June 16, 2025 • 50 mins
Considering stepping onto the jiu-jitsu mats for the first time but feeling hesitant? This episode is your complete roadmap to beginning your BJJ journey with confidence and clarity.
After returning from a brief hiatus, I'm diving into everything the curious newcomer needs to know about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – from what it actually is (think chess meets wrestling) to who it's truly for (spoiler: everyone). Drawing from my own experience as someone who once nervously walked into a gym feeling completely out of my element, I break down the myths that might be holding you back.
"I need to get in shape first" and "I'm too old to start" are just two of the misconceptions I dismantle, sharing stories of practitioners who began in their 40s, 50s, and beyond. We explore what your first class will really feel like, what to wear, and the unwritten etiquette that will help you feel at home from day one. I also offer crucial guidance on finding the right academy with clean mats, supportive instructors, and a welcoming community.
Beyond the physical benefits, we delve into how jiu-jitsu transforms mental health, teaching you to remain calm under pressure and fully present in a world of constant distraction. The most valuable lesson? Consistency trumps natural talent every time. The person who shows up regularly, even when progress feels slow, is the one who ultimately succeeds on this journey.
Ready to fold clothes with people still in them? Shoot me an email at caffeinatedjiu-jitsu@gmail.com or connect on Instagram to share your beginnings. The hardest part is walking through that door – everything after that is just showing up.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu the blend of white
belt enthusiasm, black beltwisdom and a dash of caffeine
for that extra kick.
Dive deep into the world ofBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we
explore the journey, techniques,challenges and the sheer joy of
the sport from a White Beltsperspective, from intriguing
(00:24):
interviews with renowned coachesand professors to playful fun
episodes that will have youchuckling mid-roll.
We've got it all brewed andready.
Now, stepping over the mess andinto your ears, here's your
host, Joe Motes.
Joe (00:54):
Welcome back everyone to another episode of Caffeinated
Jiu Jitsu.
I'm your host, Joe Motes, andI'm excited to be back for
another episode.
It's been quite some time sincewe have been together or I've
(01:17):
put out some content, and mostof you know that that's due to
some life changes here for meand my professional life.
But now all of that is on trackand going well and I am able to
start recording again.
And no, the Caffeinated JiuJitsu podcast is not over.
(01:43):
Caffeinated jujitsu podcast isnot over.
Got a lot of episodes ahead to.
You know.
Record and plan and get outthere.
So you know.
Thank you for everyone who'sbeen reaching out via the
instagram community and, uh, thecaffeinated jujitsu email.
So, yeah and um, I thought thata good way to kick things back
(02:09):
off is to kind of go back to theroot of the type of content I
really wanted to put out when Istarted caffeinated jiu-jitsu.
And that's for those that arenew or considering Jiu Jitsu or
something along those lines.
And if you are checking outthis particular episode, there's
(02:32):
a good chance that someone,maybe a friend, maybe your own
curiosity has nudged you toconsider starting Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu and maybe you've seen someof the funny memes, or maybe
you've heard Joe Rogan say thatyou know, jiu Jitsu has changed
(02:55):
his life for the 100th time.
And this episode it's reallyfor the thinking about it crowd.
It's really for the thinkingabout it crowd, the folks who
are just on the edge of walkinginto a gym or academy, the ones
who've googled is you know, bjjdangerous, or do you have to be
(03:19):
in shape to start jujitsu?
This isn't a sales pitch.
I always make sure thateveryone knows that I'm not a
jujitsu Jedi or or, uh, you know, an authority figure in the
jujitsu space.
I'm just someone who, like you,once considered starting
(03:40):
jujitsu.
Uh, walked, walked into a gym,a little nervous, very
unathletic and completely unsureif it was for me as well.
So in this episode we're goingto unpack what jiu-jitsu is, who
it's for, what you can expectand why it might just might,
(04:04):
might become one of the bestdecisions you ever make in life.
So let's get into it, and Ithink it is good with anything
that you start to talk about andlearn about that you start kind
of at the beginning.
What is jiu-jitsu, first andforemost?
(04:26):
And Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJas it's normally referenced in
the jiu-jitsu community, is aform of martial art that really
focuses on ground fighting orgrappling.
Think, you know, collegewrestling or high school
(04:48):
wrestling meets chess, and thegoal isn't to strike your
opponent, but the goal is tocontrol them, and you do this by
positioning yourself on them,putting pressure, joint locks or
different types of chokes thatforce them to kind of submit and
(05:12):
, in a real fight, calm down.
It's the martial art ofleverage, it's power without
strength, it's, you know, aboutprecision without blood, gore,
(05:32):
violence.
And historically it came fromjapan, where jujitsu was a
system for unarmed samurai tosubdue enemies in armor, and
later Jiro Kano distilled thesetechniques into what became Judo
(05:56):
, and then one of his topstudents, mitsumieda, brought
Judo tozil in the early 1900sand he taught judo to carlos
gracie and the gracie familykind of took the ground game of
judo and modified it over theyou know the generations and
(06:23):
boom.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was born,and there there is a lot of, you
know, different thoughts andopinions on the history of judo
and who had the biggest impactand spread it in around the
world.
But very few doubt that itreally exploded globally after
(06:47):
the first few ufcs, where hoistgracie you know this this wiry,
unassuming guy in a gi justdismantled.
Everyone using bjj, no matterum, their size, their fight
experience no one had reallyseen anything like this.
So so no, it's not a mysticalart form, it's not some secret
(07:14):
club, it's.
It's tested, proven system ofground fighting that that
teaches you how to take downsomeone, control them and make
them tap out, submit, you knowkind of to your will or what
have you.
It's in one of the schools Iused to train at.
(07:36):
There was a sign somewhereposted in the school that said
it's the art of folding clotheswith people still inside them.
So, and you know, I remember myfirst experience stepping onto
the mat and to this day I'vebeen training now for two plus
years, almost three years, andit was.
(07:59):
It was.
I was nervous.
I wasn't sure at first if itwas for me, but as I was
training and we'll talk a littlebit about what you can expect
in your first class, uh, in thisepisode, but I I just noticed,
you know, watch these 60 poundslighter guy twist these big guys
(08:19):
up like a pretzel and I didn'tknow how they were doing it and
I was just so impressed by, likethese big, strong athletic guys
not being able to do anythingagainst, um, you know, the
smaller, clearly more physicallyunathletic and weaker person,
and I knew that.
You know, I'm not a huge guy,I'm five, 11.
(08:43):
I think at the time.
At the time I was overweight,so I was over 200 pounds and you
know, I felt like it wassomething that I needed to know
and I was hooked after about mysecond class.
So who is this for?
Who is?
Is there a specific personality, body type?
(09:06):
You know what's the shortanswer?
And the short answer is jujitsuis for everyone.
But there's a lot of myths outthere, I think, that keep people
back from starting jujitsu.
And here's some of them.
You know, myth number one is Ineed to get in shape first.
(09:30):
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
I was completely out of shapewhen I started.
Jiu-jitsu gets you in shape.
I've seen people start in theirmid to late 40s and even older,
carrying extra weight and overtime they become lean, flexible,
(09:53):
really powerful athletes andjust by showing up consistently
and I started at 42.
