Progression of a First-Year Jiu-Jitsu Student

The Logical Progression of a First-Year Jiu-Jitsu Student

            Entering the sport of jiu-jitsu can be a daunting task. The knowledge available to the new student would take a lifetime to digest. Instagram is chalked full of professors, coaches, and highlight reels. Where is the latest person supposed to start? The new person is considered the lowest person on the totem pole, coming into a community of people who have been practicing together sometime for more than a decade. Some schools are better at welcoming new people, some are unaware of the new person, and some make the unknown person's life miserable under the guise of toughening them up. Whatever the reason, some fundamental principles can help guide the new person through a new adventure, one of which is unimaginable and hard to articulate and is experiential. Often after hard training, the last thing on a long-term practitioner's mind is to answer questions from the guy over there who can't tie their belt. The questions are as simple as, "how many times a week should I be training?" "how can I prepare physically and stay healthy for the sport," and "how do I know if I am improving?" and perhaps most often asked, "what do I need to do to get to the next belt?" For the new student, the goal becomes achieving the first ranking above the white belt in jiu-jitsu, the blue belt.

            The good news for the new person walking into their first jiu-jitsu experience is that a logical progression and system are present for them to embark on their jiu-jitsu journey. The IBJJF and ADCC are currently the highest standards for jiu-jitsu sports practitioners. The IBJJF scores their points and awards ties to the athlete that follows the logical progression of the sport. According to the IBJJF, the logical progression of a match starts with a takedown, passing the guard to a dominant position--the back, mount, or side control—and controlling their opponent, ultimately leading to a submission. How does the logical progression of the new student manifest? And maybe more importantly, how can this progression lead to long-term training? 

            Before getting into specifics about pathways for the new students, there are a couple of general classifications and ways that jiu-jitsu schools and academies operate. It is essential to ask a few questions before committing to a new school--you can always change later. As a new student, what is it that you want? Do you want to participate in a martial art, or do you want to participate in a sport? Many gyms and academies fall well within this range.

A martial arts gym that practices jiu-jitsu often has a singular leader at the forefront of the students and some dogmatic practices. For instance, lining up before every class in rank and file or treating higher belts a certain way because they came before you. In these academies, you tend to find followers, which isn't necessarily bad; however, it can be hard to grow creatively if only one style of jiu-jitsu is allowed.

On the other hand, purely sports academies can leave behind the structure of the martial arts experience with jiu-jitsu. Often this manifest in an inability to communicate the importance of holding certain positions or an ability to protect themselves in a real-world self-defense situation. In some sport-dominant schools, sparring, or rolling, can become soft or non-existent leading to unpreparedness on the street. Fortunately, the above two academies described—martial art vs. sport—tend to be far ends of the spectrum. Each has its unique approach to the sport, and it is essential to consider the high points of each method. Both schools create an environment where a student can become a practitioner, and the best schools pull from both the martial arts and sports experience. Here are some indicators of a healthy training environment where a new student can fall into the net that is the logical progression of the student experience. The community of the school must be vibrant. In a school where people are worried about discussing the sports side after class, perhaps diving into the latest guard, you can assume that this is a space where you cannot be creative. Often, instructors are difficult to approach, so a school with many different teachers indicates that you may be in a healthy training environment. At the school where I serve as a head instructor, one of my proudest feelings is the loud chatter that echoes between our brick walls after class. On one side of the mat, people prepare to tactically shut down the other group's game on the other side of the mat. At first, this sounds like chaos and lunacy that would lead to fragmentation; however, it is the essence of healthy competition. We can now dive into the finer details of the first year of jiu-jitsu learning.

As a new person to jiu-jitsu, it is critical to learn safety. Anxiety and fear can be understandable when getting ready to step on the mat whenever a new person starts the sport. It can begin with putting the keys into the ignition and starting our drive to practice. We will get physically uncomfortable, we will be in other people's personal space, and they, in return, will be in ours. In these moments, whether anxious or experimenting with our spacing relative to others, it is essential not to tense up. If not addressed, the way tension will go can lead to inexperienced and explosive movements in wayward directions. In short, if a new person is in an uncomfortable position, panics, and tries to escape wildly, it can injure the new person and their training partner. If a new person is unaware of the position, feels tension in it (or feels stuck), the best thing they can do is tap. When the new person taps, they can ask what the next best thing to do is and progress through the lesson. The new person is often already assigned to a person the instructor trusts. The idea of tapping and asking for direction in the first several months to a year of practice is a welcome principle that ensures the safety of self and others.

Jiu-jitsu has many different positions. It is a relatively new sport in the United States that exploded in the 1990s when Royce Gracie defeated his opponents in the first UFC. With the sport so young, the positions are constantly in a cycle, even venturing into uncharted territories. The amount of information on the sport is overwhelming. Where does one begin? The short answer is with fundamental positions. Fundamental positions include the closed-guard, half-guard, a general open-guard, side-control, mount, and the back. As a new student, one finds themselves on the bottom and needs to learn fundamental escapes and passes associated with those positions. A guard keeps an opponent from reaching a dominant position by using the feet, shins, legs, and arms while on their back. Guards play from the back, seated position, or on the side of the hip. If a person is playing guard and sweeps their opponent, they have destabilized the base and will end up on top. Finding a few sweeps in the first six months to a year is essential. When considering self-defense, the student will focus on escaping from the dominant positions when mounted, in the bottom of side control, or when the opponent has taken their back. Overall, it is crucial to learn the fundamental positions of jiu-jitsu, how to escape them if they are dominant, and how to go from being on the bottom to the top from a guarded position.

One of the most challenging things to see is a student with sporting potential quit the sport. It occurs when students feel like they aren't learning or progressing fast enough. In response to the idea of not progressing fast enough, it is vital to set appropriate goals. With smaller, well-defined goals, students feel better than when they walk in the door. Often, a student sees a lesson on technique and is disappointed to the point of frustration that they cannot do the technique as demonstrated in the match or live. Jiu-jitsu does not work that way. For a couple of weeks, a person will focus on maintaining appropriate grips to keep the position long enough to execute the technique. There is no hidden or mystic knowledge in jiu-jitsu; there is only mat time and more practice.

Wherever you may find yourself on your jiu-jitsu adventure, remember there are no shortcuts. Some people train more than others which leads to a seasoned experience. Please do not compare yourself to others, as it is a certainty for failure. The goal of jiu-jitsu is to challenge the mind and the body so much that they must sync, or else there will be a positional failure. Instagram and other social media are highlight reels based on hours and mat time; some are total hogwash. As a new person, it is essential to bind oneself to a few principles that propel us along the way. First and foremost, we must be safe and learn the fundamental positions of sport and their escapes. With this knowledge, we can go from student to practitioner and ultimately master our craft.