December 14, 2024 • 9 mins
Welcome back to Social BJJ with your host, Dave! In this episode, Dave dives into the hot topic of whether upper belts should take it easy on lower belts during training. Should upper belts let lower belts win to build confidence, or does it create false confidence? Dave shares his personal experience and perspective as both a former lower belt and now an upper belt.
Key Points Discussed:
- The Lower Belt Perspective: When Dave was a white belt, he didn't want upper belts to completely crush him, but he also didn’t want them to take it too easy. A balanced approach made the training productive and challenging.
- The Role of Upper Belts: Upper belts have a duty to humble and teach lower belts. By showing the gap in skill levels, they inspire lower belts to work harder and improve.
- The Balance in Training: Every roll shouldn’t be a smash session, but it also shouldn’t be too lenient. There needs to be a happy medium where lower belts are challenged without being demoralized.
- Sharing Knowledge: Upper belts should coach and guide lower belts during rolls, sharing techniques and helping them learn. This builds a stronger, more supportive gym culture.
- The Importance of Encouragement: Encouraging lower belts to push themselves and improve benefits everyone. It makes training more enjoyable and helps the entire team grow.
Takeaways:
- Upper belts shouldn’t consistently let lower belts win, as it prevents them from learning valuable defensive skills and building resilience.
- Creating a balanced training environment fosters growth and keeps training enjoyable for both upper and lower belts.
- Sharing techniques and offering guidance strengthens the bond between training partners and helps everyone improve together.
Dave wraps up by asking for your thoughts: Do you think upper belts should go easy on lower belts? Share your opinions in the comments, and tune in for the next episode. Peace!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
welcome welcome back to the pot with your boy Dave on social BJJ we're gonna
(00:05):
be talking about should upper belts go easy on lower belts going easy by
basically meaning letting them win in training to kind of like let them let
them grow or do you think it creates like kind of a false confidence if you
(00:27):
will within them I'm gonna get my take on this obviously like I always do I
personally as an upper belt you know you go through the journey you were at one
point you're a lower belt and then your upper belt well let's start off when I
was a lower belt let's start off there when I was a lower belt that I want the
brown belts the black belts purple belts even blue belts it when I was a white
(00:52):
belt just starting did I want them to go easy on me no not really did I want them
to go like like really aggressive and and destroy me like you know ten times
in a round not that either no I didn't want it to be that extreme but I didn't
(01:13):
want it to feel like I was hopeless like because you can roll it like a upper
belt can definitely make a white belt second guess triple guess every single
move by just laying there not doing anything with a bored look on their face
then the white belt is like should I do this or should I put my arm here and if
you're an upper belt you know you've been here at one point in time right you
(01:37):
know like you get the upper belt can just sweep the the white belt and not
even get up sweep them like three or four times and not even get up not even
chase it and just sit there and just mental warfare right so there's a lot of
things going on in that situation that upper belts can do physically and
(01:58):
emotionally mentally to to dominate some would even say spiritually to
dominate these lower belts and should they well I do think one your training
environments definitely plays a factor into it the other thing I think is
genders right like if we're talking about a male upper belt versus a female
(02:22):
you know lower belt or female upper belt versus a male lower belt that kind of
just changes the dynamic in totality right just kind of changes everything
about it but let's just say we're talking about the same gender just to
keep everything even and unfocused as as much as possible right so in this case
(02:43):
me as the lower belt in that time like I want it I want it aggressive rolls and
for me if I sub the purple belt I'm hanging my head up high and I'm not
thinking in my head oh he let me get that and I'm like nah I subbed you because when we
roll you sub me three four or five times so if I got you one time I got you I got
(03:03):
you I'm coming even if you let me do it right even if you let me do it but in my
head I got you I got you like it's only a matter of time before this is
consecutive you know how you were getting me consecutively now I'm gonna
get you consecutively that's my mind but maybe I just has that that false sense of
you know security or false sense of confidence and maybe it's not
(03:27):
necessarily a bad thing because I kept helping me push right but at the same
time upper belts if you do that what do you learn out of the roll if you just
allow the white belts or lower belts to do whatever that they want that's boring
for you right sure maybe you could put yourself in a dangerous position and get
(03:48):
out of it right but that's that's that's kind of it's kind of boring sometimes
you got to turn it up right I feel like you know every single time you roll you
shouldn't be smashing them but every single time you roll you shouldn't be
just letting them do anything either it has to be like a happy medium in between
right where the upper belt is role honestly is to humble the lower belts
(04:11):
that's I feel like that's kind of the duty to let them know like hey just who
does work and there are levels to this right and you can aspire to be on a
higher level you just got a training hard and you got to you got to put work
into it I think that's necessary for upper bus to do to show like there is a
difference now do you probably listen to my other podcast about belts do I think
(04:33):
those matter absolutely not but if you are someone who has more experience and
then somebody else you just got to let them know like hey you're just it was a
thing you get better as time progress don't let them think that they can just
come in and it's up because then what's the point of them continuing if they
come in and they're beating coach right off the bat they're beating all the
(04:55):
upper belts right off the bat why would they keep coming there probably gonna go
to a different gym and train with other people I know I would the moment that I
feel you know I've trained at probably like eight different gyms and and