Again, not in the best shape ofmy life at the time, but I
would say about a year into it Ifelt better, I was more
(10:13):
flexible, I lost a lot of weightand I was primarily my main
workout was jujitsu.
So myth two, I think the secondthing that I hear a lot is I'm
too old.
And look, unless you're beingscouted by the UFC, you're not
(10:38):
too old.
Ufc professional fighting stufflike that.
Yeah, there may be an age limit, but not with jujitsu.
I've trained with 65-year-oldswho will triangle you into a nap
and then tell their grandkidsabout it.
So I just said I started at 42.
(10:59):
I know many people who startedin their 50s.
Yes, of course there're youngerpeople who start, and I wish I
would have started young, butyou don't lose any ground by
starting at the age you areright now.
You know, if you, if you feellike you are in really advanced
(11:20):
age, you you know 70, whatever,and this is something that
you're thinking about it's goodto get your doctor's advice and
let your professor know thethings you're concerned about.
Or if you have an injury you'reworried about re-injuring.
Maybe you were in a caraccident, hurt your shoulder or
(11:41):
something like that and it getsaggravated easy.
It's always good practice tobring that up and you know I
don't think I hear this a lot,but you know the I don't want to
fight people and good, and thenI don't want to fight anyone
(12:01):
either.
Jiu-jitsu is about control, notchaos.
And then I don't want to fightanyone either.
Jiu-jitsu is about control, notchaos.
And in fact, most people whotrain become less aggressive
because they're more confident.
I've trained with softwareengineers, nurses, mechanics,
students, moms who train afterdropping their kids off at
(12:21):
school, or friends, lawyersrolling after court, law
enforcement good bit of lawenforcement military veterans.
One of the toughest guys Ithink to date that I remember,
at least sitting here now thatI've rolled with was a CPA and
he looks like he should be doingyour taxes, not tapping you out
(12:44):
.
But the guy was brutal.
And you see, the beauty ofjujitsu is that the mat doesn't
care about your background oryour profession or your age or
any of that.
You come in with zero knowledge.
It levels the field andeveryone sucks.
At first you feel like youalways suck at jiu-jitsu and
(13:06):
that's the contract you sign,and humility is really the only
currency you need.
Leave your ego at the door.
There's no room for that, andevery gym has a way of getting
rid of ego.
So what are some of the realbenefits of jujitsu?
(13:28):
You know, if you're kind ofasking yourself, why should I do
this.
What are you getting besides?
You know, sweaty cuddlesessions and bruised egos.
The first thing that comes tomind, of course, is the physical
gains.
You'll get stronger, but in amore practical way.
(13:50):
This is not your beach or gymmuscles that you're going to
build.
You'll build things like grip,strength and core stability and
mobility.
Your posture will improve, yourcardio, your agility, your
stamina.
All of that will just gothrough the roof and you'll get
a better workout of five roundsof rolling that's sparring, we
(14:14):
call that rolling than an hourof lifting weights or running.
And for me, another benefit andI believe for you as well is the
mental benefits, and jiu-jitsuis mentally therapeutic, believe
it or not.
It teaches you how to stay calmunder pressure, how to breathe
(14:36):
when you're in a bad spot.
You become well I'm speakingfor myself here, but myself here
, but you.
You become a little harder torattle on and off the mat and
you're you're solving problemsin real time.
I talked about it being likechest earlier, and it's like
chest with with consequences.
(14:58):
You know, um, you get caught inthe choke, you learn, you
escape, you celebrate.
It keeps your brain, in myopinion, sharp and it helps in
all aspects of mental health.
I think it also helps withemotional health.
Let's be real, you know life issuper stressful I know it is for
(15:20):
me and the mat.
It demands our presence, itdemands our focus when we're on
it and you can't carry worryingabout deadlines at work or drama
with someone's trying to passyour guard.
You can't think about thatstuff.
You know, I've seen peoplebattle anxiety, myself included,
and depression, and come outstronger because Jiu-Jitsu gave
(15:43):
them structure, gave themcommunity and progress.
They could, they could feel intheir body and in their mind and
in their emotions and you stopmeasuring yourself by outcomes
and you start appreciatinggrowth and that's.
That's rare in something, andmaybe other martial arts give
(16:04):
that as well.
I, I don't know, I've nevertrained them, but I in any form.
That's valuable, right?
Let's uh, let's think aboutwhat your first class will be
like.
So let me try to paint apicture.
You finally build up thecourage.
(16:25):
You walk into a gym, a-jitsu gymand sometimes they're called
gyms, sometimes they're calledschools, sometimes they're
called academies, so those wordsare used, kind of
interchangeable when you hear meuse them.
But you're going to hear termslike shrimping and scissor sweep
and triangle choke and you'rethinking what did I just walk
(16:48):
into?
And you'll be nervous.
Everyone is, that's normal, andyou just know that everyone you
see on the mat has been thereat some point, regardless of the
color of their belt, which youdon't know anything about at the
moment, but we've all beenthere.
So here's what you can expect.
(17:09):
Most beginner classes start witha warm-up.
You know jogging, movementdrills.
The instructor will then show atechnique Maybe it's how to
escape the mount position or doa basic guard pass, and you'll
partner up and drill.
Then maybe, some lightpositional sparring really
(17:33):
depends on your school.
There are schools that have youknow requirements before you
can do positional sparring orrolling.
Some require you to have acertain amount of hours of
fundamentals training so theycan ensure you don't get hurt,
and so you have a better timeand you're not just getting
(17:53):
smashed until you get better.
But then some and I've been togyms that let you roll in full
spar by your second or third daythere.
Positional sparring, though, istypically where you're put into
a a standard position, likesomeone is mounted on top of you
(18:16):
, kind of straddling your yourchest or your stomach or
whatever on top of you, and yourgoal on the bottom would be to
escape and the goal of theperson on the top would be to
say prevent you from escapingand remaining in control.
Rolling is a little different.
Um, you, you typically, like Isaid, will not spar on that
(18:41):
first day.
If you have no trainingwhatsoever, you won't spar.
Most good gyms know how to easepeople in.
So, yeah, gear as far as whatyou need, don't stress about
that.
Most gyms will, for your firstfew classes, lend you a gi for
(19:03):
your first class and just bringwater and something to wear on
your feet.
I wouldn't recommend just socks, but Crocs is what I wear.
Yes, I rock Crocs, sandals,flip-flops and really the
biggest thing is an open mindand jiu-jitsu.
(19:23):
People go back and forth on this.
It's not an expensive sport.
You know the gi is probably themost expensive thing.
They can range anywhere from$80.
It's not an expensive sport.
You know the Gi is probably themost expensive thing.
They can range anywhere from$80.
You can get a Santa ball offAmazon, you know, to $200, $300,
$400.
(19:43):
But a lot of several gyms atleast your big franchise gyms,
kind of require you to weartheir own branded gems.
Like you know, gracie Baja, youhave to wear a white Gracie I
don't want to say issued,because you do have to buy it Gi
so does Alliance.
And then there are other gems,like the one I'm looking at
(20:08):
starting next week.
As long as it's a white gi, itcan be any brand, any make,
model, whatever, but I believeyou'll have to have one of their
patches on it.
