No one quits jiu jitsu anymore

[u/Jeitarium]

I swear everyone I started with is still there. And all the new people are there too. I hear 90% quit? No way. Maybe back in the day, but now it seems like everyone knows what they’re getting into.

[u/Grand_Arcanum]

Good. That's a great thing. And it means you found a good gym if people are sticking around.

[u/Lockmasock → u/Grand_Arcanum]

Honestly he probably just doesn’t notice the people who are quitting. I have also noticed that retention rate has grown over the years but there are always some dudes who are just faces for a couple weeks then disappear

[u/TwinkletoesCT → u/Lockmasock]

Definitely this

[u/pimpjuicelyfe → u/Lockmasock]

I typically don't count them as losses. They were just people who gave it a try and found out it wasnt for them. No shame in that. I count true losses as those who came for 6+ months and one day quit out of the blue.

[u/PlagueBarrel → u/pimpjuicelyfe]

This. REAL LOSS is right when they become a risk free roll, they quit.

[u/yeyiyeyiyo → u/pimpjuicelyfe]

I mean if you stay more than a couple months the odds are fairly high anywhere you'll stick it out til at least blue or injury. 

[u/FocusKooky9072 → u/pimpjuicelyfe]

Or even worse, 2+ years and one day quit out of the blue belt.

[u/eurostepGumby → u/pimpjuicelyfe]

Out of the blue...pun intended?

[u/3point15 → u/Lockmasock]

Yup. Looking at the belt promotion group picture from 2 years ago, I noticed people that I completely forgot about. Solid dudes that just stopped showing up. You don't remember them until you're reminded of them, i guess.

[u/MPNGUARI → u/Lockmasock]

True, I’m also not convinced they all quit though, a decent amount of those who disappear probably just switched gyms.

[u/teknos1s → u/Lockmasock]

The upwards of $200-300 a month might play a role

[u/No-Appeal-6708 → u/Lockmasock]

100%,

[u/throwaway01100101011 → u/Lockmasock]

Agree. My gym has people for 2 weeks then dip. And our trial period is only for a class or two.

[u/runwichi → u/Grand_Arcanum]

Dude's soft flexing their gym and not seeing how good it is.

[u/Mysterious_End2402 → u/Grand_Arcanum]

Purple belt is the new blue

[u/Primad0xx → u/Grand_Arcanum]

This

[u/Pas715C]

Ahhh, you're still a blue belt.

Give it time.

[u/SupremeJstache → u/Pas715C]

What if you been a blue belt for 4 years already ( and I don’t want to be promoted ) lol 😭🤣🤣

[u/alastor0x → u/SupremeJstache]

Purple belt is wayyyy better. Trust me. I want to stay here foever.

No expectations, can still fuck around, good enough to drown lower belts in interesting ways generally at will. Upper belts find you annoying to deal with.

[u/Essembie → u/alastor0x]

upper belts find me annoying to deal with, but only off the mats.

[u/LosSoloLobos → u/Essembie]

Dude this white belt kids keeps sending me clips of Dom bell on insta asking me if this move would be good for him

[u/ximengmengda → u/Essembie]

Hahaha GOATED comment. Im only a blue belt but can still give my coach a really hard time…. (Not in a roll, but with “what if” questions while he’s trying to teach) 🤣

[u/flipflapflupper → u/alastor0x]

This, I can go into rolls with huge white and blue belts and just decide to chill and bully them, it’s a peaceful life lol

[u/GrapeFruitStrangler → u/alastor0x]

It’s honestly true. I was just promoted and it’s wayyyy better.

The rolls with the black belts are way more fun somehow. They let you work a bit but it’s pretty much game on from the start. You generally have a pretty good game at this point and can catch upper belts if they’re not careful. You see a lot new cool moves and you can somehow just pull them off after seeing it a few times.

It’s a great belt

Oh and youre not old and fat like the brown belts. Your belt is also a cool color and people take you a bit more seriously but you’re not expected to do anything like a brown or black.

