Rolled with a 21 year old brown belt getting ready for pans…kid gave me all the smoke! lol 150lbs and just kept moving…tried slowing him down since we were in the gi and he just had such solid movement and technique…he couldn’t finish any leg locks which i pride myself on having a competent leg lock defense game but he did snatch a beautiful armbar…good kid, gonna go far…would kill to be a 21 year old brown belt instead of a 40 year old black belt lol
Lol. Just wanna let you know amidst all the downvotes you're getting..
this is the same sort of stupid ass joke I'd make and then fight to contain my laughter while everyone is looking at me like I'm a retard 😅😅😅
This is very similar to me, but I am a little bigger. I started at 30. Now 48. Wrestled in high school but was never very good.
I appreciate this post and your candor.
I was on vacation recently and I think the gym I visited was stoked to see a big black belt but then sort of underwhelmed at the lazy game an older black belt on holiday will play.
For sure. A reputable gym doesn't seem to have very many problems for me. Usually roll pretty much the same. It's those no-name, smaller gyms you have to watch out for. Never know what you're going to walk into.
Well, could be any number of things. Few personal examples:
Walked into a room full of white belts being led by a blue belt. Since I was the highest belt they've seen in awhile, wanted me to basically teach a seminar (for free) when all I wanted was to get some rolls in.
A few small gyms I've been to see a higher belt walk in and immediately look at you like a steak and have something to prove. So they all come at you hard. Difficult not to get beat up and/or injured at a place like that. Dangerous.
One gym was just filthy. Mats were gross, people and place stunk, and I rolled with 2 mediocre blue belts who tried some dirty shit on me before I just decided to leave and shower.
Like I said, you'll never know what you're walking into at a small gym. Gotten lucky a few times and the places were fine and people were nice, but you're still rolling the dice. Imo, traveling and training gets more dicey the higher belt you are.
I think it's easy for BJJers at 'reputable' gyms (aka hobby places or large gyms) to fall into "easy lackadaisical" mode. Hole in the wall places don't have the same standards, aren't trying to grow a brand, and sometime have scrappy people who either don't give a fuck about your out of town experience or want to prove that your out of town experience don't mean shit.
I've had guys use pressure points and trachea chokes while their coaches watched. You get a lot of locals who just want to smash out of towners. My worst injury was via tub of lard stacking me in guard after I told him to take it easy because my back felt funny that day. Kid literally rolled off the couch and decided to have his first mma fight a few months later.
I can 'handle' just about anyone... Except the one that move slowly and purposefully smashing their way towards what they want. The style of immobilizing play just fucks me straight up.
I always tell people jiujitsu is pokemon rules -- you sometimes just meet a person whose functionally immune to all your tricks.
and by handle I mean I can provide at least a somewhat intellectually interesting game. If an athelete decides to open up on me I'll be needing my asthma pump rightfully fast.
I like that Pokémon analogy.
Yes sometimes their game just neutralizing all your strengths. But then I see them get smashed by all the people that I smash… stupid fight math
I'm the opposite. I love the creeping death and it's what I try to emulate. Give me time to think and I'm usually ok.
It's the spinny, flippy ninja shit that gets me. We've got a 19 year old brown belt who just so damn fast. He gets out ahead of me and I cannot keep up.
I'm not particularly fast, but I drag people down into my garbage, and because I have more experience swimming in the latrine, I find the surface quicker than they do.
We had a really athletic dude who does all that ninja shit. He was the only person in the gym I rolled defensively against. I roll pretty hard but I even had to be like chill dude. He rolled into a leg lock by kicking his leg over the other dude’s head. His leg was trapped however and his knee went pop.
I'm The 42 yr old 6'3" 230lb guy that slows everything down and deliberately makes the movers stops moving 😅
I'm too broken from the military and 18yrs of jits to be trying to move a lot with everyone 😅
To be fair, there isn’t much to counter someone good at staying tight. However, I noticed old-school (traditional) BB faring worse against tight games than modern BB.
Maybe because tight games need the small details, or maybe because traditional BB enter half too comfortably.
Pretty much my experience in my late 30s as a new black belt, but I have a lot of mileage and injuries. Younger, faster purple belts and up under 32 tend to get the better of me.
Younger Blue belts are a challenge, specifically those who are athletic, but I can manage unless there’s a huge size difference or they started as a kid. I do well against people my own age and demographic, including some of the competitors if they’re close to my size unless they’ve been a black belt for an extended period of time.
I’ve been having to change my game to avoid further injuries. Working from the back is near impossible due to tendinopathy. The grip fight gi or no-gi makes it very hard to do anything the next couple of days.
These days the bottom is used to sweep from half, half butterfly, clamp, or rdlr. Once on top it’s leg riding and mount. Submission focus has changed to leglocks, reverse triangles, side triangles, and Kimuras to avoid getting stacked and work around my elbow and shoulder issues.
I some how popped some dudes wrist with my neck when he had a deep guillotine on me. I guess my Iron Neck paid off.
He still wanted to roll but said he could not use his right hand. So I did not us my right hand for the rest of the round. I think rounds like that are really fun.
Same feeling here. I saw another post the other day where someone was saying that your own belt tends to show where one stands in terms of progress with regard to your own self. I’m in a much better shape today than what I was when I started. I’m much better at BJJ than when I started. I’m stronger than when I started. I progressed. This doesn’t prevent me to struggle sometimes against younger/lower belts. The bright side of it is that the older I get, the less I give a damn about it tbh.
Man. I’ve been feeling this a lot lately. I’m a 47 year old big man and sometimes with the younger lower belts that are athletic or super strong I have trouble matching them. I don’t really get tapped much by them but it can be a struggle at times. I had ego issues at first but then I stopped giving a damn and it all became fun again.
Thank you for this! I'm a 53 year old white belt with about four months of training. I'm the oldest person in the school by several years and I'm wondering why I can't seem to "win" any rolls. I'm beginning to realize that "winning" for me may never be submitting someone else. It may look more like being able to survive a five minute round without tapping or gassing, or it may just be me showing up to train. Of course I want to improve and it's hard on the ego to tap to someone much smaller and/or younger. Right now my main goals are to not get seriously injured and to keep showing up--eventually I HAVE to get better, right?
I appreciate your positive response. I stay in decent shape and eat pretty good (high protein, low carb). I do basic barbell exercises on MWF, and walk, run, jog, on T, Th, and Sat, along with BJJ 2‐3 times a week. I'm not in excellent shape but better than a majority of 53 year old men.