So, and then there's othersthat you can wear whatever.
You can wear pink or purple oryellow or whatever type, color,
(20:28):
type of gi you want to wear.
And then no gi gear if you'regoing to train, no gi is is a
little less expensive.
I think you can get rash guardsfor, you know, anywhere from 30
to 60 dollars, depending onwhat you want to pay.
And then the shorts are aboutthe same.
So, um, belts are typicallysold separately and, again,
(20:50):
unless you're in one of thoseschools that requires you to get
their gi, they will also giveyou a belt with your gi as well.
I think another thing to thinkabout when you're in this first
class or whatever, when you'reabout to step on the mat is a
big rule in jujitsu, and itshould be, for obvious reasons
(21:12):
is hygiene.
You know, make sure you'retrimming your nails.
Um, that this is something thatmy professor used to have to
get on me about pretty often,because it's not that I never
trim my nails, but not nearly asoften as um.
You know, I was training acouple of times a day and and
they would grow and I would justkind of overlook that because I
(21:33):
wasn't a daily nail trimmer.
And the other thing is makesure you have clean equipment
and gear.
Make sure your gi is clean andwashed.
And when you wash your gi, makesure I recommend hang drying it.
They dry really fast.
If you kind of hang it in frontof a window, the material
doesn't stay, you know, wetforever.
(21:55):
If you put it on dry in yourdryer, even on the lowest heat,
you're going to experience someshrinkage.
You know, shower if you can.
I wasn't able to, I'm not ableto always shower before training
, but if you can, then I highlyrecommend just getting in and
(22:23):
washing off, getting some ofthat work sweat off or what have
you.
At a bare minimum, use somebody spray and reapply deodorant
.
Uh, you're just.
Uh, you don't want to make itmiserable for your training
partner.
It's.
You know, jujitsu is closecontact and we keep it clean,
not to be bougie or out ofvanity, but we we stay clean,
(22:45):
out of respect.
We also don't want to spreadany skin infections.
You know, if I have somewherelike on my arm or something, a
staph infection or ingrown hairthat maybe staph have gotten
into my body produces a lot ofstaph and sometimes I'll get
those infections just oversimple things.
(23:07):
You know, I'll keep thosecovered.
Or if it's like on my arm orsomething, maybe I don't train,
uh, no gi.
Or.
Or if it's a bad infection, ifit's, you know, if you find
yourself with ringworm orwhatever, then then you just sit
out and you can still go toclass and fellowship, but you
don't, you don't get on the mat,you don't train and things like
(23:27):
that.
And also, I would say, if youhave an open wound, maybe a
blister that has busted, youknow, make sure you bandage that
up, wrap it up, tape it up.
Uh, you don't want to begetting fluids all over the mat.
Uh, every gym has its ownetiquette.
I um, I think it's important tofind that out when you go, for
(23:50):
instance, instance, I'm going toa new gym this week.
I've already mentioned and I'vealready called the professor to
start asking a little bit aboutthe etiquette.
I know they have to have whitegi's.
I have a white gi, white gi.
(24:16):
I know that some gyms do.
A lot of gyms do not allow youto wear other team branded
equipment and at Alliance,everything's team branded, even
our rash cards.
So one of the questions I hadto ask is you know, professor, I
do have a white gi that'snon-school affiliated, but all
of my rash cards are affiliatedwith Alliance and you know he
told me that the first fewclasses.
That's fine.
(24:36):
Of course, if I decide tobecome a member, I will have to
invest in another type of rashcard or use or maybe get one of
theirs.
So you need to.
I recommend asking those typesof questions.
(24:59):
I think that you we talked alittle bit about ego.
I think this is a good time totalk about ego.
Don't go in there with thethought of I have something to
prove.
Leave your ego at the door.
There are literally people mostof the time on the mat the
higher belts thinking purplebelt, brown belt, black belts
(25:22):
who are watching to see whatyour demeanor is, who the
professor is watching to see ifyou're coachable, to see if
you're the type of personalitythey want in their gym and if
you go in there and start justtrying to crush the people that
you're stronger and moreathletic by just, you know,
spazzing out on them, you couldbe asked to leave or worse,
(25:46):
you're going to experiencesomething, a term we call the
mat enforcer, and you're goingto find yourself face to face
with them.
And typically a mat enforcerbecause these do exist is going
to be somebody that's going totake it to you and humble you in
every way, shape and form.
(26:07):
So leave your ego at the door.
And then the last thing I wantto cover when it comes to
etiquette and this is more of mypersonal bias is, even if it's
your first class, don't go ontothe mat unless you know the
(26:30):
professor or the person incharge welcomes you or
acknowledges you and tells youto come onto the mat.
And when you do, make sure youbow, go to the edge of the mat.
You take off your shoes, youstep off your footwear and you
step onto the mat and you bow,and you do the same.
When you get off the mat, youbow, and you do the same when
you, when you get, get off themat, you bow off the mat, and I
(26:53):
think we get lazy doing that Iknow I have, and I've caught
myself and I've gotten back onthe mat and bowed out and I hate
never, ever, ever, ever goingto the mat unless asking
permission or gettingacknowledgement for from the
professor.
Now look, if that seems pettyto you, okay, that's fine, but I
think there should be some typeof discipline and respect to
(27:16):
the school, the mat, theprofessor, and I think that's a
simple way to show it and youknow, adopt it if you want or
don't, but that's just the way Ifeel about it.
And since we're talking, youknow, about etiquette and gems,
let's talk about finding theright gem, because, let me tell
(27:39):
you, not all gems and schoolsare created equally.
And look the vibe matters.
Visit a few, observe the vibe.
Is it welcoming?
Are the instructors givingclear instructions or are they
(28:00):
just showing off?
Are the upper belts helpingpeople or are they bullying
beginners?
People or are they bullyingbeginners?
(28:20):
And in is, is there goodjiu-jitsu being taught there?
I think, um, well, let's talkabout some red flags and some
green flags and maybe, maybe,this will come out.
So red flags are obviously tome number one if the mats are
dirty and sweat still all overthem from the class before and
it just looks gross.
(28:41):
You're going to get some skininfections You're going to.
That's not a place.
If they don't care about thecleanliness of their gym, uh, I
don't think they're going tocare a lot about the level and
type of jujitsu they're givingyou.
You're going to get.
If you train in trash, you'regoing to get trash right.
Also, a red flag would be ifthere's no beginners class or
(29:06):
fundamentals.
If you hear the termfundamentals, beginners you want
a place that has that, becauseyou don't, in my opinion, want
to start with these crazyadvanced moves.
You want a structured way oflearning jujitsu.
Now, some people aren't, youknow, a fan of structured ways
(29:32):
of learning jujitsu.
There's many schools out therewho don't teach curriculum, and
that's okay, you're still goingto get jujitsu.
But to me, learning jujitsu ina structured process helps you
retain it more, you can takenotes on it better, you can feel
(29:53):
yourself advancing and seeyourself advancing into jujitsu.
Like when I started trainingsome advanced classes at my last
gym, I was like, oh wow, thisis neat.
I've been in this situation andI didn't have an answer for it.
