This 38-year-old brown belt needed to hear it too. I’m losing a lot of my speed and the younger guys in their early 20s are usually too fast. Gotta always remember to roll smart, not necessarily hard.
Lots of older guys in the comments giving their tips. Getting lighter, better grips/control, staying away from positions requiring fast movement, etc. It's good to hear. I started bjj @ 40, and mma @ 42. I'm still pretty quick, so I'm blessed. But I like to do reflex drills, and movement patterns outside of training to nurture agility. To be honest, MMA has helped me stay springy. But I still have lots to learn.
I'm a 48 yo blue belt and one thing I find really helps besides all the obvious stuff is keeping your weight down. I'm a lot faster at 75kg than I was 5yrs ago at 85kg.
46yr old white belt here. Thank you for this and all your other videos. They have helped me focus mentally for the challenge and brutality of training (and the inherent frustration)
as a 39 year old white belt with just shy of 6 months in, can confirm. I try to avoid guard cuz it's a challenge to pull off sweeps successfully. I learned to be real annoying with my feet to slow an opponent's progress, and with younger people I roll with, really use pressure and good grips, working intentionally slowly for their mistake and I snag their arm or ankle loose. When we work a lot on our cardio, they WILL tire out before us 😄 most kids care about strength and mirror muscle, but those muscles stay hungry for oxygen. Then when their panting starts, it's time to turn up the heat!
@@InvisibleHotdog there's a difference, right, in functional strength vs mass gainz for aesthetics. I'm 6'1" and 185lb. 28yo 230lb wrestler at my gym has been dropping weight like crazy to move down weight classes for competition. 3 months ago he KILT me; last night I defended the whole time and almost got him with a kimura - his weight cutting led to a significant decrease in strength. point being... when within one's own weight class, yes strength is vital, you're absolutely right about that. but also smaller, weaker, upper belts can RECK my shit lol as we age it's harder to build mass/strength compared to improving cardio fitness. nom sayin?
Closed guard can be really good for older people. It severely reduces the mobility of your opponent no matter their age. From there learn one submission and one sweep and work on those and only those until you're really good at that. If you look up roger gracies video on closed guard it will literally change your game. I watched that video atleast 12 times now and made sure to memorize a new detail each time. I went from literally never tapping people from guard to doing it about half the time. Roger is one of the best ever so he's a great person to learn from.
Experience and knowing where you should be positioned can stop alot of the speed. Ive seen it in BJJ, boxing, rugby, etc. Knowing the right angles and being a step or 2 ahead mentally will even the playing field or favor you
I'm a Judoka but I watch your videos as a lot of what you say can be applied to Judo as well, especially the groundwork/ne waza of course. You have broad appeal!
65 year old BB , HS /College hooper@ 5' 7" 130lbs now 5' 6" 130lbs. Always boxed and wrestled to survive streets of NYC,especially hooping! Now I teach parttime, hopefully continue our passion after hip surgery. Check the Ego at the door.This is a marathon/lifestyle. AIM High be all you can be!
I'm not in my 50's yet, but as a BJJ guy in his 40's I find that I use grips to slow down my opponents. As my Professor says, "Old man Jiu-Jitsu" is all about the grips to slow them down, and then proceed to smash them from top control. With that said, I'm a guard guy myself, but my guard game is all about the grips as well. If you can establish the right grips you're going to severely limit the movement of your opponents. In No-Gi, I use a couple of go-to wrestling moves to establish grips and slow them down, Russian Tie is my go to. Once I can trap that arm, I control them. I also like to make pancakes (which requires a bit of speed to catch them, but I usually will look to set them up with it so I know the shot is coming).
This. I went to a great seminar with Braulio Estima a few years ago, and he taught us his cradle position series, and I use it all the time now. If I can get an arm under their leg and grip their lap (pulling their leg up to their chest), it hinders the opponent's mobility so badly and gives the older me options. That's what we need. Take options away from the younger faster guy, and open options for ourselves.
I've heard this with new students in my gym. They come in with experience in another art and they get kinda flustered when they get smashed by a white belt wrestler. We had one 50 something year old judo black belt (according to him) who could do almost nothing once he was on his back. He just kept wanting to reset to the feet.
