For me, it depends on their attitude. Roll and smash, I smash. Flow and chill, I try to turn this into teachable moments.

When I was a blue belt, the coach I had said I need to start helping people develop their Jiu Jitsu. I just thought it was my turn to get some. It means nothing to tap someone who doesn't know how to move and escape. This was a moment that changed myself, on the mats and off.

Whilst I personally don't go super hard with brand new white belts, my first few sessions I got completely smashed, as in tapped out damn near every 10 seconds, my sparring partner spinning me round and doing cartwheels over me etc, and honestly it was what gave me that initial fascination with the sport. I was so mystified as to how easily this guy could control me and I knew I wanted to learn that. I appreciate that that's not for everyone though so I generally try to just drill specific techniques I'm working on with the brand new guys.

I agree fully with Chewy here. I would also add that while you shouldn't mercilessly smash them, you should smash them a little bit. You should put them into uncomfortable positions and then let them work out of it. It helps their game by teaching them early on how to handle getting squished, and it helps your game by developing your mount control. They are going to flail and buck and burn through a lot of energy until they learn to escape properly. If you can learn to maintain a top mount while they're doing that, it is going to help you maintain mount against someone more experienced.

I will say that my gym owner on my first class did what I thought was effective. After doing the lesson part when it came to the rolling he said “try to pass my guard.” Try as I could despite being 20 years younger and 75 pounds heavier I couldn’t pass it. Then he said “ok now watch this” and within 3 seconds I was tapping. He wasn’t being a jerk about it at all, and I was instantly sold on BJJ. After that the rest of the roll was just working through the drills we had done in class. I think there’s some value to being smashed occasionally but generally speaking I don’t think annihilating white belts mercilessly does much to help them develop

Sad we live in a culture where identity politics are so pervasive that we need to issue a trigger warning before referencing someone like Jordan Peterson.

Interesting topic. I’m a blue belt and a smaller guy and find I have to roll quite differently with white belts and different size/strength people. Generally, white belts are going to be kinda spazzy and fighting hard for every position or submission so first and foremost I have to keep myself safe from injury during rolls, which means I don’t want to fight fire with fire. So a lot of times I will just work on my technique and not ‘allow’ someone to get position on me, but not fight for it like it’s a death match. At my level and size though, I can’t really smash even a brand new white belt who is bigger and stronger and going 100% against me. My technique just isn’t at that level yet to make up for that size and strength difference. Yesterday I was rolling with a newer white belt who is actually similar weight to me, but was super spazzy, explosive and strong. I worked to pass, improve position, sweep, submit as usual but found I couldn’t have my way with him. He was constantly trying to explode and so I had to focus more on controlling and picking spots to try to improve position. I actually felt really good about it because I was doing Jiu jitsu, using technique to control an opponent, while still trying to advance to a more dominant position.

I am much smaller than almost everyone in my gym, everyone for the most part has at least 50+ pounds on me. The biggest frustration is when I have the right technique but I am too weak to actually get the tap or break out of a position. One of the nicest people I have met had around 80+ pounds on me and always let me progress if I had done the right things, but also put me in uncomfortable positions if I make a mistake. Very rarely anyone of us tap but that was simply because he kept on putting a nice amount of pressure that made me feel like I was doing something.

“Oblivereens” my new word. Hope it’s ok to borrow it.

Omg…how is this even a question? They’re new! Ease up on the ego. True mastery is showing restraint while having ability

Im a new white belt. Let me get some moves but also show me what to really expect. A little of both is best IMO. I don't mind getting smashed a little. If Im getting smashed and get one thing like a sweep or even a positional improvement I leave the session thinking about the little win I got in a moment of extreme adversity.

Awesome advice Chewy, really well said.

My coach says beat them with technique. Shouldn't have to smash them to pieces to get the tap.

That is the exactly same question that i had with me for a few months , thanks chew!

I like rolling with really new guys because it allows me to be really really technical and work on not trying to match strength with strength. I also like to give them some pointers, like if they dont know what to do at all I will give them some ideas after the roll. It can also be an opportunity to work on escapes more. Guard retention isnt good because they dont know any passes, but side control and mount escapes are good to dial in technique on while they still feel they are not just getting full smashed.

