is nearly 2 ft behind you. in short "tunnel vision"

hopefully you get the message if not I dont know what to tell you :-)

In some cases I feel ( that is very few) people feel the need to show their dominance not on in competition (which of course you better do so) but on the training mat (which is unnecessary). Its a competition within the academy. Because if you really think about sometimes it is when your hoping to please everyone or be that next guy to get promoted to whatever belt. All goes back to self- preservation. I just feel people have the wrong idea of not how good you are when your training bout how to train to be good in the long run while minimizing the casualties along the way -haha-

monta

p.s- this is not directed at anyone but if you are reading this and you feel insecure about what I said. Get your act together because it will get you nowhere. It will end up being in a situation where you hardly get people to train with and even worse people will end up not liking you.
"A man without friends is the most serious form of poverty."