Chewy makes a great point here that I will adopt into my admittedly small game (only been training 18 months total,) I asked my Coach the same thing, and he also pointed out that I don't have to be as fast as the 18 & 19 year olds I roll with. I can slow them down to my speed with grips. I have been using that to great effect, grabbing a 'Bully Grip' with a turned out sleeve grip and a c-clamp on the same -side tricep. Going 2-on-1 like this means if they want to go fast they have to take me with them. If not, I can effectively pin that side and rotate around it like the Russian Tie wrestlers use.
I learned that from a Judo video and was slaying guys with it. I even nailed a bjj brown belt with it. He wasn't being nice by tapping either. He knows the escapes from it, but couldn't get it. Then I did it on a purple who is a black in Judo.... and his leg hitting me in the head on the escape was like getting whacked with a telephone pole.
Thx I'm 59 and you just verified exactly what I've been doing I focus on what works for me and it works I except my age and only focus on what I can do ( purple belt) thx
Great 👍🏼 answer per usual - thanks - 55 year old 1 stripe purple - definitely experience that speed and explosiveness with the young bucks - reminds me of my job where I used to have to answer questions on the spot with a spotlight on me - people used to tell me I looked quick on my feet, which I never felt I was, but I had anticipated most of the questions that would come my way…I already had the answers thought out.
This is an interesting video and I’ll give it some thought. I will say though that I think it’s unhelpful to try and be faster when you are getting slower. Only an older grappler actually knows what this feels like. At 49 and 6 years in I’ve learned to slow the younger guys down instead. They hate rolling with me because I can negotiate their speed lol This is achieved by a combination of slow pressure and anticipation (which comes with experience). The best bjj for this is old school. Once you realise you don’t need speed to be good, it changes everything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Same boat here , judo brown belt, Jiujitsu purple belt 40 years old. Thanks for the advice. I will start focusing more submission series. I do feel like I should have alot more in the bag but I am consistently using the same 3/4 submissions.
An older black belt at my gym told me to defend and let the younger player wear themself out, then strike with your favorite move just as you talked about.
Over 40 crowd here. I guess my priorities have changed. I’m there to have fun these days, so I pick my partners very carefully. Might stunt my growth but then again I don’t get kneed in the face, elbowed in the forehead, and still have the ability to walk into the office for work. Not the path for everybody of course but works for me. I’ve gone soft lol.
The point is to get out of jiujitsu what you want your experience to be, right? That’s definitely going to be different for different people. Some might work in a field where a little extra “makeup” they gained from taking a knee ti the face during a takedown is taken to kindly, maybe even celebrated. Now if you’re a nose model or a dental model, maaaybe not.
I am 34 and feel 55. I went to a younger gyms open mat (Avg. age around 25) and wooo. This is my exact situation. Unless they are just a unskilled person, I am put on the backfoot. Usually holding them in my halfguard.
There are so many variables to this too, like you said you should have a sliver of specialization, but it could be an athletic problem too, perhaps he can get a sweep with timing but he can't capitalize because he may (or anyone this connects with) aren't physically fit enough (either injury or fat) to move to a guard pass or some sort of control/submission. I know this judo black belt who is built like a tank and throws me even though I outweigh him by 100 lbs and always ends up on top of me. But like you said chewy, it could be that he has trained to do that or that he stayed with fitness (he is very fit) and was able to maneuver himself to those positions. Physical conditioning is often overlooked, but it could be a multitude of problems.
I am a 54 year old , blue belt bjj and 3rd Dan judo. I cope stand up fine, except everyone sits down! So my top game is pretty good, I struggle with the bendy, flexible young ones. How do you stop them inverting? Scott from UK
“Whippersnappers”, ha ha that’s what I call some of the guys in my gym… most are literally half my age (I’m 45 woman- entering metapause )… I’ve been training for 7 mths now, love it, but boy its a frustrating & painful stage right now & slow and/or forgetting stuff just adds to it.. 😵💫 … analysis paralysis perfect way to explain me rolling ha ha, thank you love your vids 👍🤓🤜🏼🤛🏼💕
53 purple and I just go with it….every roll is different. I believe bigger stronger,different body style,speed,power is a new adventure. I’m not trying to win. Also I focus on me. I use my game and try to implement it on them. If your frustrated that’s good. Old men are sneaky and dangerous. 😜
I went for a few trial lessons but it seemed like there were so many techniques with steps and variations that I decided not to pursue BJJ after the trial, it just seemed too much like memory work and rote learning that I don't enjoy at all.
