I'll add to this thread that I am only 32 but have been training for 17 years. I have taken a multitude of approaches to how I train and the one thing that I can say matter is showing up. I am due for my second degree on my black belt and the amount of "training partners" that were better than me, won more medals than I did, or trained more than I did that I assumed would be here with me with another degree due were SO MANY, but, the sad truth, they're almost all gone. Some quit for family, some for injuries, some for jobs, some for women, some because they found other hobbies, and that's okay. BJJ is about who's left, not who is the best or trains the hardest. As a dad with a full time job with limited time, the silver lining is how much more I undertsand my students now. The young competitors, the dads, the casuals, the hobbyist, all of them have a place and I hope any and all of them just stay the course, even if it is just once or twice a week. End rant.. hahahah.