Thanks Chew. This video helped me out a lot. I appreciate the good content. ✌🏻

Great video! As a no stripe beginner white belt, I appreciate this.

Great advice and a great attitude. I’d definitely train with your gym

Thanks professor I've wondered if I was helping every jiu-jitsu ka along the right way with me oss

Basically, what Chewy is saying is, just wrist-lock them.... Let them work their game, get into offensive positions and just pop on a wrist lock. They'll appreciate it down the road, and you will feel satisfied and proud of your new jiu-jitsu journey!

Big thumbs up for the Ray Bradbury story collection!

This is exactly how I roll with lower belts. I've been at my gym long enough to reap the benefits of this.

The thought i had as a white belt, and still do have as a blue belt, is that as a lower belt i am not at a level to be giving anyone leeway and let them work. I need to work. Letting people work is for purple belts and above.

Great advice!!!!

Thank you, Chewy! From an over-50 new white belt :)

At Purple, I don’t smash anyone new but I definitely don’t make it insultingly easy. And I don’t do bad jiu jitsu. Sometimes I’ll be a little lose and let a mistake ride to see if they catch it, but I’ll also bounce back and forth between a lot and barely enough so the other person can feel the importance of the technique.

The 1 rep max analogy is terrific dude, its crazy how that applies to literally everything. Kinda silly teh stuff you just kind of have to figure out in life

Once I got decent and was no longer at the bottom, I would put myself in bad positions for the new guys. That why I could work on getting out of a bad position and they could work on keeping a good one.

When I roll with someone a lot less experienced, I'll get in a dominant position then if they're stuck I'll talk them through the technique to escape, then when they go for it, I apply pressure so they're still working for it. When they get better I apply more pressure to keep them working. Also Oblitherines is now my new word, so thank you

As a new guy I’m loving both approaches. Too much kid gloves makes me feel boring to the coloured belts.

I'm a 4 stripe white belt (king of the white belts at my gym). When I roll with less experienced people I use it as an opportunity to work on the weak aspects of my game. I'll allow them to start from a dominant position, or I'll restrict myself to using one hand or just my feet. Sometimes I'll use those rolls to learn to fluidly transition into different positions. I'll give them more resistance when they're doing the wrong thing in a situation and less resistance when they're escaping, defending, or attacking properly. I use rolls with less experienced partners to work on a lesson that was taught to me that I probably wont have an opportunity to try on higher belts. After a roll with a lower belt I'll say something positive about the roll and offer any advice that was given to me that I think might be useful for them. Remember to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you go around mercilessly smashing your partners I promise you, someone will reciprocate.

There's probably a balance to be struck. As a white belt, I don't really find it helpful when higher belts just sit back and let me do things to them. It doesn't put you in the same mindset to want to try to submit them when you already know it's sort of an artificial scenario lacking some resistance. I also don't end up learning as much as when I get smashed.

Love you and Dr Peterson

Literally just today I rolled with a really new dude who obviously didn’t really know what was happening. What sort of naturally happened is I would score a takedown and take a position like his back without being too crazy, and then the coach and another higher belt would tell him how to get out of his predicament. I think you can feel out opponents and know how hard you should go, if it’s a brand new guy and he’s spazzing and trying to hurt you, smash him because he earned it. But otherwise we all know how it feels to get humbled, so it’s just not necessary to do to help a brand new person get better. I also thought it was awesome my coach and the brown belt were helping this new dude out so he wouldn’t get discouraged and not come back. No belts are getting handed out in training, just get better every day and try to help people.

I'm nearly 4 month in First month the occasional smash if I was spazzing taught me to chill for my own cardio I like a bit of both, a bit of hard graft and a bit of an opening to help me learn

I've been rolling only a few months and I'm grateful for the people that tone it down a little for me. I believe it helps them review their moves with a slower person that is trying to oppose their movements. Whenever they get me in a way that is obviously due to my stupidity I ask them to explain it to me so I can understand better. It also shows humility and that I just want to learn. Then we keep rolling. Last week I rolled with a woman at our gym that is a purple belt. She's also very small. I probably have 50+ pounds on her and am a lot stronger than her. When I first started losing ground my initial reaction was to use more muscle. I stopped myself and continued at a lower strength. It does me no good to learn the technical aspects if I just use my size and muscle against someone a lot smaller and not as strong. The benefit is that it left me able to think more clearly and not just react with my still untrained instincts. Obviously she submitted me, but I learned a lot. At my level I don't care about winning - I care about understanding and being a good rolling partner.