Ill say coming from a somewhat younger guy that i look up to some of the older people at my BJJ gym who move slow but methodical. I always call them boa constrictors because they always seem to have some game plan im not looking out due too maybe moving too quick and they are just slowing sinking in the choke
me at 46 still ok with speed but at times feel like making wrong choices for the next move, I do think my overthinking because of my age does put my offense at risk all though in training I always start form defensive point don't know if that is good or bad.... and I am tall like 6.5feet so that also hinders my speed I think
I have a 54 year old 200 lb. 5'6" Judo blackbelt/BJJ bluebelt in my gym, he just kicks everybody's ass and puts them in kesa gatami and kills them for fun. Occasionally i slow him down by poking his eye or breaking his fingers but... Guys like this don't need any extra edge.
@@JK-nh6jp a lot guys are not used to it, once you get on top, you can crush them, and fish for subs…so many subs…arm bars, Ezekiel, head/shoulder choke, chest compressor ( my favorite), and others. For me, once I figured that out, everything changed. My classmates HATE it😂
I always wondered if there was more to it than just age. In my thirties, I was still the fastest at standup like by far but for some odd reason, I’m grappling; much older grapplers were much faster than I was. I was literally like a turtle in grappling.
literally like a turtle? literally? Have you seen a turtle grapple? I bet 12¢ you could grapple circles around any turtle. Well, any turtle within a reasonable weight class, lololol
Nope- I give the whipper-snappers 5 moves to my 1. They gain an advantage- then get stuck in concrete- and then I proceed to kick their ass in slow motion. The clinch neutralizes ANY speed advantage.
Stay close, yes. If the only maneuverable distance is measured in centimeters or better yet millimeters, then their speed matters very little as it can only used over such a short travel time.
I absolutely needed to hear this as a frustrated, tired 44-year old blue belt. Thanks Chewy.
44? Uh oh; I'm 43 just now getting into it!
This 38-year-old brown belt needed to hear it too. I’m losing a lot of my speed and the younger guys in their early 20s are usually too fast. Gotta always remember to roll smart, not necessarily hard.
@@bpb210 I started at 42 and just earned my blue belt last week. Stick with it!
@@theburnhamproject I am - just got back from a 2&1/2 hour session. Who says 40 is old?!
@@bpb210 just a number brother! Let’s gooooo!
Lots of older guys in the comments giving their tips. Getting lighter, better grips/control, staying away from positions requiring fast movement, etc. It's good to hear. I started bjj @ 40, and mma @ 42. I'm still pretty quick, so I'm blessed. But I like to do reflex drills, and movement patterns outside of training to nurture agility. To be honest, MMA has helped me stay springy. But I still have lots to learn.
Yes!!! Mobility and flexibility training will help you so much!!!!!!
I'm a 48 yo blue belt and one thing I find really helps besides all the obvious stuff is keeping your weight down. I'm a lot faster at 75kg than I was 5yrs ago at 85kg.
Just enter the crackhead state of mind, worry about pain and exhaustion later
46yr old white belt here. Thank you for this and all your other videos. They have helped me focus mentally for the challenge and brutality of training (and the inherent frustration)
as a 39 year old white belt with just shy of 6 months in, can confirm. I try to avoid guard cuz it's a challenge to pull off sweeps successfully. I learned to be real annoying with my feet to slow an opponent's progress, and with younger people I roll with, really use pressure and good grips, working intentionally slowly for their mistake and I snag their arm or ankle loose. When we work a lot on our cardio, they WILL tire out before us 😄 most kids care about strength and mirror muscle, but those muscles stay hungry for oxygen. Then when their panting starts, it's time to turn up the heat!
