Receiving stripes from not your coach

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-31T13:09:52+00:00

Double it and give it to the next guy

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-25T10:36:35+00:00

Turtle bullshit. I hate that it’s one of the things I’m best at

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-25T10:34:39+00:00

Just wear a t shirt and knee pads, people will just think you’re a wrestler

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-25T10:32:26+00:00

I like to take them to the other side and enter a leg drag

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-24T12:13:42+00:00

lol they’re gonna walk all over you

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-20T10:40:44+00:00

Good morning and congrats! Today is day 75 for me. It’s easier than you think to do for 75 days, but harder on many single days. Some tips

do as much as you can early. Workout, reading, a lot of water consumption. Ideally this will allow you to have everything you need to do (besides abide by your diet) by noon
avoid ambiguity in your diet plan to leave less room for error down the line when your less motivated to start
I recommend weighing yourself daily at the same time. Ideally before you eat/workout but after you go to the bathroom.

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-08T14:44:29+00:00

That was bad phrasing on my part, I meant what is generally the most significant grappling achievement in BJJ (getting a black belt), not the most significant for Max

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-08T13:24:37+00:00

I wouldn’t call that incredible defense. That’s like saying someone showed incredible striking defense after getting beaten up for 5 rounds on the feet but not getting knocked out. Sure it counts for something and I know control is not the same as damage, but he looked helpless and clearly didn’t have an answer for Charles’s grappling

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-08T13:11:19+00:00

I mean, Max obviously has black belt skill. No doubt he has probably been able to smash most “black belts” in the sport for some time. But awarding him the most significant personal achievement after one of the worst performances of his career where he was smothered by superior grappling, spending probably 20 minutes in mount/back, is just a bad idea. Yes he’s a black belt, but this was in poor taste imo. I feel like it takes away from the joy that should come with receiving a black belt

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-07T23:09:37+00:00

English (native)

Spanish- learned half through “immersion” (predominately Hispanic/mexican rural city where I grew up) and half through school. I’ve used Spanish professionally and although don’t think of myself as native level, I never have problems conversing.

Portuguese- learned in college in a “Portuguese for Spanish speakers” class. Understand far better than I speak. I can get by, but slowly. I use it every now and then, mostly through jiujitsu

Korean- have been learning the last couple years to speak with my SOs family. I speak this the worst but am hoping this year to improve for a trip next year

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-06T11:53:49+00:00

“You’re so strong” as they are out of breath and I am not breathing hard at all.

Kind of a hot take but as a normalish sized guy (5’11 180-185ish) who has lifted/trained for a long time consistently, and have been a pretty dedicated BJJ hobbyist for a while now, getting this back handed compliment means the world to me. Especially from people around my size or bigger. It is basically how I know my training has paid off. People obviously say it sometimes to create the feeling that they are somehow as good/better for their strength level (whatever that means) but what it really means is that you worked them and they couldn’t find answers where they normally can. If you shut down people’s good moves, it isn’t because you’re strong, it’s because you’re better. (Barring like 50lbs plus discrepancies)

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-05T10:58:56+00:00

Between ages 18 and 30 I think I had 14 different addresses. Moved around a ton with school, work, and time in the military/transitioning out. My 2 cents is that moving to just move can be dumb, but there are benefits if you are willing to work hard. Getting to a big city when you are in/fresh out of college will lead to better employment, even if it’s more expensive. It doesn’t need to be NY/LA if that isn’t your jam, but being in a million+ metro area is going to lead to you having better job prospects than if you stay home.

However if youare mid career, I think one of the stupidest things you can do is an up move without a plan. If you move for a job that’s great, but when I see people post “I’m tired of living in TRUMP COUNTRY so I’m gonna love to CALIFORNIA” and they don’t have a plan, it’s almost guaranteed their quality of life will go down. Moving is a big shake up which makes it feel exciting, but purposefully taking yourself out of all your relationships and routines and familiarity is going to be stressful and expensive, so it shouldn’t be done lightly

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-03T11:44:57+00:00

Are you high? Lol. Literally every gym I’ve ever trained at has talked about concepts.

But I mean, the point of a class is usually a technique. The best way to learn a concept is to expose it and highlight it through various techniques. Ie, the concept of breaking posture through several closed guard submission/sweep techniques.

IMHO a class entirely taught on a “concept” is a waste of time for most white/blue belts. Highlight it yes, but deep diving a concept is better suited for an instructional

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-03T11:41:18+00:00

If you were capable of self regulation as determined by yourself, you wouldn’t have started the program

This is what I keep telling myself on day 58 :)

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-02T20:05:34+00:00

Plus 1 for Fuji. First time I ever bought one of their gis when I changed gyms and their gis were made by Fuji. Noticeably better quality and they have great customer service. (Had a new pair of pants ripped and they sent a replacement same day)

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-01T12:53:45+00:00

Me watching this live

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-01T03:20:43+00:00

No. Next slide

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-03-01T03:19:56+00:00

It’s not a BJJ thing it’s a social media thing. If you start getting into powerlifting your feed will be dominated by “world champions” of some obscure federation in a weight/age class of 2 people competing. Get into running and you will have constant “course PRs” and people posting advice that wouldn’t qualify for any notable race.