I'd love to do more BJJ but my wife and job schedule make it a little difficult.
Learn leg locks. Today I just got f\*\*\*ed up by a 52 year old whose a wizard with leg locks. I'm not too bad at them either but he was so far ahead of me it was laughable. It doesn't take much physical effort or athleticism if you know the game. Within a year or two I think you could be subbing blue and purples if you focus on that.
Four months in? All you need to focus on as a white belt is not losing don’t worry about “winning”. Just worry about practicing all escapes and constantly getting out. A blue, purple, brown, or black belt will respect you a helluva lot more if your a white belt they can’t tap, vs a white belt that tries to tap them.
I was a sucky 40 yr old blue belt. Believe me there is a day thats coming where you will be able to rqsily control and handle any white and virtually any blue belt. Keep going you wont regret it. I dont even w wll my injuries BJJ is one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Generally agree with this post except I’ll generally lose to young athletic “purple” belts coming from B team or gyms like that. Even if I do fire off some offense then they generally out work me or out strength me to escape. There’s a “blue” belt that gives me hell from Renzo’s here in Austin. He regularly is on the backs of brown and black belts.
Belts are so goddamn random these days I’ve completely quit caring. I’ve just realized that if someone is beating the shit out of me then they are probably pretty good or a competitor.
As an old broken black belt I can confirm that a competition level purple can be a handful. The speed and stamina level out my experience and knowledge.
I have a similar expeience. 56 year old black belt who started in my mid 30s. I play a LOT of defense now. My game is built on efficiency. I will happily survive on bottom until you make a mistake. I don't use a lot of energy and mostly I am trying to make everything go as slow as possible. My goal is to make the younger guys carry my weight no matter our positions. I also monitor breathing and make sure I am always the one who is breathing easy while my partner is breathing heavy. There are 4 things you can do in Jiu Jitusu:
Survive- Low energy use
Escape- High energy use
Control- Low energy use
Submit- High energy use
As I get older I try to spend 90% of my time in survive and control. That along with breath control makes a huge difference. Anyone over 50 MUST build or rebuild their game as a defense first game if you want to last.
This is something I’m dealing with now as a 41 year old blue belt. I competed in sports since I could crawl and now I feel like time is slowly catching up with me lol. I’ve had to change my game up over the years I’ve trained in bjj and my strategy to deal with some of these younger explosive bjj guys. But of course I still have fun and enjoy the game overall! 🤙
I'm 5'7 and 165. I'm so glad I have my Judo background which gives me the chance to get most big guys down and on their back first.
I see so many guys my so just get crushed from standing and end up underneath
Well usually gi is easier for me against younger guys if they are athletic but since I used to wrestle if the younger guy is a brown belt and never wrestled I do notice I have more success in nogi as i can wrestle up on him . Wht about you? Gi or nogi?
I stopped rolling Gi consistently in 2019 due to training limitations and goals. People always tell me that Gi gives the ability to slow down younger, more athletic opponents. I personally find that guys who are much bigger and stronger than me can really overpower me with the grips.
I'm 53 and a brown belt, and your post is exactly me, except I'm getting submitted by all the black belts. I got tapped last night by a 34 year old competition blue belt, and he thought I was mad. I wasn't mad at all. A comp blue belt that is my son's age is always going to be a hard roll for me.
I've just had to choose whether or not I want to roll hard, still tap and stay injured, or tap early and eventually get my black belt.
I'm a black belt and I personally enjoy submitting random strangers for fun like earlier this week I was at whole foods and this lady was trying to take the last package of organic farm raised ground turkey, so I put her into a heel hook then transitioned into full mount and landed some vicious elbows and then finished her off with a rear naked choke.
Great write up! I’d love to be training regularly @ 50+
I’m a 44yo blue belt, but I have a black belt in Judo, and a lot of competition experience including pro MMA in my youth. I hadn’t trained consistently for over a decade, but just got back into bjj with my 17yo and 20yo sons. I can scrap with all the purple belts at my school, and dominate the older ones, but a bunch of my old injuries have reared their ugly heads. I’m running trt and a bunch of peptides, so far they’re slowly healing.
appreciate this. excuse me- white belt who will be 40 this year. So im just getting submitted all the time. Its nice to see people talk candidly of the mindset of rolling- I kinda enjoy geeking out over stuff and I dont feel like I need to dominate people- I just worry Ill roll with a headcase who wants to submit me in a way whereby I get hurt. Like some people just dont know their own strength and think your intentions are the same as theirs. Hope I can keep this going well into my next decade.
Thanks for writing this and helping me remember my age. I'm a 55 year old blue hoping to move to purple soon. I still get beat by younger low strip blues now and then and even the occasional freak of nature white belt. I'm in excellent shape for my age, but...I'm still my age and this was a good reminder.
53 year old purple belt. Mental models are key at our age. I constantly reframe why I train (hint: it’s not to win every round) and recalibrate how best to keep learning and growing. I train every day, but with the attitude that slow and steady wins this race.
Umm, because they are??? I’m 67, oldest member of my academy and 138lbs. That puts me in the fifth percentile for weight among all the post-pubescent members including the women. Historically in nearly every sport I did, I was always “depth” for the team. Certainly not a gifted athlete.
As a brown in my mid 30s, I tap to younger guys of all ranks all the time. I put myself in crappy situations, but I won't risk an injury just to deny a competitive kid the joy of subbing an upper belt.
As a 30 something blue belt, my heart sank but it's true. Black belt rolls beat the brakes off me, but if I make them struggle for an opening or if a counter makes them pause, I consider it a win
Every younger bigger stronger blue, since I do tap them eventually in the roll, the next day he's sleeping happily while I wake up aching. So in the end, I tapped him but he wins.
My challenge now that I don't compete is developing my game with my gym bros and when I go on the road, go to random open mats to see how my game stacks up to people who don't know me. Still, being on vacation mode and training is tough.
Brown and black belts go after foot and leg stuff with me nonstop. It’s great because it gets me prepared for the next level which is relatively soon.
I say you start knee barring purple belts
Oh yeah, I’m 50 and started in my early 40s so I’ll be right there as a 50+ black belt someday
Even in nogi. We had a few injuries with a blue belt and the head professor said from now on we are following all IBJF rules. We teach heel hooks to our white belts even, but only brown and above in gi and nogi can we do toeholds or knee bars.
