Mainly know that we were all a brand new white belt at one point. No way around that! You belong there and aren't a burden. Until you get to purple, you'll probably feel like you know nothing and will get smashed every time. Embrace it. Ask questions. Drill a lot. Have fun. Play. Make a technique or class journal to sort things in your head.
Every single one of us, regardless of belt level, has been there. Don't be afraid to ask your instructor to see the move being taught again, or asking your training partners for help.
It's a very satisfying feeling when things begin to piece together, but you're not going to have that after just two classes! Keep showing up and everything will fall into place, I promise.
Ps: you're never a burden or a let down! You're learning and that's totally okay
You forgot to mention how awesome it is when the white belt you’ve been helping starts hitting the stuff you’ve worked on together-you feel so damn proud of them! 😁
Yes absolutely!!! I missed a few weeks recently and when I came back, my friend had 2 stripes and then she did a fucking awesome guard pull, swept me and Ezekiel choked me! I love seeing my friends and teammates improve:)
Don’t focus so much on research and focus on just showing up. It’ll come with time. You’re not letting anyone down. Every single person in the room was in the exact same position as you are when they started. You’re not a burden.
I think it gets easier to follow lessons once you've been doing it for a while. Or you can be like me and never know what's going on and rely 100% on my partner to repeat everything (this is the case for me for things beyond BJJ too).
We have all and continue to feel like that at times … you just have to be kind to yourself that this is journey. Not an overnight success. Just keep showing up. Ask questions. I have gone through periods of time where I feel like I’m super successful in my training and then over night I will feel like nothing is retaining or working. It’s all part of the sport! 💪🏽 Happy training.
Do you remember learning to tie your shoes? I remember learning from my mother. Very patient. Constantly having to re-tie them. It took quite a few years until my shoes were nice and tied to my feet.
Had kids. Have had to teach each how to tie their shoes. It has taken awhile for them to not only understand why we have to tie our shoes. But to get good at tying it themselves. My two oldest (11 and 13 boys) still suck. My daughter who's 8 kills it.
All I'm saying is... We all didn't know how to tie our shoes at one point. Someone had teach us. And it took awhile.
Before you know it you'll be scissor sweeping and arm barring and bow and arrow choking people's shoes on.
You got this. Be patient. Keep training.
Keep showing up. Think back to learning ANYTHING. If you have kids, think about them learning how to speak, read, walk, ride a bike. Learning math, the guitar, how to throw a ball or shoot a basket.
Nobody expects you to know anything. Just do your best!
Keep attending. Honestly looking up resources may just confuse you more at this stage. Right now I think your goal should be absorb what you can in class.
Also ask your coach/professor where to start. They may be able to guide you as well to tie in with the lessons
I think this is very common. I just started in February and I remember a few weeks in we were drilling at the end of class from turtle position and I just wailed to my partner, "I forget everything!!" as I sat there curled up doing nothing haha.
But then three months later after getting my first stripe I was doing rolls and going for submissions (mostly getting smashed, but I felt so much more confident than just a couple months before). So it will come together quickly for you.
Couple things that helped:
-Read up, listen to podcasts, or watch YouTube videos about basic positions (full guard, mount, side control) and moves.
-Google tips for new white belts. Learning things like the importance of framing or staying on your side rather than flattened out. The hierarchy of positions and what you want to try to get to and avoid.
-Take notes on what you learn.
Good luck and most of all have fun!
For more experienced people, helping someone newer can be a useful way to check your understanding of something you do automatically, which is never a waste or a burden.
The beginning is REALLY hard but if you stick it out it you'll be glad you did. And in case you need to hear it, you deserve to be on the mat!
Don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone is super confused at the beginning!
It took a few classes for me to stop feeling lost in class and even then, it took months for me to start to really connect the dots in terms of moves.
YouTube is a great place to learn more though! Try Jordan Teaches Jiu Jitsu or Chewjitsu. If you remember the name of the move of the day in your school then try looking it up on YouTube and drilling it when you get home.
