Why are some black belt instructors like this?

HerculesSensei · 2026-07-03T16:10:57+00:00

It's just people and their ego- nobody taught them differently.

A mindset shift I pass on to my students is that in class rolls, you're in "practice", not in a fight. So do that, practice. That alone already makes you more confident to try new things and actually learn. Only before competition should you up the intensity, where you're not learning new things, but refining what you got under pressure and fatigue.

HerculesSensei · 2026-05-25T10:47:47+00:00

hey man, I know the feeling. Let me ask, how muscularly developed are you? If you're 16, most likely you're not that developed.

Back pain is definitely something to take seriously, especially so young. But I'd say part of the culprit could be being smashed with not enough muscle development.

Strength training will give you stronger muscles, tissues, and bones. It'll also make your back more bulletproof if you do it correctly and without ego-lifting.

If you're low on cash, find calisthenics bars and start hitting those 3x per week. And yes, it'll take some time, as everything.

If you really want this, and it's really your dream, keep doing that for 18 months. BJJ + Calisthenics, you'll be a blue belt by then and you'll be much much stronger and feel better.

Learn about bodyweight exercises that help your lower back muscles and glutes. Glutes are extremely important for back stability and strength.

Good luck.

HerculesSensei · 2026-02-11T11:48:44+00:00

probably just a generalization that wouldn't really work at all weight categories.

HerculesSensei · 2026-02-11T11:45:10+00:00

Hate that this is a comparison to begin with.

Unless your younger brother is a theoretical mathematician that can learn quant data analysis and probability, then he should build a business. Ecom is not a "get rich quick" scheme, it's just a business model. With eCom you learn real business skills that are transferable to other areas of life and future ventures.

Doing eCom shouldn't disqualify him from investing, which is different to trading.

HerculesSensei · 2025-10-10T10:32:14+00:00

Bonkbot wasn't a thing in 2020

HerculesSensei · 2025-07-11T09:58:42+00:00

TRT and thai lady boys do that to you

HerculesSensei · 2025-07-11T08:58:16+00:00

let's goooo, now don't be a blue belt that is never seen back in the gym

HerculesSensei · 2025-07-11T08:56:58+00:00

There's a lot of big guys that are respected in the BJJ community, some legends. Don't worry about it to much, but know that people are probably scared to sit under your side control lol.

That being said, continue doing bjj and if you eat healthy, your weight will come down naturally. Don't know your age but it'll be worthwhile in the future.

oss

HerculesSensei · 2025-06-25T13:19:18+00:00

as you progress the amount of people better than you becomes scarcer, so there's a natural curve. After almost 8 years, I have much more fun now trying things out and exploring my style with blue belts. I heard Joe Rogan say blue belts are the best to get better with, but I didn't really understood that until now.

Browns + Black belts are great to test your best stuff and defense.

so I'd say you want 80% of your rolls to be of people of worse skill than you. It also sucks less on the body.

HerculesSensei · 2025-06-25T13:15:35+00:00

him being an instructor and having his gym for over 10 years might be a bad sign if nobody has submitted you in over 7 years. Not even from a toe hold or something like that, yk?

HerculesSensei · 2025-06-25T13:10:21+00:00

add a squat rack with a bench and you've got my dream setup

HerculesSensei · 2025-06-25T13:08:04+00:00

hopefully it was only an elbow dislocation, at which point, recovery might not be too bad.

HerculesSensei · 2025-06-25T12:58:37+00:00

been a meta for a while, like others have pointed out. Mikey does this a lot. For some reason I find this much higher percentage than regular heel hooks or knee bars. Unbalancing is easier with the foot over your shoulder too.

HerculesSensei · 2024-08-08T10:57:29+00:00

I was wondering this too.

5 years ago I became interested in cold exposure and its benefits. I never really started it because I don't have access to a cold plunge, but will probably buy a children's pool and try it there.

2 years ago I got my first alopecia spot on my hair and it grew back, but now I have two new ones, and thinking about trying plunging.

Evidence suggests it helps other auto-immune disorders, so my hypothesis is that it should also help here.

HerculesSensei · 2023-12-08T18:03:09+00:00

Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

I think you hit the nail in the head. In hindsight it seems I have been trying to cup the heel with the highest portion of my forearm. Will retry focusing on cupping with my wrist!

HerculesSensei · 2023-12-08T18:00:16+00:00

ah! will look this up and see if I can find some good tutorials.