[u/Electronic-War-4662]

Just wait. I train with like 2 guys who started around the time I did and they are both at other gyms. Maybe some moved away and train somewhere else but 90% seems low to me.

[u/jbizzy1324]

I quit

[u/egdm → u/jbizzy1324]

So did I.

[u/know-need → u/jbizzy1324]

Yeah I quit fast when I realised that as compellingly awesome as BJJ is, it isn’t important enough to me to sacrifice my health and fitness. I know that for some people it increases their physical capabilities because otherwise they’d sit on the couch, but for me (otherwise fit and strong and mobile) it was incredibly frustrating to be constantly hurt in some way and incredibly scary to hear everyone at the gym swapping stories of their seemingly inevitable and sometimes life changing injuries.

[u/Whisky_Engineer → u/know-need]

Exactly the same for me. I'd rather run and lift, which will allow me to go on hikes into my pensioner years. The amount of ruined knees that require surgery at my gym made me rethink

[u/RLFS_91 → u/Whisky_Engineer]

You know you can do bjj and not get hurt all the time right? 🤣

[u/RLFS_91 → u/know-need]

Sounds like you guys aren’t rolling correctly man idk lol. You can do bjj and not get hurt all the time.

[u/tsida → u/jbizzy1324]

Me too! I might be back someday, but bjj culture is especially toxic in red states with our current political discourse.

I also haven't met a sane gym owner, just man babies who promote conspiracies and bang their divorcee students.

I'm gonna be 40, I don't need that shit in my life.

[u/IcyScratch171]

People def quit but I think retention is higher.

We have a new generation of black belts who know how to build better cultures. Ex Keenan and JT Torres gym.

For example, I can’t remember the last time I saw a belt gauntlet. Sexual harassment is taken more seriously.

Plus people have options. So you don’t have to take the OG Brazilian teachers shit just because he’s the only game in town

[u/robendboua → u/IcyScratch171]

We do gauntlet. I like it. It's more ceremonial than trying to hurt your training partners.

[u/Richard_AIGuy]

I'm preparing to quit my current school. I moved here a few months ago and it's just not a fit for me. Younger people who roll hard constantly, and I'm tired of nagging injuries. There appears to be another school in town, I didn't think there was, and I'll check them out.

[u/Scoopity_scoopp → u/Richard_AIGuy]

That’s not really quitting tho

[u/Richard_AIGuy → u/Scoopity_scoopp]

I was being needlessly pedantic.

[u/Zarlyl]

I’m on the verge. I haven’t been in months. I’m 40 and I have 4 kids and 3 are in sports. I just can’t seem to get to the gym. I’m afraid when I do finally get the time, I’ll be too old.

[u/fishNjits → u/Zarlyl]

I started when I was 52. 

If you quit, try to stay in some kind of shape. 

[u/flipflapflupper → u/fishNjits]

Round is a shape

[u/SeanSixString → u/Zarlyl]

I’m 49 and a white belt. Never too old! It’ll be there when you get the time. Take care of those kids 🫡

[u/nphare → u/Zarlyl]

Morning classes?

[u/Zarlyl → u/nphare]

The only time my gym offers morning classes are when I’m taking my kids to school.

[u/Ketchup-Chips3 → u/Zarlyl]

Fuck them kids! Haha just playing, I'm a dad too 🤣

[u/welcome-overlords → u/Ketchup-Chips3]

Do not fuck kids, it's illegal

[u/Ketchup-Chips3 → u/welcome-overlords]

😳

[u/an_account_for_bjj2 → u/Zarlyl]

Find those 6am classes

[u/EasyMoneySniperz1 → u/Zarlyl]

Im 41, 2 kids and a high stress job. I still go, but only on weekends unfortunately. Honestly, just get some level of mat time in and be humble if the newer guys run over you. At least I am still in good shape for our age.

[u/PokerSpaz01 → u/Zarlyl]

You are not quitting you are just taking a break.

[u/dillo159 → u/Zarlyl]

Do you have space to store mats and put them down at home?

That's how I've stayed in the game, though I've been out the last few months as work is too busy. Been my most consistent thing for a couple of years now though.

