I'm having a bit of a conundrum, and I'd like to see what my fellow i-Clubbers think:

Should I give up judo and strictly pursue Brazilian jiujitsu, or should I keep up my current 70% judo, 30% BJJ routine?

Details: I'm currently a judo brown belt and was on the cusp of getting my black belt before moving to So Cal. After a short training hiatus, I joined a new dojo (that is a member of a different judo organization than my old dojo), and they've implied that they have no interest in promoting me to black if I don't compete for them in tournaments (I was never a tournament player even at my old dojo, and I can't compete even moreso now due to current life circumstances). My old dojo allowed for "hobby player" promotions at a slower rate than "competitor" promotions (I've thus far proven my skills through examinations and in-house matches for promotion to my current rank, not to mention service to the United States Judo Federation as a tournament official), but my current dojo seems to have absolutely no respect for hobbyists like me (despite skillset and service history). There's a couple cool people I get along with here, but then there are some members who are just very indifferent toward me (not to mention a general lack of members, number-wise -- which means fewer training partners overall).

My current training schedule is judo on weekdays, and BJJ at a different school on weekends. Due to my judo expertise, the owner of the BJJ school has set up a barter system with me where I can train for free with him if I am willing to share my judo skills with him and his students. He has recently expanded the offer from once a week to thrice a week training under the same barter conditions. The one catch: I won't ever be promoted since I'm technically not a member of the association to which he belongs (since I don't pay dues to HQ), but I will be taught and otherwise treated just like any other of his students.

So... should I leave the dead-end (promotion-wise) judo dojo that I'm paying good money month-to-month for and join a free but dead-end (promotion-wise) BJJ club, or should I just stick to my current training schedule (pay for judo and moonlight BJJ on the weekend)? Or does someone have any other thoughts/ideas?

Thanks!

P.S. Do NOT tell me to go do Muay Thai, MMA, Krav Maga, Wing Chun, tiddlywinks, or whatever other style (I still actively train in striking and am just pontificating about which direction my grappling should go). Do not talk **** about judo or BJJ -- they are both strong arts that will slam you into next week and choke the **** out of you if you **** with them LOL.

 

I voted "Other" for myself just so I could see Poll Results conveniently...

 

I say that you move on.
Knowing that it's a dead end is never fun for me. I trained for awhile and I quickly got burnt out when I was asked to compete or no longer progress. It's all an ego thing for them.

It seems you gained an immensely vast amount with attaining your brown belt. Move on?


: free one if you're able to have fun with it.

 

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely keep it in mind as I make my decision.

 

Definitely. Training becomes such a huge part of your life, make sure to thoroughly think it over!

 

Tiddlywinks +1

 

It has been decided then.

 

I agree with huck.

Is there a possibility of joining a different judo dojo? If not, you should seriously consider the bjj offfer you were given.

 

Pay for where you're going to earn promotion, no reason to give up a quest for a black belt in one form even though the two are similar, find a dojo that will let you continue to black belt status as a hobbyist. And continue the free BJJ training.

 

Is there a reason you have to stick with the one Judo dojo? If you want a black belt and can Join a different Judo Dojo that would be the way to go and still do the BJJ on the side like you have been.. If you are content with your current Judo Ranking then switch to BJJ as your main and do Judo on the side to keep up with your practice unless showing the BJJ peeps is practice enough for you.
You mentioned you get to train BJJ for free as long as you share with your Judo skills, at some point that could stop and you would have to pay for the BJJ. would you be paying and not able to rank up?

 

What are your training goals? Do you just want to improve your grappling or does the advancement in belts mean a lot to you? How much do you need the belt to validate your accomplishment?

A lot of these belt promotion systems are relatively modern. For some martial arts, "rank" is still just measured in years practiced, not what color holds your pants up. No matter what belt or rank you attain, as long as you are constantly challenged, you'll get better.

That being said, it sounds like this current judo dojo is not a good fit. It's a dead end for you, people aren't very friendly, and there aren't a lot of members. So without competition, you'll get stuck working out with the same few people and it'll be harder to improve. Competition will at least give you new experiences. If I were you, I would look for a new judo dojo that is a better fit.

I wouldn't do BJJ exclusively, I think it's important to have a mix. Coming from a wrestling background, I always found tachiwaza much more difficult to do properly than newaza. I've worked out with some JJ guys in the past, and while they could easily turn me into a pretzel on the ground, I've never witness such pathetic takedowns. If you decide to exclusively work out at the BJJ studio, you'll always have the best takedowns in the room and your tachiwaza will suffer because there's noone to challenge you.

 

I agree, depends on where exactly you want to go with this. I also 100% agree about being more well rounded with different disciplines. You can have a core focus with a side of fries...er BJJ. If the plan is to "master" one technique, go for it, but I wouldn't completely exclude the other.

 

Move on from Judo to BJJ full time. See if you can pay dues and still help out while also getting some extra training on the side possibly. Dead end= waste of time and money, of course unless you don't mind not getting promoted.

 

Some really great feedback here. Thank you guys!

A few general thoughts: it's hard to change judo dojo's for a few reasons -- 1.) The judo community is kinda small, so changing dojo's is kind of a big deal in terms of not being able to go back (and too many changes will make a person a dojo-hopper, a reputation that no one wants LOL);

2.) Most judo black belts that I have come across down here in So Cal seem to treat me like some kind of retard/complete n00b, mainly I think because they are looking at what color is around my waist instead of just assessing my skills -- that's why I think getting my black belt is important: instead of being babied/treated like a grappling idiot/suffering backhanded insults about my rank, at worst I'll just be seen as a middle-of-the-road, plain Jane black belt and correspondingly treated like one (same beatings LOL, but fewer insults and less extraneous instruction -- yes, I know how to breakfall properly, thank you very much... SERIOUSLY!)

3.) I would ideally like to be a well-rounded grappler, both on my feet and on the ground, but I wonder if I have enough skills on my feet at this time that specializing in ground work would take me to a higher level overall as a grappler. I've had lots of friends who grapple and training partners as me why I still stick with judo, and I've been finding it progressively harder and harder to give them a good reason, especially with the next batch of IJF rule changes coming around to water down the art even more.

I definitely welcome more feedback, thank you all (especially your insightful post, crazy sherm)!

 

My advice to you is first and foremost, worth what you paid for it. Reading what you have written, it would seem that you have already come to some form of conclusion. It is clear that a dojo who would ignore your performance and promote you based on their own intention for your purpose does not have your "best interests" in mind here. Taking that into consideration, I believe it is important to glean anything useful you can from any of these situations while still remaining in exchange insofar as learning/etc as you can. It sounds like you are doing that.

No one, especially myself, can tell you "what you should do" here, but it sounds like you are getting great learning and "pay in kind" from the current situation. My experience in life has been enhanced most from situations like this, as long as I was moving at least a little bit in a direction for myself, as well. Also, there is something to be said for building experience, and then moving on to building credibility. The experience can build your foundation for the credibility to rest upon.

Not really a decision for you, but - I guess - food for thought.