Just had first BJJ lesson tonight

Discussion in 'Brazilian Jiu Jitsu' started by Pieman, Aug 14, 2014.

  1. Pieman

    Pieman Valued Member

    So finally changed jobs this week so finally move my plan forward to start MA.

    With this in mind I got my myself over to Carlson Gracie London to a free lesson at one of the beginners only classes.

    After some messing about trying to find a Gi that wold fit (pretty much failed as I am build like the proverbial brick outhouse now with mid riff insulation:evil: ) but managed to squeeze into something...

    Class started with what I expect is usual warm up doing break falls and scooting across the floor, I must say at one point I thought I was going to pass out as have done more or less zero real exercise for years (decades?) :jawdrop:

    Simon Hayes the instructor then put us through some drills doing a few techniques, and then ended the evening with some sparring. Now as the guy who had about 45mins BJJ experience I somehow got the better of couple of the guys there, but think this was mostly cos they didn't really know what to do with such a big oaf laying on them rather than any skill on my part but mostly they had me locked up quicker than I can eat a hamburger - after about 15 mins of sparring I again at the point where I had to take a time out. Dang I am so unfit!

    All in all the people were very down to earth and all willing to help me take my first baby steps, no egos and being a beginners class no higher belts around to tie me up into pretzel shapes - although the 2 occasion I sparred with instructor I got an eerie sense something was coming and within about 5seconds was proved right - tap tap from me lol

    I am hooked though, just need to get a fat pieman sized Gi and will be signing up for more.

    I am told I will feel the pain on Saturday...but I already have lost any ability to grip very strongly with my hands, guess you don't use though sorts of muscles bashing at a keyboard all day haha.
     
  2. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Congrats man! One of us, one of us! Advanced classes are usually ego free as well, sometimes even more so than beginner classes, and the students can offer you good perspectives on how to improve :)
     
  3. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Glad to hear it man, enjoy! :)
     
  4. micmacimus

    micmacimus Valued Member

    I'll echo philosoraptor:
    One of us!

    Welcome to the fold. You'll have days when you want to :bang: , and days whne you feel like a :star:

    Advanced classes are ego-free affairs too. Don't skip the coloured belts for long, you leanr way more rolling with them than with some similarly inexperienced white belt.
     
  5. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    don't worry, keep rolling and that will change.

    best of luck.
     
  6. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Welcome to the dark side.
     
  7. Lemur

    Lemur New Member

    I'm a newbie too. Does anyone else find it odd that all the bjj schools in my area require an initial 6 month contract after a free 7 day trial? I love it so far but there are a few "minor" things that don't sit right with me about my school. Overall I love it, but instructor seems to favor some students over others. He also doesn't seem very humble as the lore of bjj instructors suggest. That being said he is a nice guy.
     
  8. Prizewriter

    Prizewriter Moved on

    I tend to avoid anywhere with contracts but it is rare over in Europe to find that.

    As for the whole instructor not being humble thing... there is no martial art as well marketed as BJJ. Remember that a lot of it is just marketing. Don't get me wrong I love BJJ, but there is a lot of hyperbole around the art. People who do BJJ can have egos, especially the BJJ players who compete. They are no different than most people. In fact as someone once said on MAP, it's hard to become a top BJJ competitior without having a lot of ego. Same as any other sport. You have to put yourself first a lot of the time and you need support from your family/friends/partner to get to the top.
     
  9. Southpaw535

    Southpaw535 Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

    6 month contracts yes. I understand people using a contract model but I wouldn't get one that was more than month-to-month unless I was training somewhere I knew was beyond good.

    As far as the other stuff, expect favouritism. Nature of the beast. BJJ has been one of the friendlier and more inclusive groups I've come across but a school is still going to have its long term guys and the new ones. Also remember that martial arts have high turnovers for new students and BJJ is one that gets it a lot. The nature of the art (full contact, completely different, and getting tied in knots by small people) mean there's a lot of people who come in and leave because they couldn't jump straight in. I'm the same with new people now. I make an effort to say hi and be friendly if I pair up with them, but other than basic stuff I don't bother going over new stuff with them or giving much advice like I do with more regular guys just because I'm bored of giving up time and then they leave.

    Ego's a tougher one. As a rule for me I don't like places where people clearly feel like they're above everyone else, but expect ego in BJJ. As Prizewriter says its a common thing in the art. It s fairly common in any heavily competitive art in the first places but bjj has been put on such a pedestal in the last 10 odd years that plenty of people have bought into the hype and have become rather insufferable.
     