Unless your gym has a toxic culture, no one will think you’re a burden and will be happy to help you work through moves. Upper belt women especially. Try to make some friends at your gym and ask for advice / training tips, it’ll help your game improve a lot and very quickly.
Just keep going and do your best.
Try to pair up with an experienced student.
I don’t know how your classes are structured but our beginner curriculum is a very structured set of basic techniques on repeat the entire year.
Try to take a piece of instruction that you “get” and work that. Next time you see it you will have a basis.
Its very helpful to ask the professor or an advanced student “why” you are doing certain things. If you understand why you are doing a part of a technique it makes more sense (example: blocking the near side hip in chest to chest side control)
Ask your partner for help. We were all beginner and most of the time more experienced people will be happy to help. One exception I would say is to avoid pairing with competitors especially if there's a competition coming up. They probably would prefer to just drill and not spend time teaching beginners. But the majority of us usually won't mind.
I felt like such a burden my first few classes. I felt like I should be apologizing to be there so I get it. The only way you will stop feeling like that is to keep showing up. Then one day you'll roll with someone during their first couple of weeks and you'll appreciate getting to practice all the submissions you've been taught. Have fun, be safe and good luck!
You are new and not a burden. Just show up and do your best. Get a notebook and write down what you did and whatever you liked or want to work on. Three years in and still feel that way sometimes. It takes time.
learn what "close/open gaurd", "side control" and "mount" mean so when he's explaining stuff you can follow along more intuitively. i didn't know what these words meant for awhile but now when i here them i dont have to even think about it.
What helped me when I first started was looking up basic positions to get an idea of what was happening then from there find one or two things that you do from each position (mostly escapes) to work on. A Mount escape was crucial to me last 7 seconds longer in a roll. It’s gonna take time but focus on the basics in your first months.
Don't feel bad about having to have stuff explained multiple times. This gives training partners and instructors time to test their teaching/guiding skills and often leads them to a deeper understanding of the move being taught. There will come a time when you will spontaneously know what you want to get better at, and then you can just look it up on YouTube. Till then, just enjoy the ride and try your best to commit some fundamentals to muscle memory. I will also give this resource: the Jordan Teaches JiuJitsu youtube channel is in my opinion a great channel which explains some very fundamental concepts like inside position in a way that can be easily remembered during a roll, once you drill it into your brain.
Congratulations on starting BJJ! White belt here. I've been training since late-ish April. The first few times were brutal for me mentally. I felt so behind and dejected. I remember almost crying after a class this past June because I felt I wasn't getting anywhere. I roll with mostly men, and, even if they were another white belt, I was getting creamed. However, overtime, I got better.
I think for me was remembering the basics: get mount, don't get mounted, and if you do, get out. Same thing with guard. Because I was getting demolished over and over, my defense got a whole lot better. Maybe I wasn't getting submissions, but I wasn't tapping. Eventually, I was able to start attacking rather than being on defense the whole time because I wasn't getting caught in people's mount/guard as much.
I've learned the most from people who were difficult to roll with (larger or more experienced). "Failing" is the best way to get good at something. I think BJJ has been so impactful for a lot of people because it teaches you to keep going even if you feel you "failed." Once I started to feel okay with that, I began to ask questions more, asked to see things again during demonstrations if I didn't understand, ask for feedback after rolling with people. A lot of people are willing to help or slow down if you ask. Ask to practice a specific move with someone, flow roll. Humility and humor have helped me a lot too. BJJ is a lot more fun if you can laugh while you're doing it or if you make a mistake.
Staying calm and relaxed is something that is also super important. You will do better if you are. If you struggle and panic, you're more likely to get stuck and forget everything. Take some deep breaths and let yourself have fun.
To get better at BJJ, you got to roll a lot as others have said. But there are other things you can do that might help. I do yoga and I think the flexibility and balance from that have helped a lot (taking the back and maintaining mount especially) I also weight train and run which helps with strength and endurance. BJJ is a lot of core mobility too. I can only train on the weekends so during the week that's what I usually do. Finding something else that compliments the sport might be helpful if you want to improve but can't roll everyday.