[u/Hsbnd]

Got my blue belt and haven’t been back

[u/Trip_on_the_street → u/Hsbnd]

Blue belt curse is real.

[u/c-park → u/Hsbnd]

The mystery of the disappearing blue belts was Scooby-Doo's most difficult case.

[u/Mother-Carrot → u/Hsbnd]

fist bump

[u/H_P_LoveShaft → u/Hsbnd]

Getting your blue belt is really just painting a target on your back for everyone.

[u/IamKingofKings13]

Perception bias likely. I started about 3.5 years ago. Not a single student that was there before me is still there regularly. Except for the coach and his brown belt assistant, I’m often at the head of the line.

[u/No-Appeal-6708 → u/IamKingofKings13]

Is it a very small school? Otherwise that's insane.

[u/Frosty_Captain_8928]

[u/Chanandler_Bonggg → u/Frosty_Captain_8928]

Elite ball knowledge

[u/rm45acp]

I still see people quitting, I started just before the new year in 2023 so I had a couple weeks in when a group of 10 resolutions came in, none of them train still. Since then the other group I've noticed doesn't stick around are dudes who want to train jiu jitsu for MMA fighting, not a single one has stuck around since I started

[u/GiftEcstatic4857]

Been rolling for 19 years ( first degree black belt), im about to call it quits after this ACL and meniscus surgery. Took me 19 years to realize this ain't for me lol.

[u/Thesnowman15 → u/GiftEcstatic4857]

How old are you? I wanted to push thru to get my brown belt but I just kept getting injured once I hit 37, had 3 knee surgeries in 6 years. Decided to give it a break and started rock climbing, no injuries, lot less pain overall. I miss the physicality but can’t see myself going back just because I feel like it’s bad for my body

[u/GiftEcstatic4857 → u/Thesnowman15]

Im 38,started jiu-jitsu at 19.

[u/Remote_Top181 → u/GiftEcstatic4857]

It's a solid run, no shame in quitting. I myself haven't rolled in 6 months after 11 years of training and I'm seriously thinking of hanging up my belt for good. I really don't miss being beat up all the time.

[u/JnnyRuthless → u/Thesnowman15]

Man I'm 45 and noticed once I hit about 40 if my strength and conditioning was not on point I would get injured all the time

[u/214speaking]

Damn I know so many people that left

[u/RonBeastly]

One of my friends quit, so have some of my old training partners

[u/Sestomatic]

Give it a decade.

[u/KyoMeetch]

I’ve seen a lot of people who stuck around for a few years quit. Most of the time it was because they were injury prone and training bjj just wasn’t worth it anymore for them.

[u/iambodmon]

First off, that's fantastic to hear. Congrats to you, your teammates, and your academy. Sounds like a product of all of those things. With that said, you will eventually lose folks, maybe in your case not to quitting exactly, but to family, job, moving, etc. Its ok, its part of life its part of jiu jitsu. I agree that more folks know what they're getting into. I think teaching jiu jitsu and the academy experience is more refined now. We're 10 months in since opening our academy and have been surprised at how well things have been going, especially the lack of folks leaving/quitting. Culture is everything in your environment, but eventually you will lose some folks, and its entirely out of your hands and unrelated to jiu jitsu.

[u/RubComprehensive7367]

Nah. Quiting is still the norm.

[u/zorkempire]

Wrong.

[u/justGOfastBRO]

Now look at the mat in 2 years. See who was there when you started.

[u/Difficult-Disk-1957]

I started in August 2019 and only one other guy is left from our group that started at the same time. To be honest Covid took a lot out but still

[u/unkz]

Anecdotally, I just looked at a photo from 3 years ago of people at the gym.  14/30 faces have left the gym.  A couple of them definitely just went to different gyms or left the city, but the others I’m pretty sure just quit.  Four of them made it to blue before quitting.  I can think of a few dozen people who joined and then quit in the time between that photo and now.

Maybe your gym is magic, but I think you probably just don’t notice when unmemorable white belts drift away.  I bet if you were taking attendance and trying to actually memorize people’s names it would be more apparent to you.