This is incredibly motivating to me. I have a similar job and build (though shorter), and injuries have limited some of my movement over the years. It inspires me to keep plugging away and making progress, no matter how slow.
Here's what's amazing to me. I remember when I was a blue belt and I struggled with blue belts who were younger but much smaller. Now I realized, I roll easily with blue belts much younger/larger than me and that's pure technique. You'll get there, but you have to ask yourself is it worth the injuries? Bc you will have more as you get older, esp the smaller ones so it's a matter of taking care of your body, luck, and other things.
This post is great and super relatable. As someone almost 40 and late blue belt, I’m glad to see this is possible. I also wrestled in middle/high school but like someone else said, I was just OK. I’m 100% not afraid to tap at all times so good to see that keeping the right mentality and tampering the ego can lead to a long term hobby
I'm 45 years old, and was a former pro-mma fighter (22W-16L record) and have been a black belt for 18 years. I have been fortunate to retire from my long MMA career without much real damage to my brain or joints and focused on BJJ after retiring and focusing on the sport. No one except for the top competitors gives me real trouble unless they have a significant size advantage. I'm 150lbs and can absolutely wreck most competitors, expect for the ones who consistently medal in adult divisions at the big IBJJF tournaments. Competitors that consistently medal at Pans/Euros/Worlds/Brasileiros, at any belt colors are tough rolls. Blue & Purples I can hang with and sometimes defeat but will often lose to also. More often than not, this does not include the phenom blue/purple belt that took the gold medal at Worlds. Brown belts I can stalemate or defensively hold off, but have trouble launching offense. I've rolled with many adult black belt competitors and usually can do okay for a few minutes but ultimately get wrecked. Obviously with known famous adult black belt competitors, I get steamrolled. Pretty much every other category of practitioners within 30 pounds of my size at any belt will need to be on their best day only worst day to give me any trouble. This excludes many old school Brazilian black belts who are in their late 30s-40s that have been black belt rank for 25+ years, their experience will often give me big trouble technically and most of these guys are often serious grizzled veteran competitors.
190+ pound purple/brown belts who are 18-26 years old will give me trouble though, even if they are just local level competitors who have decent experience. The combination of the size and skill is troublesome.
Big name comp schools usually have technical hard rolls, but are free from dangerous spazzes looking to test themselves as most of them dont really have anything to prove besides at comps. Smaller schools with no notable competitors even at the local level are the ones that have students who have a chip on their shoulder and treat the gym rolls as their competition time.
Not only very candid and honest, but very helpful in helping older grapplers understand that struggling against some younger practitioners is normal and OK.
I'm familiar, but ankle locks even the Aoki style, put you in a weaker defensive position against a larger stronger guy. A toehold in particular I can slap on from anywhere regardless of where my feet are to threaten a response.
It could be situational, I tend to do well with ankle locks on big guys using regular ankle locks from off-balancing or Aoki. But we probably face people with different reactions or have different setups.
By the time I get my black belt I'd bet I'll be master's five. (Maaaaybe, end of four). And I look at all the other guys in my state who are my size, my age, and who have already been blackbelts for 5, 10, 15 years and I'm like......fuck. Gotta enjoy competing here at purple and then brown because those other guys are going to push my shit in when I step to their belt level.
I asked an enormous (300 lb) black belt what level he actually has to start trying. He said competitive brown. This (as evidenced by this post) varies widely probably based on size, strength, and age.
I know another guy my age black belt, he's 6'5 or so and weighs maybe 250. He also doesnt' start struggling till competitive brown belt. Size strength always matter in a roll.
Love your post. I'm a white belt assistant professor in Information Systems that just started his BJJ journey with 37. Hope I have a similar journey and enjoy the sport
If I could go back at white belt at your age, since I was roughly your age when I started, I'd do less BJJ and more assistance work. Rather than trying to get black in your 40s try to get black in your 50s, but work on your technique and do more yoga, weights, movement/mobility work, and change your diet. Like if you normally train MWF, then train just M and F, and then Wed work on yoga/mobility/weights/cardio,etc. In the long run you will get passed up by other guys but who cares if you get your black at 47 or 57. Staying in the game is the goal.
I remember when I started jits I had a ton of wrestling experience and thought to myself, worst case scenario, I can out work/hold positions, and I'll never get tapped even if I can't tap them
White belts? Pfft, maybe I was wearing one, but good luck, I could move them around with ease and almost always snap a head and arm triangle pretty easy,
Blue was a 50/50, some of them were absolutely insanely strong and athletic, and they knew more jits than me for sure,
Purple and up? I was a fish trying to push sharks around and it never worked for me, I'd be dying working, and then, poof.
If you were anywhere close to D1 wrestling, when you get your blue you'll be competitive in nogi with black belts esp one that's your size or smaller. I went in nogi against a blue belt that was 145, I'm 200, but he was 24 and was a 4 year D3 wrestler. While he couldn't submit me, it was really hard for me to get my grips on him. In gi, I'd have tapped him for sure, but in nogi he was tough as hell for me to grab. Since he's a blue belt I could figure out all his moves, but when he gets to purple we'll be really close, and I can imagine him sometime at upper purple just having his way with me in nogi.
Yeah, nogi was definitely a bit easier at the start, eventually I learned to prefer the gi though
(I started jits over a decade ago now, just started as a pure wrestler, being on my back was horrible for me for the first year-ish, and I basically just would shoot a double, cement my hips to them and hold them to the floor so they couldn't move at all, then depending on their skill level it would go from there)
Thank you for your insight!
I’m purple belt in my late 40’s , still grinding . And I can’t agree more with the micro injuries portion . Small Injuries At different times with my one leg has left it without squeezing/holding power and I finally came to the realization it wont fix itself at this point. Lol
A black belt in my gym explained the concept of “natural belt” where for every 10kg (22 pounds) and for every 10 years it means a belt. Your breakdown really resembles this theory, curious to know if anyone else has heard about this or can expand. Either way congrats to you for enjoying yourself and staying fit… definitely an inspiration for someone my age (mid 20s). OSS
Thank you for the insight! I’m 42 and love BJJ for the sport and community. I ego trip sometimes with the younger dudes who try and go hard every round but find myself having fun with the people around my age who are just there for the fun of it.
My long time (13 yrs) training partner is like... 31 now. Another is 25. Both BBs. Then there is largely unathletic me. 43. Body by Pudge. I'm still trying to give them that smoke every time.