give it time, you'll learn some sweeps (38 years old)
@@arturofernandez725 Knowing sweeps and pulling off sweeps is the issue 😉
Having muscle to move yourself is a lot more useful than fat to carry. Like it or not, being stronger would make a big difference in rolls
@@InvisibleHotdog there's a difference, right, in functional strength vs mass gainz for aesthetics. I'm 6'1" and 185lb. 28yo 230lb wrestler at my gym has been dropping weight like crazy to move down weight classes for competition. 3 months ago he KILT me; last night I defended the whole time and almost got him with a kimura - his weight cutting led to a significant decrease in strength.
point being... when within one's own weight class, yes strength is vital, you're absolutely right about that. but also smaller, weaker, upper belts can RECK my shit lol as we age it's harder to build mass/strength compared to improving cardio fitness. nom sayin?
Closed guard can be really good for older people. It severely reduces the mobility of your opponent no matter their age. From there learn one submission and one sweep and work on those and only those until you're really good at that. If you look up roger gracies video on closed guard it will literally change your game. I watched that video atleast 12 times now and made sure to memorize a new detail each time. I went from literally never tapping people from guard to doing it about half the time. Roger is one of the best ever so he's a great person to learn from.
As an old slow guy, I find baiting stuff works well, they're gonna move faster than me, I may as well know where they're attacking.
Experience and knowing where you should be positioned can stop alot of the speed. Ive seen it in BJJ, boxing, rugby, etc. Knowing the right angles and being a step or 2 ahead mentally will even the playing field or favor you
I'm a Judoka but I watch your videos as a lot of what you say can be applied to Judo as well, especially the groundwork/ne waza of course. You have broad appeal!
As a 54 yr old purple belt I just use more pressure in key spots to slow them down. I've become the human grind stone with good timing
I just got to say, you are one bad man for a 54 year old, lol. Oss.
As a 48 year old BJJ blue belt and Judo brown belt, I needed to hear this.......thank you!!!
65 year old BB , HS /College hooper@ 5' 7" 130lbs now 5' 6" 130lbs. Always boxed and wrestled to survive streets of NYC,especially hooping! Now I teach parttime, hopefully continue our passion after hip surgery. Check the Ego at the door.This is a marathon/lifestyle. AIM High be all you can be!
I'm not in my 50's yet, but as a BJJ guy in his 40's I find that I use grips to slow down my opponents. As my Professor says, "Old man Jiu-Jitsu" is all about the grips to slow them down, and then proceed to smash them from top control.
With that said, I'm a guard guy myself, but my guard game is all about the grips as well. If you can establish the right grips you're going to severely limit the movement of your opponents.
In No-Gi, I use a couple of go-to wrestling moves to establish grips and slow them down, Russian Tie is my go to. Once I can trap that arm, I control them. I also like to make pancakes (which requires a bit of speed to catch them, but I usually will look to set them up with it so I know the shot is coming).
Nice 👍🏼 - I like to get a 2 on 1 with the opponent’s wrist - controls them, slows them down, and threatens the wristlock
This. I went to a great seminar with Braulio Estima a few years ago, and he taught us his cradle position series, and I use it all the time now. If I can get an arm under their leg and grip their lap (pulling their leg up to their chest), it hinders the opponent's mobility so badly and gives the older me options. That's what we need. Take options away from the younger faster guy, and open options for ourselves.
@@YetMoreCupsOfTea love his Americana
Yes! I love me some Russian ties and old man jiu jitsu!
Xx
I've heard this with new students in my gym. They come in with experience in another art and they get kinda flustered when they get smashed by a white belt wrestler. We had one 50 something year old judo black belt (according to him) who could do almost nothing once he was on his back. He just kept wanting to reset to the feet.
Yep...I've seen my fair amount of judo "blackbelts" that come in, proclaim what they are, then proceed to get smashed...
