Thirty five year olds and beyond training in Jiu Jitsu is not something new, plenty of athletes train and roll well past their thirties and into the following decades. Often though, these are people that have grown up with a grappling or contact sport background for most of their lives. They’ve learned to take the falls, push through the wall, and know what their bodies can and can’t do. These people live with a certain base level of bodily pain and injury daily – it’s only the intensity or particular injury that changes!

 

Back in 2013 Southern Cross Jiu Jitsu Coach and Nova Uniao BJJ black belt Rodney Ellis and his gym’s Judo coach Steve Clifford, Kodokan Judo black belt and Jiu Jitsu Black belt, were discussing the fallout rates for guys in the older age categories. Commonly, guys that were over 35 years of age had commitments such as families and jobs and they found that they couldn’t continue to physically match it with guys half their ages. Injuries take longer to heal, cardio slowly declines and enthusiasm can fade. They don’t have the cash, time or the desire to enter a competition every second week and for them the love of ‘rolling’ was all they were trying to pursue. From this O/35s classes were born, and numbers of athletes staying on or joining the sport later in life have steadily grown, now with blackbelt and super coach Jim Clifford steering at the Gerijitsu helm.

 

Basically, Gerijitsu seeks to promote continued participation for older grapplers in BJJ and an avenue for all grades from beginner to black belt to meet and train in a more casual, encouraging and enjoyable environment targeted toward older athletes. Whilst Gerijitsu encourages loyalty to an athlete’s own BJJ schools and teams, we welcome men and women from all clubs that want to train with people their own age and physical abilities.

 

Often politics, teams, egos, and a lack of similarly aged training partners stands in the way of older fighters reaching their potential or continuing in the sport they love. Gerijitsu seeks to overcome these roadblocks through regular non-team affiliated training sessions targeting O/35 BJJ practitioners from all over the country.

 

The BJJ Community in Australia, although influenced heavily by its Brazilian roots, needs a banner for older grapplers to gather under, regardless of their team – and that is what Gerijitsu provides!

 

Could Gerijitsu suit your gym? Contact us regarding affiliation!