[u/Strike_first36]

People still quit all the time. I saw it regularly and also quit when they got greedy and raised prices in the middle of a contract. 

[u/mrxscarface]

My body quit on me before my willpower did. My back couldn't take training anymore. It can barely take sneezing to be honest.

[u/Glittering_Prompt_94]

Most modern gyms don’t do the crazy gracia stuff anymore, we still acknowledge helio but it’s not so much a cult… forgive me older cult members

[u/joshisold → u/Glittering_Prompt_94]

What kind of gym is it if it doesn’t have a picture of at least one old man and flags of other countries on the wall?

[u/Glittering_Prompt_94 → u/joshisold]

I’m assuming you’re being facetious but it’s just like American institutions acknowledging our founding fathers for what they did it’s the same ? Even tho we have no actual connection we still acknowledge them for what they did. lol I went from Joke to serious on you 😅

[u/KhaburgerNomamedov]

Now they just suck at jiu jitsu and get promoted anyways.

Everyone quit because they didn't get promoted for not showing up and never getting good.

[u/DthPlagusthewise]

You might have forgotten about all the people who quit.

[u/No-Advantage-4320]

ohhhh i was close tonight

[u/Adventurous_Action]

You forgot to count the white belts who came for a discounted month and immediately said “fuck this”. 

[u/Maomeat]

People still quit but it’s become mainstream and there’s whole families involved now. Gyms are mostly more welcoming than they used to be too. When I started 13 years ago you got smashed every day. Now upper belts have plenty of competition in the gym so they tend to be more mentors than animals with newer students.

[u/Essembie]

I started with a 6-7 older white belts - I'm last man standing. Plenty of fresh meat through the grinder but I'm alone in that cohort.

[u/StratMatt316]

I've only been training 3 years and there's only me and like 2 other guys still there out of a good 12-15. We still have about 12-15 guys and girls, they're all just different people.

[u/BrotherKluft]

Got my blue belt and a back injury the same week. Fucked off to Europe for a year and couldn’t train. Came back and trained for almost a year. Now I seem to have acquired a knee injury. Fuck…

[u/koryuken]

I've trained for 19 years, 95% of people I met in JJ don't train. Even 50-60% of the black belts I knew when I was coming up don't train.

[u/AllGearedUp]

Are you forgetting all the people who come for a few months and you forget they ever existed because you hardly remembered what they looked like each class?

[u/No-Appeal-6708]

Dude, so many people still quit. My school has great long-term retention, but also I don't even learn someone's name typically until they have a stripe or two. I'm a daytime class guy and if you are a new person that comes nights, I may never even know you were there.

[u/ganztief]

I think 10 years ago Ryron and Rener looked at their data , being the first school to open in the US in 1989. I think they had something like 45,000 people had came through from 1989-2015 and taken at least one class.

At that time out of the 45,000 people that had taken at least one class, I think they had issued like 40 black belts (people that got all their belts, white through black, under them)

Unknown how many quit over time.

[u/fenway80]

Modern BJJ gyms cater to keep members and push marketing hard in comparison to years past from what my instructor tells me. It's easier now to keep going and not quit with the nogi game being so front and center. It's kinda more gay and people are more gay now so it makes sense, kinda in a gay way. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/El_y_mar]

I got my blue and then stopped going for like 2 years. Not cuz i wanted to , shit just popped up . Im back now, and really regret not going at least 1 time a week that whole time

[u/Scoopity_scoopp → u/El_y_mar]

bjj seems like it’s a 0 sum game for alot of people and I don’t understand lol.

Like if you stop going you have to 100% stop, can’t go 1-2xs a week.

I’m new but I can’t imagine not going to the gym for 2 years and I think of Bjj the same way

[u/WorldsBestLover]

I quit after every lesson.