Same when I went to theintermediate classes and people
the other thing you want towatch for is really people going
(30:15):
100% with you know beginners,or just always 100%, 100% with
everybody they train with?
We're not trying to win worldsat IBJJF.
We're just here training andmost of us are hobbyists anyway.
Green flags, clean facilities,clear curriculum, trial classes
(30:38):
and instructors who teach Teachinstead of dominate, and also
take time while you're there andtalk to the members and ask
what they love and ask what theydon't like.
I don't think you'll find a lotof people who don't like a lot
of things, especially if youwalk in and the vibes are bad or
good, excuse me, um, but yeah,and the last thing I want to
(31:03):
talk about here in this kind ofI don't know segment whatever we
want to call it is Look, don't,let's say, you start Jiu Jitsu
and you're a year in and lifehappens, happens to all of us
(31:24):
and you end up having to changegyms.
Don't feel bad about switchinggyms.
This will be the third timeI've had to do it and each time
it hurts, it sucks.
You are leaving what you feelare family members when I had to
leave Iron Wolf, it was atwo-stripe white belt or leaving
what you feel are familymembers.
(31:45):
You know when I had to leaveIron Wolf it was, you know, I
was a two-stripe white belt, soI had, you know, time on the mat
.
I had built friendships, I hadbuilt relationships and I was
bummed bummed that I was havingto leave and find a place that I
could access training.
You know it got to the pointwhere I was training once every
(32:06):
couple of weeks and that's justnot good.
We'll talk a little bit aboutconsistency next, um, but then I
found Alliance and I found whatI thought was, um, just the
best thing for me, you know,built another great community,
(32:28):
learned really good jujitsu,made some close friends and
built more relationships, and Istill maintain the ones that I
had from, you know, iron Wolfand from my previous gym.
You know this is your journeyand just because you leave a gym
, you're not going to get shamefrom the members, you're not
going to get ridiculed.
(32:50):
The goal of any professor, anygood professor, is that, hey,
you know you're leaving.
I hate that, but keep training,keep doing jujitsu, keep doing
jujitsu.
And one of the hardest things Ihad to do was was tell Rodrigo
that I was.
You know, I had to cancel mymembership.
(33:15):
I had to find a place closer tohere.
You know, um, it was hard and I,you know I miss seeing him
every day.
I miss, uh, seeing, you know,randall, and training with dark
and mike and just everybody atalliance.
But we keep in touch, we stayclose.
Any friendship that you make inlife, even if you don't see the
(33:39):
person every day, if you put inthe effort to you know day, if
you put in the effort to youknow, continue that friendship,
that connection, you will right.
I fully plan to drop in atAlliance, just like I've dropped
in at Iron Wolf over the years.
And you know, depending on whatgym I do land at, I hope I
(34:01):
never have to leave that one.
But look, you know, the kids arestill young, my career is, I'm
in the middle of my career, Istill feel and life changes and
I could face another gym changeat some point.
So, look, don't feel bad, don'tfeel guilty and don't let it
stop you from training.
(34:21):
Don't think that you can't findwhat you have now somewhere
else, because that's just notthe way jujitsu and the jujitsu
community works.
So one of the um, the lastparts here I want to I want to
talk about, is how this lastpart is really the most
(34:41):
important part.
This last part is really themost important part.
Keep, if you decide to dojujitsu, if you decide to commit
, you've done your trial classesand you've said, yes, this is
for me, I want to do this yousign your contract or your
(35:06):
commitment.
You pay your first month,whatever you get all your gear,
gear, your equipment and thatfirst class is awesome and it's
over, right, it ends, the classends, you line up, you bow out,
you fist, bump, hug, whateveryou do, keep showing up.
Establish for yourself aschedule.
Mine was a minimum of fivehours a week when I first
started and I always madeadjustments to make sure that
(35:32):
happened.
Sometimes I would go twice aday if I had to.
Uh, at the time my job allowedthat.
Well, I liked it.
It's not that they gave mepermission, it's just my
schedule allowed that, and itwas the consistency that made me
better and made me fall more inlove with jiu-jitsu.
Look, you're going to gettapped.
(35:54):
I did not win any sparring rolesmy entire first year, probably
at Alliance.
I tapped so many times and youknow I would be training in the
mornings against.
You know, a lot of times itwould be Rodrigo himself the
(36:15):
professor, and then when Iwasn't training with him
probably one of the best bluebelts at Alliance right now and
at least at Alliance Roswell andthose two were my primary
(36:36):
training partners during thatfirst year and you know I didn't
feel like I was progressing.
I just felt like I was therefor them to beat up sometimes
and try new moves on.
But then I started to make itthrough sessions where I didn't
get tapped by the blue belt andI was able to deal a little bit
longer on the pressure, underthe pressure of my professor.
(36:57):
I was able to start seeingprogress and it was because I
would show up every day, everyweek, and you'll feel like
you're not progressing.
You'll hit plateaus and that'spart of it all.
You know jujitsu is a long game.
You're not trying to be thebest, you're just as they say,
(37:17):
you're just trying to be betterthan you were yesterday and that
mindset will absolutely changeyour life and you can use that.
You know trying to be betterthan you were yesterday in all
aspects of your life, not justyou know jujitsu and this is
where you know some of thoselessons, or life lessons from
(37:45):
the mat transferring to reallife.
You know you're going to makefriends who will push you, who
will support you and celebrateyour wins.
Even the small ones, um, youknow, first escape, first sweep,
first round, where you didn'ttap, uh, those are big deals.
(38:07):
And you know a real example ofthis.
So my brother-in-law startedtraining jujitsu and I couldn't
be more excited to have someoneelse in the family training
jujitsu.
I have a nephew who trainsjujitsu and it's, it's so
awesome having family membersthat train.
Well, um, cal had been going forseveral months and he was, you
(38:35):
know, getting some of those,those fundamental moves, and he,
you know, it's to the point nowin his jujitsu journey where
he's ready to roll.
Now, alliance is one of thoseschools that you have to have a
certain amount of hours and itcan take some time.
You even have to test atAlliance before, technically,
you start rolling.
But one, you know, one class,professor Macio put Cal with me
(39:03):
and we were doing somepositional training and starting
from side control.
Well, during the very firsttime that Cal did positional
sparring listen, somehow,probably because I didn't take
him serious enough, but somehowhe got to my back and he put me
(39:25):
in a RNC and I tapped and, youknow, I celebrated with him.
I celebrated with him and Ididn't get mad, I didn't get my
ego, I didn't go back.
And I mean, when we switched,you know, I submitted him too,
but there was no aggression.
(39:48):
There was no, I'm going to getyou back.
There was a now I'm going to,you know, hurt this guy for
embarrassing me or anything likethat.
No, it was.
It was.
That was his first submission,semi-active role in jujitsu and
(40:10):
you know, that's that, that'sbig.
He'll always remember that andI remember my first submission
and, um, maybe you don't overtime, I don't know.
But my point is is thecommunity that you're in at the
school should be one thatcelebrates accomplishments like
that?
And yeah, that's that's kind ofit on that.
(40:33):
And and the other thing is just,I say at the end of most
episodes to train smart, makesure that you rest when needed,
I say watch, instructionals.