Chewy makes a great point here that I will adopt into my admittedly small game (only been training 18 months total,) I asked my Coach the same thing, and he also pointed out that I don't have to be as fast as the 18 & 19 year olds I roll with. I can slow them down to my speed with grips. I have been using that to great effect, grabbing a 'Bully Grip' with a turned out sleeve grip and a c-clamp on the same -side tricep. Going 2-on-1 like this means if they want to go fast they have to take me with them. If not, I can effectively pin that side and rotate around it like the Russian Tie wrestlers use.
Best bjj informative of the year, so far.
I’m 54, and I have used the 3/4 move’s I’m super good at, and I work to them, and that’s all. Thanks for another great video.
Thanks for checking on us older guys!
Judo black belt you said?!? Kesa-gatame from side control is HELL especially with those newer modifications... talking about tapping from pressure...
I learned that from a Judo video and was slaying guys with it. I even nailed a bjj brown belt with it. He wasn't being nice by tapping either. He knows the escapes from it, but couldn't get it. Then I did it on a purple who is a black in Judo.... and his leg hitting me in the head on the escape was like getting whacked with a telephone pole.
This is the content I need badly. How to slow down a young fast opponent when I'm nearing 50
Thx I'm 59 and you just verified exactly what I've been doing I focus on what works for me and it works I except my age and only focus on what I can do ( purple belt) thx
Great 👍🏼 answer per usual - thanks - 55 year old 1 stripe purple - definitely experience that speed and explosiveness with the young bucks - reminds me of my job where I used to have to answer questions on the spot with a spotlight on me - people used to tell me I looked quick on my feet, which I never felt I was, but I had anticipated most of the questions that would come my way…I already had the answers thought out.
This is an interesting video and I’ll give it some thought. I will say though that I think it’s unhelpful to try and be faster when you are getting slower. Only an older grappler actually knows what this feels like. At 49 and 6 years in I’ve learned to slow the younger guys down instead. They hate rolling with me because I can negotiate their speed lol
This is achieved by a combination of slow pressure and anticipation (which comes with experience). The best bjj for this is old school. Once you realise you don’t need speed to be good, it changes everything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
hard to be fast with a 210 lb bear attached to your leg.
Same boat here ,
judo brown belt, Jiujitsu purple belt 40 years old. Thanks for the advice. I will start focusing more submission series.
I do feel like I should have alot more in the bag but I am consistently using the same 3/4 submissions.
I needed to hear that I'm a 58 year old blue belt I'm always the oldest guy on the mat
An older black belt at my gym told me to defend and let the younger player wear themself out, then strike with your favorite move just as you talked about.
Great answer: I’m in the same boat : OSS!
Over 40 crowd here. I guess my priorities have changed. I’m there to have fun these days, so I pick my partners very carefully. Might stunt my growth but then again I don’t get kneed in the face, elbowed in the forehead, and still have the ability to walk into the office for work. Not the path for everybody of course but works for me. I’ve gone soft lol.
The point is to get out of jiujitsu what you want your experience to be, right? That’s definitely going to be different for different people. Some might work in a field where a little extra “makeup” they gained from taking a knee ti the face during a takedown is taken to kindly, maybe even celebrated. Now if you’re a nose model or a dental model, maaaybe not.
I am 34 and feel 55. I went to a younger gyms open mat (Avg. age around 25) and wooo. This is my exact situation. Unless they are just a unskilled person, I am put on the backfoot. Usually holding them in my halfguard.
Ooh that boy been to the barber
Thanks god for this video i'm a 50 years old recently promoted blue belt .
This is good advice. Thanks Chewy. What are your go to moves and why? 🤙🤙
This was a great post ! Ty !!!!
Precision beats power and timing beats speed.
Great explanation thx much I'm 60
There are so many variables to this too, like you said you should have a sliver of specialization, but it could be an athletic problem too, perhaps he can get a sweep with timing but he can't capitalize because he may (or anyone this connects with) aren't physically fit enough (either injury or fat) to move to a guard pass or some sort of control/submission. I know this judo black belt who is built like a tank and throws me even though I outweigh him by 100 lbs and always ends up on top of me. But like you said chewy, it could be that he has trained to do that or that he stayed with fitness (he is very fit) and was able to maneuver himself to those positions. Physical conditioning is often overlooked, but it could be a multitude of problems.
