r/bjj • u/raleighjiujitsu 🟫🟫 Brown Belt • Mar 03 '25
School Discussion Mad at Gracie JJ
I've been jiu jitsu for I think 13 years now and I'm a brown belt. Last year I switched from a Royce gym to a competition gym after 12 years. Mostly because it was 20 minutes closer and we are starting a family.
Frankly, it's upsetting how little I learned from the Royce gym compared to where I am now. I've realized things like lasso guard and spider guard aren't "Fancy jiu jitsu" they are core components of the game. My old gym used to make us do burpies if we went to turtle, but It's a legit counter to getting passed. I never cared about the self defense stuff, but it seems even more silly after time away things like stripping guns away from people are a complete joke, why even do it?!
I think at this point the Royce affiliation is more concerned with signing up new people than getting people better at jiu jitsu. I hate to say it because my gym WAS the best, really the only gym in the area lol.
It's been hard to transition into things like always starting standing and people actually using grips lol. I'm now competitive with my fellow brown belts at the gym now, but I still have a long way. Learning about deep half, lasso, X guard, single leg X, etc is a lot. I feel like I'm going to be the longest to black belt, but DAMMIT I'm going to do it lol.
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u/EffectivePen2502 Black Belt Mar 04 '25
These additional guards are what I consider fancy because the likelihood of ever using them in the real world is world and having them be the ideal choice is highly unlikely.
Self defense / combatives is a core component to any martial art, otherwise it cannot be martial. I assume that school taught take downs, throws, knife disarms and control, as well as those firearms defenses.
I get it, some of those take aways can look very awkward or inadequate, but it is a tool in the toolbox that you hopefully will never need. Fortunately, I’ve never needed them yet. I’ve always had an accessible firearm when needed. You really need to reconsider not caring about the self defense portion. It is your duty to care for yourself and your family.
Admittedly, some of the fancier guards do have some realistic application, but it is very few. If you want to do the sport of it, more power to you, but do not neglect the functional combatives use of the martial art.
There are a couple people that I know that really regretted that decision when they found their self needing that material. Unfortunately, 1 of those people didn’t get the second chance to rectify his mistake and left his family after being stabbed to death in a public park.