Been struggling with the same concept in Judo and not knowing how hard to go on newer guys. I also feel the more they are catching me in stuff when i'm going easy, now I pick up the pace a little bit and work harder.

I rolled with 2 new white belts last night. One was his first day and the other was a month in. The first guy i thought it would be a good idea to do positional drills - ie guard passing/guard sweeps and switching when one of us accomplished our goal- and new guy seemed to have fun. The 2nd I smashed cause boy gotta learn the way the Brazilians taught me circa 2008!

I think this is good advice.

My two years of white belt experience playing white belt coach is feeling validated 😂

Good 👏 job 👏Ben 👏

Must be the California grapplers getting their panties in a wad over Jordan Peterson lol Dr Peterson is a great man! Great to know you are well read too.

I feel like you've answered this question like 10 times already.

Awesome t-shirt

I'm small and only about a year in, but I'm getting to this point myself with the super new white belts. I like to do a mix of both - showing them how cool BJJ is and how much there is to learn by gently kicking their butt, giving them resistance but letting them work and get stuff as long as they do the right thing, and also helping them out and giving them simple tips.

Ossss!!! Great mind think alike, I do the sand with the white belts

My first instructor told me to go hard with any new student that decided to sign up or its open mat. His reason was that they maybe be a sandbagger and to show our jiujistu is legit. It lets the new people know that this is real. And it works. He also said after you make them tap a couple of times you can now take your foot off the gas and flow more

That's funny. I got a Chewy (pet food) ad at the end of the video.

Normally I train specific moves with the lower belts (often times kimura) or I let them get in a dominant position and train my escapes.

one of the best ways to learn is to teach help the new ppl out and learn them what you know you'll get a new prospective and get better

I say both. I learned such good defense in wrestling that the coaches, one of which was an olympic caliber greco roman competitor in his youth, struggled to break through it. But letting me work led to me developing some mean tieups and trips.

Amen to that❤

JP is a legend

Same question.

Sounds like a new t-shirt Chewy!! Oblivereens (O-bli-ver-eens) adjective? Usage: I blew their closed guard apart to oblivereens. After guard passed, I proceeded to ____________ (fill in the blank)

I almost got my knee blown out bc I was flowing with a blue belt. I was letting them get stuff, then get out. That was the gentlemen's agreement. After awhile, he got frustrated and saw a knee bar. Tired of me escaping, he cranked hard and fast so he wouldn't lose another sub. Let them work, but also always protect yourself

When I was fighting and teaching, I had a student that was your bodybuilder. While he was taking in what we was teaching him, he didn’t exactly work well with others because of his strength. He was good polite and seemed like a good guy. So we did what you did with your students. A little give and take but still nothing. Mind you this class we were teaching Muay Thai. One day after class we had open gym all the students could work on things at their own pace. My teammate and I got in the ring and started sparring. We’ve been training and sparring each other for close 10 years by then so we’re going about 15-20% with each other. After we sparred this student came up to me and I could sense some hesitation in his question he asked me. The question he asked me was if my teammate and I were mad at each other? I was a confused by this question because my teammate and were cracking jokes during class and before sparring. So I said no asked why? He was shocked by my answer and said it looked like was trying to kill each other in the ring. I kinda chuckled and said nah we was going like maybe 15-20% on each other. My teammate comes up said what’s so funny, so I told him he thought we was mad at each other when we were sparring. And he looked at him chuckled and said nah we was just playing. That student unfortunately never came back. Because, although his strength was a hurdle for him he had plenty of potential. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with everything Andrew Tate says he wasn’t wrong about body builders wanting to be fighter but are scared to do the work. He saw what real fighters could do while just having some fun.

hey man i am just finishing my first year and these new white belts get to chose which version of me they get. if they wanna work i’m gonna let ‘em work, but if they bring the heat, or disengage constantly, i’m gonna get em. 😅

I like to stick to their game. If it's someone newer, I probably won't do anything crazy or complex like I would against a blue belt or a purple belt. Probably won't use spider guard or lasso guard or DLR, just open guard with basic leg pummeling for example. Usually it gives me a good opportunity to dust off my basics as well.

jordan peterson is awesome, also a phenomenal psychologist

As a 55 year old blue belt, I am mostly just trying to survive against the young bucks in my gym. I like to roll with the ladies because I can truly work on technique with going HAM. Some white belts are hard to deal with because they use strength so wildly.