I watch instructionals all thetime.
I've been not training forabout a month now and you know,
the last training session I hadat Alliance which was awesome,
(40:54):
it was with, it was a seminarwith Bernardo Faria and God, it
was awesome.
It was like such a milestone inmy jiu-jitsu journey getting to
meet him and shake his hand andyou know such a great guy and
he's every everything that heappears on of instructionals a
(41:16):
lot of hours and I, like BJJFanatics, I have a lot of those
instructionals downloaded andpurchased.
I don't watch as much YouTubeand IG I mean, I have some stuff
(41:36):
saved on that but a lot oftimes you find that those
techniques aren't necessarilytechniques, they're kind of Hail
Marys.
But I'll send them.
You know, every now and then ifI think something's cool or
might work, I might send.
You know Rodrigo, hey, what doyou think about this?
Or I'll send to Randall andwe'll get a good laugh out of it
(41:58):
or something, and you know I dothat.
But for instructionals, in myopinion, you need to be careful
which ones you watch.
I've downloaded a couple thatI'm just like, yeah, there's,
there's no way that's going towork and I've tried it and it
hasn't anywhere close to work.
Um, you know I, I have two orthree um.
(42:23):
You know, uh, uh, I guess peoplethat I will watch
instructionals on, and you knowit's Leo Naguera, uh, who is the
head instructor at Allianceheadquarters and he, uh, he was
one of the first people that Istarted watching instructionals
on.
Um, he was the Sao Paulo pass,which is a phenomenal pass out
(42:45):
of close guard, and BernardoFaria, I have almost all of his
stuff.
He, you know, teaches movesthat are more in line with my
athleticism and with my, um,kind of age range.
(43:07):
Right, uh, um, I have my gameis a bottom game, uh, type
jujitsu.
Um, as fast as I can get you inclose guard, I'm going to or
half guard and then from therethat's, that's where I'm going
to keep you until you know Isweep you or submit you.
You, I don't try hardly any topgame, so instructionals or, and
(43:29):
it's not that I don't learnthose or find value in them, I'd
love to be on the top.
You want to, and and takedowns,right, which which I pull guard
(43:54):
a lot.
I'm a guard puller, but some ofthe takedowns that I do have
and that I do use and have beeneffective have, have come from
him.
And you know, just just keepasking questions and stay humble
and and and you, you, you can'tget better.
You, you can get better withconsistency, but you can't get
(44:14):
better without consistency andasking questions.
I um, I think that's the bigthing and I love when I see new
white belts.
They're there their second uhtraining session.
There's asking questions, butlet me say this there's there's
a difference in asking questionsout of not understanding
something and curiosity, andthere is questioning the
(44:40):
instructor or the professor.
Okay, um, if you have to startyour question off with yeah, but
they could, what about this?
Don't ask that question, in myopinion.
Ask the questions that have todo with the technique.
Um, you can ask well, why doyou hold the sleeve versus that
(45:01):
sleeve?
Why do you hip out this wayinstead of twisting?
You know those types ofquestions, because I can tell
you it does no one any goodstanding there watching the
technique and you startquestioning the professor, and I
think that's a good way to puta negative vibe on the class.
(45:26):
So I could keep talking aboutthis all day, and it is Father's
Day when I'm recording this, sohappy Father's Day to all the
fathers out there who listen tothis.
And I'm recording this beforethe house gets super busy, which
I may start doing solorecording on the morning.
(45:48):
Um, but anyway, uh, so isjujitsu for you.
You know I I can't answer thatfor you, but if, if you made it
this far, at least into thisepisode, you are at least
strongly contemplating it orthinking about it?
(46:09):
And if I was a betting person,I think you probably already
know the answer.
And if you're curious, if you'recraving something different,
something hard, extremely hard,but rewarding Jiu-Jitsu might be
the thing that changes yourlife.
(46:30):
And if you take that first stepmaybe it was this episode or
you just decided to do it I'dlove to hear from you.
Shoot me an email tocaffeinatedjiu-ujitsu at
gmailcom or click the let's Chatbutton in the episode
description.
Also, just let me know how itgoes.
(46:53):
I'd love to hear your story andif this helped you, again,
share it.
Be sure, if you haven't joinedthe Instagram caffeinatedinated
Jiu-Jitsu community, you do that.
The link is in the show notes.
And thank you again for all ofthe listeners that continue to
(47:14):
listen.
You know we're approaching over10,000 downloads now.
It's just been absolutely a joytalking to everyone, meeting
with everyone, havingconversations virtually with
everyone, getting some amazingguests this year so far we've
had a lot of solo episodes and Ilike doing those, but we have
(47:39):
more guest episodes coming upand it is my commitment to you,
the listener, to make sure we'regetting out good content more
keyword, consistently.
And uh, yeah, just thanks fortuning in and supporting
caffeinated jujitsu.
You know, um, stay safe, trainsmart and we'll see you on the
(48:02):
mats for the next episode.
Outro (48:05):
And that's the final tap on today's episode of.
Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu.
A big thanks to all of ourlisteners, especially today's
insightful guest, for sharingtheir BJJ knowledge and tales.
If you felt that adrenalinerush and are hungry for more,
hit, subscribe, drop a reviewand spread the jujitsu buzz.
(48:28):
For show notes and to contactthe host, reach out to the email
provided in the podcastdescription and to join our
grappling community, head overto Instagram.
Get those geese.
Crisp your coffee strong andalways be prepared for the next
roll Oss.
Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu the blend of white
belt enthusiasm, black beltwisdom and a dash of caffeine
for that extra kick.
Dive deep into the world ofBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we
explore the journey, techniques,challenges and the sheer joy of
the sport from a White Beltsperspective, from intriguing
(00:24):
interviews with renowned coachesand professors to playful fun
episodes that will have youchuckling mid-roll.
We've got it all brewed andready.
Now, stepping over the mess andinto your ears, here's your
host, Joe Motes.
Joe (00:54):
Welcome back everyone to another episode of Caffeinated
Jiu Jitsu.
I'm your host, Joe Motes, andI'm excited to be back for
another episode.
It's been quite some time sincewe have been together or I've
(01:17):
put out some content, and mostof you know that that's due to
some life changes here for meand my professional life.
But now all of that is on trackand going well and I am able to
start recording again.
And no, the Caffeinated JiuJitsu podcast is not over.
(01:43):
Caffeinated jujitsu podcast isnot over.
Got a lot of episodes ahead to.
You know.
Record and plan and get outthere.
So you know.
Thank you for everyone who'sbeen reaching out via the
instagram community and, uh, thecaffeinated jujitsu email.
So, yeah and um, I thought thata good way to kick things back
(02:09):
off is to kind of go back to theroot of the type of content I
really wanted to put out when Istarted caffeinated jiu-jitsu.
And that's for those that arenew or considering Jiu Jitsu or
something along those lines.
And if you are checking outthis particular episode, there's
(02:32):
a good chance that someone,maybe a friend, maybe your own
curiosity has nudged you toconsider starting Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu and maybe you've seen someof the funny memes, or maybe
you've heard Joe Rogan say thatyou know, jiu Jitsu has changed
(02:55):
his life for the 100th time.
