The 4 Golden Rules of BJJ Over 40 (And Why Staying on Top Ages Better) | Manny Gasemy EP108

If you're doing BJJ over 40 and wondering whether there's a smarter way to train that protects your body, keeps you dangerous, and lets you still be on the mat at 79 — this episode is the blueprint. Coach Manny Alonso is a professional kickboxer, 18-year BJJ practitioner, and founder of Maca Martial Arts in Austin, Texas. He met Josh on the mats at Vagner Rocha Martial Arts and brings the full triangle of jiu-jitsu philosophy — train the sport, practice the art, think of the street — to every session he teaches. In this episode you'll learn the four golden rules of BJJ that govern his entire academy, why Greco-Roman upper body control beats shooting for legs as you age, the goldfish grip and the cheese principle for flow rolling and positional maintenance, and the five fundamentals every practitioner should master before they ever touch a leg lock.For the BJJ over 40 and midlife jiu-jitsu community who want to still be on the mat in their seventies — this is the episode.Topics covered:→ Born in Iran with a wrestling culture, Rocky 4 to boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai career→ Backpacking through South America and Central America — Costa Rica where jiu-jitsu began→ Training under coaches connected to Henzo Gracie and Danaher — Craig Jones and Gary Tonon lineage→ From Houston to California to South Florida to Austin — building Maca Martial Arts→ The Maca model: boutique, capped enrollment, waitlist, pure vibe over quantity→ Train the sport, practice the art, think of the street — the Combat Base triangle→ The four golden rules of jiu-jitsu (Chris Haueter): be on top, stay on top, unpassable guard, don't forget rule one→ Gravity as your invisible training partner — why the top game ages better than anything→ Why staying on top matters more in a real situation than finishing→ The goldfish grip: how to hold your opponent in flow rolling→ Melt like cheese: positional maintenance for mount and side control→ Greco-Roman for masters grapplers: body locks, arm drags, foot sweeps instead of shooting from distance→ Why shooting for a double leg at 40+ is a high-risk low-reward play→ The body lock as the gateway to every takedown for aging practitioners→ The five key fundamentals: base, posture, weight distribution, frames, breathing→ Why practitioners who skip fundamentals are building from the seventh floor down→ White belts going straight to leg locks — and what they are missing→ Breathing as the first fundamental Manny teaches in practice→ Gordon Ryan personally welcoming him vs. B Team laying on the mat — the vibe contrast→ What the 79-year-old black belt at John Jacques Machado's gym looks like→ Tap at 6–7 out of 10, not 10 — train more, get hurt less→ Collagen as the most important supplement for grapplers over 35→ Come in one piece, leave in one piece — the two rules that protect midlife grapplers→ Don't train for the name above the door — train for yourself→ One word: Train jiu-jitsu for life→ Breathe or Tap — breathwork for jiu-jitsu and midlife recovery:ThatJiujiteiro.com or YouTube @thatjiujiteiro━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔗 Find Manny Alonso and Maca Martial Arts:Instagram: @coachmannyalonsoAcademy: @macamartialartsCoach Caoilainn: @coachcaoilainnAustin, Texas — mention this show for a guest training session🔗 Lineage Provisions — Official Podcast Partner:15% off with code JOSHBUTTON at lineageprovisions.com🔗 Biospectralsystems 15% off code JOSHBUTTON Biospectralsystems.com🔗 Find Josh:Instagram: @thatjiujiteiro | @IamJoshButton | @stopkillingtheplantsWebsite: joshbutton.comFree guides: HardtoKillinMidlife.com👍 If this episode helped you, please like and subscribe — it helps more people find this content.