I can’t believe chewy didn’t laugh about this question. White belt take easy on another white belt.. Bro just keep rolling hard. You are going to realize when you get purple belt that you are not different from others.

As someone who does Sambo, we usually let the bjj black belts get away with a lot of things that we usually smash other guys on.

I need that t-shirt so BAD!

As a new white belt i saw smash me, but in a good way.....if you can tap me 100 times with the same 1 or 2 moves then thats good for both of us....ill learn to stop doing the same mistake because im getting my ass kicked....and youll polish a finishing move.....but if you hit me with 1,000 different secret move ill never catch onto whats going on, and its shooting game in a cage for you

I'm actually in this same situation. We have new white belts, and I will mix me smashing with allowing them to work. Like I will sweep them and get mount.. then give them direction on how to escape. Then maybe help them sweep me, and I'll go aggressive and show them what to watch out for. We all gotta help each other in there as a team. Going light all the way does not help. I appreciated (and still do) our Blues and Purples smashing me to teach me. So I believe it should be a combination of both. Work...

Me as white belt and one of the smallest guy in my gym (139lbs) often got smashed by upper belt… and sometimes they ask me what Im working on… and continue to smash me. But quitting never crossed my mind.

I had been doing jiujitsu for quite some time before I realized I had never caught anyone in a triangle. I decide that I was not going to go for any other submissions until I had gotten one. The first day I trained after deciding that I got my first one. After that I changed the way I approached sparring. Every time I went I had something new in mind. A new submission, escape, sweep, set up…something. If I only got an attempt in at what I was trying to do that was a “win” for the day, even if I got submitted 12 times or “lost” in sparring to lower belts. Why would I care? I’m trying to do what I’m trying to do. If you can make the dynamic shift from trying to “win” at sparring to trying to win by advancing your game things will start to open up for you.

When I first started out one of the black belts who was very competitive would switch between absolutely obliterating me and letting me work. You can put it on a white belt but also let them work. It doesn't have to be extreme

So, when I roll with a brand brand new guy, I always try to give them something unexpected, but take care not to injure them. Keep switching up the attacks. This makes me have to think about things that aren't usually part of my game. I think I give them a better understanding of what's possible. Just my .02

Oblivereeeens.. love it

Answer for me, depends on the white belt. If you're gonna spazz and I feel like you're gonna injure me, it's gonna be a round of me on top. If you're cool and wanna work chill, I'll give you the world.

Idk I'm still a brand new white belt. My proudest improvements so far is from getting smashed over and over and learning to avoid those situations more often.

I let new people put me into my worst positions and work up from there. If I end up on top or something I let them get back to a dominant position. They learn, I get to practice, we drink a beer after. If I'm tired I will hang out in top mount or back mount and kind of just let them try to defend the position. Two stripe white belt.

I'm a small black belt, 125 pounds to be more precise, I've been in many positions where I've had to smash people because when youre a small high belt, youve got a target on your back. But ss soon ss i feel the person im rolling with, has a willingness to learn and takenthe oportunity to learn from a small hugh belt, I'll go very technical and help them work.

Chewy i like you even more now. Nothing wrong with J.Peterson. His books sure are a good read, especially for the young men and also the older men of society.

Depends on if they need confidence or humility.

Rule of thumb: As a whit belt against a new white belt, for the first 10 weeks, always play only guard and retention. Let them pass and if they do, get back. As a any belt against another any belt on the same level, go for it. Smash as hard as you can. Except if the weight difference is higher than 50 kg. Then I might just use one arm or just the arms. To balance things out. As a higher belt against any lower belt, set a defensive goal and an offensive goal. Example: You shall not be able to hold me in side control and I'll always reverse/sweep the position. When ever I come up, I'll allow them to practice their sweeps and then stuff starts from the beginning. Except for the last 30 seconds of the round: I'll have to submit you then.