And this episode it's reallyfor the thinking about it crowd.
It's really for the thinkingabout it crowd, the folks who
are just on the edge of walkinginto a gym or academy, the ones
who've googled is you know, bjjdangerous, or do you have to be
(03:19):
in shape to start jujitsu?
This isn't a sales pitch.
I always make sure thateveryone knows that I'm not a
jujitsu Jedi or or, uh, you know, an authority figure in the
jujitsu space.
I'm just someone who, like you,once considered starting
(03:40):
jujitsu.
Uh, walked, walked into a gym,a little nervous, very
unathletic and completely unsureif it was for me as well.
So in this episode we're goingto unpack what jiu-jitsu is, who
it's for, what you can expectand why it might just might,
(04:04):
might become one of the bestdecisions you ever make in life.
So let's get into it, and Ithink it is good with anything
that you start to talk about andlearn about that you start kind
of at the beginning.
What is jiu-jitsu, first andforemost?
(04:26):
And Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJas it's normally referenced in
the jiu-jitsu community, is aform of martial art that really
focuses on ground fighting orgrappling.
Think, you know, collegewrestling or high school
(04:48):
wrestling meets chess, and thegoal isn't to strike your
opponent, but the goal is tocontrol them, and you do this by
positioning yourself on them,putting pressure, joint locks or
different types of chokes thatforce them to kind of submit and
(05:12):
, in a real fight, calm down.
It's the martial art ofleverage, it's power without
strength, it's, you know, aboutprecision without blood, gore,
(05:32):
violence.
And historically it came fromjapan, where jujitsu was a
system for unarmed samurai tosubdue enemies in armor, and
later Jiro Kano distilled thesetechniques into what became Judo
(05:56):
, and then one of his topstudents, mitsumieda, brought
Judo tozil in the early 1900sand he taught judo to carlos
gracie and the gracie familykind of took the ground game of
judo and modified it over theyou know the generations and
(06:23):
boom.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was born,and there there is a lot of, you
know, different thoughts andopinions on the history of judo
and who had the biggest impactand spread it in around the
world.
But very few doubt that itreally exploded globally after
(06:47):
the first few ufcs, where hoistgracie you know this this wiry,
unassuming guy in a gi justdismantled.
Everyone using bjj, no matterum, their size, their fight
experience no one had reallyseen anything like this.
So so no, it's not a mysticalart form, it's not some secret
(07:14):
club, it's.
It's tested, proven system ofground fighting that that
teaches you how to take downsomeone, control them and make
them tap out, submit, you knowkind of to your will or what
have you.
It's in one of the schools Iused to train at.
(07:36):
There was a sign somewhereposted in the school that said
it's the art of folding clotheswith people still inside them.
So, and you know, I remember myfirst experience stepping onto
the mat and to this day I'vebeen training now for two plus
years, almost three years, andit was.
(07:59):
It was.
I was nervous.
I wasn't sure at first if itwas for me, but as I was
training and we'll talk a littlebit about what you can expect
in your first class, uh, in thisepisode, but I I just noticed,
you know, watch these 60 poundslighter guy twist these big guys
(08:19):
up like a pretzel and I didn'tknow how they were doing it and
I was just so impressed by, likethese big, strong athletic guys
not being able to do anythingagainst, um, you know, the
smaller, clearly more physicallyunathletic and weaker person,
and I knew that.
You know, I'm not a huge guy,I'm five, 11.
(08:43):
I think at the time.
At the time I was overweight,so I was over 200 pounds and you
know, I felt like it wassomething that I needed to know
and I was hooked after about mysecond class.
So who is this for?
Who is?
Is there a specific personality, body type?
(09:06):
You know what's the shortanswer?
And the short answer is jujitsuis for everyone.
But there's a lot of myths outthere, I think, that keep people
back from starting jujitsu.
And here's some of them.
You know, myth number one is Ineed to get in shape first.
(09:30):
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
I was completely out of shapewhen I started.
Jiu-jitsu gets you in shape.
I've seen people start in theirmid to late 40s and even older,
carrying extra weight and overtime they become lean, flexible,
(09:53):
really powerful athletes andjust by showing up consistently
and I started at 42.
Again, not in the best shape ofmy life at the time, but I
would say about a year into it Ifelt better, I was more
(10:13):
flexible, I lost a lot of weightand I was primarily my main
workout was jujitsu.
So myth two, I think the secondthing that I hear a lot is I'm
too old.
And look, unless you're beingscouted by the UFC, you're not
(10:38):
too old.
Ufc professional fighting stufflike that.
Yeah, there may be an age limit, but not with jujitsu.
I've trained with 65-year-oldswho will triangle you into a nap
and then tell their grandkidsabout it.
So I just said I started at 42.
(10:59):
I know many people who startedin their 50s.
Yes, of course there're youngerpeople who start, and I wish I
would have started young, butyou don't lose any ground by
starting at the age you areright now.
You know, if you, if you feellike you are in really advanced
(11:20):
age, you you know 70, whatever,and this is something that
you're thinking about it's goodto get your doctor's advice and
let your professor know thethings you're concerned about.
Or if you have an injury you'reworried about re-injuring.
Maybe you were in a caraccident, hurt your shoulder or
(11:41):
something like that and it getsaggravated easy.
It's always good practice tobring that up and you know I
don't think I hear this a lot,but you know the I don't want to
fight people and good, and thenI don't want to fight anyone
(12:01):
either.
Jiu-jitsu is about control, notchaos.
And then I don't want to fightanyone either.
Jiu-jitsu is about control, notchaos.
And in fact, most people whotrain become less aggressive
because they're more confident.
I've trained with softwareengineers, nurses, mechanics,
students, moms who train afterdropping their kids off at
(12:21):
school, or friends, lawyersrolling after court, law
enforcement good bit of lawenforcement military veterans.
One of the toughest guys Ithink to date that I remember,
at least sitting here now thatI've rolled with was a CPA and
he looks like he should be doingyour taxes, not tapping you out
(12:44):
.
But the guy was brutal.
And you see, the beauty ofjujitsu is that the mat doesn't
care about your background oryour profession or your age or
any of that.
You come in with zero knowledge.
It levels the field andeveryone sucks.
At first you feel like youalways suck at jiu-jitsu and
(13:06):
that's the contract you sign,and humility is really the only
currency you need.
Leave your ego at the door.
There's no room for that, andevery gym has a way of getting
rid of ego.
So what are some of the realbenefits of jujitsu?
(13:28):
You know, if you're kind ofasking yourself, why should I do
this.
What are you getting besides?
You know, sweaty cuddlesessions and bruised egos.
The first thing that comes tomind, of course, is the physical
gains.
You'll get stronger, but in amore practical way.
(13:50):
This is not your beach or gymmuscles that you're going to
build.
You'll build things like grip,strength and core stability and
mobility.
Your posture will improve, yourcardio, your agility, your
stamina.
All of that will just gothrough the roof and you'll get
a better workout of five roundsof rolling that's sparring, we
(14:14):
call that rolling than an hourof lifting weights or running.
And for me, another benefit andI believe for you as well is the
mental benefits, and jiu-jitsuis mentally therapeutic, believe
it or not.