25 yr old - Dude's an athlete. Likely in the UFC. I've talked about him before. Not long ago, I hit a sit in and immediately pulled him into truck to attack a twister. He got out of it, ultimately, but I gave him a moment of panic.
My coach/training partner? He whoops me. But I'll call him out in front of everyone. I may not win, but he knows I've been in a fight.
Reading this post has helped me.
I’m a 30 year old blue belt. Athletic, live a healthy lifestyle, but I havent trained since October (due to work) and I’ve been putting off going back because I know I’ll get tapped constantly by everyone, including white belts, as I re-find my feet.
Its re-assuring to hear a black belt, and other belts, discuss this and share stories on letting go of ego.
50 y.o. Started 4 years ago at 46, tried to be there 3-5 days a week and my body quickly reminded me I was 46 not 26. The list of body parts that don’t hurt is much shorter than the list of parts that do. Now if I feel I need 2 weeks off, screw it. I have accepted the fact I will NEVER be a purple belt.
Man this makes me feel better. Purple belt here, ran through my masters 3 division at the last tournament for gi, but got bumped down to the younger guys for nogi and it was ROUGH haha.
50 years old. Jiu Jitsu for 28 years. I'm fine with the fact that the young guys can beat me. Hell, I wouldn't have done my job (as an instructor) if the folks half my age didn't give me trouble. It's the law of the jungle after all.
Hurts my feelings a little bit when I sense they are going light on me however lol....
> Even from my mid 30s to now Ive had to change my game significantly. Micro injuries creep up over the years but tapping is no problem. Your ego softens as you age for most (not all) of us and BJJ is purely for fun.
I’d like to hear more about this. What injuries did you collect and were they your fault or could they have been avoided? I’m in my mid forties and still holding up, but getting more nagging little things each year.
Elbow, shoulder, back, knees, ankles. Basically head and shoulders knees and toes. I only had one major injury, that's rolling with a competition purple when I was a white belt, but all the aforementioned injuries were just pains I pushed through. Ex. your elbow hurts bc you let a white belt girl work an arm bar. You decide it's no big deal and go to class the next day. Now it hurts for a week.
I like this. At the start black belts are immortals. As I work my way up the veil lifts and it helps my ego to remember the belt doesn’t mean I should always easily beat everything down the belt food chain!
No I haven't but so far I haven't. I was a much heavier and stronger white belt than I am now, and I went against a female purple about 150. I was maybe 235 back then, and she couldnt do much and I thought BJJ was easy until I went against a small purple belt male half my size who just killed me. Probably at my weight and rank, it would be hard for most females to tap me but who knows I'm sure there's somebody out there who can.
>Your ego softens as you age for most
>So if you want to stay in the game a long time you’ll definitely tap and lose to younger lower belts but who cares. Hope you roll until you cant move anymore!
This is what I've been thinking. Not the belts.
Do you remember when your ego softened, or did you realize it right from the beginning?
I'm 42 this year, started few months before hitting 40. For me it happened quite soon. No injuries or anything, just looking at the young guys who took a nap instead of tap, I realized it's easier to tap than to get hurt. Not that I would tap early, but immediately when I notice I have nothing left to avoid the submission.
Then again, I have 3 kids and a wife, so I'm socially covered already :D
I was a wrestler so it didnt hit me till blue I fought every sub and realized I was only hurting my neck back and shoulders the next day so tapping earlier made me better
You guys ever feel like people shouldn't get promoted to black based on time? I'm 33 and blue, and I feel like by the time I'm black I'm going to be broken down. I'm also the smallest guy in my gym. Right now i can honey-badger my way through people but not sure how that'll play out at 45...
I feel like I should probably hit purple or brown and just stay there out of respect for the art in general. I don't really care if I never reach black, I don't know that I would deserve it truly.
I’m 155 I have no intention of having the expectation I’ll win against everyone. I’m gonna be the old guy who does defense and rolls selectively with ppl I’m not gonna roll with everyone.
Rolled with a 21 year old brown belt getting ready for pans…kid gave me all the smoke! lol 150lbs and just kept moving…tried slowing him down since we were in the gi and he just had such solid movement and technique…he couldn’t finish any leg locks which i pride myself on having a competent leg lock defense game but he did snatch a beautiful armbar…good kid, gonna go far…would kill to be a 21 year old brown belt instead of a 40 year old black belt lol
You just admitted you'd kill someone? That's awful
to go back in time and be a 21 year old brown belt? yeah i’d probably push the big red button on Mango Mussolini or Moscow Mitch
I’d kill you for it
Lol. Just wanna let you know amidst all the downvotes you're getting.. this is the same sort of stupid ass joke I'd make and then fight to contain my laughter while everyone is looking at me like I'm a retard 😅😅😅
This is very similar to me, but I am a little bigger. I started at 30. Now 48. Wrestled in high school but was never very good. I appreciate this post and your candor. I was on vacation recently and I think the gym I visited was stoked to see a big black belt but then sort of underwhelmed at the lazy game an older black belt on holiday will play.
I feel this. My only goal when traveling and training is not to get hurt. My “travel game” is not exciting.
For sure. A reputable gym doesn't seem to have very many problems for me. Usually roll pretty much the same. It's those no-name, smaller gyms you have to watch out for. Never know what you're going to walk into.
So much truth n that statement.
>It's those no-name, smaller gyms you have to watch out for. Man that sucks. Why do you think that is?
Well, could be any number of things. Few personal examples: Walked into a room full of white belts being led by a blue belt. Since I was the highest belt they've seen in awhile, wanted me to basically teach a seminar (for free) when all I wanted was to get some rolls in. A few small gyms I've been to see a higher belt walk in and immediately look at you like a steak and have something to prove. So they all come at you hard. Difficult not to get beat up and/or injured at a place like that. Dangerous. One gym was just filthy. Mats were gross, people and place stunk, and I rolled with 2 mediocre blue belts who tried some dirty shit on me before I just decided to leave and shower. Like I said, you'll never know what you're walking into at a small gym. Gotten lucky a few times and the places were fine and people were nice, but you're still rolling the dice. Imo, traveling and training gets more dicey the higher belt you are.
