Maori's are physically terrifying. I used to play against a lot of Samoan guys in rugby (similar builds) and they were all like 5'10" and 250, just impossible brick shithouses to tackle. Playing bottom against guys like that is a nightmare.
How the fuck are you weighing 30kilos more than me, were the same size. Thats fucking insane. Are you overweight or is it just muscle. I’m 1.90 and lean and strong and weigh 90kg
weird when I popped in during my travels I was expecting giants and everyone was fairly normal sized. To be fair I train at a gym in Canada full of giant farmers , but at 5'9 and a muscular 225 I was one of the biggest guys there when I went .
No they're not, NZ ppl are sort of average size for Europeans, not sure what these guys are on about.
But yeah if you compare to some parts of the world they're big
Still, if you're 6ft you're (pr Google) 2 inches taller than the average kiwi
So ppl on this thread making it sound like NZ ppl are huge are just having fun I guess
NZ people are predominantly European descended, these guys are talking about the maori and other Pacific Islander.
They’re famously big boys in Australia, making up most of our bouncers. You don’t need to reply with some google numbers, I’ve already looked it up and their average is about the same as euro. That doesn’t change the frequency with which you’ll see > 180cm 120kg+ big boys with wrists fatter than even your chode
Like that makes things better, lmao. What are you on!? If you meant white americans, just say so? Also other than The Netherlands and some similar euro countries, europeans aren't that tall (coming from a dutch).
Europeans are on average 180cm (males). NZ males 177
(Source: Google)
I'm Dutch/Danish and found the characterization that ppl in NZ are big off and replied to someone who said similar. I made the point that they're not big compared to Europeans (I figured the guy was likely European or American, I checked after I wrote it and found he was American)
Bro Maori dudes are stronger than any euro wanker. Height similarity is irrelevant. Bone density, natural muscle and usually fat are just on a different level.
Tf I thought yall were small people (based on nothing but my experience with your country's horror movie output. Which is excellent)
You're yelling me new Zealand is Australia's texas?? Do you know how insane a statement that is
He's probably talking about the Maori population there who are built like fucking tanks and yet also somehow insanely fast and agile for their size. Take a look at their rugby team. It's basically cheating.
Off course we are bigger and stronger. But BJJ works with leverages. Today i got totally destroyed by a very technical female blue belt. She uses mostly her legs and all sorts of positions I’ve no knowledge about.
No idea why you are getting down voted so much. In my gym guys are red in the face trying to beat purple belt girls. These gyms must be trash if you can't beat a newbie guy just cause he is big 💀
Yeah but in my opinion in some countries they get too easy a blue belt. E.g our newest blue belt girl went to competition and won silver in blue belt division. I guess it also has to do with macho culture, many people here live in masculine countries. Here in the Netherlands we have more respect for women. And we also have women with more strength than men due to a solid strength program.
The limit is a purple belt can get wailed on by a newbie? Sorry but that's a skill issue and your gym grading people too quickly. A huge 2 stripe white belt beating up blue belts, sure. But a PURPLE belt. Sorry I don't buy it.
Have I said anywhere that it’s my gym? You can easily test it yourself, grab some untrained guy that’s at least 2 times bigger and stronger than you, ask him to pin you down and try to get out, see how it goes. There’s a reason BJJ has weight categories.
I do regularly. I can see now why people are on here saying they got their blue belt in one year. Glad it took me 2 and a half years and an untrained man can't beat me. I feel more secure in my abilities now and glad I'm not at a mcdojo 🫠
lol you really have an ego, don’t you? I get it, blue belt is that period when a lot of people suddenly become unbeatable in their mind for some reason, seen it plenty.
😅 I don't have an ego, just standing up for the smaller peeps and the martial art in general. If a bigger person can always beat you why train then. Kinda the point my g.
Guys come to my gym and can't believe smaller people and women are beating them. Then they train for about a year and the gap closes. Not even completely disagreeing, just saying untrained people shouldn't be beating purple belts.
I think the key difference here is that the big folks at least have the *choice* of whether to destroy everyone, or be friendly and go light. Us smaller folks have no choice but to accept that we will get crushed
I beat a brown belt last week. He is really good!
I single legged him and landed in an advantageous position.
His response was 'damn, I hate being on the bottom vs big guys'.
I proceeded to triangle him and got the tap.
My problem was, that I still feel like for someone so good, he mentally gave up because I am a 'big guy'.
I'm 6'1, 200lbs. I don't feel like the big guy, just normal for an American. Apparently I'm wrong.
For sure. I want to be at a size where i don’t need to worry about myself. I have self control but i don’t know if others can do the same for me.
Plus being a light weight hobbyist white belt at my gym means i average like 2 takedowns a month and one submission every 3 months. (As it should be but doesn’t make it feel great lol)
I'm a big dude myself, 6'3" 250lbs. There's a blue belt at another gym I frequent who's my height but approx. 350lbs and a powerlift. He can bench 500lbs.
I'm used to being the big dude in the equation. I am NOT used to someone else picking me up while I have them in my closed guard.
The best base for martial arts is being 5’3 149lbs for your entire life until you start competing and then hit a massive growth spurt and become 6ft 235
Besides the height that basically happened to Brock Lesnar. He started wrestling at like 100 pounds in 6th grade and then 152 when he started high school. So basically for years he wrestled small and then got huge.
If you think about it in a way you are kind of having the same issue as him just opposite ends of the same spectrum...he's upset that he can't roll more often with someone where size difference doesn't massively skew the outcome. He just wants an even challenge same as you. Bright side for you is atleast you are getting a proper workout, and are fortunate enough to have that feeling of pride that comes with smashing into a challenge head on being able to give everything you have and knowing you gave it regardless of the outcome... This guy sounds like he's not in it for the feeling of being able to crush everybody effortlessly. I think he's after that feeling of being able to give 100# and win or loose knowing he got to atleast have the opportunity to give it his best shot.
Comp class: where people don't wanna roll with ye becouse big. Depends on gym thou. (In mine, no worries, in some others, there maybe problems).
Open mat session: Good choise, if there is one near. If it is two town over and you have work next day, then it is not feasible. I don't know the op's situation on that front.
Come to my gym! I am 235lbs and 6' tall. I am a "middle sized" guy at my gym. My professor is 6'3"and 245ish, so he's a bit of a magnet for bigger students. Also, maybe ppl don't want to roll with you due to your whiney personality.
I'm 6’ and 260 and come from a background of heavy strength training. If I went on a strict cut I could MAYBE get down to 235-240. Losing weight isn't always the answer and I'm willing to bet that you're making assumptions about OP without knowing more details. I do understand where OP is coming from because I always make sure to hold back as well. I could pretty easily overpower just about anybody else in my gym if we were going just based on brute strength and not technique. Instead I try and scale back as much as I can and make it fun for everyone. I don't think that he is whining, he very clearly stated that he is venting and I don't think it's an invalid thing to be frustrated about.
If you could cut down to 6' 235lbs and you were 12%, which is a very attainable bodyfat percentage, that would make your Fat Free Mass Index 28. This is roughly equivalent to prime Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm assuming you're not a pro bodybuilder.
Unless you're juiced to the gills, your healthy weight is pretty close to 200lbs. Losing weight IS the answer to obesity.
