What to expect at your first class
To help with the start of your journey this article should help alleviate any concerns or anxieties you may have and give you an idea of what to expect.
Join The Club
Attending your first BJJ class can feel intimidating for a lot of people who make their way up the stairs to Talos Grappling for the first time.
With the unknown, comes fears and doubts that can creep into your mind – but fear not, everyone you meet will know how you feel, as they too will have made their very own "first walk".
How do we work
We encourage a healthy culture of teamwork and collaboration. The strangers that you meet will soon become your teammates and friends.
We work together to help build our base of knowledge and experience.
Every time we train, we are putting our well-being in each other’s hands so it’s important that trust and respect is built among all of our students. A brand new white belt is a potential future training partner and will be welcomed this way.
Personal Hygiene Rules
BJJ is one of the closest contact sports you can get involved in, so a high standard of hygiene must be observed at all times.
Before your first class please remember to:
- Arrive clean
- Brush your teeth
- Trim your fingernails/toenails
- Use fresh training apparel
- Wear flip flops or shoes when outside the mat area (especially in the shower rooms)
- Don’t walk on the mats with shoes/flip flops on
- Do not train if you are sick
- Do not train if you have any open wounds or skin infections
- If you have long hair, tie it up
Grappling Etiquette
Please arrive about 10 minutes early and introduce yourself to the coaches and explain your level of ability. The goal of BJJ is to get to a dominant position and apply a submission to end the bout.
There are plenty of rules in BJJ, and there are also certain techniques or positions that are forbidden.
As a beginner, we believe the below ground rules will be most relevant to you:
- You are not allowed to strike
- You are not allowed to pull your partners hair
- You are not allowed to place a finger in the eye or inside the mouth of your partner
- You are not allowed to hold individual fingers and bend them
- You are not allowed to load your body weight on / reap your partner’s knee
- You are not allowed to lift your partner and slam them
- Slap/bump hands as a sign of respect/consent before every roll
Training Gear
You don’t need to wear a uniform (called a ‘gi’) to your first class. Wear shorts and a clean but old t-shirt.
You'll need flip-flops to wear while you’re walking around the gym. There is one rule that is universal across all BJJ gyms, and that is “No shoes on the mats”. You should remove your shoes when you get changed and wear flip flops to walk up to the matted area, then step on the mats bare foot.
Your packing list should include the following:
- A towel (to mop yourself down with)
- A bottle of water
- A t-shirt or a compression top
- Shorts
- Flip flops
- A gumshield (optional)
Class Structure
Each lesson is usually divided up into three parts:
- Warm up
- Drilling
- Free sparring
The warm up will generally consist of BJJ specific movements and stretching to help prevent injury. Then your coach will gather the class and demonstrate techniques after which the participants will break off into pairs to practice together. The coach will walk around the mat to observe and assist as necessary.
At the end of the class you will get the opportunity to do some sparring. This is where you try to put into action what you have learned while the other person is resisting.
In sparring, the ultimate objective is to get your opponent to submit by tapping you, or by saying the word “tap”. When someone taps, you should stop what you are doing and get up and reset the position.
We train hard but we train safe, so we can come back tomorrow – the tap allows us to do this. Don’t try to thug out a submission. Tap and start again.
Unlike Fight Club, if this is your first night you don’t have to fight – you can choose to observe instead and take part when you feel confident enough to do so.
After the class, thank your training partners and coaches with a handshake or fist bump.