Thank you, Professor!
Older guy here. Kesa. Kesa s the answer.
Especially if you know the arm bars fro there.
@@andrewkarl5174 yes, I know a couple versions, not high percentage for me, but good to have the threat out there
I am a 54 year old , blue belt bjj and 3rd Dan judo. I cope stand up fine, except everyone sits down! So my top game is pretty good, I struggle with the bendy, flexible young ones. How do you stop them inverting? Scott from UK
Have a gift waiting for them
“Whippersnappers”, ha ha that’s what I call some of the guys in my gym… most are literally half my age (I’m 45 woman- entering metapause )… I’ve been training for 7 mths now, love it, but boy its a frustrating & painful stage right now & slow and/or forgetting stuff just adds to it.. 😵💫 … analysis paralysis perfect way to explain me rolling ha ha, thank you love your vids 👍🤓🤜🏼🤛🏼💕
Well said! Thanks!
53 purple and I just go with it….every roll is different. I believe bigger stronger,different body style,speed,power is a new adventure. I’m not trying to win. Also I focus on me. I use my game and try to implement it on them. If your frustrated that’s good. Old men are sneaky and dangerous. 😜
60 year old white belt at a Gracie school.
One year in….I try to be offensive but still find myself on my back a lot.
Spot on!
Getting old sucks. But it beats the alternative.
I went for a few trial lessons but it seemed like there were so many techniques with steps and variations that I decided not to pursue BJJ after the trial, it just seemed too much like memory work and rote learning that I don't enjoy at all.
Ill say coming from a somewhat younger guy that i look up to some of the older people at my BJJ gym who move slow but methodical. I always call them boa constrictors because they always seem to have some game plan im not looking out due too maybe moving too quick and they are just slowing sinking in the choke
me at 46 still ok with speed but at times feel like making wrong choices for the next move, I do think my overthinking because of my age does put my offense at risk all though in training I always start form defensive point don't know if that is good or bad.... and I am tall like 6.5feet so that also hinders my speed I think
I have a 54 year old 200 lb. 5'6" Judo blackbelt/BJJ bluebelt in my gym, he just kicks everybody's ass and puts them in kesa gatami and kills them for fun. Occasionally i slow him down by poking his eye or breaking his fingers but... Guys like this don't need any extra edge.
I was just gonna say, kesa is the answer
@@iamtheai2759 Lol why is that? Is it just taught better in Judo?
@@JK-nh6jp a lot guys are not used to it, once you get on top, you can crush them, and fish for subs…so many subs…arm bars, Ezekiel, head/shoulder choke, chest compressor ( my favorite), and others. For me, once I figured that out, everything changed. My classmates HATE it😂
51 a little bit older LOL. I am 63 .
I always wondered if there was more to it than just age. In my thirties, I was still the fastest at standup like by far but for some odd reason, I’m grappling; much older grapplers were much faster than I was. I was literally like a turtle in grappling.
Age
Injury prévention
Goal
Study one move, rinse repeat
Diff methology
Defensive minded
literally like a turtle? literally? Have you seen a turtle grapple? I bet 12¢ you could grapple circles around any turtle. Well, any turtle within a reasonable weight class, lololol
Does this work for younger grapplers to or do you unlock this skill with age
Yep. Works fine for younger grapplers. Older grapplers just don't have the ability to make up for it.
I am 47 purple belt and I would disagree with you on that.
Nope- I give the whipper-snappers 5 moves to my 1. They gain an advantage- then get stuck in concrete- and then I proceed to kick their ass in slow motion. The clinch neutralizes ANY speed advantage.
Stay close, yes. If the only maneuverable distance is measured in centimeters or better yet millimeters, then their speed matters very little as it can only used over such a short travel time.
Older guys and GIRLS Chewie.
I like to post on their face makes me seem faster as slows them down ha
TRT and HGH. Keep those damn 22 year old purple belts at bay.
Wrote you an email…. Oss
If I wanna be offensive to younger guys when we roll, I just tell them my RNC is fire no cap on god then heel hook them in their confusion