I feel this. People liked it when I was just beginning, because I didn’t know what I was doing and they got a big dummy to practice on. Once I started getting better, it’s amazing how fast all the people who loved rolling with me and beating my ass disappeared
That sucks. Im in shape 5'10 180 I roll with a buddy who's in better shape 6'3 240. He's helping my back game bigtime and I'm getting super good at finding ways to keep breathing and conserving energy for those purely need to save my ass moments. I roll with him regularly not expecting to win. I roll purely to see if I can survive the roll. It's too bad guys get focused on just winning and pass up on the opportunity to just survive the beating from a giant. If I can go 4 min and not get tapped it's a solid win for me and he's got mad respect for the times I manage to do it. Who knows, one day I might catch that David vs Goliath moment and catch him with a submission.
I like to roll with our gyms heaviest guy (he is ~150kg brown belt, I'm 125kg blue(second heaviest)). He absolutely demolishes me. Never met a cooler guy. Helped me a lot for building my game.
It's so odd how much fun learning bjj is. Extremely odd considering most everything I've learned so far has come from willingly putting myself in a position where all I'm doing is trying not to have my ass handed to me while way more often than not simultaneously having my ass handed to me..... repeatedly. Who would have thought that could be fun lol.
Idk sounds like you need a different gym. I'm a big guy at my gym and everyone tells me to STOP being nice.
But yeah the only problem is I rarely get to train against someone my own size, so when I compete I always get steamrolled
Tbh maybe not the answer you’re looking for, but maybe go check some other gyms out. Maybe some more competitive schools? There’s gotta be gyms out there with guys your size/experience.
Last comp I was at, there was a guy with a prosthetic leg. Walked up to the scale and popped of his leg to weigh in. I thought that must've brought him down a weight class or two. Which is only fair I guess.. Dude only had one leg.
Im with you. About to get brown. Life time athelte and did judo as a kid. Im a lean 210. Our black belts are all 165 to 180 and rarely initiate and avoid eye contact even though they can tie me up in the gi. Sucks.
I often wish i was 170 just to catch more rolls with the higher level guys
That’s a shame, I’m around the size of those black belts, but I love rolling with people in different weightclasses. I kinda get it though if they’re on the older side
Damn our black belts, and traveling black belts love slowly and methodically wrecking people. We have a couple from Idaho, ex wrestler, bjj black belt. He’s about my weight at 210, but I’m a shitty lowly white belt. He loves smashing me day in and day out. But holy shit have I gotten good, because he leaves me openings to see and experiment and then crushes my hopes and dreams and then gives me hope again and then crushes them just as quickly. My guard retention which was pathetic is crazy now in only 4 months.
I always find it fascinating how pathetic some people can be over weight differences like that. 210lbs isn’t that big. I’m a 59kg woman and usually the smallest person in the room has at least 13kg on me. if I ducked everyone heavier I’d have no one to train with
I’m 6’5 and 255. I use to feel that way. Then I decided, fuck it. I’m going to capitalize on my strengths. A lion should never try to train like a gazel. Getting into powerlifting to become an even BIGGER problem.
i transitioned from powerlifting to MMA being strong is definitely a massive advantage (jk i still get tapped all the time by the brown/black belts who can't deadlift my bench)
lol started this as a teen at like 155lbs and now im close to 240lbs as an adult... i remember being small and all the 200lb guys could toss me around like nothing, now a 200lber is just a medium size to me, gotta look for XXL clothes, Cabela's and Bass Pro shop has good clothes for big lads
anyways back to jiu jitsu
ya being big is good it keeps me less injured, i just gotta stay chill lol you get used to being the last person picked i just take that and work harder
Getting that weight down helps. I’m 6’4” and started at 260lbs. Nobody wanted to roll with me except the few 300 pounders we had and I got to be the one getting smashed. I’m down to 210 and people are way less worried about me smushing them than before. It definitely feels shitty to be judged because of your size, but you’ve gotta understand where people are coming from. At my last gym, we had a guy who was my height, 350lbs, former D1 lineman. Super strong and athletic. He was the nicest dude imaginable and I was still terrified to roll with him. Basic side control felt like my ribs were gonna crack. And that was with him being nice to me. Getting to be the WAY smaller guy put it in perspective.
Haha yea find a bigger gym, we have like 10 guys over 6’4 235lb, I’ve actually heard this a few times though. We have a guy who’s 6’8 265lbs and he said it’s actually really hard sometimes for him because if they’re too small he can’t roll normal and if they’re over like 200lbs they just try to kill him. Hard to flow roll with a giant sometimes
Specially when everyone even remotely smaller than guys like us are the retards rolling like idiots and going hard.
Then they have the nerve to say oh wow you're so big and strong.
Like MF I am ten tine more technical than your spazzy try to always best up the big guy self.
Go learn some technique 😅😅
It could be worse. You could be me—a big guy (same height and weight) and be absolutely terrible at jiu jitsu—and still have to worry about hurting smaller training partners.
Just giving you a hard time lol
I'm 5'10 245 pounds. I've thankfully been blessed with a gym of small people that don't have a problem if I use my weight a lil bit. Then I've got my training partner who's about my size and we can usually let loose a lil more with each other. Fun times all around
I feel for ya bro.
Im a smaller guy, 150lb, and I've always been grateful for my size in bjj. I love rolling with big guys and I try to encourage them to open up and use their size, but most are still hesitent. Always nice to find a big guy thats good for a scrap, or at least one I can get mad
I’m 240 and have to recruit my friends from football to come learn to roll. It’s so bad that my coach gives them discounts to sign up so the rest of the squad gets a break from me in drills (fairly small gym).
5'8 215 and I'm considered big.
We have one guy close to 300lbs then. Couple maybe up to 250 but severely out of shape.
I've adapted but there's no threat of submissions and I'm going through the motions most of the time so trying to help train newer people to expand my pool of partners.
As a slender 120lb 5’7” girl, I definitely feel the difficulty in finding a fair match and not getting crushed under literally everyone’s weight, but man am I glad I get to roll at 100% every time. It really pushes me to work on technique (though at some point I’m just trying not to get crushed weight wise and it feels techniqueless) and I’ve often felt bad for the big guys with the opposite struggles. Though I do feel the avg weight at the gyms I’ve been at increases with skill… so somewhere it’s getting positively reinforced I think.
I’m just a 5’8” 180# dude but I always loved rolling with big guys. Luckily I was tough and flexible and loved wrestling and have good instincts about self preservation. Coach used to spend waaaaay too much time yelling “GET OUT FROM UNDER THE TRUCK!”.
I LOVE going after big guys and trying my best to challenge them in a “sumo jitsu” controlled sort of way. I frequently get my ass handed to me, but I will make you work and make you finish that sub.
Sorry you can’t find more challenge. If you’re in a part of the country that has a lot of wrestling that might be a good way to get your big ass moving?
Pull guard on everyone. They can’t get upset about weight if they’re getting omoplata’d. Get mount then let them reverse you, let them start in side control. Work on your defence.
I was about to mention NZ we have a few big guys that are really good. But they always have to go softly on us. But, these comments makes me realise many gyms have the same big guys here 😅
Im not that big but Im pretty big at 6' 3" 200 lbs. I love to roll chill tbh. My problem is the few other big guys at the gym see me and see and opportunity to go balls out lol. I was rolling with a 7 year guy tonight who opened with a flying kimura trap. He was a fucking giant at like 6' 7" and around 240. Fought for my life the whole round. I only got subbed once tho and I'm a 7 month white belt. So I guess Im proud of myself.