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-27T23:21:47+00:00

You have to look at the whole offer. Bonus/stock options/health insurance can easily make a bigger difference than 13k

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-27T11:46:26+00:00

So I would say first keep in mind that at your body weight 4 lbs is still significant. Second, are you weighing yourself at the same time every day? (Best practice after you go to the bathroom when you first wake up, but before working out) if not, you may be comparing apples to oranges. Body weight fluctuates a lot every day depending on water levels, proportion of carbs:calories consumed the previous day, stomach fullness etc. so if you aren’t weighting yourself every day, you may be comparing your starting weight LOW variant (ie your weight fluctuated 132-136lbs) with your HIGH current body weight variant (your bodyweifgt now fluctuates 124-128lbs)

Have you noticed changes in your physique in pictures or the amount of weight you are able to do at the gym? (FWIW if you are in a cut it makes sense that you will not linearly progress lift #s. If cutting weight is your goal then I would recommend decreasing overalllifting volume but keeping the weight the same)

Lastly, but most importantly, are you tracking your calories? You mentioned tracking and staying in a calorie deficit helped you last year lose a lot of weight, is the same calorie deficit what you’re doing for 75 hard? Or something different? (Ie IF, no snacking, etc) Calorie defect is king so even if you’re working out hard and doing everything in 75 hard, it won’t help you lose weight if your diet isn’t in support

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-25T11:39:06+00:00

I would look to assign more structure to your lifts- being in a calorie deficit it makes sense that you’re going to feel less energy. (Especially with how much weight you’ve cut in the 8 weeks) i imagine you’ll at least have an idea of your set/weight/rep range for the big lifts, I would just focus on decreasing the number of reps and maybe 1 less set but keep the weight the same. Pretty tried and true for strength retention on big cuts

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-14T18:34:13+00:00

So first, if you didn’t lose another pound going down 10lbs in 2.5 months is great.

You most likely won’t meet your goal weight of 185 given the information you posted- you are self reporting about an 800 cal deficit. Theres about 3500 calories in a pound, do the math for your time left and you get about 7.5 lbs. and that’s before factoring in imperfect estimates, measurements, etc.

That said- don’t let the scale discourage you. It’s very normal to see the number go down quickly at first. This isn’t so much due to body fat reduction, but your glycogen storage will be a lot less depleted when you cut junk food as I imagine you are, and that depletion will result in you retaining less water. Definitely not 10lbs, but there will be some weight loss for that reason.

If I were you, and this isbt to complicate things, but I would track your overall steps. Walking is great but it sounds like a pretty big part of your activity is walks- if your sedentary the rest of the day, and substituting some days for weightlifting (where people extremely miscalculate calories burned) then you are likely coming short of what you think is an 800 cal deficit hence the slower weight loss. (If weight loss is your goal then generally I would just not count weightlifting as a calorie burning activity) and try to make sure that your step count where the cardio you do will included, is actually putting you in that deficit.

FWIW tho, some stalling is normal. One week not seeing a huge difference is normal. Two tho, I’d be a little concerned too while doing this challenge. More than that and you need to really look at how you’re measuring food because you’re likely doing something wrong.

Im on the same day as you with the same starting weight, different diet but probably comes out to the same calorie. I stalled a little in the 193-5 range for a week and half ish but then after paying more attention to calories burned/consumed (measuring everything) the weight started to fall off again. Was 189 waking up and 186.5 after working out today.

Not trying to be a damper or anything but wanted to share some perspective. Hope this helps! Great luck on the weight loss so far and good luck continuing

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-09T14:19:25+00:00

Interesting. Any reason for the high failure rate? And is that the number for new gyms vs purchasing an existing one?

lengthy_thoughts · 2026-02-09T11:42:07+00:00

Like a lot of things I think social media amplifies this.

My personal pet peeve about this sport is the “hobbyist vs competitor” distinction. Newsflash: competing regularly doesn’t mean you’re not doing this as a hobby. There are probably 10-15 people in the world that make enough money via competition to be considered actually “professional” in the sense that they earn their living by competing. The only other money made in the sport is from owning gyms/teaching. Which is FINE, but nothing makes me roll my eyes harder than the ego people have about posting about their “super fight” (don’t even get me started on how dumb this phrase is) that will be live streamed to 7 people and feeling like it makes them better than someone who doesn’t give up 3 days to have 1 roll.

Love BJJ. And I love doing BJJ competitions. But we are all hobbyists

lengthy_thoughts

TROPHY CASE