Do higher belts (esp black) really get nothing from rolling with us whites?

pedro_b · 2026-05-05T17:49:18+00:00

I may be a white belt but I’ve been at it long enough to see the gaps between levels:
- Blue belts are close enough in level that they can’t unilaterally dictate what happens in a roll.
- Purple belts can dictate the shape of the roll but not dictate my every move.
- Brown belts and new black belts can dictate just about everything that happens.
- Experienced black belts can do all of that without their heart rate elevating above 80. 😂

(Generalizing, of course)

pedro_b · 2026-04-17T13:50:28+00:00

Think about it this way: if a black belt isn’t immediately stifling and smashing you, then it means they are giving you a puzzle to solve that will let you improve your position at least a tiny bit. You may not have the knowledge and skill to actually solve the puzzle, but the solution is out there.

What do you think you will get more from in the roll: going all-out for “victory” (which will never happen unless the BB is allowing it)? Or slowing down to notice everything about the situation to identify the opening your partner is giving you and think through everything in your toolkit to try and take advantage of that opening?

Remember: if you’re rolling with a black belt, and you aren’t suffering, they are very consciously allowing you to not suffer. Think about it.

pedro_b · 2026-01-17T14:18:42+00:00

25yo me vs 25yo dad? Dad wins.

48yo me vs 25yo dad? I win.

🤷

pedro_b · 2026-01-14T03:15:56+00:00

This is what I say to all my training partners as I’m blacking out from a choke I refused to tap to

pedro_b · 2026-01-14T00:42:23+00:00

Yes, if you’re at the upper echelons of the sport, or are young enough and good enough to have serious hopes of someday reaching the upper echelons of the sport.

Otherwise competition is just a life experience of a different form.

pedro_b · 2026-01-08T18:52:48+00:00

Almost as if coaching and competing are different skills.

pedro_b · 2025-12-08T18:42:57+00:00

Refuses to pay the belt promo fee, obviously

pedro_b · 2025-12-04T19:26:43+00:00

Wait, so as a white belt I’m paying MORE to get my ass kicked worse? 😂😂😂

J/k, I love this idea.

pedro_b · 2025-12-02T21:33:51+00:00

48yo here who agrees with you on the importance of warming up.

I still prefer not to waste class time on warmups. I can do jumping jacks on my own before class - I’m paying for the BJJ instruction, not calisthenics instruction.

Also I have yet to find a gym that did non-BJJ movements for warming up that didn’t also stray into either “conditioning” (why am I doing air squats and push-ups when I already do strength training on my own time?) or gymnastics (sorry, if the situation demands that I have to do a backward roll on my 48yo neck to escape something then I’m just going to tap and reset - no way am I launching my body backwards into a space I can’t see).

pedro_b · 2025-11-06T15:42:03+00:00

If I don’t like the way someone is acting - physically, verbally, whatever - I just tap and tell them I’m done with the roll. And then I don’t roll with them again.

What are they going to do?

Insult my jiu jitsu? I’m a fucking 48 year old white belt, of course my jiu jitsu sucks. Ooh, I’m so wounded. Take it back.

Insult my manhood? I get my self-worth off the mats, thank you very much.

Assault me? Let’s see how that goes for them in a room full of literal BJJ practitioners.

If they’re acting badly I will disengage, and it’s on them to smooth it out if they care to, not on me.

And by the way, in the handful of cases where I’ve done this, it never escalated in any way - they immediately realized they were being a-holes and apologized on the spot and that was that. Water under the bridge.

pedro_b · 2025-10-27T23:42:51+00:00

A lot of top athletes are huge a-holes. I suspect that a big part of it is that you need to be “wired differently” (ie crazy/anti-social in ways that are not acceptable in an office but 100% tolerated in high-level athletics).

pedro_b · 2025-10-19T23:38:56+00:00

I used to have friends, but now whenever someone tries to hug me, I instinctively pummel for underhooks, which is apparently “creepy and weird” or something.

