Many of us have had this problem before; we were the tough guy or girl at our old gym, we changed gyms, and now we’re getting our butts kicked left and right.
I experienced this problem personally. I used to live in Taiwan. Because BJJ is not as popular as it is in the United States, the students were not at the same level as their American counterparts. Though I was certainly not the “tough guy” I could usually hold my own in a roll.
Last year, however, I moved back to the United States and joined a fairly high level gym. My instructor is a fourth-degree black belt under Gordo and not only does he have a lot of students, but they were far better than most of the students I had rolled with. I found myself getting annihilated in rolls…even by white belts with few (or no) stripes on their belts.
Losing “tough guy” status is also a problem BJJ black belt Nick “Chewy” Albin had to deal with when he was a purple belt. How did he get over it? Check out the video below to find out.