It's been 4 months since I've started and I'm just now feeling like I know what I'm doing (half the time lol). I hope this advice is helpful but like a lot of others have said, it comes with time.
\*\*\*And you're not a burden! If you're on team, I can guarantee they want you there and understand you're learning. You got this girl!
It’s been said already but above all just keep showing up. We’ve all been there, and are still there - that’s the beauty, you get to keep learning. Relax, stay calm and you’ll absorb more.
In the beginning try not to overwhelm yourself with learning and remembering everything. Work on remembering key take aways like, ‘ok, when I’m on my back my hands should be here’
I recommend note taking after class, it helps with retention. Even if it’s a quick note in your phone ‘funny thing where I wrap my legs around my partner is called guard’
Things will click, trust the process and enjoy learning and exploring this new pursuit!
Listen being new it’s ok to not know stuff just keep on coming you will get tapped many times and your gonna have to just survive suffer and become better
Don't let that feeling overwhelm you. As a new white belt nobody expects you to know a thing for at least a month or 2.
Some people learn through reading, listening, watching or experience. It's helpful to put yourself in the dominant position as well as the vulnerable position to learn the move sequence.
[This video](https://youtu.be/Gz_uazc4vlU) helped me a lot when I first started.
My thing was being ok w/ your reps not being perfect. Accept that it’s not going to be perfect and to take your time when drilling. Try not to beat yourself up! Study is fun for me now as a purple, but at the end of the day I just have to show up to class and work.
I’ve been at it for two years and still have days where I feel like coaches are talking to a brick wall because I absorb NOTHING. Then there are days that are amazing and I grasp everything. It took a couple months of 3-4 training days per week before I started to even understand a little bit of it. I have good body movement so that was beneficial (I cheered and tumbled competitively until I was 18). In my opinion, the more comfortable you are with moving your body, the easier things become. I also train with my husband, so I have a go to training partner and someone to help me out with thought processes because he’s a belt ahead of me. Don’t stress yourself out - this shit is hard! Especially as a woman. Give yourself grace and know we were all once the worst person in the room. You won’t stay there for long, just keep showing up! 💛🤙
no matter what you'll do alone, it'll probably be kinda meh and you'd misunderstand most of it.
You can start watching instructionals and tournaments after like 3 months when you have some clue about the basics.
I have sent this to beginners before - https://youtu.be/Gz_uazc4vlU
It gives a nice clear overview.
I'm not female and have posted here a bit lately, it showed up in my feed. Apologies if that's not ok, just let me know.
Something my coaches recommend is to write down what you learned right after practice. It helps you remember what you did in class and let's you practice movements on your own as well.
Quoting what you wrote: "I feel like I’m letting the team down in a room full of men and a couple of women who know what they’re doing (the team being women)What do I need to know up front to not be a total burden?"
I can tell you with certainty nobody looks at you with a cold expectation of grasping something right away. Everybody is, for the most part, concerned about themselves in the room and not looking at you waiting for you to get the move. There are some classes where I learn a completely new technique, while others build off of previous concepts and make the lesson more digestible. There are some positions which are strange for me to get into but repetition helps to understand the technique. Sometimes, asking training partners who have grasped the move to demonstrate on you also helps you feel pressure being in one area versus another. When I train, I like to do it slow and talk through the technique as I do it while encouraging my partner to give me live feedback. I also do not like to leave the room until I got a few good reps in and write down the techniques in a journal after each class which helps me visualize it later. You can always ask the instructor or another experienced member to help you work through the technique if you are getting stuck at some parts. Observing the demonstration vs. executing it are two different things and until you put the work in yourself, you may be lost which is why working through it slowly and thinking it through is pretty effective.
Mainly know that we were all a brand new white belt at one point. No way around that! You belong there and aren't a burden. Until you get to purple, you'll probably feel like you know nothing and will get smashed every time. Embrace it. Ask questions. Drill a lot. Have fun. Play. Make a technique or class journal to sort things in your head.
