Post #1592600
2026-04-22 14:35 UTC
Hey, #bjj and #jiujitsu peeps - tell me if this sounds reasonable or if it's just copium:
About a year ago, I switched from a very smashmouth, wrestley kind of gym (where I went from white belt to brown) to a new gym across the street.
New gym is much more technique based, and, being new, was mostly lower belts. Nobody over blue except me, the coach, and a purple with sporadic attendance.
Lately, I'm getting caught in all kinds of stuff I didn't use to to a very frustrating degree. The kind of things that make you go, "Have I gotten worse?"
Here's my theory - I've probably gotten really sloppy and developed bad habits in the last year because the newer guys couldn't capitalize on my mistakes. Now, though, they're getting better whereas I've been reinforcing my bad habits for a year, and it's finally caught up to me.
Y'all think that sounds possible?
Replies (1)
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@shizbot@mastodon.social 2026-04-22 15:04
@TimmyMac Sounds like a very normal part of progress. It can definitely feel like everyone else is getting better around you sometimes, and maybe it is some sort of reminder that previous assumptions might need to be revisited. You have enough experience now to know that improvement in BJJ isn't necessarily linear, and we sometimes plateau and even "regress" in the short term. All that matters is keep showing up, be comfortable with being uncomfortable, and stay open to learning new things.