White belt: where to begin

[Dylan Ehrnreiter]

1. Hespect you coach
2. Tap early
3. Get tapped often
4. Don't brag about who you tap in class
5. Buy all the 10P books and read them non stop
6. Have fun!

[jaywatkins67]

Study MTS without a doubt. Youtube, obviously, has a lot of material. I initially learned rubber guard while deployed studying "Mastering the Rubber Guard". If you have the resources study Eddie's Twister and Rubber Guard DVD's as well and shadow drill/grappling dummy or with a partner. Once you become proficient at the techniques, I'd begin to apply them while free rolling. While free rolling, some of them will come naturally and you will execute rather quickly. If your instructor forbids you from executing techniques that he didn't teach then you will have to reassess your situation. I agree with Dylan, always respect your instructor, which is why I am 10P4L because Eddie always encourages learning, period.

[Andrew "Chewie" James]

here one i think a lot of people underestimate or just don't think about, is figure out how you learn best whether you just need to be told a sequence to understand a move or if you need every little detail to be explained or felt, or you like to do this in sequence like a takedown to guard pass to transition or submission. because once you know whats best for you you'll retain more of the information your taking in.

[Joseph Hachey]

If I were you, I would start with Flying Gogoplatas and work my way backwards. Just my $0.02.

[Daniel D.]

I'll let a more experienced person answer your twister side question. My advice is take it slow and try not to take on too many techniques at once. I know, its tempting

i've only be training for a little under a year now, but i think this is pretty good advice. for the first few months, i was trying to learn and attempt all of the new techniques i was being shown in class, but none were sticking. finally, i chose a few that iliked and went from there.

[Joshua Jarboe]

Seems like a lot of people favor a grappling dummy.

I wonder what my wife will say when I bring one home...

[Joshua Jarboe]

At the moment, I'm focusing on passing guard, acquiring and maintaining the mount position and trying to learn to sweep / re-guard. Basically, I want to be able to flow from position to position and stop my opponents flow. I'll go for submissions if they are there or if the threat helps me put my opponent off balance and keeps his attempts to re-guard in check...

Not saying I'm good at it...but there it is

[Joseph Hachey]

Seems like a lot of people favor a grappling dummy.

I wonder what my wife will say when I bring one home...

If you have a wife, you don't need to bother buying a grappling dummy!