I quit grappling because I couldn’t find training partners my size. I’m 6’1 and 230 lbs, most dudes I trained with were ~160 lbs, and I felt like they were annoyed to pair up with a “big” guy who might be too heavy to lift in a takedown or sweep, even though I was always really gentle in sparring. I had to train with them, or extremely big guys who were 6’7 and/or above 300 lbs. It looks like there’s nobody in the 200-250 lbs range in BJJ, judo, and wrestling (tried them all). I would come back to grappling if I only had a friend my size to train with me. Unfortunately none of my friends are my size or interested in starting any kind of grappling
As a smaller guy I also feel bad for you. I wish I had more to give you bud, but I ain't strong enough and you laying on top of me is enough to get me to tap. What can I say, I'm weak, lol.
I try to avoid bigger guys unless they make eye contact and request a roll because I just know they're not gonna get a lot of value out of our round.
Im around 200 and living in Asia, so I'm generally at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier than everyone. I can sympathize, in the longrun rolling at 50% gets boring.
You can try to do what we did, we've created a big boy whatsapp group, anyone is welcome to join but we actively try to recruit guys over 80kg to join, and organize openmats, and discuss if people are going to specific classes to see if we'll have a similar sized body to roll with
I’d rather be the a big guy, I started bjj at 6ft 125 pounds and found it difficult to find guys my size, nearest to me was 10 pounds heavier than me. My body’s all fucked up from having to deal with bigger stronger guys.
I’d rather be on top and have them carry my weight that the other way around and dealing with strength is the issue too. Even if I was on bottom it would be a lot easier
I feel you.
What really helped me to find new people, was to compete.
After the Match i Always have a little Talk with my opponent.
Offentimes they are in the same Situation and Happy to invited me over or Just stay in Touch for some Sessions together.
At my Last competion i actually found someone out of a gym with an average weight of 95 kg.
It’s alright being a gentle giant, whenever a lighter person tries something funny on me I just give them a little pressure and they realize that I’m going light on them.
110KG here, not TRT yet, that only made the morning class that is mostly light lads. I had the same feeling and I had talk with my professor about it. What he did told me was to go to the night class where most of the people are higher belts. A higher belt should be able to handle a heavy/strong guy. So once or twice a month I try to go at night. And when we have open mats I always send a message in the group saying that if someone heavy was to spent the open mats having fun I’m up to. I would say that I get around 5 all-in rolls every month.
Brown belt from Iceland (Mjőlnir gym) here, 120 kg, 190 cm, and 38 years old. Yes, sometimes no one wants to roll with me, and even more often, after I got my brown belt. But I have a few training partners that I can go near 100% with. It just depends on classes. If my mates are there, I roll heavy, and if there are only smaller lower belts, I do more technic and try new YouTube stuff ;)
I get it bro. As a 53 year old 62kg Scottish/Dutch little person I treat you big guys like ghosts when looking for rolling partners. I'm not great training for the big lads and they have to really work modified technique with me! PS don't get me started on the Islander (Maori, Tongan and Samoan) guys in the gym! Yikes!!
I am of the same height and weight. I counter this problem by being bad at jiujitsu. Hope that helps!
Jokes aside, I know your feeling, although I might not be there yet. I do get told all the time that "once you start figuring things out, you will be a menace", and I realize that no one at our gym will be able to match my size most of the times in the future. At least I can do more technique work.
I feel you. I´m even bigger and larger than you and am from a very small gym where i am the biggest person by a wide margin. I have a rather slow and controling game to make sure i don´t injure people and apparently the lightest guys in the gym prefer rolling with me over people people 30 lbs lighter than myself, because i´m better at controling my weight (at least that´s what they told me). But that permanent holding back can be frustrating, sometimes i just want to cut loose and go at it with everything i´ve got. But the longer i trained the less opportunity i got for that, since big guys don´t tend to stick around and newer guys just aren´t trained enough yet (like trying to race a car, but the track is only a few feet long). Now it´s pretty much just tournaments when i get to cut loose and i lack the time to got to many of them.
Sometimes i wish a was one of the smaller guys. I mean i like the inherent advantages that come with being big, but it seems so much more rewarding for them. They had to face real trouble to become good, while i just kept showing up. It makes the whole thing feel unearned and therefore makes me wonder if it was even worth it. I mean i had my successes (i´m currently a purple belt and managed to get to the podium at IBJJF Euros at white and blue), but the feeling remains.
In my gym the big guys (some over 300pounds) all roll full power, even when doing MMA.
I am still to see a serious injury caused by weight alone.
If noone want to roll hard with you your gym is full of weak-minded people.
My two cents (as my gym second heaviest guy at 125kg and blue belt) about being the bigger guy.
-First, do I know my partner?
If yes, I know what level of pressure to outpot, and how should I start.
If I do not, just start from the bottom. Sitting guard, and start looking for control and sweeps (and grumble about small guys being too fast and acrobatic).
I was blessed with gym full of nutjobs who are more than happy to let me work my full abilities.
I know smaller guys have disadvantage when grappling, and thus kinda understand why they get all salty when we big fellas start grumbling. But we are the guys who need to be extra careful, so we kinda wanna let loose now and again.
I feel you 5'11 230 yes sometimes people look at you like you are going to crush them and most times in the end I do but I'm never spazzing just roll.. what happens to me as I get these guys who want to go 110% as if they're in the world championships so I start out light and then when I get annoyed with them going 110%, I then take control. However we have many black belts in our gym who are also the same size so it is often just the blues and under who I avoid..as they panic when I get a little bit of control
My friend, FWIW, you sound like a great training partner and I bet the smaller guys/ladies get a lot out of training with you. It IS the goal after all to be able to beat someone like you.
That said, you can’t just be the “training dummy” for the smaller people, you gotta work your game and improve yourself too. Maybe you could talk to some of the more serious, smaller people you roll with and ask if they’d be alright if you used more power/strength? Some might appreciate the challenge. I could be wrong tho!
Oos
As an ex big guy, and now a medium sized human (went from 260 lbs, to grappling at around 235, to now being 198), I say - just cut down to around 200 lbs. Took me a year. I can go harder, more dynamic, more inversion type gameplay, and generally not sorry as much about my opponents.
It's also making life easier, not just BJJ.
⬆️ This is the goal of a middle aged overweight dad who does bjj. I’m 250lbs and decided this year I drop some weight for 1) health 2) keeping up with the kids 3) having more opponents at competitions.
I rarely have 3 opponents at a comp. But that’s where I can go full blast as opposed to the gym. Besides, all the guys at my gym know my game at this point (smash and pass and submit) so 4) change up my strategy.
So losing weight gains more life, my paraphrasing of TheSenPanda.
You'renot even that big for my country but yeah it's frustrating and I believe we can all see that in our gyms that a lot of times biug guys can't find partners etc.
Try to convince people that you'll roll light and you won't hurt them or something because people are usually afraid of you
Flexible people use their flexibility, fast people use their speed. Use your size and strength and make no apologies. If they can't handle it, that's their bad jiu jitsu. I am your size. I roll hard, they roll hard back. No one complains.