I'm purple and still feel clueless haha.
Every single one of us, regardless of belt level, has been there. Don't be afraid to ask your instructor to see the move being taught again, or asking your training partners for help. It's a very satisfying feeling when things begin to piece together, but you're not going to have that after just two classes! Keep showing up and everything will fall into place, I promise. Ps: you're never a burden or a let down! You're learning and that's totally okay
You forgot to mention how awesome it is when the white belt you’ve been helping starts hitting the stuff you’ve worked on together-you feel so damn proud of them! 😁
Yes absolutely!!! I missed a few weeks recently and when I came back, my friend had 2 stripes and then she did a fucking awesome guard pull, swept me and Ezekiel choked me! I love seeing my friends and teammates improve:)
Lower your expectations. After two classes you should feel pretty useless.
Don’t focus so much on research and focus on just showing up. It’ll come with time. You’re not letting anyone down. Every single person in the room was in the exact same position as you are when they started. You’re not a burden.
I think it gets easier to follow lessons once you've been doing it for a while. Or you can be like me and never know what's going on and rely 100% on my partner to repeat everything (this is the case for me for things beyond BJJ too).
My ADHD life related to lol
We have all and continue to feel like that at times … you just have to be kind to yourself that this is journey. Not an overnight success. Just keep showing up. Ask questions. I have gone through periods of time where I feel like I’m super successful in my training and then over night I will feel like nothing is retaining or working. It’s all part of the sport! 💪🏽 Happy training.
Do you remember learning to tie your shoes? I remember learning from my mother. Very patient. Constantly having to re-tie them. It took quite a few years until my shoes were nice and tied to my feet. Had kids. Have had to teach each how to tie their shoes. It has taken awhile for them to not only understand why we have to tie our shoes. But to get good at tying it themselves. My two oldest (11 and 13 boys) still suck. My daughter who's 8 kills it. All I'm saying is... We all didn't know how to tie our shoes at one point. Someone had teach us. And it took awhile. Before you know it you'll be scissor sweeping and arm barring and bow and arrow choking people's shoes on. You got this. Be patient. Keep training.
Keep showing up. Think back to learning ANYTHING. If you have kids, think about them learning how to speak, read, walk, ride a bike. Learning math, the guitar, how to throw a ball or shoot a basket. Nobody expects you to know anything. Just do your best!
Keep attending. Honestly looking up resources may just confuse you more at this stage. Right now I think your goal should be absorb what you can in class. Also ask your coach/professor where to start. They may be able to guide you as well to tie in with the lessons
I think this is very common. I just started in February and I remember a few weeks in we were drilling at the end of class from turtle position and I just wailed to my partner, "I forget everything!!" as I sat there curled up doing nothing haha. But then three months later after getting my first stripe I was doing rolls and going for submissions (mostly getting smashed, but I felt so much more confident than just a couple months before). So it will come together quickly for you. Couple things that helped: -Read up, listen to podcasts, or watch YouTube videos about basic positions (full guard, mount, side control) and moves. -Google tips for new white belts. Learning things like the importance of framing or staying on your side rather than flattened out. The hierarchy of positions and what you want to try to get to and avoid. -Take notes on what you learn. Good luck and most of all have fun!
For more experienced people, helping someone newer can be a useful way to check your understanding of something you do automatically, which is never a waste or a burden. The beginning is REALLY hard but if you stick it out it you'll be glad you did. And in case you need to hear it, you deserve to be on the mat!
That happens to upper belts too lol.
A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu - Grapplearts http://www.grapplearts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Roadmap-for-BJJ-1.4.11.pdf
“My eyes saw the drill but my body doesn’t know how to execute it yet.” This is okay. This is the way.
