Welcome to your adventure in jiu-jitsu. As you step onto the mat, you are entering a new and possibly overwhelming arena. The purpose of this article is to answer any questions you might have about starting to train in Jiu-Jitsu and your first class in particular.

Being a student at Devine Jiu Jitsu means that you are a member of our Ohana, our family. We treat one another with respect, consideration, and kindness. 

It is important to know that jiu-jitsu is a contact sport. You will sweat on others and others will sweat on you. You may feel confused, uncomfortable, and anxious. Those are natural responses to the stress associated with beginning this martial art. 

What you should not feel, however, is pain. Your training partner’s health is as important as your own. Even in the most competitive of rolls, never roll angry or upset. When we roll, we give and we take. We help and we learn. We both win. Professor Devine always says, “The roll is the reward.”

JUST VISITING

You are more than welcome to simply watch a class, meet the instructor, and ask some questions before ever getting on the mats. However, the ability to watch someone do something and then replicate that movement well is not within all of us. 

Your knowledge in jiu-jitsu expands mostly by the actual execution of a technique. Increased repetitions with a focus on the small nuances of a technique will cause your “game” to improve significantly more than merely repeating it once or twice in class. Simply put, solid mat time is the most effective way to learn jiu-jitsu and improve your game.

PERSONAL HYGIENE

Personal hygiene is essential. We can clean the mats every day, but people still bring their own cultures of personal bacteria onto the mat. Showering before you train, trimming fingernails and toenails, tying up long hair, and even brushing your teeth will make training with you much more pleasant.  Wash your gi as soon as possible after training. Use detergent and dry to preference. Most of us tend to let our gi air dry on a hanger. From time to time a fabric softener may be of use, but that is a personal preference. Keep in mind that machine drying a gi will result in excessive shrinking. 

Wash your belt. Like your gi, it is made of cotton.  Just like your gi, it becomes soaked with sweat and is pressed into the mat. If you do not wash it, you nullify all your other hygiene as soon as it touches you, your gi, and your partner.  

Wash your body the same way. You may want to invest in an anti-bacterial soap or cleaner, but studies have shown that the simple action of washing removes the most harmful bacteria from the skin. Basic soap also has the added effect of leaving our good bacteria in place. Washing as soon as possible is a practice that will help prevent infections such as ringworm, staph, and MRSA. 

If you are sick, do not train. If you have cold symptoms, do no train. If you are hurt, do not train. If you are unable to train safely, do not train.  If you are unsure if you should train, ask a black belt or senior student. 

WHAT TO WEAR

You do not need to own a jiu-jitsu gi for your first class. T-shirts, board shorts and sweat pants are all fine. Do not wear anything with extra pockets, belt loops, or baggy fabric. These are dangerous since fingers and toes can get caught in them. Baggy cargo shorts are a common example of what not to wear.

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.

Remember that 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.

After a few classes, if you desire to continue training, you will need to buy a jiu-jitsu gi. We do not have a preference for gi color, patches, or brands. Just wear a gi that properly fits. You can purchase our gis HERE but are not required to purchase a Devine gi.

YOUR FIRST CLASS

Please show up a few minutes early to introduce yourself to the instructor and check out the school (if you haven’t visited already). You will need to sign a waiver.

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

Some instructors use a very light warmup, whereas others start the class with a heavy-duty conditioning session. Most classes start with a group warm-up, such as running laps and doing push-ups, followed by solo drills like forward and backward breakfalls and shrimping. Those last three moves will probably be new to you, so just watch what everyone else is doing and try to copy them. These are to help you learn how to fall safely and move your hips on the ground.

Don’t worry if you don’t get the exercises correct at first—no one does on their first day, and they take a little practice. Just give it your best try and the instructor or a higher belt will make sure you learn to do it right.

INSTRUCTION

After warm-ups, find a partner and a section of the mats. Most of our classes are half instruction and half open roll. You will watch the instructor demo and explain the technique, then you and your partner will drill/practice the technique until the instructor is ready to teach more of the technique.  

Every class has its own vibe and each instructor teaches differently. Some teach a sequence of moves over a period of time. Some teach only the fundamentals. Some teach more advanced jiu-jitsu techniques. No matter what class you attend, you will learn jiu-jitsu. You may have to attend a few different classes to find the class that best fits your personality and jiu-jitsu style. 