Its a chance to work on my b game and later stage escapes with smaller or less skilled people. I'll try to work from worse positions and pressure test techniques.

I have been training for several months now 5-6 days a week. I am the nail at the gym. A purple belt said January is full of fresh meat for me to feast, but I really don’t have that need.. I feel awful like a bully and I hate bullying. Kinda conflicting.

so for me it all depends on the level they give me. if they are a big strong white belt who just has smash on their mind then sorry homes welcome to jiu jitsu.

I am 12 classes in, I am strong and I wrestled for 5 years including recruited to JuCo. I let a guy at his first class win a situational challenge last week. I 100% did it so that he would feel like a boss and be more likely to come back to the next class. I then rotated to an experienced larger partner and I picked him up while in the same position. I still have no idea what I am doing with technique. I picked him up to pass his waist lock defense(belly to belly gut wrench?).

Both

Objectively, obliverines is a great word

Helping them work out allows them to get more practice on specific things, as they get better you get to work a bit harder to stop them. He needs to remember the high level belts are working and helping him learn and get better, you pay it back that way to.

A few days ago, I started training in BJJ, and I'm a total beginner. Our group is small and still forming, with only a few people attending. What I don't like in the training is the intense sparring at the end of each session. I weigh 80kg and have to fight against other beginners who weigh 95kg. Our sparring sessions are basically focused on strength because none of us have a wide range of techniques or experience yet. Does it make sense? Due to this approach, I have to limit the number of BJJ sessions per week because I end up exhausted. I've come across opinions from well-known trainers on KZfaq that sparring is not necessary at the beginning, and the focus should be on technique. I completely agree with that, but some trainers seem not to understand it.

After I tap someone twice before a roll I let them play or put them back in the same move and let them work their way out of it

If I didn't get run over by a black belt when I first tried Jiu Jitsu out in 2003 I would have walked away thinking that it had nothing to offer. What caught me was the realization that someone smaller, weaker, and less athletic could run me over easily. It was like they had a superpower and I wanted it. If I did ok on my first day I would have thought BJJ dosen.t have anything to offer and I wouldn't have gone down that incredible journey. You have to show them what BJJ can do without abusing or hurting them.

I am a white belt with no stripes been training for 7 Month. and there is one Blue Belt about same weight as me 190 pounds which I am either smashing or can hold and not let doing anything. Do I need to let him smash me because he is higher belt or just keep smashing him ?

I think It depends how long they've been training...how spazzy they are etc...

My super athletic cat King, would smashed all the cats. He eventually learned that if he smashed other cats very quick, the other cat would not play with him. After he started pulling guard, the other cats would play fight with him, before he crushed them lol.

The simple answer is yes but only a couple of times so they get the point that jiujitsu actually works and if you train you will develop that skill one day. Then let them work and learn.

To me, the short answer is both. Everything has balance lol

As a new white belt, smash me. I shows me where I'll be in x months, or x years! It proves it works

I think it is a dangerous game for white belts, maybe most blue belts to go too "light" on newbies, especially before you know if they are spazzers. I have had browns and blacks go easy on me in some rolls, but the level of control is vastly above mine. ALL of my injuries are from spazzy white belts that I was trying to "go easy on." That being said, if I am bigger, rolling with a woman, or they are more on the sheepish side I will definitely hold back a bit but in rolls where a white belt is using force then I learned I better defend myself lol. "It depends."

Mercifully submit them

Big both

OBLIVEREENS!

im taking the word oblivereens

I am so lost in the world of BJJ that I don’t even know what to do anymore. The people I train with have this unwritten rule where if someone forgets their belt, another student can take it, and the owner of that belt has to submit them to get it back. My belt got taken, and I can’t submit anyone, let alone put up any kind of fight. I’m just that unskilled at this. I thought it was going to be fun, but I usually leave each class asking myself why I even went. I don’t know who has my belt, and I’m afraid to bring it up with anyone. Is it normal in BJJ schools to make someone have to sub you in order to get their belt back from you?