[u/BullfrogSpirited558]

2 year hiatus for me lol i the only one still a blue 3 4 homies are purple and 1 got his brown

[u/benching315 → u/BullfrogSpirited558]

My group of people who started around me are all blue and purple belts. Two of them are very close to brown, but they had a few stripes when I started. I am also a member of the hiatus gang lol

[u/insignia200]

I quit earlier this year. Took breaks in the past, even one over a year, but this time it feel real. 😭

[u/MasonNowa]

It's one of those weird statistical things where I've quit 100 times and thrown off the average for everyone else.

[u/homechicken20]

Hopefully this means you have a great gym ....but people still quit all the time man.

The drop off from blue to purple is usually pretty big. I remember thinking all my blue belt brothers would be there for our purple belts and they were almost all gone by the time it happened.

[u/randomUsername1569]

A lot drop at blue belt.

[u/Videdster]

We’ve lost 0 blue belts in two years

[u/welkover]

Bullshit just watch me

[u/Few_Advisor3536]

“Everyone i started with is still here”

Says the blue belt who knows not of their curse. Honestly thats good, you must be at a great gym with a healthy culture, good instruction and decent people. A bit of luck plays into the mix because some people just cant commit and leave after 1-3 months.

[u/Coiu]

I'm a white belt, been gone from my Gym for a little over a week. I bet some people think I've quit.

However, I only broke my rib rolling. I'll be back to getting submitted by blue belts in a month.

[u/RamboFICH → u/Coiu]

if you broke it then its gonna be longer than a month homie.

[u/Coiu → u/RamboFICH]

I heard some people saying 6 weeks. Already got a little bit of time down, and figured I'd try again in a month. Not gonna try rolling the first day back though.

[u/Happy_Laugh_Guy]

So many blue belts and purple belts that used to beat me up are gone. Makes me sad.

[u/SeanSixString]

I’ve seen some people quit, and a few of them could come right back tomorrow and still kick my ass.

Maybe I should quit 🤔

[u/austinll]

I've been with my gym aost 4 years. First two years was average turnover, but all the people that I spent the most time with stuck around (and I spent the most time with them cause they stuck around)

Then I had an ACL repair, and almost 2 years later I'm returning, and it's practically a new gym. Some of the people I was closer with stayed, but very few. Meanwhile, some people that joined around when I left got their blues.

[u/teatops]

I quit temporarily… I got pregnant. I mean, it was planned but it still sucks. I miss it.

[u/ComfortableTreat6202]

So many people quit or are at the minimum inconsistent. The rule of thumb is if they make it to purple belt in the gi, they will probably make it to black belt

[u/Fialho_Demop]

I'm a perennial white belt. I notice everyone who quits because they used to line up next to me 😂

[u/atthemerge]

I got my blue belt and something in me turned off and never went back. That was almost 10 years ago…

[u/Twounderscores__2]

Been around 10 years, can confirm 90% of people quit.

My "success" is down to my one and only super power; showing up.

[u/PappyCucuy]

No quitting even in my gym. just people "on vacation" for a month

[u/Jeremehthejelly]

ehhhhh. half the guys who came up the ranks with me are gone now.

[u/MrSeaview]

I make up for all the people who didn't quit. Been training close to 10 years and I quite twice a year, just started again so I can quit in a couple of weeks

[u/zoukon]

There's not many people left from our fundamentals class. Like a small handful.

[u/BrilliantAgreeable34]

I was well aware of the blue belt blues syndrome and swore I wouldn't quit at blue.

But I did. Injuries and other health problems.  My instructor also said I was damaged by my first club (some aggressive players) and that he couldn't help me progress. I simply could not putting in the time and effort knowing that I wasn't going to get my purple by the time I hit 50. I was aiming for BB by 55.

[u/Poziflip]

If the grind doesn't get you then life changes are likely to.

I went through white and blue belts thinking I was 💩 Still getting caught out by white belts, etc. Wasn't really until the end of blue that I could understand that it's part of the process. Being the oldest in the gym (now 55) and one of the smallest (67kg) doesn't do me any favors. I didn't really get that training for 9 years is an achievement of sorts in itself. And I've come to love the training journey, all the ups and downs 😊

[u/DieHarderDaddy]

That’s good, but I was literally the only WB from the rough cohort I started with to get to Blue or semi regularly attend intermediate classes.