sometimes you know you go head-to-head with the head instructor and you're like
oh well maybe there's not much I can learn from here maybe I got to go
(05:18):
somewhere else right and it's not that you should be gym hopping or or things
like that we're gonna have a whole podcast on loyalty and whether or not
like you should have loyalty as a customer or not but for this discussion
on whether a purpose should go easy on lower belts as an upper belt now and
given my perspective on it I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so
(05:44):
because now every role that I get with a lower belt it seems like they're they're
coming after my belt like they want to wear my belt not not all the time I
shouldn't say all the time but it does feel like it sometimes right it's like
well if I if I if I sub this this brown belt then I'm a brown belt or I'm on his
(06:08):
level or I'm on that level right of all the brown belts and I'm being guilty of
having that feeling so part of me you know you get caught up in all this this
is why belts are so like so dumb you know because you get caught up in all of
this like oh I'm a brown belt so I shouldn't be caught by a blue belt or white belt
or whatever you know I'm a black belt I shouldn't be getting caught by anyone
(06:28):
I'm purple belt right but when reality we're all humans we you know sometimes
you you know you might meet a black belt that only slept four hours and it's
tired from the other roles a couple days before right so you you catch him in a
submission that you normally will never get him in if he's what actually rested
right so there's a whole bunch of different things that factor into it but
(06:50):
I don't personally think that we should be taking it we as an upper belt should
be taking it easier on the lower boats because that doesn't allow them to
really learn they they need to learn how to attack by you know fighting amongst
their peers and eventually they're gonna get upper belts they're gonna become an
upper belt like a blue belt purple belt and then they can attack the white belts
(07:10):
right and they can learn how to attack on that sense but for us they got to
learn how to defend right so we're doing them a disservice by not attacking them
by not subbing them we could someone four or five times in a round maybe not
every single round we should do it not every single day we should do it maybe
not every single week but we should let them know like hey this is possible
(07:31):
right and then it just gives them something to think about and then you go
back and you can let them work and let them do their stuff but it has to be a
mixture you can't just always allow them to do what they want to do all the time
and honestly I've been guilty of letting this happen and it's it's so boring for
me it's just like why am I even training I come here and what am I doing what am
(07:52):
I doing you know I do it because I just exercise and everything like that but
it's not fun but then when you start realizing like all right let me just
catch and release let me just do certain things after a while even that becomes
you know a little bit challenging if you will but the biggest thing is
(08:16):
encouraging them as a as an upper belt encouraging the lower belts to coach
them teach them something tell them what you're doing to them even if it's new
even if you just figured out how to do it and it worked teach them tell them
because that's the only way you're gonna really get better and you know it and
you're you're happy when upper belts when you were a lower belt when upper
(08:39):
belts took you under their wing and they started sharing information with you
right and teaching you like moves or showing you things that they did right
to you and you're like oh snap and then they're like doing against their peers
and you know and they're getting better from it and now they're defending you
and they're giving you a little bit of harder time but it's pushing you to be a
better version of yourself too so should we go easy on them no because it's only
gonna hurt everybody that's my take on this you know I just talked it out with
(09:03):
you guys thanks for listening and I really do believe that what do you guys
think though am I off on something should I be am I missing something you
know let me know in the comments all right I'll see you guys in the next one
peace
welcome welcome back to the pot with your boy Dave on social BJJ we're gonna
(00:05):
be talking about should upper belts go easy on lower belts going easy by
basically meaning letting them win in training to kind of like let them let
them grow or do you think it creates like kind of a false confidence if you
(00:27):
will within them I'm gonna get my take on this obviously like I always do I
personally as an upper belt you know you go through the journey you were at one
point you're a lower belt and then your upper belt well let's start off when I
was a lower belt let's start off there when I was a lower belt that I want the
brown belts the black belts purple belts even blue belts it when I was a white
(00:52):
belt just starting did I want them to go easy on me no not really did I want them
to go like like really aggressive and and destroy me like you know ten times
in a round not that either no I didn't want it to be that extreme but I didn't
(01:13):
want it to feel like I was hopeless like because you can roll it like a upper
belt can definitely make a white belt second guess triple guess every single
move by just laying there not doing anything with a bored look on their face
then the white belt is like should I do this or should I put my arm here and if
you're an upper belt you know you've been here at one point in time right you
(01:37):
know like you get the upper belt can just sweep the the white belt and not
even get up sweep them like three or four times and not even get up not even
chase it and just sit there and just mental warfare right so there's a lot of
things going on in that situation that upper belts can do physically and
(01:58):
emotionally mentally to to dominate some would even say spiritually to
dominate these lower belts and should they well I do think one your training
environments definitely plays a factor into it the other thing I think is
genders right like if we're talking about a male upper belt versus a female
(02:22):
you know lower belt or female upper belt versus a male lower belt that kind of
just changes the dynamic in totality right just kind of changes everything
about it but let's just say we're talking about the same gender just to
keep everything even and unfocused as as much as possible right so in this case
(02:43):
me as the lower belt in that time like I want it I want it aggressive rolls and
for me if I sub the purple belt I'm hanging my head up high and I'm not
