>>So I missed June and July. August through now I've been
>doing
>>3x a week. Managed 4x a week recently and I want to
>alternate
>>4x and 3x a week.
>>
>
>
>I can't even imagine training 4x a week anymore. It's carzy bc
>when I was white and early blue, I would do 2x a day. And then
>sometimes I would train 5-6 a week. Thinking back on that is
>funny.

Yeah, believe me at my age it's tough. Some classes (like Marcos Tinoco's classes) are notorious for straight up porrada. No technique section, just drilling, positional sparring or stand up sparring, then regular sparring. I can't do multiple days in a row of those type of classes.

3x a week w/ 1x a week strength and conditioning has been my perfect workload. I guess I've felt the need to ramp it up with so many guys who started after me managing to get purple in less time going 5x a week. At our school they really look at attendance and commitment.

At the same time a personal trainer at my other gym that use to train at Marcelo's doing 2x a day back maybe 8-9 years ago totally burnt out on BJJ. He keeps saying he wants to train again but it never happens. I think unless you're super young you'll burn out with that type of volume.

>>I feel like I'm improving. I did a private lesson with a
>>really good brown belt on collar / sleeve (mostly because I
>>was having a really hard time dealing with that particular
>>guard) and since then I've been hitting more omoplata
>sweeps,
>>and more scissor sweeps.
>
>
>Funny, one of Marcelo's books got me into doing the omoplata
>with collar/sleeve.
>
>
>
>Many times I get my shit passed
>>entirely though, but of course working on recovery and
>>reguarding, and working out of side control especially with
>>bigger guys. Also since I can't do DLR with my left knee
>>still not 100% from the MCL I work on it on the right side
>and
>>have more success getting the back because people don't
>expect
>>DLR from that side). My finishes from the back and from
>mount
>>definitely need to be improved on though, but I feel like I
>>can maintain the position longer and longer so that's
>>positive. My SLX and X-guard games are pretty much
>>non-existent still, which is sad considering where I train.
>>
>>I'm now a blue with four stripes so there's only one way to
>go
>>at this point, and I'm hoping I'll be ready for purple by
>the
>>time next promotion comes up. I've been going solid for 3
>>years at blue with a couple breaks for injury (MCL this
>year,
>>avulsion fracture in ankle last year), so overall I think
>I'm
>>going in the right direction and I'm comfortable with where
>>I'm at.
>
>
>
>What are the expectations of a purple belt at MGA? Who would
>promote you?
>

At the last promotion Marcelo talked about his personal standards for purple belt. Going to Rio for the first time to compete as a blue belt and seeing purple belts and how tough and intimidating they seemed to him. But as for promotion, the black belts convene and talk about attitude, attendance, personality, effort, whether you compete, and come to a decision on whether to give you a stripe or a belt. It's a painstaking task for how many students we have and that's why they put their heads together.