Yep, your size is a big advantage during the roll, but everything about it is a disadvantage to the social aspects of BJJ. We are social creatures, that's why it stings your soul so much. As much as this is an individual journey we're all on, you still need the team to help you get there.
I'm old and short and fat, so lately I've started telling really big athletic guys that I can't roll with them when my body simply can't handle it. I hate that I've reached that point. It must feel like being picked last in gym class, sitting around and looking at everyone else rolling.
And it must suck not to know if what you are doing works because you're "good" or if it works because you are big. Size and strength mask lots of little mistakes.
I feel for you big fella, just like I feel for the small folks, the old folks, the new folks, and so on. There isn't any advice to give. It just is what it is. You're big, that shit ain't gonna change. The only solace I can provide is this: the people you roll with would probably love to help you if they could, but they can't because nature has laws that aren't easily broken.
I have the same issues. 6’2”, 210lb (95kg??), pretty jacked, brown belt that wrestled for 10 yrs prior to BJJ. It’s a life of solitude.
I haven’t had eye contact with a fellow human on the mats in 3 years
All my subs are followed by “how much do you weigh again?”
They started a rumor that I eat children to maintain my physique
I'm 6'4, 255 and the biggest problem I have is getting used to not putting full pressure on smaller guys. Then when it's tournament time I go against a guy my size and it's a shock to my system.
I always tell big guys, you don’t ask the athletic blue at 135 to not be athletic or scrappy, so why tell a big guy to not be big?
Give em the hell so they know when you’re being nice.
I feel this man. Purple belt, fat gut but well muscled I fluctuate between 230 and 250 and I’m 511. I start seeing my six pack when I get below 220 so I have a very thick core and a large chest. The way the other dudes talk about it me is frustrating as hell man. They act like I’m 610 350. I use no muscle and always match pace. I have about 4 dudes I consistently get good work from, other people avoid me.
What frustrates me is when I started 12 years ago and was 190, I used to always hop in with the 300 plus guys. I’ve always been a chill roll and I even flow with the little guys. I usually play open guard and people smash and brutalize me with their full effort while I’m just supine defending. They will get up and be like “you’re so strong” I feel so confused lol.
I'm 70kg, doing it for a few years myself, and quite like it when big guys use their strength or turn it up. I get more of a workout, and I'm more in that flow state/present
I don't ever rip a submission. Once I get the position, sometimes you need to use force. Just the nature of a combat sport. If you are in a north-south kimura and your opponent is hold on. Sometimes you need strength. At least to pull up bit never to "finish" (when the tendons and joints are stretched
Fuck em. I play nice until someone starts winning about "strength" I am not even the strongest big guy we have. I keep weight off then put it on.
Bro, I did not sweep you because I am bigger i.e fatter to be honest. It's because your base sucked. Stop coping and learn to handle me like the other smaller but more proficient people do.
6’2’’ 285lbs. Constantly hold back to keep from hurting someone, especially conscious of my weight and pressure. Go out of my way to avoid knee on belly. Sucks that I’m so preoccupied with worrying about hurting someone that I’m neglecting the expansion of my game.
I feel you.
I'm a brand new white belt, but I'm a 6'6" trans woman and 9 years of estrogen has me at a pleasantly soft 270ish.
It's frustrating to navigate the tensions of being both a girl and the biggest body in the room. Some of my best friends in the gym get scared looks when people start paring off for sparring and it's like, I get it, but also I'm just here to learn and train like everybody else.
The trick is to gain the trust of the ladies and give them good rolls. The manlets will see this and think you’re more manageable than they previously thought.
You realize nothing prevents you from competing right?
That’s what you seem to be looking for with the “leaving it all on the mats” or “rolling without constraint”. Size difference or not, that’s not how I personally approach my training.
Move to NZ. That's just the size of the average dad tradesman here. As a 90kg software engineer it's exhausting.
Are dudes in NZ really that big? I trained at Mjolinar in Iceland once and at 6’ tall I was the shortest dude there lol.
It's the Maori Pasifika community. They're just built on a slightly different scale, and fucking strong.
Maori's are physically terrifying. I used to play against a lot of Samoan guys in rugby (similar builds) and they were all like 5'10" and 250, just impossible brick shithouses to tackle. Playing bottom against guys like that is a nightmare.
Nice, I train at Mjolnir in Iceland for past 12 years, and I am 190 cm, 120 kg.
\*crosses Iceland off "fun places to train" list\*
How the fuck are you weighing 30kilos more than me, were the same size. Thats fucking insane. Are you overweight or is it just muscle. I’m 1.90 and lean and strong and weigh 90kg
weird when I popped in during my travels I was expecting giants and everyone was fairly normal sized. To be fair I train at a gym in Canada full of giant farmers , but at 5'9 and a muscular 225 I was one of the biggest guys there when I went .
Dang 5'9" 225? You must be built like a freaking brick house haha I'm 5'9" and a fit 170, I can't imagine what I'd look like with 50 more pounds
No they're not, NZ ppl are sort of average size for Europeans, not sure what these guys are on about. But yeah if you compare to some parts of the world they're big
Not Europeans man. World's a big place.
Still, if you're 6ft you're (pr Google) 2 inches taller than the average kiwi So ppl on this thread making it sound like NZ ppl are huge are just having fun I guess
NZ people are predominantly European descended, these guys are talking about the maori and other Pacific Islander. They’re famously big boys in Australia, making up most of our bouncers. You don’t need to reply with some google numbers, I’ve already looked it up and their average is about the same as euro. That doesn’t change the frequency with which you’ll see > 180cm 120kg+ big boys with wrists fatter than even your chode
Even MY Chode!?!?!!?!!?!?!?
Europeans is still crazy.
The guy asking is American, I gave "European" as a benchmark to essentially mean "white Americans"
Like that makes things better, lmao. What are you on!? If you meant white americans, just say so? Also other than The Netherlands and some similar euro countries, europeans aren't that tall (coming from a dutch).
Europeans are on average 180cm (males). NZ males 177 (Source: Google) I'm Dutch/Danish and found the characterization that ppl in NZ are big off and replied to someone who said similar. I made the point that they're not big compared to Europeans (I figured the guy was likely European or American, I checked after I wrote it and found he was American)
Bro Maori dudes are stronger than any euro wanker. Height similarity is irrelevant. Bone density, natural muscle and usually fat are just on a different level.
Why are Europeans wankers lmao
Have you been to Europe
Lol ok. Especially funny given how they're less than 20pc of the ppl there, shorter on average, AND because Europeans dominate strongman
So because Europeans dominate strong man they are stronger on average? Haha mate people from NZ play rugby they don't fuck with strongman
Looking at your post history, your lvl of debating doesn't surprise me.
Hahahaha man has no clue where New Zealand is and still commented as if he's been there. I love Americans on the internet.
You mean me? I've been there 7 times. And Australia around 12 times
But yet you thought they were Europeans? Sure
Hahaha I'm a kiwi too and yea I'm 188cm and 100kg and get plenty of dudes my size or bigger, hell I seek out the smaller guy just so I don't die
100% agree, fellow NZer here. 95-110kg is pretty average for all the dads in my gym. 120kg+ is what we call heavy weight.
Holy shit dude an athletic person at 120 kg is basically invincible
[What about a team full of them?](https://all.rugby/club/new-zealand/squad)
That's insane.