It teaches you how to stay calmunder pressure, how to breathe
(14:36):
when you're in a bad spot.
You become well I'm speakingfor myself here, but myself here
, but you.
You become a little harder torattle on and off the mat and
you're you're solving problemsin real time.
I talked about it being likechest earlier, and it's like
chest with with consequences.
(14:58):
You know, um, you get caught inthe choke, you learn, you
escape, you celebrate.
It keeps your brain, in myopinion, sharp and it helps in
all aspects of mental health.
I think it also helps withemotional health.
Let's be real, you know life issuper stressful I know it is for
(15:20):
me and the mat.
It demands our presence, itdemands our focus when we're on
it and you can't carry worryingabout deadlines at work or drama
with someone's trying to passyour guard.
You can't think about thatstuff.
You know, I've seen peoplebattle anxiety, myself included,
and depression, and come outstronger because Jiu-Jitsu gave
(15:43):
them structure, gave themcommunity and progress.
They could, they could feel intheir body and in their mind and
in their emotions and you stopmeasuring yourself by outcomes
and you start appreciatinggrowth and that's.
That's rare in something, andmaybe other martial arts give
(16:04):
that as well.
I, I don't know, I've nevertrained them, but I in any form.
That's valuable, right?
Let's uh, let's think aboutwhat your first class will be
like.
So let me try to paint apicture.
You finally build up thecourage.
(16:25):
You walk into a gym, a-jitsu gymand sometimes they're called
gyms, sometimes they're calledschools, sometimes they're
called academies, so those wordsare used, kind of
interchangeable when you hear meuse them.
But you're going to hear termslike shrimping and scissor sweep
and triangle choke and you'rethinking what did I just walk
(16:48):
into?
And you'll be nervous.
Everyone is, that's normal, andyou just know that everyone you
see on the mat has been thereat some point, regardless of the
color of their belt, which youdon't know anything about at the
moment, but we've all beenthere.
So here's what you can expect.
(17:09):
Most beginner classes start witha warm-up.
You know jogging, movementdrills.
The instructor will then show atechnique Maybe it's how to
escape the mount position or doa basic guard pass, and you'll
partner up and drill.
Then maybe, some lightpositional sparring really
(17:33):
depends on your school.
There are schools that have youknow requirements before you
can do positional sparring orrolling.
Some require you to have acertain amount of hours of
fundamentals training so theycan ensure you don't get hurt,
and so you have a better timeand you're not just getting
(17:53):
smashed until you get better.
But then some and I've been togyms that let you roll in full
spar by your second or third daythere.
Positional sparring, though, istypically where you're put into
a a standard position, likesomeone is mounted on top of you
(18:16):
, kind of straddling your yourchest or your stomach or
whatever on top of you, and yourgoal on the bottom would be to
escape and the goal of theperson on the top would be to
say prevent you from escapingand remaining in control.
Rolling is a little different.
Um, you, you typically, like Isaid, will not spar on that
(18:41):
first day.
If you have no trainingwhatsoever, you won't spar.
Most good gyms know how to easepeople in.
So, yeah, gear as far as whatyou need, don't stress about
that.
Most gyms will, for your firstfew classes, lend you a gi for
(19:03):
your first class and just bringwater and something to wear on
your feet.
I wouldn't recommend just socks, but Crocs is what I wear.
Yes, I rock Crocs, sandals,flip-flops and really the
biggest thing is an open mindand jiu-jitsu.
(19:23):
People go back and forth on this.
It's not an expensive sport.
You know the gi is probably themost expensive thing.
They can range anywhere from$80.
It's not an expensive sport.
You know the Gi is probably themost expensive thing.
They can range anywhere from$80.
You can get a Santa ball offAmazon, you know, to $200, $300,
$400.
(19:43):
But a lot of several gyms atleast your big franchise gyms,
kind of require you to weartheir own branded gems.
Like you know, gracie Baja, youhave to wear a white Gracie I
don't want to say issued,because you do have to buy it Gi
so does Alliance.
And then there are other gems,like the one I'm looking at
(20:08):
starting next week.
As long as it's a white gi, itcan be any brand, any make,
model, whatever, but I believeyou'll have to have one of their
patches on it.
So, and then there's othersthat you can wear whatever.
You can wear pink or purple oryellow or whatever type, color,
(20:28):
type of gi you want to wear.
And then no gi gear if you'regoing to train, no gi is is a
little less expensive.
I think you can get rash guardsfor, you know, anywhere from 30
to 60 dollars, depending onwhat you want to pay.
And then the shorts are aboutthe same.
So, um, belts are typicallysold separately and, again,
(20:50):
unless you're in one of thoseschools that requires you to get
their gi, they will also giveyou a belt with your gi as well.
I think another thing to thinkabout when you're in this first
class or whatever, when you'reabout to step on the mat is a
big rule in jujitsu, and itshould be, for obvious reasons
(21:12):
is hygiene.
You know, make sure you'retrimming your nails.
Um, that this is something thatmy professor used to have to
get on me about pretty often,because it's not that I never
trim my nails, but not nearly asoften as um.
You know, I was training acouple of times a day and and
they would grow and I would justkind of overlook that because I
(21:33):
wasn't a daily nail trimmer.
And the other thing is makesure you have clean equipment
and gear.
Make sure your gi is clean andwashed.
And when you wash your gi, makesure I recommend hang drying it.
They dry really fast.
If you kind of hang it in frontof a window, the material
doesn't stay, you know, wetforever.
(21:55):
If you put it on dry in yourdryer, even on the lowest heat,
you're going to experience someshrinkage.
You know, shower if you can.
I wasn't able to, I'm not ableto always shower before training
, but if you can, then I highlyrecommend just getting in and
(22:23):
washing off, getting some ofthat work sweat off or what have
you.
At a bare minimum, use somebody spray and reapply deodorant
.
Uh, you're just.
Uh, you don't want to make itmiserable for your training
partner.
It's.
You know, jujitsu is closecontact and we keep it clean,
not to be bougie or out ofvanity, but we we stay clean,
(22:45):
out of respect.
We also don't want to spreadany skin infections.
You know, if I have somewherelike on my arm or something, a
staph infection or ingrown hairthat maybe staph have gotten
into my body produces a lot ofstaph and sometimes I'll get
those infections just oversimple things.
(23:07):
You know, I'll keep thosecovered.
Or if it's like on my arm orsomething, maybe I don't train,
uh, no gi.
Or.
Or if it's a bad infection, ifit's, you know, if you find
yourself with ringworm orwhatever, then then you just sit
out and you can still go toclass and fellowship, but you
don't, you don't get on the mat,you don't train and things like
(23:27):
that.
And also, I would say, if youhave an open wound, maybe a
blister that has busted, youknow, make sure you bandage that
up, wrap it up, tape it up.
Uh, you don't want to begetting fluids all over the mat.
Uh, every gym has its ownetiquette.
I um, I think it's important tofind that out when you go, for
(23:50):
instance, instance, I'm going toa new gym this week.
I've already mentioned and I'vealready called the professor to
start asking a little bit aboutthe etiquette.
I know they have to have whitegi's.
I have a white gi, white gi.
(24:16):
I know that some gyms do.