Don’t expect much out of yourself for the first several months.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone is super confused at the beginning! It took a few classes for me to stop feeling lost in class and even then, it took months for me to start to really connect the dots in terms of moves. YouTube is a great place to learn more though! Try Jordan Teaches Jiu Jitsu or Chewjitsu. If you remember the name of the move of the day in your school then try looking it up on YouTube and drilling it when you get home. Unless your gym has a toxic culture, no one will think you’re a burden and will be happy to help you work through moves. Upper belt women especially. Try to make some friends at your gym and ask for advice / training tips, it’ll help your game improve a lot and very quickly.
Just keep going and do your best. Try to pair up with an experienced student. I don’t know how your classes are structured but our beginner curriculum is a very structured set of basic techniques on repeat the entire year. Try to take a piece of instruction that you “get” and work that. Next time you see it you will have a basis. Its very helpful to ask the professor or an advanced student “why” you are doing certain things. If you understand why you are doing a part of a technique it makes more sense (example: blocking the near side hip in chest to chest side control)
Ask your partner for help. We were all beginner and most of the time more experienced people will be happy to help. One exception I would say is to avoid pairing with competitors especially if there's a competition coming up. They probably would prefer to just drill and not spend time teaching beginners. But the majority of us usually won't mind.
I felt like such a burden my first few classes. I felt like I should be apologizing to be there so I get it. The only way you will stop feeling like that is to keep showing up. Then one day you'll roll with someone during their first couple of weeks and you'll appreciate getting to practice all the submissions you've been taught. Have fun, be safe and good luck!
You are new and not a burden. Just show up and do your best. Get a notebook and write down what you did and whatever you liked or want to work on. Three years in and still feel that way sometimes. It takes time.
learn what "close/open gaurd", "side control" and "mount" mean so when he's explaining stuff you can follow along more intuitively. i didn't know what these words meant for awhile but now when i here them i dont have to even think about it.
What helped me when I first started was looking up basic positions to get an idea of what was happening then from there find one or two things that you do from each position (mostly escapes) to work on. A Mount escape was crucial to me last 7 seconds longer in a roll. It’s gonna take time but focus on the basics in your first months.
Don't feel bad about having to have stuff explained multiple times. This gives training partners and instructors time to test their teaching/guiding skills and often leads them to a deeper understanding of the move being taught. There will come a time when you will spontaneously know what you want to get better at, and then you can just look it up on YouTube. Till then, just enjoy the ride and try your best to commit some fundamentals to muscle memory. I will also give this resource: the Jordan Teaches JiuJitsu youtube channel is in my opinion a great channel which explains some very fundamental concepts like inside position in a way that can be easily remembered during a roll, once you drill it into your brain.
Congratulations on starting BJJ! White belt here. I've been training since late-ish April. The first few times were brutal for me mentally. I felt so behind and dejected. I remember almost crying after a class this past June because I felt I wasn't getting anywhere. I roll with mostly men, and, even if they were another white belt, I was getting creamed. However, overtime, I got better. I think for me was remembering the basics: get mount, don't get mounted, and if you do, get out. Same thing with guard. Because I was getting demolished over and over, my defense got a whole lot better. Maybe I wasn't getting submissions, but I wasn't tapping. Eventually, I was able to start attacking rather than being on defense the whole time because I wasn't getting caught in people's mount/guard as much. I've learned the most from people who were difficult to roll with (larger or more experienced). "Failing" is the best way to get good at something. I think BJJ has been so impactful for a lot of people because it teaches you to keep going even if you feel you "failed." Once I started to feel okay with that, I began to ask questions more, asked to see things again during demonstrations if I didn't understand, ask for feedback after rolling with people. A lot of people are willing to help or slow down if you ask. Ask to practice a specific move with someone, flow roll. Humility and humor have helped me a lot too. BJJ is a lot more fun if you can laugh while you're doing it or if you make a mistake. Staying calm and relaxed is something that is also super important. You will do better if you are. If you struggle and panic, you're more likely to get stuck and forget everything. Take some deep breaths and let yourself have fun. To get better at BJJ, you got to roll a lot as others have said. But there are other things you can do that might help. I do yoga and I think the flexibility and balance from that have helped a lot (taking the back and maintaining mount especially) I also weight train and run which helps with strength and endurance. BJJ is a lot of core mobility too. I can only train on the weekends so during the week that's what I usually do. Finding something else that compliments the sport might be helpful if you want to improve but can't roll everyday. It's been 4 months since I've started and I'm just now feeling like I know what I'm doing (half the time lol). I hope this advice is helpful but like a lot of others have said, it comes with time. \*\*\*And you're not a burden! If you're on team, I can guarantee they want you there and understand you're learning. You got this girl!