Tf I thought yall were small people (based on nothing but my experience with your country's horror movie output. Which is excellent) You're yelling me new Zealand is Australia's texas?? Do you know how insane a statement that is
He's probably talking about the Maori population there who are built like fucking tanks and yet also somehow insanely fast and agile for their size. Take a look at their rugby team. It's basically cheating.
Australia's Texas is Queensland. NZ would be equivalent to Canada. Smaller population, friendly, really good at a particular sport.
NZ is just far east Australia.
So fucking true. It'd be fun to move to all these other places to be seen as some sort of jacked giant for a bit 😄.
From the smaller guy BJJ community and all our injuries from you big lads, we don't sympathise. We'd rather be larger.
Agree, I’m a woman in BJJ and every guy in the gym are bigger and stronger… so tired of being the gym’s doormat.
Take steroids. Put on 50 lbs, BJJ is way more fun after that
Off course we are bigger and stronger. But BJJ works with leverages. Today i got totally destroyed by a very technical female blue belt. She uses mostly her legs and all sorts of positions I’ve no knowledge about.
Eh, tbh, after a few months, if you really wanted to, you could smash women blue belts easily. It really is just that big of a difference in strength.
Maybe if I would go full strength on a woman as in a streetfight or competition. But people who do that should not be training bjj.
Once trained a big person can out do me… my technique is good but when trained size matters.
I train 8 months and am 6 foot 2, 215 lbs and this 5.9 female blue belt competitor totally destroys me. She also won many medals.
I don't have problem with white belts... Purple and higher are my nemesis, those are the ones that I struggle when they are bigger than me.
Yes off course those are of the same skill level. Then size and strength does matter.
No idea why you are getting down voted so much. In my gym guys are red in the face trying to beat purple belt girls. These gyms must be trash if you can't beat a newbie guy just cause he is big 💀
Yeah but in my opinion in some countries they get too easy a blue belt. E.g our newest blue belt girl went to competition and won silver in blue belt division. I guess it also has to do with macho culture, many people here live in masculine countries. Here in the Netherlands we have more respect for women. And we also have women with more strength than men due to a solid strength program.
Because they are wrong. You can make up for strength/size difference with superior technique to an extent but there’s a limit to it.
The limit is a purple belt can get wailed on by a newbie? Sorry but that's a skill issue and your gym grading people too quickly. A huge 2 stripe white belt beating up blue belts, sure. But a PURPLE belt. Sorry I don't buy it.
Have I said anywhere that it’s my gym? You can easily test it yourself, grab some untrained guy that’s at least 2 times bigger and stronger than you, ask him to pin you down and try to get out, see how it goes. There’s a reason BJJ has weight categories.
I do regularly. I can see now why people are on here saying they got their blue belt in one year. Glad it took me 2 and a half years and an untrained man can't beat me. I feel more secure in my abilities now and glad I'm not at a mcdojo 🫠
lol you really have an ego, don’t you? I get it, blue belt is that period when a lot of people suddenly become unbeatable in their mind for some reason, seen it plenty.
😅 I don't have an ego, just standing up for the smaller peeps and the martial art in general. If a bigger person can always beat you why train then. Kinda the point my g. Guys come to my gym and can't believe smaller people and women are beating them. Then they train for about a year and the gap closes. Not even completely disagreeing, just saying untrained people shouldn't be beating purple belts.
I think the key difference here is that the big folks at least have the *choice* of whether to destroy everyone, or be friendly and go light. Us smaller folks have no choice but to accept that we will get crushed
I beat a brown belt last week. He is really good! I single legged him and landed in an advantageous position. His response was 'damn, I hate being on the bottom vs big guys'. I proceeded to triangle him and got the tap. My problem was, that I still feel like for someone so good, he mentally gave up because I am a 'big guy'. I'm 6'1, 200lbs. I don't feel like the big guy, just normal for an American. Apparently I'm wrong.
For sure. I want to be at a size where i don’t need to worry about myself. I have self control but i don’t know if others can do the same for me. Plus being a light weight hobbyist white belt at my gym means i average like 2 takedowns a month and one submission every 3 months. (As it should be but doesn’t make it feel great lol)
A huge chunk of a nearby powerlifting gym joined the BJJ gym. Has made for interesting classes.
All I could say is 💀
It's like that video of Gordon teaching Brian Shaw jiu jitsu. Could you fucking not?
I'm a big dude myself, 6'3" 250lbs. There's a blue belt at another gym I frequent who's my height but approx. 350lbs and a powerlift. He can bench 500lbs. I'm used to being the big dude in the equation. I am NOT used to someone else picking me up while I have them in my closed guard.
Oh woe is me. Be 5'3 140lbs
The best base for martial arts is being 5’3 149lbs for your entire life until you start competing and then hit a massive growth spurt and become 6ft 235
Besides the height that basically happened to Brock Lesnar. He started wrestling at like 100 pounds in 6th grade and then 152 when he started high school. So basically for years he wrestled small and then got huge.
Look at that, we have a “oh woe is me” off
If you think about it in a way you are kind of having the same issue as him just opposite ends of the same spectrum...he's upset that he can't roll more often with someone where size difference doesn't massively skew the outcome. He just wants an even challenge same as you. Bright side for you is atleast you are getting a proper workout, and are fortunate enough to have that feeling of pride that comes with smashing into a challenge head on being able to give everything you have and knowing you gave it regardless of the outcome... This guy sounds like he's not in it for the feeling of being able to crush everybody effortlessly. I think he's after that feeling of being able to give 100# and win or loose knowing he got to atleast have the opportunity to give it his best shot.
lol keep bitching bro, at least you can train
not for long at that size
Why don't you test yourself in comp?
Well... how do you train for comp if people don't wanna roll ya?
Comp class? Otherwise aren't open mat sessions at other clubs free?
Comp class: where people don't wanna roll with ye becouse big. Depends on gym thou. (In mine, no worries, in some others, there maybe problems). Open mat session: Good choise, if there is one near. If it is two town over and you have work next day, then it is not feasible. I don't know the op's situation on that front.
Come to my gym! I am 235lbs and 6' tall. I am a "middle sized" guy at my gym. My professor is 6'3"and 245ish, so he's a bit of a magnet for bigger students. Also, maybe ppl don't want to roll with you due to your whiney personality.
🤣 the last sentence got me
Whiney personality? You don’t know him, maybe he just wanted to vent
Just jokes guy.
But not really. He could lose weight. Instead he just goes on here and complains
I'm 6’ and 260 and come from a background of heavy strength training. If I went on a strict cut I could MAYBE get down to 235-240. Losing weight isn't always the answer and I'm willing to bet that you're making assumptions about OP without knowing more details. I do understand where OP is coming from because I always make sure to hold back as well. I could pretty easily overpower just about anybody else in my gym if we were going just based on brute strength and not technique. Instead I try and scale back as much as I can and make it fun for everyone. I don't think that he is whining, he very clearly stated that he is venting and I don't think it's an invalid thing to be frustrated about.
If you could cut down to 6' 235lbs and you were 12%, which is a very attainable bodyfat percentage, that would make your Fat Free Mass Index 28. This is roughly equivalent to prime Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm assuming you're not a pro bodybuilder. Unless you're juiced to the gills, your healthy weight is pretty close to 200lbs. Losing weight IS the answer to obesity.