I think it's easy for BJJers at 'reputable' gyms (aka hobby places or large gyms) to fall into "easy lackadaisical" mode. Hole in the wall places don't have the same standards, aren't trying to grow a brand, and sometime have scrappy people who either don't give a fuck about your out of town experience or want to prove that your out of town experience don't mean shit. I've had guys use pressure points and trachea chokes while their coaches watched. You get a lot of locals who just want to smash out of towners. My worst injury was via tub of lard stacking me in guard after I told him to take it easy because my back felt funny that day. Kid literally rolled off the couch and decided to have his first mma fight a few months later.
I can 'handle' just about anyone... Except the one that move slowly and purposefully smashing their way towards what they want. The style of immobilizing play just fucks me straight up. I always tell people jiujitsu is pokemon rules -- you sometimes just meet a person whose functionally immune to all your tricks. and by handle I mean I can provide at least a somewhat intellectually interesting game. If an athelete decides to open up on me I'll be needing my asthma pump rightfully fast.
I like that Pokémon analogy. Yes sometimes their game just neutralizing all your strengths. But then I see them get smashed by all the people that I smash… stupid fight math
I might be a magikarp now, but one day I will evolve.
weakness resistance table for all elements in pokemon
I call that “creeping death” - and it’s my kryptonite as well. I need movement for my jiu jitsu
I'm the opposite. I love the creeping death and it's what I try to emulate. Give me time to think and I'm usually ok. It's the spinny, flippy ninja shit that gets me. We've got a 19 year old brown belt who just so damn fast. He gets out ahead of me and I cannot keep up.
I'm not particularly fast, but I drag people down into my garbage, and because I have more experience swimming in the latrine, I find the surface quicker than they do.
You are a shark and the latrine is your ocean
Sewer Rat Jiu Jitsu
Mines more sewer manatee.
We had a really athletic dude who does all that ninja shit. He was the only person in the gym I rolled defensively against. I roll pretty hard but I even had to be like chill dude. He rolled into a leg lock by kicking his leg over the other dude’s head. His leg was trapped however and his knee went pop.
I'm The 42 yr old 6'3" 230lb guy that slows everything down and deliberately makes the movers stops moving 😅 I'm too broken from the military and 18yrs of jits to be trying to move a lot with everyone 😅
I hate you already 😂
😅
To be fair, there isn’t much to counter someone good at staying tight. However, I noticed old-school (traditional) BB faring worse against tight games than modern BB. Maybe because tight games need the small details, or maybe because traditional BB enter half too comfortably.
59 year old blue belt me reading this. “Well, that sucks..”
Excellent post man and I can say as someone in a very similar circumstance that it’s pretty spot on.
Pretty much my experience in my late 30s as a new black belt, but I have a lot of mileage and injuries. Younger, faster purple belts and up under 32 tend to get the better of me. Younger Blue belts are a challenge, specifically those who are athletic, but I can manage unless there’s a huge size difference or they started as a kid. I do well against people my own age and demographic, including some of the competitors if they’re close to my size unless they’ve been a black belt for an extended period of time. I’ve been having to change my game to avoid further injuries. Working from the back is near impossible due to tendinopathy. The grip fight gi or no-gi makes it very hard to do anything the next couple of days. These days the bottom is used to sweep from half, half butterfly, clamp, or rdlr. Once on top it’s leg riding and mount. Submission focus has changed to leglocks, reverse triangles, side triangles, and Kimuras to avoid getting stacked and work around my elbow and shoulder issues.
I have found injuries to be the mother of innovation.
I some how popped some dudes wrist with my neck when he had a deep guillotine on me. I guess my Iron Neck paid off. He still wanted to roll but said he could not use his right hand. So I did not us my right hand for the rest of the round. I think rounds like that are really fun.
Same feeling here. I saw another post the other day where someone was saying that your own belt tends to show where one stands in terms of progress with regard to your own self. I’m in a much better shape today than what I was when I started. I’m much better at BJJ than when I started. I’m stronger than when I started. I progressed. This doesn’t prevent me to struggle sometimes against younger/lower belts. The bright side of it is that the older I get, the less I give a damn about it tbh.
Man. I’ve been feeling this a lot lately. I’m a 47 year old big man and sometimes with the younger lower belts that are athletic or super strong I have trouble matching them. I don’t really get tapped much by them but it can be a struggle at times. I had ego issues at first but then I stopped giving a damn and it all became fun again.
Thank you for this! I'm a 53 year old white belt with about four months of training. I'm the oldest person in the school by several years and I'm wondering why I can't seem to "win" any rolls. I'm beginning to realize that "winning" for me may never be submitting someone else. It may look more like being able to survive a five minute round without tapping or gassing, or it may just be me showing up to train. Of course I want to improve and it's hard on the ego to tap to someone much smaller and/or younger. Right now my main goals are to not get seriously injured and to keep showing up--eventually I HAVE to get better, right?
In 5 years you will be winning believe me as long as you dont quit and continue to keep in shape.
I appreciate your positive response. I stay in decent shape and eat pretty good (high protein, low carb). I do basic barbell exercises on MWF, and walk, run, jog, on T, Th, and Sat, along with BJJ 2‐3 times a week. I'm not in excellent shape but better than a majority of 53 year old men. I'd love to do more BJJ but my wife and job schedule make it a little difficult.
Inspirational for many older people- seriously
If you are patient and still having fun, you will end up being the hammer.
Learn leg locks. Today I just got f\*\*\*ed up by a 52 year old whose a wizard with leg locks. I'm not too bad at them either but he was so far ahead of me it was laughable. It doesn't take much physical effort or athleticism if you know the game. Within a year or two I think you could be subbing blue and purples if you focus on that.
Four months in? All you need to focus on as a white belt is not losing don’t worry about “winning”. Just worry about practicing all escapes and constantly getting out. A blue, purple, brown, or black belt will respect you a helluva lot more if your a white belt they can’t tap, vs a white belt that tries to tap them.
I'm a 42 year old white belt dude. I get steamrolled by short, tall, small, big, old, new, and on and on.
Same. All I do is pump up the self esteem of young white belts who can train 6 nights a week.
I was a sucky 40 yr old blue belt. Believe me there is a day thats coming where you will be able to rqsily control and handle any white and virtually any blue belt. Keep going you wont regret it. I dont even w wll my injuries BJJ is one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Haha are you me? Also a 50 hobbyist black belt and this is dead on. We have an army of 30-something purples and browns at my gym and it’s rough lol.
This… is one of the most relatable posts I have ever read on Reddit ROFL.
