Here at Gracie Barra Mansfield, we are your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu connection. We are here to help you stay safe and have fun doing it. I am Dojo Diva and I am not a real MMA fighter, I just play one on XBox 😀 . Also, I am a 41 year old mother who’s been practicing BJJ for over a year and a half so I am living proof that Jiu Jitsu really IS for everyone.
I’ve taken other forms of martial arts, but what makes Brazilian Jiu Jitsu highly unique is that you stay a white belt for a long…long…looooong time. The difference between a new white belt who still has the creases in his new gi and a four-stripe white belt who’s been training for a year or more is pretty amazing.
Especially when you’ve been on the journey yourself.
I am hovering on the precipice of earning my blue belt, which is why I am always hesitant to give any kind of martial arts “advice.” I know I am NOT a black belt and don’t pretend to be. Every moment on the mat is a reminder of all I still have yet to learn.
But, since the most common belt for those practicing Jiu Jitsu is the white belt, I thought maybe I could give some tips to help shorten the learning curve. As much as I love Jiu Jitsu, the simple reality is that not everyone who starts training as a white belt ever makes it to blue. Sometimes it is just life, time, finances, but it could also be burnout or injury. I confess there were times I considered “tapping out” and it had more to do with my mind than anything else.
So I’ve listed the top five things I wish I would have known a heck of a lot earlier and I hope it enriches your BJJ experience and improves your game…
Tip #1 Slow Down
When I started in BJJ a year and a half ago, I had no skills and less smarts, but I did have strength. I used brute force but really all it earned me was far too many minor injuries and I ran out of steam quickly. This made grappling far tougher than it needed to be.
Powering through might work for one round or even two, but after that? I wouldn’t have the gas to continue. In a competition? Though could be a big deal.
Also by going too quickly and relying on strength, I wasn’t slowing down enough to SEE places where I might gain advantage.
Tip #2 Breathe
These days, whenever a newer white belt gets red in the face and sweaty, I make him slow down and remember the breath. Breath is critical for mental calmness that makes for better Jiu Jitsu.
Tip #3 Keep Your Elbows IN
Seems like a no-brainer for the upper belts, but when I was new, I’d get so scope-locked, that I wouldn’t notice my elbows were flared and I was getting arm-barred CONSTANTLY. These days, I am still a white belt and no Ronda Rousey, but I am at least staying in the game. I might not yet be winning as much as I’d like to, but I am holding my own.
I’ve learned in the last year and a half that if I slow down, remember my breath, and keep my elbows in, I can often outlast a far larger and far more skilled opponent.
Tip #4 THINK
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a highly unique form of martial arts. It is not as reliant on size and strength as other forms of martial arts. It is a very cerebral sport and part of the growth process of being a white belt is to mature from being purely reactive to thinking tactically.
It’s hard when an opponent has you smashed in side-control to resist the urge to do SOMETHING! ANYTHING to get out of that seriously uncomfortable place. But Jiu Jitsu is CHESS, not Tiddlywinks 😉 .
Often, just being still and focusing on the breath forces our opponent to change tactics and move. Any movement provides opportunity for a reversal. Once we get more advanced, we can start predicting (or even directing) what that move might be and then using it for advantage.
Tip #5 Tap
Since I am a Type-A overachiever, this was one of the hardest things for me to learn in the beginning. Now? I have no pride. If someone gets the arm bar? I am not going to try and wrestle out of it, because even if I could get out of it? Often I strain something along the way and it isn’t worth the downtime.
These days? The second I feel someone might have the submission, I tap. Then I ask if we can backtrack a bit so I can war-game what I did wrong so that, hopefully, it won’t happen again.
Jiu Jistu isn’t an event, but a process. If we relax and learn to slow down, relax, and pay attention? The journey is far more enjoyable.
We hope you will join us on the mats here in Mansfield. In the meantime have fun and stay frosty!
Dojo Diva
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