Everybody may be thinking about these myths, or at least may have these these ideas in mind. For those who may believe in these myths, could led to the failure of their BJJ careers. Myths are myths. They may hold an ounce of truth in them, but more often than not, they do more harm than good.

Although myths can be fun to talk about, most of those tend to bend the truth.

MYTH #1: BJJ is the end all, be all of martial arts
FACT: BJJ is not the end all, be all, it’s just better.

This will definitely spark some debate which can lead to… well more debate. A lot will question the practicality or how BJJ is applied. But my counter argument is always this: it depends.

Seriously. It depends on where you are going to apply the gentle art. MMA? Sure go for it. Street fight? Well, yes and no. There is a way for you to use BJJ in street fights. it will take some slight modification for it to be street fight worthy.

MYTH #2: Size and strength will not matter
FACT: Yes it will.

Over the course of my career in BJJ, I have come across this mindset. More often it has made most promising BJJ artist fail. Does strength matter? Yes! Does size matter? Yes! Will a 10 year old win against a 30 year old? Of course not. Because these attributes count. If it didn’t, then we wouldn’t have divisions in BJJ tourneys.

strength advantage has always been the bread and butter of champions. What will you do with all these techniques if your can’t crank the neck hard enough to submit someone? Will here is teh good news: you can build strength thru training. If you have been neglecting this one, there is still time to catch up.

MYTH #3: It takes less than 5 years to become a black belt
FACT: Takes 7-8 years

We are not discouraging anyone to grind so hard to become a black belt the soonest possible time. It does happen, but it doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen.

My advise, go out there and enjoy the journey. If you are cruising too fast to your destination, will you get to enjoy the scenery? I bet not. You will be so distracted about keeping your eye on the road. It wouldn’t hurt to simply coast from time to time. BJJ is a journey. It’s a lifestyle.

MYTH #4: It’s ok not to attend training, there is always YouTube.
FACT: Err.. no.

Come on. You’re supposed to enjoy training. Training is fun. You get to meet a lot of people in training. you might miss out on the awesome opportunity on meeting that potential, life-long training partner. Think about the enjoyment. Certainly you cannot get that over the YouTube. Yes. It’s a great way to learn a few techniques and check out what made who-submit-who, but real training on the mat is always the key.