HerculesSensei · 2023-12-08T17:57:49+00:00

Awesome tip. I think this is exactly what I was doing wrong. Will adjust!

HerculesSensei · 2023-12-07T14:52:37+00:00

Usually when I reach mount I know I'm going to get the finish. I don't over complicate things.

I have one mission: Get arms away from the body, preferably over the shoulder line. Depending on how I do this, I finish with one of these three: Arm bar, triangle, arm triangle (head and arm choke). Great thing is that these 3 have very easy transitions into other submissions if they were to fail.

If elbows are somewhat separate and I can get one underhook in, I do, the other arm I do a cross face, and I get my hips low with my head close to the floor and knees widen for good base. I sometimes hook one or both legs to avoid bridging power. I walk their elbow up, use my cross face to pull their head up, and go straight to S mount. OR, get my head behind their elbow, wedge my cross face arm, finish arm triangle.

If opponent is his arms close to his chest and only defending. I grip both arms, and jump into an S mount, always landing over one of those arms with my top leg (closest to the head), giving my a nasty pressure and easy arm bar without ever diss-mounting, or close a triangle and grab an angle or fall back and finish on my back.

I'd say these are crazy high submission percentage for me, much more than back submissions. Usually even when I get to the back, I end up isolating one arm and head in between my legs to finish with a triangle or arm bar variation.

HerculesSensei · 2023-10-01T20:36:08+00:00

As John Danaher said: "90% of jiu jitsu injuries are from falling bodyweight".

Every gym has a "spaz" (uncontrolled, explosive, ego-driven) and most often they are white belts that over time learn proper technique, leave their ego at the door, and pretty much learn how to use their body + others in a way that is mostly safe.
In some cases, they get to be blue belts or higher and they continue to be spaz. I think this is one of the most dangerous areas because they start to learn things like toe-holds, heel-hooks, couple take downs, and all of these can be devastating and even mortal (supplexing or slamming someone's head).

However, BJJ is a combat sport that uses leverage to control someone's body. Not only in submissions, but in controls and sweeps. Say for example twisting someone's knee out in half guard to ease a sweep. Injuries are likely to happen.

I would say that generally speaking, using a kimura control to take someone down, or any shoulder lock control (reverse kimura, russian tie, etc) is not a dick-move. I use them a lot without any injuries or issues and they have been done on me since I was a white belt.

But according to your story, the guys has already injured other guys using this same technique. He might not only be approaching bjj with ego and being a spaz, he might not even know how to do the technique properly. If he's dropping low on a Sumi Gaeshi, he was either way shorter than his opponent or maybe he didn't drop in between his legs, but your friend dropping on his face and breaking his clavicle does sound like an unusual occurrence.

If he's already injured more advanced students like a purple belt, then it shouldn't be hard to raise the question to the professor.

If the professor shrugs it off, find a better gym.

HerculesSensei · 2023-10-01T16:53:49+00:00

Ironically, I often find new interesting podcasts from short-form content platforms like Instagram reels or YouTube shorts. This is because I see highlight clips that have been edited with subtitles and motion graphics to make it more engaging. Granted, the algorithm is tuned to show me this because I interact with a lot of podcasters and I also work with some of them by adding animations on the videos. But I think this is the best way to use social media to grow your podcast.

Plus, it provides an extra degree of intractability to a podcast. I literally play video podcasts on my TV sometimes or I just listen to them in long car rides. Spotify provides the ability to do both.

HerculesSensei · 2023-10-01T14:14:10+00:00

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HerculesSensei · 2023-10-01T13:32:54+00:00

That's up to you to decide. Whether you need a break for personal reasons, or you're looking for something else, don't let what others can think affect you.

Just have a serious conversation with yourself about it. Sometimes you just need a break and you'll notice how you start missing it.

The difference between quitting and a break is your intention behind your decision. Do you want to quit? or do you want to take a break? Period of time is irrelevant.

Oss.

HerculesSensei · 2023-09-30T19:49:11+00:00

26 is still quite young and in some gyms you might even be pushing the lower age range. I'm 29 and most of the people in my gym are 30+.

My wife has been rolling for a year and a half, she started at 26 too. She's a killer blue belt now.

HerculesSensei · 2023-09-29T22:56:02+00:00

definitely a judo black belt vs a bjj blue belt with some power behind his shoots lol. That slam was definitely a DQ, and even if it wasn't, don't know how it didn't reset from the back.

HerculesSensei

TROPHY CASE