ROLLING / SPARRING

Usually, rolling, sparring, or positional drilling follows the instruction. This will be your first chance to try out what you just learned against a fully resisting partner in a live roll. And as such, it’s important that you understand some basic rules for all live rolling and drilling. 

BASIC RULES

At the start of each roll, you will begin by facing your partner on your knees, on your butt, or standing.  When you’re both ready, slap hands, bump fists and start to roll. Try out your techniques, stopping whenever one of you taps or tires and restart again. Some classes use timed rounds to encourage multiple rolls with different partners. Some classes roll with no time limits. 

When you begin moving your body into basic positions, it may feel awkward. When you have a person on top of you, it will be unnatural and you may feel anxiety or even panic. Each of your training partners of every belt rank has been there before. We all started out exactly where you are.  Do not doubt that for a moment. You do not have anything to prove to the other people sharing the mat with you. 

Let the techniques happen without having to force them. If you are stuck, uncomfortable, or panicked, simply tap or say so. Good verbal communication with your training partners is important. Reset and continue to work. Senior students will work at your level and do not expect you to work at theirs.

You are allowed to say no to rolling with someone you do not feel comfortable rolling with. 

TAPPING

The tap is the single most important safety aspect of our training. You can say, “Tap.” You can literally tap your partner’s arm, leg, torso, or other body parts. Or you can tap the floor loudly with your hand or foot. We do this to let our partner know that we submit. His or her position, pressure, or technique has placed us in a situation with no obvious escape or counter. If we do not tap, the pressure on some portion of our body will cause us to lose consciousness or suffer injury to a joint or limb. 

Tapping is, quite literally, a safety valve.  When in doubt, tap. You can always reset to that position. Remember, there is no shame or embarrassment in tapping. Everyone does it. The health and safety of your training partners matter more than a submission.

Likewise, be aware of your training partner tapping and stop whatever you are doing when they tap. Tap early. Tap often.

FUNDAMENTALS 

The foundation of a good Jiu-Jitsu “game” is solid fundamentals. This will begin with your grasp of the basic positions of the guard, side control, mount, and back mount. Getting from position to position will require passing, sweeping, escaping, and other transitional movements. This core set of positions and skills will support the other techniques you will learn. 

POSITION BEFORE SUBMISSION

One of the core principles of jiu-jitsu is “position before submission”. By “position” is meant the relative position of your body to your opponent’s. By “submission” is meant 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 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.

You can see this principle contained in the following sequence:

You start in a bad position (under mount) and escape to a relatively neutral position (in the guard), then advance (pass guard) to a dominant position (side control), and then take an even more dominant position (mount), at which point you have the control and leverage to affect a submission (americana or cross collar choke).

You would not want to escape from mount to then try an americana or cross collar choke from inside their guard. This breaks the principle of “position before submission,” since you’re trying to jump to the submission before gaining real control. They still have more than enough control to stop you from submitting them and it puts you in danger of being submitted.

Each technique flows one into another, from position to position, and ends with a complete reversal of who is mounted. Once you’ve learned all four techniques, you and your partner can drill them all back and forth, switching off each time someone ends under mount.

While these techniques may seem basic, if you could consistently perform them successfully against resisting opponents, you’d be well on your way in jiu-jitsu.

BELT COLORS AND STRIPES

– WHITE BELT – NOVICE

– BLUE BELT – BEGINNER

– PURPLE BELT – INTERMEDIATE

– BROWN BELT – ADVANCED

– BLACK BELT – EXPERT

Belt ranks are based on far more than a student’s skill or knowledge.  Above recognizing technical skill, mat time, and athleticism, the award of the next belt rank is the Professor’s grant of trust. Belts are earned, not given. Advancement in jiu-jitsu requires growth as a person, an increase in skills (refinement of fundamentals,) and a demonstrated dedication to the safe and healthy training conducted in the school.

From belt to belt, students are awarded a black bar and stripes to recognize their progress toward the next belt rank/color. You will earn four stripes before advancing to the next belt. Professor Devine does not typically award stripes on a white belt. You must be 16 years or older to earn a blue belt. Children and teens advanced from white to additional colors based on age and experience.

Honestly, your belt rank does not matter that much to the people you regularly train with. You may start training jiu-jitsu to earn a belt color, but that attitude fades over time because you understand the reward is not in the belt color, but in the roll itself.

SEE YOU ON THE MATS