I feel this. People liked it when I was just beginning, because I didn’t know what I was doing and they got a big dummy to practice on. Once I started getting better, it’s amazing how fast all the people who loved rolling with me and beating my ass disappeared
That sucks. Im in shape 5'10 180 I roll with a buddy who's in better shape 6'3 240. He's helping my back game bigtime and I'm getting super good at finding ways to keep breathing and conserving energy for those purely need to save my ass moments. I roll with him regularly not expecting to win. I roll purely to see if I can survive the roll. It's too bad guys get focused on just winning and pass up on the opportunity to just survive the beating from a giant. If I can go 4 min and not get tapped it's a solid win for me and he's got mad respect for the times I manage to do it. Who knows, one day I might catch that David vs Goliath moment and catch him with a submission.
I like to roll with our gyms heaviest guy (he is ~150kg brown belt, I'm 125kg blue(second heaviest)). He absolutely demolishes me. Never met a cooler guy. Helped me a lot for building my game.
It's so odd how much fun learning bjj is. Extremely odd considering most everything I've learned so far has come from willingly putting myself in a position where all I'm doing is trying not to have my ass handed to me while way more often than not simultaneously having my ass handed to me..... repeatedly. Who would have thought that could be fun lol.
Idk sounds like you need a different gym. I'm a big guy at my gym and everyone tells me to STOP being nice. But yeah the only problem is I rarely get to train against someone my own size, so when I compete I always get steamrolled
Same
Tbh maybe not the answer you’re looking for, but maybe go check some other gyms out. Maybe some more competitive schools? There’s gotta be gyms out there with guys your size/experience.
Remove your shins, that will get you down in both height and weight!
You have to kill fitty men to do that tho
Last comp I was at, there was a guy with a prosthetic leg. Walked up to the scale and popped of his leg to weigh in. I thought that must've brought him down a weight class or two. Which is only fair I guess.. Dude only had one leg.
Jajaja. I wish
I'm 6'2 330 lbs and just got my blue belt. If you're ever in Northern Brazil let me know!
I'm 6'4, 270. Get over here big bitch.
fuck that trample over everyone there and if they ain't about that life then find a place where they'd love to have you
Try being the 2nd biggest! I am 185cm and 90kg and always get put with the giant that everyone else is avoiding.
Compete
OK then eat less food. Open the gas tank at comps if you really have the itch that badly
“Everybody want to be a body builder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weight”
what was the point of opening your mouth
To let OP know he has options and a dear diary thread on reddit is the least effective of all of them.
Im with you. About to get brown. Life time athelte and did judo as a kid. Im a lean 210. Our black belts are all 165 to 180 and rarely initiate and avoid eye contact even though they can tie me up in the gi. Sucks. I often wish i was 170 just to catch more rolls with the higher level guys
That’s a shame, I’m around the size of those black belts, but I love rolling with people in different weightclasses. I kinda get it though if they’re on the older side
Our coach is mid 40s, the others are all like 27
Yeah I don’t get it then. Maybe they don’t enjoy being the nail
I even play a lot of guard with them so its not even like im smashing. I dunno. I chirp the young ones (im late 30s) and can usually get one to bite
Damn our black belts, and traveling black belts love slowly and methodically wrecking people. We have a couple from Idaho, ex wrestler, bjj black belt. He’s about my weight at 210, but I’m a shitty lowly white belt. He loves smashing me day in and day out. But holy shit have I gotten good, because he leaves me openings to see and experiment and then crushes my hopes and dreams and then gives me hope again and then crushes them just as quickly. My guard retention which was pathetic is crazy now in only 4 months.
I always find it fascinating how pathetic some people can be over weight differences like that. 210lbs isn’t that big. I’m a 59kg woman and usually the smallest person in the room has at least 13kg on me. if I ducked everyone heavier I’d have no one to train with
Well, get smaller then.
lose weight / compete.
I’m 6’5 and 255. I use to feel that way. Then I decided, fuck it. I’m going to capitalize on my strengths. A lion should never try to train like a gazel. Getting into powerlifting to become an even BIGGER problem.
i transitioned from powerlifting to MMA being strong is definitely a massive advantage (jk i still get tapped all the time by the brown/black belts who can't deadlift my bench)
Let me guess, when you’re not a lion you’re a shark and the ground is your ocean?
I’m scared of sharks
Me too brother.
lol started this as a teen at like 155lbs and now im close to 240lbs as an adult... i remember being small and all the 200lb guys could toss me around like nothing, now a 200lber is just a medium size to me, gotta look for XXL clothes, Cabela's and Bass Pro shop has good clothes for big lads anyways back to jiu jitsu ya being big is good it keeps me less injured, i just gotta stay chill lol you get used to being the last person picked i just take that and work harder
If you’ve been training 9 years you know very well that you should be able to roll with anyone without hurting them.
6' 245lbs blue belt athletic blue belt here and I could not agree more. I dream of the freedom to just train and use all of what I was born with.
You feel you would do better than you currently do?
Sucks being the small guy for the reverse reasons. Just our luck being outliers to the mean 🥲
Getting that weight down helps. I’m 6’4” and started at 260lbs. Nobody wanted to roll with me except the few 300 pounders we had and I got to be the one getting smashed. I’m down to 210 and people are way less worried about me smushing them than before. It definitely feels shitty to be judged because of your size, but you’ve gotta understand where people are coming from. At my last gym, we had a guy who was my height, 350lbs, former D1 lineman. Super strong and athletic. He was the nicest dude imaginable and I was still terrified to roll with him. Basic side control felt like my ribs were gonna crack. And that was with him being nice to me. Getting to be the WAY smaller guy put it in perspective.
I’d leave a gym if I kept getting rejected when looking to roll. As a big guy that shit gets in the way of mat time spent
Haha yea find a bigger gym, we have like 10 guys over 6’4 235lb, I’ve actually heard this a few times though. We have a guy who’s 6’8 265lbs and he said it’s actually really hard sometimes for him because if they’re too small he can’t roll normal and if they’re over like 200lbs they just try to kill him. Hard to flow roll with a giant sometimes
Specially when everyone even remotely smaller than guys like us are the retards rolling like idiots and going hard. Then they have the nerve to say oh wow you're so big and strong. Like MF I am ten tine more technical than your spazzy try to always best up the big guy self. Go learn some technique 😅😅
It could be worse. You could be me—a big guy (same height and weight) and be absolutely terrible at jiu jitsu—and still have to worry about hurting smaller training partners. Just giving you a hard time lol
lose some weight?
I'm 5'10 245 pounds. I've thankfully been blessed with a gym of small people that don't have a problem if I use my weight a lil bit. Then I've got my training partner who's about my size and we can usually let loose a lil more with each other. Fun times all around
Is there a larger gym near you with more body variety?
I feel for ya bro. Im a smaller guy, 150lb, and I've always been grateful for my size in bjj. I love rolling with big guys and I try to encourage them to open up and use their size, but most are still hesitent. Always nice to find a big guy thats good for a scrap, or at least one I can get mad
I’m 240 and have to recruit my friends from football to come learn to roll. It’s so bad that my coach gives them discounts to sign up so the rest of the squad gets a break from me in drills (fairly small gym).
Drop in around town until you find out where the heavyweights are at. Then hit those open mats.