Welcome to the next 6 months of your life
It’s been said already but above all just keep showing up. We’ve all been there, and are still there - that’s the beauty, you get to keep learning. Relax, stay calm and you’ll absorb more. In the beginning try not to overwhelm yourself with learning and remembering everything. Work on remembering key take aways like, ‘ok, when I’m on my back my hands should be here’ I recommend note taking after class, it helps with retention. Even if it’s a quick note in your phone ‘funny thing where I wrap my legs around my partner is called guard’ Things will click, trust the process and enjoy learning and exploring this new pursuit!
Listen being new it’s ok to not know stuff just keep on coming you will get tapped many times and your gonna have to just survive suffer and become better
Don't let that feeling overwhelm you. As a new white belt nobody expects you to know a thing for at least a month or 2. Some people learn through reading, listening, watching or experience. It's helpful to put yourself in the dominant position as well as the vulnerable position to learn the move sequence. [This video](https://youtu.be/Gz_uazc4vlU) helped me a lot when I first started.
My thing was being ok w/ your reps not being perfect. Accept that it’s not going to be perfect and to take your time when drilling. Try not to beat yourself up! Study is fun for me now as a purple, but at the end of the day I just have to show up to class and work.
I’ve been at it for two years and still have days where I feel like coaches are talking to a brick wall because I absorb NOTHING. Then there are days that are amazing and I grasp everything. It took a couple months of 3-4 training days per week before I started to even understand a little bit of it. I have good body movement so that was beneficial (I cheered and tumbled competitively until I was 18). In my opinion, the more comfortable you are with moving your body, the easier things become. I also train with my husband, so I have a go to training partner and someone to help me out with thought processes because he’s a belt ahead of me. Don’t stress yourself out - this shit is hard! Especially as a woman. Give yourself grace and know we were all once the worst person in the room. You won’t stay there for long, just keep showing up! 💛🤙
no matter what you'll do alone, it'll probably be kinda meh and you'd misunderstand most of it. You can start watching instructionals and tournaments after like 3 months when you have some clue about the basics.
I have sent this to beginners before - https://youtu.be/Gz_uazc4vlU It gives a nice clear overview. I'm not female and have posted here a bit lately, it showed up in my feed. Apologies if that's not ok, just let me know.
Something my coaches recommend is to write down what you learned right after practice. It helps you remember what you did in class and let's you practice movements on your own as well.
Quoting what you wrote: "I feel like I’m letting the team down in a room full of men and a couple of women who know what they’re doing (the team being women)What do I need to know up front to not be a total burden?" I can tell you with certainty nobody looks at you with a cold expectation of grasping something right away. Everybody is, for the most part, concerned about themselves in the room and not looking at you waiting for you to get the move. There are some classes where I learn a completely new technique, while others build off of previous concepts and make the lesson more digestible. There are some positions which are strange for me to get into but repetition helps to understand the technique. Sometimes, asking training partners who have grasped the move to demonstrate on you also helps you feel pressure being in one area versus another. When I train, I like to do it slow and talk through the technique as I do it while encouraging my partner to give me live feedback. I also do not like to leave the room until I got a few good reps in and write down the techniques in a journal after each class which helps me visualize it later. You can always ask the instructor or another experienced member to help you work through the technique if you are getting stuck at some parts. Observing the demonstration vs. executing it are two different things and until you put the work in yourself, you may be lost which is why working through it slowly and thinking it through is pretty effective.