No Such Thing as “Old Man” BJJ

People say roll less (or don’t overtrain/burnout), choose your partners wisely, stop muscling etc. But these are just basic jiujitsu concepts. Being older just makes you obey them! So does being injured. In fact, rolling like you’re NOT old or injured or smaller or stiffer isn’t Jiujitsu, it’s just grappling. “Old man bjj” talks about not muscling, or at least not anymore?, but that’s how we’re supposed to be rolling anyway. “I can’t just push people off of me anymore” . It’s unfortunate that this worked for you for so long because it hindered your “path of least resistance” development. We find this as well in the “I’m not as flexible as i once was”, we unfortunately got away with bad planes of motion that weren’t sustainable.

 

The good news is it’s not too late…to start or to change.

The race is on to develop the gentle way in it’s proper form BEFORE you actually get “old”. Keep your BJJ movements cleaner than you are aged. Winning this race is way more important than any race to any milestones along the way. It may not be a faster route, but it takes you further. We need to be intelligent enough to understand these physical shortcuts, but also wise enough to forego them.

Avoid overtraining

Choose your partners carefully

Avoid muscling

Find the path of least resistance

Avoid reliance on flexibility

 

This is Jiujitsu, “old man” or otherwise. And winning this race means staying IN it, regardless of physical attributes.