thinking in my head oh he let me get that and I'm like nah I subbed you because when we
roll you sub me three four or five times so if I got you one time I got you I got
(03:03):
you I'm coming even if you let me do it right even if you let me do it but in my
head I got you I got you like it's only a matter of time before this is
consecutive you know how you were getting me consecutively now I'm gonna
get you consecutively that's my mind but maybe I just has that that false sense of
you know security or false sense of confidence and maybe it's not
(03:27):
necessarily a bad thing because I kept helping me push right but at the same
time upper belts if you do that what do you learn out of the roll if you just
allow the white belts or lower belts to do whatever that they want that's boring
for you right sure maybe you could put yourself in a dangerous position and get
(03:48):
out of it right but that's that's that's kind of it's kind of boring sometimes
you got to turn it up right I feel like you know every single time you roll you
shouldn't be smashing them but every single time you roll you shouldn't be
just letting them do anything either it has to be like a happy medium in between
right where the upper belt is role honestly is to humble the lower belts
(04:11):
that's I feel like that's kind of the duty to let them know like hey just who
does work and there are levels to this right and you can aspire to be on a
higher level you just got a training hard and you got to you got to put work
into it I think that's necessary for upper bus to do to show like there is a
difference now do you probably listen to my other podcast about belts do I think
(04:33):
those matter absolutely not but if you are someone who has more experience and
then somebody else you just got to let them know like hey you're just it was a
thing you get better as time progress don't let them think that they can just
come in and it's up because then what's the point of them continuing if they
come in and they're beating coach right off the bat they're beating all the
(04:55):
upper belts right off the bat why would they keep coming there probably gonna go
to a different gym and train with other people I know I would the moment that I
feel you know I've trained at probably like eight different gyms and and
sometimes you know you go head-to-head with the head instructor and you're like
oh well maybe there's not much I can learn from here maybe I got to go
(05:18):
somewhere else right and it's not that you should be gym hopping or or things
like that we're gonna have a whole podcast on loyalty and whether or not
like you should have loyalty as a customer or not but for this discussion
on whether a purpose should go easy on lower belts as an upper belt now and
given my perspective on it I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so
(05:44):
because now every role that I get with a lower belt it seems like they're they're
coming after my belt like they want to wear my belt not not all the time I
shouldn't say all the time but it does feel like it sometimes right it's like
well if I if I if I sub this this brown belt then I'm a brown belt or I'm on his
(06:08):
level or I'm on that level right of all the brown belts and I'm being guilty of
having that feeling so part of me you know you get caught up in all this this
is why belts are so like so dumb you know because you get caught up in all of
this like oh I'm a brown belt so I shouldn't be caught by a blue belt or white belt
or whatever you know I'm a black belt I shouldn't be getting caught by anyone
(06:28):
I'm purple belt right but when reality we're all humans we you know sometimes
you you know you might meet a black belt that only slept four hours and it's
tired from the other roles a couple days before right so you you catch him in a
submission that you normally will never get him in if he's what actually rested
right so there's a whole bunch of different things that factor into it but
(06:50):
I don't personally think that we should be taking it we as an upper belt should
be taking it easier on the lower boats because that doesn't allow them to
really learn they they need to learn how to attack by you know fighting amongst
their peers and eventually they're gonna get upper belts they're gonna become an
upper belt like a blue belt purple belt and then they can attack the white belts
(07:10):
right and they can learn how to attack on that sense but for us they got to
learn how to defend right so we're doing them a disservice by not attacking them
by not subbing them we could someone four or five times in a round maybe not
every single round we should do it not every single day we should do it maybe
not every single week but we should let them know like hey this is possible
(07:31):
right and then it just gives them something to think about and then you go
back and you can let them work and let them do their stuff but it has to be a
mixture you can't just always allow them to do what they want to do all the time
and honestly I've been guilty of letting this happen and it's it's so boring for
me it's just like why am I even training I come here and what am I doing what am
(07:52):
I doing you know I do it because I just exercise and everything like that but
it's not fun but then when you start realizing like all right let me just
catch and release let me just do certain things after a while even that becomes
you know a little bit challenging if you will but the biggest thing is
(08:16):
encouraging them as a as an upper belt encouraging the lower belts to coach
them teach them something tell them what you're doing to them even if it's new
even if you just figured out how to do it and it worked teach them tell them
because that's the only way you're gonna really get better and you know it and
you're you're happy when upper belts when you were a lower belt when upper
(08:39):
belts took you under their wing and they started sharing information with you
right and teaching you like moves or showing you things that they did right
to you and you're like oh snap and then they're like doing against their peers
and you know and they're getting better from it and now they're defending you
and they're giving you a little bit of harder time but it's pushing you to be a
better version of yourself too so should we go easy on them no because it's only
gonna hurt everybody that's my take on this you know I just talked it out with
(09:03):
you guys thanks for listening and I really do believe that what do you guys
think though am I off on something should I be am I missing something you
know let me know in the comments all right I'll see you guys in the next one
peace
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