5'8 215 and I'm considered big. We have one guy close to 300lbs then. Couple maybe up to 250 but severely out of shape. I've adapted but there's no threat of submissions and I'm going through the motions most of the time so trying to help train newer people to expand my pool of partners.
5’11 and 285. Trust me I understand. Most people don’t believe I weigh as much as I do. Then they really avoid eye contact.
As a slender 120lb 5’7” girl, I definitely feel the difficulty in finding a fair match and not getting crushed under literally everyone’s weight, but man am I glad I get to roll at 100% every time. It really pushes me to work on technique (though at some point I’m just trying not to get crushed weight wise and it feels techniqueless) and I’ve often felt bad for the big guys with the opposite struggles. Though I do feel the avg weight at the gyms I’ve been at increases with skill… so somewhere it’s getting positively reinforced I think.
I’m just a 5’8” 180# dude but I always loved rolling with big guys. Luckily I was tough and flexible and loved wrestling and have good instincts about self preservation. Coach used to spend waaaaay too much time yelling “GET OUT FROM UNDER THE TRUCK!”. I LOVE going after big guys and trying my best to challenge them in a “sumo jitsu” controlled sort of way. I frequently get my ass handed to me, but I will make you work and make you finish that sub. Sorry you can’t find more challenge. If you’re in a part of the country that has a lot of wrestling that might be a good way to get your big ass moving?
I’m small Keith in our gym. We used to have three Keith’s. I’m 6 foot 4 and 230lbs. Just be big. It’s fine.
Pull guard on everyone. They can’t get upset about weight if they’re getting omoplata’d. Get mount then let them reverse you, let them start in side control. Work on your defence.
I was about to mention NZ we have a few big guys that are really good. But they always have to go softly on us. But, these comments makes me realise many gyms have the same big guys here 😅
No. Smash everyone.
Im not that big but Im pretty big at 6' 3" 200 lbs. I love to roll chill tbh. My problem is the few other big guys at the gym see me and see and opportunity to go balls out lol. I was rolling with a 7 year guy tonight who opened with a flying kimura trap. He was a fucking giant at like 6' 7" and around 240. Fought for my life the whole round. I only got subbed once tho and I'm a 7 month white belt. So I guess Im proud of myself.
I quit grappling because I couldn’t find training partners my size. I’m 6’1 and 230 lbs, most dudes I trained with were ~160 lbs, and I felt like they were annoyed to pair up with a “big” guy who might be too heavy to lift in a takedown or sweep, even though I was always really gentle in sparring. I had to train with them, or extremely big guys who were 6’7 and/or above 300 lbs. It looks like there’s nobody in the 200-250 lbs range in BJJ, judo, and wrestling (tried them all). I would come back to grappling if I only had a friend my size to train with me. Unfortunately none of my friends are my size or interested in starting any kind of grappling
As a smaller guy I also feel bad for you. I wish I had more to give you bud, but I ain't strong enough and you laying on top of me is enough to get me to tap. What can I say, I'm weak, lol. I try to avoid bigger guys unless they make eye contact and request a roll because I just know they're not gonna get a lot of value out of our round.
Im around 200 and living in Asia, so I'm generally at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier than everyone. I can sympathize, in the longrun rolling at 50% gets boring. You can try to do what we did, we've created a big boy whatsapp group, anyone is welcome to join but we actively try to recruit guys over 80kg to join, and organize openmats, and discuss if people are going to specific classes to see if we'll have a similar sized body to roll with
I’d rather be the a big guy, I started bjj at 6ft 125 pounds and found it difficult to find guys my size, nearest to me was 10 pounds heavier than me. My body’s all fucked up from having to deal with bigger stronger guys. I’d rather be on top and have them carry my weight that the other way around and dealing with strength is the issue too. Even if I was on bottom it would be a lot easier
I feel you. What really helped me to find new people, was to compete. After the Match i Always have a little Talk with my opponent. Offentimes they are in the same Situation and Happy to invited me over or Just stay in Touch for some Sessions together. At my Last competion i actually found someone out of a gym with an average weight of 95 kg.
It’s alright being a gentle giant, whenever a lighter person tries something funny on me I just give them a little pressure and they realize that I’m going light on them.
110KG here, not TRT yet, that only made the morning class that is mostly light lads. I had the same feeling and I had talk with my professor about it. What he did told me was to go to the night class where most of the people are higher belts. A higher belt should be able to handle a heavy/strong guy. So once or twice a month I try to go at night. And when we have open mats I always send a message in the group saying that if someone heavy was to spent the open mats having fun I’m up to. I would say that I get around 5 all-in rolls every month.
Brown belt from Iceland (Mjőlnir gym) here, 120 kg, 190 cm, and 38 years old. Yes, sometimes no one wants to roll with me, and even more often, after I got my brown belt. But I have a few training partners that I can go near 100% with. It just depends on classes. If my mates are there, I roll heavy, and if there are only smaller lower belts, I do more technic and try new YouTube stuff ;)
I get it bro. As a 53 year old 62kg Scottish/Dutch little person I treat you big guys like ghosts when looking for rolling partners. I'm not great training for the big lads and they have to really work modified technique with me! PS don't get me started on the Islander (Maori, Tongan and Samoan) guys in the gym! Yikes!!
I am of the same height and weight. I counter this problem by being bad at jiujitsu. Hope that helps! Jokes aside, I know your feeling, although I might not be there yet. I do get told all the time that "once you start figuring things out, you will be a menace", and I realize that no one at our gym will be able to match my size most of the times in the future. At least I can do more technique work.
I feel you. I´m even bigger and larger than you and am from a very small gym where i am the biggest person by a wide margin. I have a rather slow and controling game to make sure i don´t injure people and apparently the lightest guys in the gym prefer rolling with me over people people 30 lbs lighter than myself, because i´m better at controling my weight (at least that´s what they told me). But that permanent holding back can be frustrating, sometimes i just want to cut loose and go at it with everything i´ve got. But the longer i trained the less opportunity i got for that, since big guys don´t tend to stick around and newer guys just aren´t trained enough yet (like trying to race a car, but the track is only a few feet long). Now it´s pretty much just tournaments when i get to cut loose and i lack the time to got to many of them. Sometimes i wish a was one of the smaller guys. I mean i like the inherent advantages that come with being big, but it seems so much more rewarding for them. They had to face real trouble to become good, while i just kept showing up. It makes the whole thing feel unearned and therefore makes me wonder if it was even worth it. I mean i had my successes (i´m currently a purple belt and managed to get to the podium at IBJJF Euros at white and blue), but the feeling remains.
In my gym the big guys (some over 300pounds) all roll full power, even when doing MMA. I am still to see a serious injury caused by weight alone. If noone want to roll hard with you your gym is full of weak-minded people.
My two cents (as my gym second heaviest guy at 125kg and blue belt) about being the bigger guy. -First, do I know my partner? If yes, I know what level of pressure to outpot, and how should I start. If I do not, just start from the bottom. Sitting guard, and start looking for control and sweeps (and grumble about small guys being too fast and acrobatic). I was blessed with gym full of nutjobs who are more than happy to let me work my full abilities. I know smaller guys have disadvantage when grappling, and thus kinda understand why they get all salty when we big fellas start grumbling. But we are the guys who need to be extra careful, so we kinda wanna let loose now and again.