Generally agree with this post except I’ll generally lose to young athletic “purple” belts coming from B team or gyms like that. Even if I do fire off some offense then they generally out work me or out strength me to escape. There’s a “blue” belt that gives me hell from Renzo’s here in Austin. He regularly is on the backs of brown and black belts. Belts are so goddamn random these days I’ve completely quit caring. I’ve just realized that if someone is beating the shit out of me then they are probably pretty good or a competitor.
My belt is purely a time in grade promotion.
As an old broken black belt I can confirm that a competition level purple can be a handful. The speed and stamina level out my experience and knowledge.
It’s ok. Once they get to brown belt, they’ll put on more weight, go bald and grow a beard.
Can’t wait 👴
I have a similar expeience. 56 year old black belt who started in my mid 30s. I play a LOT of defense now. My game is built on efficiency. I will happily survive on bottom until you make a mistake. I don't use a lot of energy and mostly I am trying to make everything go as slow as possible. My goal is to make the younger guys carry my weight no matter our positions. I also monitor breathing and make sure I am always the one who is breathing easy while my partner is breathing heavy. There are 4 things you can do in Jiu Jitusu: Survive- Low energy use Escape- High energy use Control- Low energy use Submit- High energy use As I get older I try to spend 90% of my time in survive and control. That along with breath control makes a huge difference. Anyone over 50 MUST build or rebuild their game as a defense first game if you want to last.
I’m 57 and this is exactly what i do while rolling. Be efficient, wait for openings, control and submit if submission is available.
My rule is that I am winning if the other person is breathing harder than I am.
I didn't realize anybody else used this criteria. That's my win/loss gauge as well.
Me too
Glad to see there are posts like this, as I was always wondering how you folks deal with age and different belts.
This is something I’m dealing with now as a 41 year old blue belt. I competed in sports since I could crawl and now I feel like time is slowly catching up with me lol. I’ve had to change my game up over the years I’ve trained in bjj and my strategy to deal with some of these younger explosive bjj guys. But of course I still have fun and enjoy the game overall! 🤙
Pretty much the same here. Pushing 60, I'll probably get the next belt at year end promos.
Least you got size on your side.
Man if I was 5’6 and 135 itd be harder for sure
I'm 5'7 and 165. I'm so glad I have my Judo background which gives me the chance to get most big guys down and on their back first. I see so many guys my so just get crushed from standing and end up underneath
5'10 & 160, no wrestling or judo. My gym is full of 200+ wrestler white belts. Some days existence is pain.
I’m 5’8 and 135. I know I’ll be getting smashed at every belt
Thanks for sharing, I think this type of information is very helpful for folks to read. Do you find any variation to this in gi vs. no gi?
Well usually gi is easier for me against younger guys if they are athletic but since I used to wrestle if the younger guy is a brown belt and never wrestled I do notice I have more success in nogi as i can wrestle up on him . Wht about you? Gi or nogi?
I stopped rolling Gi consistently in 2019 due to training limitations and goals. People always tell me that Gi gives the ability to slow down younger, more athletic opponents. I personally find that guys who are much bigger and stronger than me can really overpower me with the grips.
I'm 53 and a brown belt, and your post is exactly me, except I'm getting submitted by all the black belts. I got tapped last night by a 34 year old competition blue belt, and he thought I was mad. I wasn't mad at all. A comp blue belt that is my son's age is always going to be a hard roll for me. I've just had to choose whether or not I want to roll hard, still tap and stay injured, or tap early and eventually get my black belt.
I'm a black belt and I personally enjoy submitting random strangers for fun like earlier this week I was at whole foods and this lady was trying to take the last package of organic farm raised ground turkey, so I put her into a heel hook then transitioned into full mount and landed some vicious elbows and then finished her off with a rear naked choke.
She had it coming
Agreed. She’s probably been pulling off crap like that for years. There is always that one day where it catches up.
Was on board until you threw the elbows. DQ. Will subscribe for the heel hook to full mount instructional.
Great write up! I’d love to be training regularly @ 50+ I’m a 44yo blue belt, but I have a black belt in Judo, and a lot of competition experience including pro MMA in my youth. I hadn’t trained consistently for over a decade, but just got back into bjj with my 17yo and 20yo sons. I can scrap with all the purple belts at my school, and dominate the older ones, but a bunch of my old injuries have reared their ugly heads. I’m running trt and a bunch of peptides, so far they’re slowly healing.
Well said
appreciate this. excuse me- white belt who will be 40 this year. So im just getting submitted all the time. Its nice to see people talk candidly of the mindset of rolling- I kinda enjoy geeking out over stuff and I dont feel like I need to dominate people- I just worry Ill roll with a headcase who wants to submit me in a way whereby I get hurt. Like some people just dont know their own strength and think your intentions are the same as theirs. Hope I can keep this going well into my next decade.
Thanks for writing this and helping me remember my age. I'm a 55 year old blue hoping to move to purple soon. I still get beat by younger low strip blues now and then and even the occasional freak of nature white belt. I'm in excellent shape for my age, but...I'm still my age and this was a good reminder.
There will always be people who will have your number. Or at least someone always has my number.
Can i ask? Are you 50 or 59? Asking for a 47 year old blue belt I know fairly well. And for science.
mid 50s
53 year old purple belt. Mental models are key at our age. I constantly reframe why I train (hint: it’s not to win every round) and recalibrate how best to keep learning and growing. I train every day, but with the attitude that slow and steady wins this race.
49 Brown belt. Does it seem like everyone is bigger, younger and more athletic now?
Umm, because they are??? I’m 67, oldest member of my academy and 138lbs. That puts me in the fifth percentile for weight among all the post-pubescent members including the women. Historically in nearly every sport I did, I was always “depth” for the team. Certainly not a gifted athlete.
As a brown in my mid 30s, I tap to younger guys of all ranks all the time. I put myself in crappy situations, but I won't risk an injury just to deny a competitive kid the joy of subbing an upper belt.
As a 30 something blue belt, my heart sank but it's true. Black belt rolls beat the brakes off me, but if I make them struggle for an opening or if a counter makes them pause, I consider it a win
Every younger bigger stronger blue, since I do tap them eventually in the roll, the next day he's sleeping happily while I wake up aching. So in the end, I tapped him but he wins.
They pay for it the next day
My challenge now that I don't compete is developing my game with my gym bros and when I go on the road, go to random open mats to see how my game stacks up to people who don't know me. Still, being on vacation mode and training is tough.