  10. Lemur

    Lemur New Member

    Literally every bjj school around here requires an initial 6 month contract. The upside to that is if you pay all up front you get one month free. After 6 months you just pay month to month. I'm gonna stick it out. I really can't complain everyone is pretty darn nice. As for the instructor not being humble it's just that he talks about himself a lot. I do like the lineage though, he is a 4 stripe brown belt directly under Rilion Gracie so that is good to know. Plus the name of the school is Rilion Gracie Jiu jitsu Academy and I guess Mr. Gracie and his underlings to make visits from time to time. Considering the limited options I have for bjj schools in this region I should be happy with what I have, all Gi traditional jiu Jitsu.
     
  11. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    If you're on a free trial period, he's selling his school and himself, thats why he's talking about himself. Contracts mean more classes and thats a good thing!
     
  12. Lemur

    Lemur New Member

    This school in particular had only a one day free trial. I paid the 6 months immediately after. He talks about himself all the time. I've been with this school for 2 months now.
     
  13. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    One day trial? Mine does a four week trial, either way good training is good training!
     
  14. Lemur

    Lemur New Member

    Yeah he was like " people will know after the first day if they're gonna want to stick commit to it" I guess that is somewhat true but it hardly gives you enough time to see what you will get out of it. I guess I look at signing up for 6 months as a good thing as I will want to get my monies worth encouraging me to attend as often as possible. Right now I am attending 4 days a week. 2 days drilling only and 2 days with drilling and rolling. I think that seems ok, right?
     
  15. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Yep 4 days a week is plenty.
     
  16. Lemur

    Lemur New Member

    I apologize to pieman as I have pretty much hijacked his thread, but just one more thing about my instructor. About two weeks after joining he finally let me take part in the live rolling after drilling. The thing was there was odd numbers for pair ups so I rolled with him. In attempting to try the things we went over he effortlessly made quick work of me over and over again forcing me to tap within seconds against submissions I've never seen or heard of before. Now there was people from the street watching who had been in asking him about the classes so I don't know if he was showing off for them, or being aggressive with me for my own benefit. I just figured he wouldn't go that hard with a beginner on my first roll. Sorry about all the questions, I just want to know if I should be open to trying another school after my 6 months.
     
  17. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Hes a brown belt, he is much much better then you and it wont of been hard for him.

    Part of being new Involves learning how to roll and how to tap.
     
  18. Prizewriter

    Prizewriter Moved on


    Maybe you were tense rolling? Maybe as Fusen said he was trying to show the importance of tapping early. The most important thing you can do is get out of the mindset that tapping is a negative thing. It is your best friend and often it's the best thing you can do. No one gets injured because they tapped too early.

    The same thing happened with me when I started. A blue belt would always take my back and put on some kind of submission once he was there. So I worked on stopping him taking my back. That was my short term goal. So did your coach always pass your guard before submission? Did he always take your back? Get to mount? That is your starting point... start working on stopping him getting there and escaping if he does.

    Bear in mind too, higher belts often try and tap out lower belts as much as they can because it is the only chance they get to practice submissions against a training partner. He wouldn't catch a brown belt with most of the subs he caught you with, yet how is he supposed to know if he can do them in real time against resistance? That's where you can help him out.

    Ask him questions after the roll. Show him you want to learn. Look at it this way, if he tapped you out 10 times, your goal should only be that next time you roll, he only gets you 9 times. Then 8, then 7.... it will take time but BJJ is un-natural, there is no one who is naturally good at BJJ. Sure some people are very athletic or learn quicker, but no one is naturally good at BJJ at the start. Your instructor went through the same thing you are going through.
     
  19. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I think it sucks that he did that without any explanation.

    Even if he had good reason to do that, he left you with the impression he was tying you in knots to feed his ego.

    That's bad teaching, IMHO.
     
  20. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    It depends on his intention

    I've seen rolls to feed egos, rolls to break egos and the like

    I've had great rolls where I was dominated for the entire round but learn't a lot from the roll e.g. the last roll i had the purple belt used exactly the same basic techniques we warm up with and it clicked how important the basic movements are.

    I've had rolls were i felt like i was punished for no reason and its just because the person im rolling with wants to get some practice too.
     

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