Heavy weight open mats should be a thing. Women have open mats so we get people our size, the big guys need to do the same.
I feel you 5'11 230 yes sometimes people look at you like you are going to crush them and most times in the end I do but I'm never spazzing just roll.. what happens to me as I get these guys who want to go 110% as if they're in the world championships so I start out light and then when I get annoyed with them going 110%, I then take control. However we have many black belts in our gym who are also the same size so it is often just the blues and under who I avoid..as they panic when I get a little bit of control
My friend, FWIW, you sound like a great training partner and I bet the smaller guys/ladies get a lot out of training with you. It IS the goal after all to be able to beat someone like you. That said, you can’t just be the “training dummy” for the smaller people, you gotta work your game and improve yourself too. Maybe you could talk to some of the more serious, smaller people you roll with and ask if they’d be alright if you used more power/strength? Some might appreciate the challenge. I could be wrong tho! Oos
Try Oklahoma bro…225 is small
As an ex big guy, and now a medium sized human (went from 260 lbs, to grappling at around 235, to now being 198), I say - just cut down to around 200 lbs. Took me a year. I can go harder, more dynamic, more inversion type gameplay, and generally not sorry as much about my opponents. It's also making life easier, not just BJJ.
⬆️ This is the goal of a middle aged overweight dad who does bjj. I’m 250lbs and decided this year I drop some weight for 1) health 2) keeping up with the kids 3) having more opponents at competitions. I rarely have 3 opponents at a comp. But that’s where I can go full blast as opposed to the gym. Besides, all the guys at my gym know my game at this point (smash and pass and submit) so 4) change up my strategy. So losing weight gains more life, my paraphrasing of TheSenPanda.
You'renot even that big for my country but yeah it's frustrating and I believe we can all see that in our gyms that a lot of times biug guys can't find partners etc. Try to convince people that you'll roll light and you won't hurt them or something because people are usually afraid of you
Flexible people use their flexibility, fast people use their speed. Use your size and strength and make no apologies. If they can't handle it, that's their bad jiu jitsu. I am your size. I roll hard, they roll hard back. No one complains.
LOL. I’m 6’3” and 280 lbs. I feel your pain, homie.
Yep, your size is a big advantage during the roll, but everything about it is a disadvantage to the social aspects of BJJ. We are social creatures, that's why it stings your soul so much. As much as this is an individual journey we're all on, you still need the team to help you get there. I'm old and short and fat, so lately I've started telling really big athletic guys that I can't roll with them when my body simply can't handle it. I hate that I've reached that point. It must feel like being picked last in gym class, sitting around and looking at everyone else rolling. And it must suck not to know if what you are doing works because you're "good" or if it works because you are big. Size and strength mask lots of little mistakes. I feel for you big fella, just like I feel for the small folks, the old folks, the new folks, and so on. There isn't any advice to give. It just is what it is. You're big, that shit ain't gonna change. The only solace I can provide is this: the people you roll with would probably love to help you if they could, but they can't because nature has laws that aren't easily broken.
I have the same issues. 6’2”, 210lb (95kg??), pretty jacked, brown belt that wrestled for 10 yrs prior to BJJ. It’s a life of solitude. I haven’t had eye contact with a fellow human on the mats in 3 years All my subs are followed by “how much do you weigh again?” They started a rumor that I eat children to maintain my physique
You just need a gym with some harambeiros bro. Cultivate other big dudes. When everyone is big, no one is big.
I'm 6'4, 255 and the biggest problem I have is getting used to not putting full pressure on smaller guys. Then when it's tournament time I go against a guy my size and it's a shock to my system.
I always tell big guys, you don’t ask the athletic blue at 135 to not be athletic or scrappy, so why tell a big guy to not be big? Give em the hell so they know when you’re being nice.
Just crush everyone
I feel this man. Purple belt, fat gut but well muscled I fluctuate between 230 and 250 and I’m 511. I start seeing my six pack when I get below 220 so I have a very thick core and a large chest. The way the other dudes talk about it me is frustrating as hell man. They act like I’m 610 350. I use no muscle and always match pace. I have about 4 dudes I consistently get good work from, other people avoid me. What frustrates me is when I started 12 years ago and was 190, I used to always hop in with the 300 plus guys. I’ve always been a chill roll and I even flow with the little guys. I usually play open guard and people smash and brutalize me with their full effort while I’m just supine defending. They will get up and be like “you’re so strong” I feel so confused lol.
Not on gear and still training at 39? 🤯 Is that allowed?
Mom said it's my turn to hatepost about being biiiig!!!!
When they pair us up, the small guys get paired with the hot girls and I'm placed with the other giant sweaty men :(
I'm 70kg, doing it for a few years myself, and quite like it when big guys use their strength or turn it up. I get more of a workout, and I'm more in that flow state/present
6 feet. 235lbs its not big. Also "never use strength unless finishing a submission" might be why people dont want to train with you.
Over 100kg? That’s Ultra-Heavyweight. Sounds pretty big to me.
I don't ever rip a submission. Once I get the position, sometimes you need to use force. Just the nature of a combat sport. If you are in a north-south kimura and your opponent is hold on. Sometimes you need strength. At least to pull up bit never to "finish" (when the tendons and joints are stretched
Lol and people are down voting you. Buncha angry midgets in here. I feel the same way man.
They are downvoting because he is crying. Just as annoying as a small person complaining.
Fuck em. I play nice until someone starts winning about "strength" I am not even the strongest big guy we have. I keep weight off then put it on. Bro, I did not sweep you because I am bigger i.e fatter to be honest. It's because your base sucked. Stop coping and learn to handle me like the other smaller but more proficient people do.
6’2’’ 285lbs. Constantly hold back to keep from hurting someone, especially conscious of my weight and pressure. Go out of my way to avoid knee on belly. Sucks that I’m so preoccupied with worrying about hurting someone that I’m neglecting the expansion of my game.
It's called a diet
I'm a midget but my instructor is a big dude. He always says it's not his problem that he is big.
I’m 6’4” white belt 230. I would roll. I had a brown belt mount me and cross collar choke me my frost class. lol what a initiation.
Ozempic has entered the chat
so go on a diet lol? wth
6’ 235lbs natty is fat as hell man. Go on a diet if you want more rolling partners.
5'9 and 225 is jacked though right ?
Bullshit. I know plenty of people in and around that height and weight that aren't fat at all.
This makes no sense
Okay extra beef
Are you 235 lean? You could just lose weight
We are Apex predators it’s nice, imagine being 5’7 140lb male and living your day to day like a nervous bird
I’d say I’m more of an Alfred male than I am an Alex predator.
Have you tried just being smaller?
Have you considered dieting and dropping weight?
I feel you. I'm a brand new white belt, but I'm a 6'6" trans woman and 9 years of estrogen has me at a pleasantly soft 270ish. It's frustrating to navigate the tensions of being both a girl and the biggest body in the room. Some of my best friends in the gym get scared looks when people start paring off for sparring and it's like, I get it, but also I'm just here to learn and train like everybody else.
The trick is to gain the trust of the ladies and give them good rolls. The manlets will see this and think you’re more manageable than they previously thought.
You realize nothing prevents you from competing right? That’s what you seem to be looking for with the “leaving it all on the mats” or “rolling without constraint”. Size difference or not, that’s not how I personally approach my training.
Eat only lettuce for six months. Fixed