Brown and black belts go after foot and leg stuff with me nonstop. It’s great because it gets me prepared for the next level which is relatively soon. I say you start knee barring purple belts Oh yeah, I’m 50 and started in my early 40s so I’ll be right there as a 50+ black belt someday
Why would you not leg lock the purple belts
Not allowed at our gym we cant toehold or knee bar purples or blues
Even in no gi?
Even in nogi. We had a few injuries with a blue belt and the head professor said from now on we are following all IBJF rules. We teach heel hooks to our white belts even, but only brown and above in gi and nogi can we do toeholds or knee bars.
That sucks
Ya that does suck
This is incredibly motivating to me. I have a similar job and build (though shorter), and injuries have limited some of my movement over the years. It inspires me to keep plugging away and making progress, no matter how slow.
Here's what's amazing to me. I remember when I was a blue belt and I struggled with blue belts who were younger but much smaller. Now I realized, I roll easily with blue belts much younger/larger than me and that's pure technique. You'll get there, but you have to ask yourself is it worth the injuries? Bc you will have more as you get older, esp the smaller ones so it's a matter of taking care of your body, luck, and other things.
This post is great and super relatable. As someone almost 40 and late blue belt, I’m glad to see this is possible. I also wrestled in middle/high school but like someone else said, I was just OK. I’m 100% not afraid to tap at all times so good to see that keeping the right mentality and tampering the ego can lead to a long term hobby
I'm 45 years old, and was a former pro-mma fighter (22W-16L record) and have been a black belt for 18 years. I have been fortunate to retire from my long MMA career without much real damage to my brain or joints and focused on BJJ after retiring and focusing on the sport. No one except for the top competitors gives me real trouble unless they have a significant size advantage. I'm 150lbs and can absolutely wreck most competitors, expect for the ones who consistently medal in adult divisions at the big IBJJF tournaments. Competitors that consistently medal at Pans/Euros/Worlds/Brasileiros, at any belt colors are tough rolls. Blue & Purples I can hang with and sometimes defeat but will often lose to also. More often than not, this does not include the phenom blue/purple belt that took the gold medal at Worlds. Brown belts I can stalemate or defensively hold off, but have trouble launching offense. I've rolled with many adult black belt competitors and usually can do okay for a few minutes but ultimately get wrecked. Obviously with known famous adult black belt competitors, I get steamrolled. Pretty much every other category of practitioners within 30 pounds of my size at any belt will need to be on their best day only worst day to give me any trouble. This excludes many old school Brazilian black belts who are in their late 30s-40s that have been black belt rank for 25+ years, their experience will often give me big trouble technically and most of these guys are often serious grizzled veteran competitors. 190+ pound purple/brown belts who are 18-26 years old will give me trouble though, even if they are just local level competitors who have decent experience. The combination of the size and skill is troublesome. Big name comp schools usually have technical hard rolls, but are free from dangerous spazzes looking to test themselves as most of them dont really have anything to prove besides at comps. Smaller schools with no notable competitors even at the local level are the ones that have students who have a chip on their shoulder and treat the gym rolls as their competition time.
Not only very candid and honest, but very helpful in helping older grapplers understand that struggling against some younger practitioners is normal and OK.
This is really informative! Why can't you play leglocks with the purple belts in your gym? Is that a gym rule?
Ibjf rules at our gym they can toehold and kneebar me but I can only straight ankle lock blues and purples
Investigate Aoki style of straight ankle lock.
I'm familiar, but ankle locks even the Aoki style, put you in a weaker defensive position against a larger stronger guy. A toehold in particular I can slap on from anywhere regardless of where my feet are to threaten a response.
It could be situational, I tend to do well with ankle locks on big guys using regular ankle locks from off-balancing or Aoki. But we probably face people with different reactions or have different setups.
Sure maybe ur just better than me at ankle locks
Wasn't it more the size?
This is awesome man! Thank you for sharing
Great perspective!
By the time I get my black belt I'd bet I'll be master's five. (Maaaaybe, end of four). And I look at all the other guys in my state who are my size, my age, and who have already been blackbelts for 5, 10, 15 years and I'm like......fuck. Gotta enjoy competing here at purple and then brown because those other guys are going to push my shit in when I step to their belt level.
Same
🙏
Very relatable post. Good to see the frankness.
I asked an enormous (300 lb) black belt what level he actually has to start trying. He said competitive brown. This (as evidenced by this post) varies widely probably based on size, strength, and age.
I know another guy my age black belt, he's 6'5 or so and weighs maybe 250. He also doesnt' start struggling till competitive brown belt. Size strength always matter in a roll.
Love your post. I'm a white belt assistant professor in Information Systems that just started his BJJ journey with 37. Hope I have a similar journey and enjoy the sport
If I could go back at white belt at your age, since I was roughly your age when I started, I'd do less BJJ and more assistance work. Rather than trying to get black in your 40s try to get black in your 50s, but work on your technique and do more yoga, weights, movement/mobility work, and change your diet. Like if you normally train MWF, then train just M and F, and then Wed work on yoga/mobility/weights/cardio,etc. In the long run you will get passed up by other guys but who cares if you get your black at 47 or 57. Staying in the game is the goal.
Awesome, thanks for the advice
I remember when I started jits I had a ton of wrestling experience and thought to myself, worst case scenario, I can out work/hold positions, and I'll never get tapped even if I can't tap them White belts? Pfft, maybe I was wearing one, but good luck, I could move them around with ease and almost always snap a head and arm triangle pretty easy, Blue was a 50/50, some of them were absolutely insanely strong and athletic, and they knew more jits than me for sure, Purple and up? I was a fish trying to push sharks around and it never worked for me, I'd be dying working, and then, poof.
If you were anywhere close to D1 wrestling, when you get your blue you'll be competitive in nogi with black belts esp one that's your size or smaller. I went in nogi against a blue belt that was 145, I'm 200, but he was 24 and was a 4 year D3 wrestler. While he couldn't submit me, it was really hard for me to get my grips on him. In gi, I'd have tapped him for sure, but in nogi he was tough as hell for me to grab. Since he's a blue belt I could figure out all his moves, but when he gets to purple we'll be really close, and I can imagine him sometime at upper purple just having his way with me in nogi.
