Hit the mat for the first time tonight

Tonight I signed up at Lovato's BJJ school and got to work. We went over a standing guillotine escape, a side-control escape, and an armbar from closed guard. I was partnered up with a guy who was really nice, also a white belt but he had a couple stripes. He was super gentle, to the point where I almost told him to amp it up a little. I hope I wasn't squeezing him too hard.

It was a complete blast. I can see this becoming a serious obsession very quickly. I'm already looking at my schedule and trying to figure out how I can get in there as many days a week as possible.

I'm looking forward to the point in time where I can start to work on 10p specific stuff. I already know I'm going to have to learn to fight from my back. I'm 5'10 and about 135 lb soaking wet, and with no wrestling background. So I'm going to get thrown around a lot. But my butterfly is already completely flat on the ground and I can go full lotus without my hands both directions, so I'm really anxious to start working on rubber guard. (thanks to many years of TKD for that).

I'm just giddy with excitement right now. I suspected it was going to be fun, but it was 10x what I expected. I had a fucking blast.

5'10" and a buck thirty five? Do you triangle dudes all day long?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singer

5'10" and a buck thirty five? Do you triangle dudes all day long?

---

That's the plan... but since I've had a total of one class, and we didn't cover any triangles, probably not just yet :)

At Lovato's you do not spar until you have 4 stripes on your whitebelt. That's about 4 months. Is this common?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Craig Murray

At Lovato's you do not spar until you have 4 stripes on your whitebelt. That's about 4 months. Is this common?

---

no, neither is 4 stripes in 4 months.

Most schools let guys start to roll withing a couple of classes/couple of weeks. I usually let guys start rolling in about 4 weeks if they have been consistent.

1 stripe is usually around 4-6months a piece.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

1 stripe is usually around 4-6months a piece.

---

Lovato's also does yellow, orange, green. So you get 4 white stripes over 4 months, then yellow orange green, which takes you to a year or so. So a year+ for blue is what they said.

I'm guessing 12-18 months for blue is typical?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Craig Murray

Lovato's also does yellow, orange, green. So you get 4 white stripes over 4 months, then yellow orange green, which takes you to a year or so. So a year+ for blue is what they said.

I'm guessing 12-18 months for blue is typical?

---

Wow, seems complex. Do you have to pay extra for the stripe grading?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marty McLaren

Wow, seems complex. Do you have to pay extra for the stripe grading?

---

I was wondering that myself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marty McLaren

Wow, seems complex. Do you have to pay extra for the stripe grading?

---

No, no cost for grading, no cost for belts. Their price system is a 6-month contract for twice a week classes, or you can pay an additional $20/month for unlimited classes. But apparently they are not super strict, so as long as you are not there 5 days a week, you can get by with the twice a week contract and fit in extra classes. Plus you get a free month for paying in advance, plus you get a free month when you sign up.

So all in all it was like $1000 for 8 months, gi included. No belt fees no grade fees.

The GB school near us has a similar structure for rolling. You need a certain amount of stripes on your White Belt first before you can roll and you get the stripes pretty quickly. Once you have 4 stripes (I think) you're not classed as a beginner anymore and you go into the Black Belt programme.

Sounds like you got the Jiu Jitsu bug.... mines been burning for years! stick with it brother!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Craig Murray

Lovato's also does yellow, orange, green. So you get 4 white stripes over 4 months, then yellow orange green, which takes you to a year or so. So a year+ for blue is what they said.

I'm guessing 12-18 months for blue is typical?

---

gottcha...the yellow,orange,green aren't generally the norm, but that makes more sense. Typical for blue is closer to 18-24months.


Don't sweat that stuff anyway, just focus on the training and have fun! Awesome to see another Jiu Jitsu enthusiast!

Glad you love it man, let the obsession begin :D

Welcome to Jiu Jitsu :)

That's awesome you get to start your jiujitsu journey with Lovato. He's a great instructor

all the best buddy, regarding the rolling - at the first school i went to, they let me roll first day. Also we didn't have stripes.

Full lotus! Damn. I wish I could do that. Working on my flexibility for about an hour every morning. Man, your legs are going to be serious weapons!

second class down... loving it. This time we worked on armbar from mount. My partner was a big fucker, must have had 70lb on me at least. He seemed very skilled and knowledgeable for a 4-stripe whitebelt and was able to really help me. He's competing in Houston this weekend, but despite that spent most of his time helping me understand what I was doing wrong.

Then toward the end of class during his reps he asked me to really try to resit him. I was using my legs to try to spin my body, pulling both arms in as tight as I could, trying to resist. At that point it was clear he really was a whitebelt because I was able to resist for like, 15 seconds and eventually he had to reset his mount.

But those 20 or so seconds of carrying his weight on my chest, holy shit! I was completely fucking gassed and if the coach hadn't stopped us, I was ready to tap just from him sitting on me.

Is there a name for submitting a guy just by sitting on him? If so, I've been tapped with it.

What really strikes me about Jiu Jitsu so far is just how much is going on in each move. A simple armbar from mount has like 6 steps with each step having like 8-10 details about how to do it correctly. It's probably even more than that, but that's all I was able to see from my complete newbie perspective.

It also completely blows my mind when I try to do some of these things in the reverse direction. I'm going to quit doing that for awhile, it's just confusing the shit out of me.

Finally, I'm starting to see why it takes so long to get really good at BJJ. If class is 60 minutes, and you subtract the warmup time, then subtract the instruction time, then cut what's left in half from your partner's reps, you're really only drilling the technique for like, 20 minutes of class.

At that rate, you have to attend 3 classes just to get an hour of drilling. That's not enough, at least not for me. It will take me fucking forever to become fluid and natural in these complex motions. You've trying to manage both arms, hands, legs, feet, hips, all in specific positions, all simultaneously... that takes tremendous practice!

So, much to the chagrin of my wife, I've ordered a Submission Master grappling dummy. I'm hoping this will give me an opportunity to both drill from home like crazy, and also drill harder than my partner is comfortable with. No complaints from the dummy when I'm kneeling on his neck for 60 minutes while I work on posture.

Once I get it, that dummy is going to find itself in my rubber guard for hours at a time as I drill the various transitions and positions available once I have my legs in the mix... look out blue belts, I'm coming for you!