Just Visiting?
Stop on by to meet our coaches, watch a class, or meet some students. You’re welcome whenever!
First Day in Jiu Jitsu: What to Wear
If you are joining us on a gi day, please make sure you bring a gi with you, or purchase one from the front desk. You can wear any gi color that you would like! You are welcome to wear shorts or spandex and a rash guard underneath your gi pants.
Do NOT wear anything with extra pockets, belt loops or baggy fabric. These are dangerous since fingers and toes can get caught in them.
If you already own them, you can wear any protective gear (knee braces, ear guards, mouth guard, cup, etc.) you feel you need. Athletic tape can be used to protect injured fingers or toes.
First Day in Jiu Jitsu: Hygiene
Make sure your finger and toe nails are well-groomed. If you have long hair, you’ll want to put it up in a ponytail or bun during class. You should also remove any piercings to prevent injuries. Please refrain from wearing makeup, as it can stain other student’s gis (and your own.)
First Day in Jiu Jitsu: Your First Class
You’ll probably want to show up a couple minutes early to introduce yourself to our professor and check out the school (if you haven’t visited already). If you haven’t already signed your waiver and completed the signup online, please stop by the front desk to complete this and to check in for your class.
Before class starts, you’ll have a chance to get dressed and stretch out on the mats. Be sure to get everything ready before class starts so you don’t have to miss anything.
Warm-ups
We will start class with a group warmup. Depending on the day, we will either be doing a light warmup or a more taxing functional warmup. There may be some new movements that you haven’t seen before during the warmups, such as shrimping and break falls. Our professor will work with you individually to ensure you understand the movement, but don’t worry if you don’t get it right on your first day – no one does. After a little practice, it will be second nature.
Techniques
After warm-ups, you will be partnered with someone to learn your first technique. As a beginner, you will be taught a basic fundamental movement or position. You will typically be paired with a higher ranking colored belt who can help you out along the way.
Positional Drilling
Typically, resistance drills or sparring will follow the instruction and repetition of techniques. On your first day in jiu jitsu, we will partner you with a more experienced student to ensure everyone’s safety, and will be doing positional sparring only. You will start from one position and practice escapes only.
First Day in Jiu Jitsu: Some Ground Rules to Remember:
Basic Rules
* No striking, punching or kicking.
* No eye gouging or hair pulling.
* No twisting or grabbing fingers.
* No slamming (picking someone up and dropping them).
* No neck cranks.
* No shoes on the mat.
Remember that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is designed to be trained safely without serious injury. These rules are to help keep you and your training partners safe and healthy.
Position Before Submission
One of the core principles of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is “position before submission”. “Position” means the relative position of your body to your opponent’s. “Submission” means an action that causes your opponent to submit (surrender), such as an armlock or choke.
It can be demonstrated that different positions in grappling offer varying degrees of control, and that those with the most control offer the best leverage for submissions and striking, with the least threat of counter-attack or escape. It is from this that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teaches you to seek and advance towards dominant positions and only attempt submissions once these are obtained. This also includes escaping from inferior positions to a neutral or dominant position.
Tapping
The normal way you signal submission in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to tap your opponent three times. When you tap, make sure you do it hard enough that your partner can feel it; or tap yourself or the mat where they can see and/or hear it; or verbally tap by saying “Tap!”; or loudly tap the mat with your foot so they can hear it.
Likewise, be aware of your training partner tapping and stop whatever you are doing when he does so.
Tapping is just part of training and there is no shame in it. Don’t worry about winning or losing. Just try the techniques you’ve learned to the best of your ability and tap when you need to, ideally before it hurts.
After Class
With class over, you might have more questions, now you’ve trained for the first time in jiu jitsu. Our coaches are always open if there is anything you would like to ask. If you enjoyed the class and want to continue training, you can setup a schedule for your next training.