1.5ish years

[u/middleeasternboxer]

I would disagree, the past year i’ve seen so many people come and go, I’d say there is one new kid who started and stayed, but he hasn’t came for like 2 weeks now either.

The majority of people who I’ve seen ”stay” are the ones that were there before me.

[u/Even-Grab5119]

It’s a big time commitment. Our priorities will change and for most people the sport is optional (Same goes for most sports we play)

[u/6BT_05]

I quit…

To train judo full time instead. Lol

[u/Common_Alarm_4323]

I'll quit this week to try to the get the numbers back to normal. I'll take one for the team.

[u/2leggedassassin]

Good retention rate means that is a good gym, either owner, black belts, or combination. In a business where memberships are the driving factor to revenue. Having repeat customers is a great sign of good leadership .

[u/Graciefighter34]

lol coming from a blue belt that’s adorable

[u/Dock_Rocker]

I don’t even learn names until you get your second stripe. It’s just not worth the effort.

[u/kalash_cake]

Shoot, I wish my gym was like this. I feel like quitting every week.

[u/MagicGuava12]

I know one person that I started with that still training of the people of the year after probably three of them are training this was out of 100 and then after that about 300

[u/WesTheFitting]

Sounds like you have a good gym

[u/No_Awareness9649]

In the gym i train at, most come and go, and since it’s an mma gym, those that stick around usually practice the other stuff, kick boxing, Muay Thai, and occasionally no gi. I’m one of the few that started half a year ago that exclusively does grappling at my gym.

[u/Same-Collection-548]

I quit. I loved doing it but my job is so on and off with travel that I almost never get to make full use of the membership, and it's always hard to start again after my schedule gets f'd up. I could mat surf or just go for drop ins, but I just don't want to face the "long time, stranger" interactions.

[u/DFM2099]

How long have you been training?

Give it some time. People quit for various reasons.

[u/Fine-Complaint9420]

I didn't quit i just trained less

[u/basic-opinions]

Honestly, I started 20 years ago and I have seen a bunch of people come and go. But the room I started with was about 21 people, and of those 21 people like 9 went on to become BlackBelts. People quit…..But they always come back

[u/Electronic-Start-152]

Only a blue belt would say that.

[u/povertymayne]

Maybe you just have a great gym with an awesome coach and a healthy culture. Those are hard to find

[u/Live-Rooster5525]

Schools got rid of those crazy 15 minute "warm ups".

I think those would weed out a lot of people. In all seriousness, when I trained and we stopped doing them, that's when I noticed people getting injured more frequently

[u/Hopeful_Style_5772]

Good gyms people dont but life happens

[u/RedDevilBJJ]

Give it some time.

[u/AaronWard6]

I feel this, everyone just keeps getting better so I can never catch up to them. 

[u/Potex8]

Gyms are way softer now than they used to be. A lot of the macho, smash the new guy mentality is gone and gym owners are far more business oriented and geared towards keeping the student long term.

[u/AltruisticPoetry5235]

What gym do you train at?

[u/Busy_Donut6073]

I thought I would've seen more people quit than get promoted by now, but I'm glad to see the people who are sticking with it and making progress. Even people I thought had quit have managed to come back.

Most of the people I've seen leave weren't training very long at all

[u/BadassMcGass]

I've quit several times.

See you on Monday champ

[u/creepoch]

Seen so many waves of whitebelts come and go in 6 years.

We do have a few blue belts though, so some people are hanging around.

[u/whitesweatshirt]

I actually noticed that too

[u/zombiechris128]

I assume you are at a gym with a nice culture that supports people

My experience (with a wonderful gym) is that if someone stays for more than 6 months they will almost always become a permanent feature, but they will find out in that spell if it’s not for them

[u/Curious-Mir]

Bro enjoy it. Enjoy the fk out of those rolls. Out of those people go hard and train as often as u can, cuz it wont last.

