Marcus Reyes at Purple Belt

January 14, 2025

Six months since I got my purple. The strange thing about the belt is that on the day you get it nothing changes — you're the same grappler as yesterday. But three months in, the whole gym treats you differently. Blue belts ask you questions. White belts tap when you set the grip. And you start asking yourself harder questions about your own game, because there's no hiding behind newness anymore.

April 26, 2025

Lasso guard week. Always lasso guard week, honestly. Drilled the pendulum sweep variation that Lachlan Giles teaches — outside lasso, far hand on the ankle, swing the hip through. Hit it twice in live rolls. There's a kind of joy in landing a technique you drilled ten thousand reps of, and I think it's the closest thing I get to playing an instrument well.

August 2, 2025

West LA open mat at 10th Planet. Got invited by a buddy. Rolled with three different black belts and a brown belt over two hours. Everyone was lasso-aware, which I expected. What I didn't expect was how many ways there are to break lasso once you know what's coming. Came home with a list of things to drill for the next month. Best $0 I've ever spent.

November 30, 2024

Trial week from hell at work, hadn't been on the mats in nine days. Came back tonight and got smashed by a fresh blue belt who I usually handle. That's the deal with BJJ in your forties: you don't get to skip a week and come back at 95%. You come back at 70% and you climb. Lesson re-learned for the hundredth time.

April 15, 2026

Looking for steady training partners in West LA. Late 30s, purple belt, train 3-4x a week at JJM Tarzana but want a Saturday morning open mat partner who lives closer. Not picky about belt — picky about consistency. Hit me up through HoG if that's you.