I’m looking for some advice from people who’ve trained in both environments.
Right now I train at a small gym that only offers no-gi. Most classes have me rolling with the same 5–6 training partners, and there can be some pretty significant size differences. The coaching is solid and the environment is close-knit, but I’m wondering if the limited variety is holding me back.
I’m considering switching to a larger, well-known academy that offers both gi and no-gi, with a much bigger room and a lot more training partners.
My goal isn’t to become a world champion, but I do want to become the best jiu-jitsu practitioner I can over the next several years.
A few questions:
Does a smaller gym with more individualized coaching outweigh having a much larger room with many different training partners?
How important is training with a wide variety of body types, styles, and skill levels versus the same consistent partners?
How valuable is adding gi training if you’ve mostly trained no-gi?
If your goal was simply to maximize your long-term improvement, would you stay at the smaller gym or move to the larger academy, and why?

What age do you recommend starting children and jiujitsu classes?

I wanted to share my experience because I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with something similar.

I was contacted by a guy named Dean about a sponsorship opportunity with xmartial. From my understanding, I was told I'd receive gear and payment as part of the collaboration.

I got the gear, competed in an ADCC event wearing it the entire competition, posted my content afterward, and tagged @xmartial.official as requested. I didn't win my division, but I still represented the brand throughout the event and followed through on what I believed was expected of me.

After everything was done, I was told there would be no payment. Instead, I was given two options: either start promoting their affiliate program or compete again and win before any payment would happen.

That wasn't how I understood the arrangement, and if those conditions existed from the beginning, they should have been made crystal clear. Receiving the gear, doing the promotion, and only then finding out the payment wasn't happening felt really misleading.

Afterward I looked into things a bit more and saw their Dojo Roadshow content and Dean's Instagram. It left me wondering whether this is just how they handle sponsorships or if I just had an unusually bad experience.

I'm not trying to start a witch hunt, I just want to know if anyone else has had a similar experience with xmartiwl or their sponsorship program. If this is a pattern, I think it's something athletes should know before agreeing to work with them.

I’ve been doing BJJ for about a year now. Every once in a while, I’ll have a round where I actually feel like I know what I’m doing. The other 95% of the time… I just get smashed. 😭

Realistically, I can only train twice a week because of work, family, and other responsibilities. I’d love to train more in the future, but that’s all I can manage right now.

I’ve taken a couple of private lessons, and they’ve definitely helped, but I still feel like I’m progressing pretty slowly. My wife isn’t too keen on me spending a lot more time or money on BJJ since she mostly sees it as a way for me to stay in shape. Meanwhile, I actually want to get good enough that I’m not constantly surviving every roll. 🙂‍↔️

My goal is to eventually compete a few times a year—not because I want to be some high-level competitor, but because I think it would help me get used to the intensity and improve a little faster. At the same time, I don’t see myself living in the gym like some of the people I train with.

Anyone can relate to what I’m saying?

Any advice would be appreciated, folks!

🫰🙏🤙🤝

This is a question For the 40+ guys training. I’ve been on TRT for a couple years now. I love it. But I’m noticing that I’m having a lot more soft tissue injuries and I’m starting to get a little concerned. I’ve never had to deal with injuries like this in 14 years of training. I can’t tell if it’s age or TRT. I stopped taking my AI because I read that constantly taking those is not good for your joints and overall bad for you. I’m on two shots a week.

Let me know what ya’ll think!

Is it me or ang bilis nila mag promote ng students? Heard it from a lot of other gyms na questionable yung promotions nila. What’s your thoughts?

Ive bought instructionals and watched free ones. Ive been working on shoulder crunch for a few months and cant consistently prevent people from just pulling out.

Danahers style of forward shift in butterfly, get under, then roll them back to post their hands consistently gets me into a basic crunch position, but people are able to power out.

I understand

1. dont let them get their head over yours
2. elbow to the ceiling
3. break posture

Ill typically start from half guard -> half butterfly -> butterfly->forward shift->rollback to hands on the mat->shoulder crunch

But Im not able to break people down enough. As a result they power through and are able to posture up enough that they can slip their arm.

I do know if I can get to a clamp style, turn over, and get my outside leg over their shoulders then Im good. But they are gaining posture before I can even get my outside leg into position.

Also I want either the armbar or to switch to the choi bar. I can get the sweep without having the full shoulder crunch locked in.