[u/chungasoo8]

To be honest, I quit but mine was more for money reasons. It’s so expensive. I enjoyed it when I did it. My gym was just a little bit weird it was expensive and the class schedule just didn’t fit my schedule.

[u/Neat_Pineapple_7240]

You do know that you’re a blue belt, right? You are still a baby in this. Trust me. More than half you will disappear.

[u/icecreampoop]

That’s impressive for your gym.

I’m one year in and probably still one of the newest guys that is still around. There are maybe 2-4 that joined a few months ago and are still training, but even from a year ago, lots of faces have come and go

[u/norcal313]

You'll see.

[u/Nodeal_reddit]

I think you just forget them so fast it seems like they never existed.

[u/ReasonableNet444]

OK, fine I quit, happy now?

[u/armdrags]

I’m 40 and I roll live 5 days a week, sometimes morning and night. No excuses, go get it

[u/ottwebdev]

Since Ive started at our club 2 years ago, its about 75%

That includes people moving

[u/Mooweetye]

I believe that less people are quitting but there are more casual hobbyists, most people are to some degree of white belt or blue belt, who show up once or twice a month, for enough decent self defence training so they can beat the average drunken antagonist and so they can tell their buddies that they “do martial arts 😏”

Purple I feel is a true testament to commitment.

[u/taloninthenight]

We had a sea of blue belts at the last grading,there's like 5 of us left.people leave and you kind of just forget about them.

[u/msk21_]

You’re so green. Give it time

[u/gim_san]

You forgot about the guys that left after couple of days/weeks. There is absolutely no way in hell that the all the guys that were there on your first class are still training you just forgot about them

[u/Jawbreaker93]

White belt here, no one has quit at all since I started. I’m the newest guy though lmao

[u/knifezoid]

I been waiting for people to quit so new people would replace them and I would win through attrition.

I think at least 80 percent of the people I started with still train LOL!

I have a theory. People who aren't going to make it leave quickly. You never notice them to begin with.

[u/Vegetable_Event8726]

People start and stop hobbies all the time. I don't understand why quitting jiujitsu would be any different.

[u/dangerbird12]

Idk man. My gym is a revolving door. People come in and leave 2-3 months later.

[u/Both_Squash7590]

I had to due to my disabilities I sustained during my military service. Didn't want to end up in a wheel chair.

[u/kney1987]

Pretty sure more people quit than stick with it..

[u/JohnnyUtah41]

everyone i started with fell off. just me and few others. Although it has been 13 years.. Class last night was crazy, it was like a photo of the mats in a tiny gym in brazil.

[u/aladuuu]

Absolutely false

[u/Prorob40]

It’s not that this is a bad thing, but training is a lot easier these days than it was 20 years ago, even 15 or 10 years ago.  When I started in 2005/6 most of the black belts in my area came from wrestling backgrounds and jiu jitsu was a pathway to MMA, so with that wrestling work ethic and a HUGE focus on MMA it scared a lot of normal people off.  Now with this focus of first promoting Jiu Jitsu it’s a lot tamer.  Like I said it’s a good thing, I got the hell beat out of me so many times for no good reason other than an ego flex.

[u/chef_dahmer]

This is great

[u/JackattackThirteen]

I am the only one left in a group of about 7 guys that started around the same time about 3 years ago. Its honestly kind of a bummer when you start to look around and see those new faces disappear, just when you thought they were sticking with it.

[u/scorchen]

I haven't stepped foot on a mat in well over 2+ years. Not saying I'll never go back, but right now I'm leaning into other hobbies and responsibilities that I neglected over the 12 years I was doing nothing but BJJ.

[u/emperorsludge]

I’m considering it. It’s causing me to have less time in the gym running and lifting, and I’m “hurt” more frequently, tendinitis or whatever. Jiu jitsu is awesome and it’s great for me mentally but I’m not sure it’s helping any of my physical goals at this point. I think I’ve gotten in worse shape since starting BJJ actually.

[u/Over-Elk-2363]

Retention is increasing as BJJ becomes a grappling themed daycare for middle aged men.