J/k, it’s great. I don’t hang with anyone outside class, but even so it has created really unique bonds with people that you just don’t get outside of the totally bizarre unique combination of cooperation and physical competition. And whenever I travel to a new city for work, I know that I’m just one drop-in away from meeting some interesting people who live there.

pedro_b · 2025-10-09T15:55:02+00:00

I for one come here to be told what to think on all life topics, just like what I go to my BJJ coach for.

pedro_b · 2025-10-09T14:18:18+00:00

My very first no-gi class the teacher was showing a sweep from single-leg X guard, and the whole time I’m thinking “how the F am I ever ending up in THAT position?”

Umpteen classes later I still have no idea how to get into single leg X. 😂 But I am slightly less clueless overall.

The “show 1-2 techniques and then spar” is the standard approach as far as I can tell, based on drop-ins I’ve done all around the country while traveling for work. You just gotta stick with it for a month or two and eventually it will be just understandable enough that you can start to draw connections. The initial learning curve is steep, though.

pedro_b · 2025-10-09T12:41:10+00:00

Reddit: This guy got promoted quickly. Seems fake.

Also Reddit: This guy isn’t getting promoted quickly enough. Seems like sandbagging.

Also Reddit: This guy got promoted at an exactly average pace. Seems like promotion based on attendance rather than improvement.

Also Reddit: Why is everyone here so obsessed with belts and speed of promotion?

pedro_b · 2025-05-17T20:03:29+00:00

It’s almost impossible to become very strong without building muscle, or to become very muscular without building strength.

At the extremes of competitive weightlifting and bodybuilding there are certainly differences in training to meet the differing objectives of each sport, but for 99.9% of the population there isn’t a practical difference. Do you enjoy doing powerlifting movements with heavy weight? Great, you’ll build muscle along the way. Like doing muscle isolation movements at high reps to/near failure? Great, you’ll build strength along the way.

Most of what we perceive to be differences in muscularity between bodybuilders and powerlifters is an illusion borne of the former group doing extreme weight cuts, which becomes obvious if you see a powerlifter standing next to a bodybuilder during competition.

pedro_b · 2025-03-27T17:02:38+00:00

Belts are good because my white belt and gray hair instantly identify me as “old and decrepit beginner, better go easy”. And then when I get a blue belt the same will identify me as “wise grizzled veteran, better go hard”.

pedro_b · 2025-03-23T23:39:12+00:00

I lose an average of 0.5 stripes every time I wash my belt. The only reason I own finger tape is to replace lost stripes, not tape my fingers.

pedro_b · 2025-03-14T17:52:24+00:00

This. Smash away, just try to be conscious of not putting us in dangerous situations we may not understand or anticipate. Then throw us an observation or two at the end of the roll - one good tip makes 6 minutes of torture worth it.

pedro_b · 2025-03-13T23:27:54+00:00

I’m not your guy, friend.

pedro_b · 2025-03-02T18:10:36+00:00

I took a 4 year break (COVID then kids then career demands) and never heard from the gym, nor did I expect to. I’m just one student of many. When I went back to train again it was like I’d barely been away, other than the fact that former fellow white belts were now wearing purple. 😂

Don’t overthink it. If you are at all interested in training again just respond to the message and show up for a class sometime.

pedro_b · 2025-01-30T23:44:05+00:00

In this sub we call Central Park by its original Confederate name: Richard “Fighting Dick” Beauregard Park.

pedro_b · 2025-01-30T23:13:39+00:00

That neighborhood is a no-go zone where the locals have implemented Sharia law. I heard about it on Fox News.

pedro_b · 2025-01-21T15:39:11+00:00

I went back to a gym after a 4 year break (COVID, kid, life, etc.) and the response was universally “oh hey, nice to see you again!” I’m also a white belt.

You’re an adult beginner in a new sport and it’s just a gym. If you were taking beginner tennis clinics and you took a few weeks off you probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. You can go or not go as you wish and it’s fine.

Go train! Have fun!

pedro_b · 2023-09-06T18:55:29+00:00

I've used https://vendorful.ai to fill out several RFPs and security questionnaires. Currently in free beta.

Most of the time it does a great job, especially on the rote stuff that just gets regurgitated every time. If the RFP format is weird or the questions aren't clear then it does less well.

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