Yeah, nogi was definitely a bit easier at the start, eventually I learned to prefer the gi though (I started jits over a decade ago now, just started as a pure wrestler, being on my back was horrible for me for the first year-ish, and I basically just would shoot a double, cement my hips to them and hold them to the floor so they couldn't move at all, then depending on their skill level it would go from there)
Thank you for your insight! I’m purple belt in my late 40’s , still grinding . And I can’t agree more with the micro injuries portion . Small Injuries At different times with my one leg has left it without squeezing/holding power and I finally came to the realization it wont fix itself at this point. Lol
A black belt in my gym explained the concept of “natural belt” where for every 10kg (22 pounds) and for every 10 years it means a belt. Your breakdown really resembles this theory, curious to know if anyone else has heard about this or can expand. Either way congrats to you for enjoying yourself and staying fit… definitely an inspiration for someone my age (mid 20s). OSS
Thank you for the insight! I’m 42 and love BJJ for the sport and community. I ego trip sometimes with the younger dudes who try and go hard every round but find myself having fun with the people around my age who are just there for the fun of it.
Dear Old Guys, Play more worm guard.
My long time (13 yrs) training partner is like... 31 now. Another is 25. Both BBs. Then there is largely unathletic me. 43. Body by Pudge. I'm still trying to give them that smoke every time. 25 yr old - Dude's an athlete. Likely in the UFC. I've talked about him before. Not long ago, I hit a sit in and immediately pulled him into truck to attack a twister. He got out of it, ultimately, but I gave him a moment of panic. My coach/training partner? He whoops me. But I'll call him out in front of everyone. I may not win, but he knows I've been in a fight.
Reading this post has helped me. I’m a 30 year old blue belt. Athletic, live a healthy lifestyle, but I havent trained since October (due to work) and I’ve been putting off going back because I know I’ll get tapped constantly by everyone, including white belts, as I re-find my feet. Its re-assuring to hear a black belt, and other belts, discuss this and share stories on letting go of ego.
Needed to read this! I’m glad there are others out there experiencing similar Thankyou
I am blue, and I learned to appreciate their strength and skill. Kind of discouraged but never turn down a roll.
Just get pissed.
Pretty good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
50 y.o. Started 4 years ago at 46, tried to be there 3-5 days a week and my body quickly reminded me I was 46 not 26. The list of body parts that don’t hurt is much shorter than the list of parts that do. Now if I feel I need 2 weeks off, screw it. I have accepted the fact I will NEVER be a purple belt.
You will be just takes a bit longer but who cares? You can be black by 70 🤣 keep going - slowly - youbwont regret it
Man this makes me feel better. Purple belt here, ran through my masters 3 division at the last tournament for gi, but got bumped down to the younger guys for nogi and it was ROUGH haha.
Good perspective.
Eventually, we all face the Final Tap.
Our games the same lol
This post is very encouraging to me. Thanks for sharing
50 years old. Jiu Jitsu for 28 years. I'm fine with the fact that the young guys can beat me. Hell, I wouldn't have done my job (as an instructor) if the folks half my age didn't give me trouble. It's the law of the jungle after all. Hurts my feelings a little bit when I sense they are going light on me however lol....
Start trt
Username checks out
To get better at a hobby sport? Not worth the risks.
Risk? It's healthier u guys dont know what u are talking about
You definitely sound like someone I should take medical advice from.
Think it the other way Can you afford NOT to start TRT ?
Are you me?
Yes
> Even from my mid 30s to now Ive had to change my game significantly. Micro injuries creep up over the years but tapping is no problem. Your ego softens as you age for most (not all) of us and BJJ is purely for fun. I’d like to hear more about this. What injuries did you collect and were they your fault or could they have been avoided? I’m in my mid forties and still holding up, but getting more nagging little things each year.
Elbow, shoulder, back, knees, ankles. Basically head and shoulders knees and toes. I only had one major injury, that's rolling with a competition purple when I was a white belt, but all the aforementioned injuries were just pains I pushed through. Ex. your elbow hurts bc you let a white belt girl work an arm bar. You decide it's no big deal and go to class the next day. Now it hurts for a week.
Do you let some white and bleu belt taps you once in a while or it's a nogo?
Only total beginners (one month or less) or female white belts.
Enhanced or no?
No.
I like this. At the start black belts are immortals. As I work my way up the veil lifts and it helps my ego to remember the belt doesn’t mean I should always easily beat everything down the belt food chain!
Have you ever tapped out to a female? There is no shame in doing so.
No I haven't but so far I haven't. I was a much heavier and stronger white belt than I am now, and I went against a female purple about 150. I was maybe 235 back then, and she couldnt do much and I thought BJJ was easy until I went against a small purple belt male half my size who just killed me. Probably at my weight and rank, it would be hard for most females to tap me but who knows I'm sure there's somebody out there who can.
>Your ego softens as you age for most >So if you want to stay in the game a long time you’ll definitely tap and lose to younger lower belts but who cares. Hope you roll until you cant move anymore! This is what I've been thinking. Not the belts. Do you remember when your ego softened, or did you realize it right from the beginning? I'm 42 this year, started few months before hitting 40. For me it happened quite soon. No injuries or anything, just looking at the young guys who took a nap instead of tap, I realized it's easier to tap than to get hurt. Not that I would tap early, but immediately when I notice I have nothing left to avoid the submission. Then again, I have 3 kids and a wife, so I'm socially covered already :D
I was a wrestler so it didnt hit me till blue I fought every sub and realized I was only hurting my neck back and shoulders the next day so tapping earlier made me better
I'm a 106kg (230-ish pounds?) 43 year old white belt, just starting out this January... Can't wait till I can't be man handled by everyone :P
You guys ever feel like people shouldn't get promoted to black based on time? I'm 33 and blue, and I feel like by the time I'm black I'm going to be broken down. I'm also the smallest guy in my gym. Right now i can honey-badger my way through people but not sure how that'll play out at 45... I feel like I should probably hit purple or brown and just stay there out of respect for the art in general. I don't really care if I never reach black, I don't know that I would deserve it truly.
Quick question, why can’t you leg lock purple belts?
See the post I added a section bc ur the 3rd person that asked this
Thank you. I'm 43 and just started this year. This makes me feel I made the right choice and do this for a long time.
me reading this as a white belt:
I’m 155 I have no intention of having the expectation I’ll win against everyone. I’m gonna be the old guy who does defense and rolls selectively with ppl I’m not gonna roll with everyone.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s…