When I first started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I was in my mid-40’s. While I lacked the athleticism and explosiveness of my younger teammates, I generally could keep up with the physicality needed for the demands of the sport, and I would often pride myself on doing so. As I approached my late 40’s and early 50’s, there was no denying that my body and mind were different than that of someone in their 20’s or 30’s, no matter how much I tried to ignore this fact. This became readily apparent when I entered a Grappling Industries tournament in which the oldest age bracket extended down to competitors who were as much as 15 years younger than I was. As I had entered the competition for experience as preparation for the IBJJF World Masters, I wasn’t too concerned with whether or not I won (or even placed), but was more interested in the round robin format as a vehicle to gain valuable competition experience. I had four matches against formidable opponents, all of whom were at least 10 years my junior, and in one case, 15 years younger than me. I lost every single match, though I put up as much of a fight as I was capable of, and I could sense that I didn’t offer easy resistance either. All of my opponents were extremely gracious in their words following the matches, and I could sense their level of respect at my willingness to compete against them. In short, it was a valuable experience and I learned a ton from it.
That Grappling Industries experience made it abundantly clear to me why age divisions exist in BJJ, and the reality set in that a decade or more makes a huge difference. And now that I’m gradually getting back into training after undergoing a triple hernia surgery followed by a hip flexor strain, I’ve been reevaluating my approach to training, sparring, and my BJJ strategy in competition. I hope to train Jiu Jitsu well into old age, so I’ve decided that now is the perfect time to adjust my approach to the sport to ensure that I can train for as long as possible. While I expect my approach to BJJ to be quite fluid and continually evolving, I’ll detail below some bullet points regarding my game plan.
Drilling
My approach begins with how I drill new techniques. There are many techniques that are taught in the academy where I train which either won’t work with my physicality, or are more complex than I’m capable of integrating into my game given the amount of time I have to train. That doesn’t make them useless to me. When I see a complex technique being taught, or one that involves a level of athleticism that I don’t possess, I approach it with the same level of earnestness as I would any other move. I’ll also seek out a drilling partner who will be interested in approaching the technique with a collaborative spirit. I have several trusted training partners who approach their training with a similar level of thoughtfulness, and with whom I can experiment with curiosity and inquisitiveness. From approaching the technique in this manner, I can learn if I’m capable of integrating it into my game and more importantly, I can glean the essential concepts of the technique in a way that enables me to integrate aspects of it into other parts of my game.
Gleaning those concepts is incredibly important in this approach. Even if I don’t see myself integrating the specific technique into my game, I find that learning those concepts is even more beneficial than learning a new submission or escape as that enables a freer and more dynamic way of thinking during rolls.
Rolling
It goes without saying that at my current age, I’m more picky about my training partners. I’m constantly observing the other students in my class to see how they roll and how they conduct themselves on the mat. I’m looking for people who are approaching the sport with a similar degree of sincerity and desire to learn, and not for people who treat every roll as a competition. I don’t worry too much about size or rank, though I’m a bit more particular about white and blue belts due to the tendency for their rolls to be overly and unnecessarily frenetic. In fact, one of my favorite training partners is a black belt who is about 5” taller and 60 pounds heavier than I am. However, we’re both about the same age and I appreciate how he chooses to roll slowly and methodically. While he usually gets the better of me during the roll, I walk away from every roll with him having learned something new about how to approach the sport, and this is exactly what I’m after for most of my rolls.
As I’m currently still recovering from both the surgery and my hip flexor strain, I’m still going light and being careful in my rolling. Once I begin to gradually increase intensity and widen the circle of training partners, I’ll allow myself to be a bit more explosive and to explore more positions. But for now, I’m being extra conservative.
BJJ Techniques and Strategies
Here is where I expect to explore the most. I’ve never been a huge fan of attacks from the back, and I expect to continue to lean into this. While previously this was a matter of personal preference, it has since become a matter of survival. For one thing, attacking from the back requires more core strength. As someone who has had five hernias in his lifetime, I’m not interested in straining my core in a dynamic situation when not absolutely necessary. I continue to include core strengthening work in my strength and conditioning program, but I’m not interested in gravitating toward strategies which heavily rely on the core for success.
My preference, for both my preferred strategy and for survival, is to try to always stay on top. If I find myself on bottom, I much prefer to sweep than to submit. That said, if I see an opening for a submission, I’m willing to go for it, but I’ll always lean toward the sweep.
I’m also looking for techniques which feel natural for my body. As an example, triangles have always felt extremely unnatural to me, and I don’t find much pleasure in drilling or executing them. My favorite submissions tend to be chokes, and I generally gravitate toward variations using the lapel. This allows me to use strategies which speak to my way of thinking more so than the triangle (as an example), and allow me the freedom to move slightly more methodically and slowly.
Another principle I like to integrate is top pressure. Even at 158 pounds, I now know how to use technique to make myself feel significantly heavier to my opponent. And this leads to another principle, which is patience. More specifically, using patience to wear out and tire my opponent. If I can control them from the top through the use of heavy top pressure, I can slowly wear them down and control the pace of the match better. At age 55, I’m not interested in trying to keep up with partners who are young enough to be my offspring. I’d rather force them to match my pace rather than the other way around. I’ve developed quite decent stamina in BJJ through a combination of conditioning, experience, pacing, and breath control, and I’ve found that this alone can be a formidable force against a younger, less experienced, and less patient practitioner.
Strength and Conditioning
I now lift much lighter than I used to. This is to save energy and strength for Jiu Jitsu, and also to prevent injury. Strength training at this stage in life is now more about maintenance and injury prevention and not so much about setting records in the gym. I also focus much more on core strength, mobility, and flexibility. I include more core work now due to my experience with hernia surgery, which has increased my awareness of how much the core plays a role in BJJ as well as just about everything in life. For mobility, I’m gradually including more and more aspects of Ground Force Method into my training, which I use to keep my hip flexors happy as well as to keep my body nimble and supple as I age. As much as I love lifting heavy, I’m just not interested in including anything into my routine which doesn’t directly enhance my primary pursuits, so I keep things limited to the essentials.
I used to “grease the groove” by doing small micro-sets throughout the day, but I’ve recently adjusted my approach. I now wake up each morning around 6am and start each day with a light workout. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do a light strength training routine immediately after waking up followed by small sets of mobility and flexibility exercises throughout the day. On Tuesday and Thursday I’ll do the same thing, but will make mobility, flexibility, and core work the primary focus. On the weekends, I’ll do some light mobility and flexibility work, but will also add in a long walk or ruck.
I should add that I also make sure to arrive at class at least 15-20 minutes early so I can stretch and warm up. In my opinion, Jiu Jitsu warmups are woefully inadequate and don’t provide enough specificity for each individual. Therefore, it’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re sufficiently prepared on our own for this physical pursuit. I will also stay after class for about 5-10 minutes to sufficiently cool down with some more stretching and mobility work. If necessary, I’ll ice or use a heating pad later in the evening.
Summary
I’m certain that my approach will evolve as time goes on, but I believe I have a good handle on how to make some initial adjustments in my approach to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to ensure continued improvement, safe rolling, and longevity in this pursuit. If any major adjustments are made to my approach, I’ll be sure to post them here. And if you, the reader, should have any suggestions, I’d encourage you to reach out to share them. I’m always interested in new ideas and input, and would be grateful for any new insights.
