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Thread: I took my first BJJ class yesterday - what advice would you give a neophyte?

  1. #11
    Site Supporter
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    Nov 2013
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    Illinois
    Awesome! The only advice I can give is keep showing up and bring a sweat towel and plenty of water for open mat.

    Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

  2. #12
    Oh, and this is really important. When you try to wrist lock someone you immediately agree to prison rules. It’s not really wrong, just know what you’re signing up for.

  3. #13
    Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Northwest
    I started on June 4th last year and I've been training about 4x a week since I started.

    The first day was the hardest. Just walking in the front door, being new, all that stuff.

    My now adult son accompanied me and has been training this whole time as well. He was 17 when he started.

    For me I prioritized certain things. Like not getting hurt so I tapped early and often and avoided techniques in rolling I wasn't comfortable with. I iced, greased up and took ibuprofen. I committed to going. I marked what classes I was going to attend at the beginning of each week. Even when I didn't want to go I went anyway. I focused on what I knew how to do and could accomplish vs. worrying about promotions. And I've watched a lot of youtube vides on technique to reinforce what I'm learning in class.
    A71593

  4. #14
    All the prior advice has been very good.

    I will add three things.

    1) consistency is your best friend in BJJ. It is fine to only go once a week to train, but make sure that you go every week even at the pace. Don't miss. I always tell people when they start to not worry about how many classes they go to, just go regularly. Nothing retards progress and learning like going 4x one week, then missing two weeks, then going 3X, then missing the next week, etc. Going once a week, but every single week, is going to get you to competency much faster.

    2) after class, take a few minutes to review what you did in class in your head. Writing stuff down is awesome for retention, even if you just write it down and walk away. Believe me when I say that few things are more frustrating to an instructor than teaching the same exact point/detail over and over and over and over ad infinitum to the same person. Telling everyone to do some straight armbars from closed guard as part of the warm up, and see the blank look in a BLUE BELT'S eyes makes you want to throw in the towel. Having a blue belt or high stripe white belt who absolutely should know the basic key points, and who just did them two days before, but now acts as if you are speaking Swahili is awful. That is easily avoided if you just do a quick mental overview on the drive home, or when you have 5 minutes the next day.

    3) don't worry about technique, be completely concerned with physical MOVEMENT. Techniques are just a catalog of possibilities, but they are powered by being able to move your body correctly and in relation to the other person. Having the ability to hip escape, or technical stand up, or upa, etc. without conscious thought is the key to making the technique work. If you can't remember the key steps in a particular technique, pay attention to how you need to move to execute it correctly. Having that is the key to pulling a specific move off under fighting stress.
    For info about training or to contact me:
    Immediate Action Combatives

  5. #15
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Aug 2013
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    PacNW
    As an old guy beginner as well, I’m digging this thread. Thanks, all.
    ”When antisemitism moves from the shameful fringe into the public square, it is not about Jews… it is about the surrounding society or the culture or the country. It is an early warning system—a sign that the society itself is breaking down. That it is dying.” -Bari Weiss

  6. #16
    Smoke Bomb / Ninja Vanish Chance's Avatar
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    Nov 2011
    I will echo the suggestion of taking notes. Minutia is helpful, but even very high level notes can remind you that a thing exists and is possible. Who even knows how much time I've wasted hearing information that went in one ear and out the other....

    'Rite in the Rain' is perfect for this.
    "Sapiens dicit: 'Ignoscere divinum est, sed noli pretium plenum pro pizza sero allata solvere.'" - Michelangelo

  7. #17
    I have searched all over and can’t find it but somewhere I read a list of BJJ etiquette people should know before their first class. Things like trim your nails, no street shoes on the mats and no bare feet in the restrooms. I thought @Cecil Burch wrote it but I’ve dug through his archives. Maybe someone else remembers what I’m talking about, I always thought that it should be required reading before your first class and even had some good reminders for the experienced.

  8. #18
    Modding this sack of shit BehindBlueI's's Avatar
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    Mar 2015
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    Midwest
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark D View Post
    Congrats on getting on the mat. I don't know your age, but I think you're an "adult" so my comments apply to older grapplers.
    Early 40's.
    Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.

  9. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Bratch View Post
    I have searched all over and can’t find it but somewhere I read a list of BJJ etiquette people should know before their first class. Things like trim your nails, no street shoes on the mats and no bare feet in the restrooms. I thought @Cecil Burch wrote it but I’ve dug through his archives. Maybe someone else remembers what I’m talking about, I always thought that it should be required reading before your first class and even had some good reminders for the experienced.
    I wrote that on TPI back around 2010 or so. Then I later expanded it and put it in a free e-book PDF I send out to anyone who requests one. The e-book needs desperately to be updated (and I will when I can carve out the time to do so) but that info is still valid as is.
    For info about training or to contact me:
    Immediate Action Combatives

  10. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Cecil Burch View Post
    I wrote that on TPI back around 2010 or so. Then I later expanded it and put it in a free e-book PDF I send out to anyone who requests one. The e-book needs desperately to be updated (and I will when I can carve out the time to do so) but that info is still valid as is.
    Well at least I’m not completely crazy, I tried to search the TPI archives but the servers weren’t having it.

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