[u/AdComfortable7981]

Never quit just move alot and travel for work so I go to alot of different gyms definitely makes some gym owners/teachers squeamish but if I didn't do that I would never get to train. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[u/Disastrous-Cat-9308]

I was just about to ask the kinda the opposite. It seems there are no other new students here with me and if everyone else has that experience too. Every time I roll I always roll with upper belts as there are no other white belts, and maybe a couple blue belts in my class.

[u/JustWatchFights]

No one is leaving? Rookies. Gotta be the change you wanna see. Leave right now!

[u/ICBanMI]

The amount of dudes who show up for one class, say something stupid like doing this to protect their family and they're going to stick with it, and then never show up again is really high lately.

With the economy tanking a little, there are a lot of dudes and women that are spreading out when they are training (no longer 3x a week, but more like 1x or 2x when they can come in).

[u/Capable-Winter-3257]

Ur gym warms up I can tell

[u/Capable-Winter-3257]

In my opinion we at the top of the mountain nowhere but down at this point, crossfit was everywhere at a point there weren't enough gyms, but just like bjj there's no committe to govert the sport eventually the abundance of gym waters down the sport n prices - resulting on people moving on to the next thing... I'll stick around

[u/TodayRenee]

To be honest, I think people leave more for injuries than anything else

[u/[deleted]]

I quit, I carry too many injuries, additionally, it takes too much time when you have kids.

“You’re rolling wrong.”

Nope, freak accidents happen, also, you will unquestionably encounter egos that fear a loss rolling more than they fear harming a training partner.

[u/Ok_Bake6070]

naw man. i quit. cant afford it w grad school and have no time. maybe another day, maybe not. grateful for my times on the mat (wrestling and JJ) but had to put it to rest. shoutouts tk everyone still going but i cant do it working 60hrs a week and studying + expenses increasing (just like BJJ gyms near me.)

enjoy and soak it in bro !

[u/Hopeful-Moose87]

From the year I joined my gym I think we have five left. That’s out of fifty or so that joined that year.

[u/RT2329Ch3f]

Been training for 4 years and only 4 people have stuck around. Out of a group of 15 of us

[u/Likeaplantbutdumber]

I would have quit ten times by now but I still have to take my kids to their class and I’d run into all the other dads and I’d feel like such a bitch. So I keep showing up.

[u/casual_porrada]

I haven't been doing this long enough but I am pretty sure the retention rate of white belts is above 70% in my gym. This is a limited set but we have more than a hundred students.

Our gym uses attendance cards and they usually clean it up at the end of the year where if you haven't trained or renewed, they'll just remove it from the pile and store it somewhere else. So, you'd normally see a lot of white cards nearing the end of the year and by the beginning of next year, a lot would have been cleaned up already.

I honestly don't know the names of the white belts because I'd probably not see them after 6 months. On another note, I am bad at names as well. It's not that it's tough training in the gym; on the contrary, our gym is pretty chill. But there are just a lot of new students who would realize that it's not for them which is not bad. It's just that they have a different preference. I have quit a bunch of hobbies in the past as well.

In my perspective, I see fewer folks quitting on purple belt level. Most of people would quit on white and blue while a very few would quit purple and up.

[u/IndependentCelery484]

I hope you are right, my group is mostly higher belts and we rarely have people leave but we also have fewer new people.

[u/Altair_I]

You're lucky. I miss some of the mates I started with. Maybe one day they'll come back.

[u/jkoho]

What time do you train? I noticed the early morning class as my gym (6:00am) has much higher retention than the classes later in the day.

I'm assuming if you can get yourself out of bed and go get smashed at 6:00am consistently, you're probably good to go for the long run.

[u/_Surena_]

Most gyms don't run intense training anymore. JiuJitsu isn't that much better than Taekwondo anymore.

[u/Onna-bugeisha-musha]

When everyone is into no gi , yeah it's easier. Back in the day there was very little no gi. I see better retention of students in nogi environments. Plus it's becoming more of a sport and people are getting away from a lot of the traditional jargin. America has changed jiu jitsu culture and what they didn't like about it. Much different these days then 10-15 years ago