I know y’all gonna say try them out and see which one fits me but I’m looking for a good recommendation. Here’s the breakdown: 1. School A-4 nights a week has JKD, Muay Thai, and Kali classes before and after bjj. About 110 for bjj, 140 for all others but I’m strictly interested in bjj only. It’s taught by a brown belt through Carlos Machado and is also an Eric Paulsen CSW affiliate. It’s right next to where my 17 yo daughter works too 2. School B-direct lineage Royce Gracie black belt (he’s actually gonna be there this weekend) $100 month for 3 nights of 2 hours 3. School C-direct black belt from Pedro Sauer who visits from time to time. Has 2 day classes plus 2 day Japanese jj as well about same price as School A. Teaches other as well JKD, MT, etc Whatcha think
Sorry man. It's always going to come down to "which had their best atmosphere for me?" I've heard of some Royce places being ridiculous. Things like they won't teach half guard etc. Personally I avoid anywhere that's too Gracie-heavy curriculum. Not because they curriculum is bad but because you can get sacked into things like having to buy specific gis and what not. I like places that let you wear any gi and isn't heavy on "loyalty". If you ask them instructor "can I train elsewhere too?" And they say "no" then they're probably not a great school to begin with.
School A or B because 2 days a week is not enough. I normally would not consider a school where the instructor is not a black belt, but I would make an exception for being next to where my daughter is working at the same time I'm training. And if you're a white belt, which I assume you are, it will be some time before it really matters much that he's not a BB. There's going to be a massive difference in your skill levels for a long time, so my ordinary concerns are alleviated a bit here. (And as a bonus, 4 nights a week would give you flexibility in your schedule.)
Question is how often can you train and like PIP says which feels best to you? No point signing up for 4 days a week if you can only make two, and yes you can advance just training two days a weeks so don't worry, especially if everyone else in the class is also only training two days.
Good point, plus be honest about why you're training. Most people do MA for fun and have other demands on their time, so twice a week may be a sensible, realistic goal. There may be times you can't even do that, real life gets in the way! I've also seen people decide to train 4, 5 or more times a week and either keep getting injured or just burn out. It's the gym membership syndrome; people pay a load of cash so they can train 6 times a week, do that for month and stop because they've had enough. That's not to say you can't or shouldn't do more, just be honest with yourself. Other than that, go along and try them all! Let us know what they're like
Agree that you need to find a balance for your situation In my experience Jiu Jitsu takes a chunk of time to get your head around and you you’ll benefit greatly if you can find a way to train more frequently than 2x a week
My experience too. When I did BJJ I could only make one session a week (which did often go to 2 and a half hours to be fair) and one session a week just wasn't enough. I managed (somehow) to get a blue belt but it was hard going and in the end gave up because I wasn't getting any further (amongst other reasons). I'd spend saturday mornings fending off armbars and chokes rather than working my own stuff because everyone was streets ahead. One session just wasn't enough to keep up and I'd just be in survival mode. Other sorts of arts (like Taekwondo and Karate) where you are basically emulating a shape in the air are much easier to keep topped up with once and week and still feel like you are getting somewhere, but once you get into BJJ you start to direct your own training (I need to work on my guard retention, triangle setups, top control, etc etc) and that takes mat time.
But part of this reason is because everyone else was training more times a week and getting streets ahead right? If everyone in the class is training twice a week the class curriculum will be aimed at this so you won't miss anything and everyone will progress at the same rate. That's not to say you won't progress more rapidly if you are training three, four or five times a week but you will make good steady progress twice a week. The reason people often quit when they train twice a week is because those training more often pass them by or they miss parts of the curriculum, but if the class is aimed at twice a week this shouldn't happen here
I'm currently training in BJJ Once to maybe twice a week max, so whilst I'm not improving as fast as everyone else, I'm still improving, and I do spend a lot of time fighting out of submissions/tapping, but that's real life for you. If everyone else is also training twice a week, it's not going to be the motivation killer that it can be at full time places.
If school C has only got classes twice a week. (Your not that clear), Id definitely go for school A, plus CSW has a lot of interesting things to play with. How come the other gyms arnt full time? Or are you only talking about beginner classes? Not their full time table?
That's why I like having more class days per week. Sometimes I can't go on Monday because the son has X or the daughter has Y or wife has Z or work was bad so went home late, etc etc. "Life" gets in the way now and then, so when I can't go on Monday this week then it's nice to have the Thursday option. That's what I'm saying. But, sure, ultimately the answer is to visit them all, and choose after that.
Imho beyond year 1 or 2 BJJ stops really having a curriculum. Of course you go to class and drill what the instructor has decided is the theme for that session but generally you make up your own curriculum to guide your training. It's a much more internally guided art than things like karate (which are generally judged by external success criteria). If you keep getting smashed under side control (either because your partner's are good at doing it or you suck at stopping, or both) then you need to work on getting back to guard (for example). So even if the instructor has decided to do a month long dive into worm guard you personally know what you should be working on. What I'm getting at is that that process (recognise holes in game, plug holes in game, find new holes in game) needs mat time in and of itself quite apart from how quickly others around you are improving or how often they are training (although obviously that feeds into it too).
But this is true of any grappling art and any truely alive striking art. You always work on your game because what fits you doesn't fit anyone else not even your coach. In Thai for example you might be working the coaches set curriculum for the day, hands setting up low kicks for example but in sparring you will work your own things as well as mixing in the coaches class room drills, you might feel your clinch entry skills need sharpening and that's what you work on. That also takes time and effort every bit as developing your ground game. It's less anything magical about BJJ that requires extra hours to develop your own game (all live arts need this) and more to do with are you learning a dead static art or one which develops your own game? The single biggest factor in people dropping out of bjj and grappling I see isn't how often they go to class, it's how often they go compared to their class mates and how they are progressing compared to said class mates. And this is true of most combat arts if you are all attending the same amount of classes each week some will progress more rapidly than others but the disparity won't be as great as if student a is missing 50% of the available classes compared to student b
This is spot on, especially as we get older, and can train less, it's really hard on the ego, I can see why older new people drop out, especially at blue belt level, it's when all the white belts want to claim your scalp, and you realise theirs a long way to go before you get the skill set of the black belts!
I guess so. I just found that with BJJ/Grappling compared to stand up arts (even Thai) you've got more a few more variables and permutations to keep on top of. Each major position (top and bottom), sweeps, submissions, current trends, your opponent's favoured games, etc. Felt like trying to keep multiple plates spinning and you need mat time to get round them all.