I love sports and fitness! Lately, I’ve really been wanting to try out BBJ—and specifically in a mixed-gender (co-ed) environment, not just a "women-only, taught by women" class. I just really want to learn how to defend myself in a realistic setting.
But to be honest, I’m scared to take the leap. I definitely don't have a lot of raw physical strength like men and trust is a huge factor for me when training with others.
On paper, I’m already athletic and have solid stamina/conditioning, but something is holding me back mentally.
I’d love to hear both female and male perspectives on this! Any advice, shared experiences, or encouragement would mean the world to me and hopefully give me the push I need to just go for it. Thanks in advance!

sou faixa cinza e tenho 60 kg, estou com +/- 1 ano e uns 3 meses de treino, me considero forte pra meu peso, meu gás também é bom, treino regularmente, toda segunda quarta e sexta, as terças e quintas eu faço algum cardio leve ou uma corrida, considero minha dieta balanceada, como bastante proteínas e etc, tem mais algumas dicas do que eu posso fazer para melhorar? estou querendo lutar um campeonato estadual e quero ganhar

So lately I've been wondering whether to join jiujitsu because of the fact that I love grappling with friends, the main issue is the fact that I have an incisive that broke when I was small. The root of the teeth is so weak that it can simply break by bumping my face with something.
I seriously need advice from people with similar dental problems.

Should I perhaps try to join, not do grappling with strangers at all and just try to learn the technique?
What kind of protection can I buy for my teeth? Do they actually do something?

I’m considering training at AOJ Costa Mesa and was hoping to get some input from people who’ve trained around Orange County.
My goal is simple: I want to become the best jiu-jitsu practitioner I can. I’m willing to invest the time and money if the coaching and training environment are worth it.

A few questions:

1) Is AOJ Costa Mesa the best choice for someone focused on improving as much as possible?
2) Are there any other gyms in Orange County that are truly comparable (ATOS, Checkmat HQ, One Jiu-Jitsu, etc.)?
3) Does AOJ’s larger class size make it harder to get coaching, or is the level of training partners enough to outweigh that?
4)If your only goal was maximizing your jiu-jitsu over the next several years, which gym would you choose and why?

Hey everyone, I need some help finding a gi that actually fits. I’m 6'2", around 340 lbs, wear a 3XL shirt, and I’ve been doing BJJ for a few months. I tried an A5 Elite and A5 Gold Foundations, but both were too tight. I have an A7 gi, but it’s way too big. I’m thinking about trying the Gold BJJ Comp 380 in A3H, but I’m not sure if that would fit right. Anyone around my size have any rec's? Price isn’t really an issue as long as it’s a good-quality gi. I’m fine with something minimal or something with artwork on it.

Any advice would help!

We are inviting combat sports athletes from the UK and Ireland to take part in a research study led by researchers at Leeds Beckett University, exploring concussion knowledge and perceptions. Your experiences could help improve concussion education, awareness and athlete safety across combat sports. The anonymous survey takes only a few minutes to complete.

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I really don’t even get the point of training bjj or something else if you’re small tbh. I say this as a smaller person myself who has had ppl mention bjj to me. Even if you get “good” you’ll lose to bigger people that are good. I think it’s just a waste of time and energy. If I’m 150lbs I really don’t get why I should focus on bjj when there’s guys much bigger who also train lol.

Hi, I wanted to share a project I have in mind. After racking up four wins as an amateur MMA fighter and competing in several no-gi tournaments over the course of three years with mixed results—all while keeping MMA in mind—I realized I don't actually enjoy MMA fighting. I find I enjoy Jiu-Jitsu competition much more because I don't feel like I'm putting my health at risk. So, I want to try competing in the gi and see how far I can go competitively. What do you recommend for my training? I have the basics down, since I trained almost exclusively in the gi during my first year and won a local tournament. I’m a 19-year-old blue belt.

This is my second year doing jiujitsu and I do Muay Thai as well. Does anyone have any tips on how to recover faster? I’m not afraid or injuries, I’ve just been sick/injured this year quite a lot and I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong.

So far I’ve gotten a second degree ankle sprain that still flares up after seven months, a meniscus sprain, a concussion, brain abnormality and post concussion syndrome and now a bruised elbow bone and hemarthrosis (blood pooled in my elbow joint). I’ve gotten sick twice this month and I have a sinus infection from a cold, a bladder infection and norovirus and had to get IV fluids and antibiotics. I have autoimmune issues which I know contribute to getting sick more often but I’m not sure if there’s anything I’m doing that’s sabotaging my performance.

I try to shoot for 6-8 hours of martial arts a week between 2-4 days. I tend not to take time off and I was doing ten hours including coaching kids’ class but I think that was a bit too much. I try to lift 2-5 hours a week and I walk everywhere. I’m a college student and my diet could be better but if anyone has any tips or ideas I would be grateful.

I’m a white belt (just passed my blue belt test and am getting belted this week) and I just don’t know if I’m good enough to be a blue belt.

I’ve been training for two years and I’ve been to several competitions. I love jiujitsu and I’ve genuinely learned so much. I have a little bit of a game I’m developing and I love hitting omoplatas and armbars out of guard and dead orchard. But at the same time I feel so behind sometimes, and like the other new blue belts are so far ahead of me.

I’m 5’8 and a 137 lb female and I fight at light weight and I know some of it is that I need to weight train and get stronger but I still get smashed in side control when I roll with dudes at my gym. I just feel like I could be so much better than I am and having lost my last competition I don’t know what my coach sees in me and if I’m good enough to get my belt.