A lot of gyms do not allow youto wear other team branded
equipment and at Alliance,everything's team branded, even
our rash cards.
So one of the questions I hadto ask is you know, professor, I
do have a white gi that'snon-school affiliated, but all
of my rash cards are affiliatedwith Alliance and you know he
told me that the first fewclasses.
That's fine.
(24:36):
Of course, if I decide tobecome a member, I will have to
invest in another type of rashcard or use or maybe get one of
theirs.
So you need to.
I recommend asking those typesof questions.
(24:59):
I think that you we talked alittle bit about ego.
I think this is a good time totalk about ego.
Don't go in there with thethought of I have something to
prove.
Leave your ego at the door.
There are literally people mostof the time on the mat the
higher belts thinking purplebelt, brown belt, black belts
(25:22):
who are watching to see whatyour demeanor is, who the
professor is watching to see ifyou're coachable, to see if
you're the type of personalitythey want in their gym and if
you go in there and start justtrying to crush the people that
you're stronger and moreathletic by just, you know,
spazzing out on them, you couldbe asked to leave or worse,
(25:46):
you're going to experiencesomething, a term we call the
mat enforcer, and you're goingto find yourself face to face
with them.
And typically a mat enforcerbecause these do exist is going
to be somebody that's going totake it to you and humble you in
every way, shape and form.
(26:07):
So leave your ego at the door.
And then the last thing I wantto cover when it comes to
etiquette and this is more of mypersonal bias is, even if it's
your first class, don't go ontothe mat unless you know the
(26:30):
professor or the person incharge welcomes you or
acknowledges you and tells youto come onto the mat.
And when you do, make sure youbow, go to the edge of the mat.
You take off your shoes, youstep off your footwear and you
step onto the mat and you bow,and you do the same.
When you get off the mat, youbow, and you do the same when
you, when you get, get off themat, you bow off the mat, and I
(26:53):
think we get lazy doing that Iknow I have, and I've caught
myself and I've gotten back onthe mat and bowed out and I hate
never, ever, ever, ever goingto the mat unless asking
permission or gettingacknowledgement for from the
professor.
Now look, if that seems pettyto you, okay, that's fine, but I
think there should be some typeof discipline and respect to
(27:16):
the school, the mat, theprofessor, and I think that's a
simple way to show it and youknow, adopt it if you want or
don't, but that's just the way Ifeel about it.
And since we're talking, youknow, about etiquette and gems,
let's talk about finding theright gem, because, let me tell
(27:39):
you, not all gems and schoolsare created equally.
And look the vibe matters.
Visit a few, observe the vibe.
Is it welcoming?
Are the instructors givingclear instructions or are they
(28:00):
just showing off?
Are the upper belts helpingpeople or are they bullying
beginners?
People or are they bullyingbeginners?
(28:20):
And in is, is there goodjiu-jitsu being taught there?
I think, um, well, let's talkabout some red flags and some
green flags and maybe, maybe,this will come out.
So red flags are obviously tome number one if the mats are
dirty and sweat still all overthem from the class before and
it just looks gross.
(28:41):
You're going to get some skininfections You're going to.
That's not a place.
If they don't care about thecleanliness of their gym, uh, I
don't think they're going tocare a lot about the level and
type of jujitsu they're givingyou.
You're going to get.
If you train in trash, you'regoing to get trash right.
Also, a red flag would be ifthere's no beginners class or
(29:06):
fundamentals.
If you hear the termfundamentals, beginners you want
a place that has that, becauseyou don't, in my opinion, want
to start with these crazyadvanced moves.
You want a structured way oflearning jujitsu.
Now, some people aren't, youknow, a fan of structured ways
(29:32):
of learning jujitsu.
There's many schools out therewho don't teach curriculum, and
that's okay, you're still goingto get jujitsu.
But to me, learning jujitsu ina structured process helps you
retain it more, you can takenotes on it better, you can feel
(29:53):
yourself advancing and seeyourself advancing into jujitsu.
Like when I started trainingsome advanced classes at my last
gym, I was like, oh wow, thisis neat.
I've been in this situation andI didn't have an answer for it.
Same when I went to theintermediate classes and people
the other thing you want towatch for is really people going
(30:15):
100% with you know beginners,or just always 100%, 100% with
everybody they train with?
We're not trying to win worldsat IBJJF.
We're just here training andmost of us are hobbyists anyway.
Green flags, clean facilities,clear curriculum, trial classes
(30:38):
and instructors who teach Teachinstead of dominate, and also
take time while you're there andtalk to the members and ask
what they love and ask what theydon't like.
I don't think you'll find a lotof people who don't like a lot
of things, especially if youwalk in and the vibes are bad or
good, excuse me, um, but yeah,and the last thing I want to
(31:03):
talk about here in this kind ofI don't know segment whatever we
want to call it is Look, don't,let's say, you start Jiu Jitsu
and you're a year in and lifehappens, happens to all of us
(31:24):
and you end up having to changegyms.
Don't feel bad about switchinggyms.
This will be the third timeI've had to do it and each time
it hurts, it sucks.
You are leaving what you feelare family members when I had to
leave Iron Wolf, it was atwo-stripe white belt or leaving
what you feel are familymembers.
(31:45):
You know when I had to leaveIron Wolf it was, you know, I
was a two-stripe white belt, soI had, you know, time on the mat
.
I had built friendships, I hadbuilt relationships and I was
bummed bummed that I was havingto leave and find a place that I
could access training.
You know it got to the pointwhere I was training once every
(32:06):
couple of weeks and that's justnot good.
We'll talk a little bit aboutconsistency next, um, but then I
found Alliance and I found whatI thought was, um, just the
best thing for me, you know,built another great community,
(32:28):
learned really good jujitsu,made some close friends and
built more relationships, and Istill maintain the ones that I
had from, you know, iron Wolfand from my previous gym.
You know this is your journeyand just because you leave a gym
, you're not going to get shamefrom the members, you're not
going to get ridiculed.
(32:50):
The goal of any professor, anygood professor, is that, hey,
you know you're leaving.
I hate that, but keep training,keep doing jujitsu, keep doing
jujitsu.
And one of the hardest things Ihad to do was was tell Rodrigo
that I was.
You know, I had to cancel mymembership.
(33:15):
I had to find a place closer tohere.
You know, um, it was hard and I,you know I miss seeing him
every day.
I miss, uh, seeing, you know,randall, and training with dark
and mike and just everybody atalliance.
But we keep in touch, we stayclose.
Any friendship that you make inlife, even if you don't see the
(33:39):
person every day, if you put inthe effort to you know day, if
you put in the effort to youknow, continue that friendship,
that connection, you will right.
I fully plan to drop in atAlliance, just like I've dropped
in at Iron Wolf over the years.
And you know, depending on whatgym I do land at, I hope I
(34:01):
never have to leave that one.
But look, you know, the kids arestill young, my career is, I'm
in the middle of my career, Istill feel and life changes and
I could face another gym changeat some point.
So, look, don't feel bad, don'tfeel guilty and don't let it
stop you from training.
(34:21):
Don't think that you can't findwhat you have now somewhere
else, because that's just notthe way jujitsu and the jujitsu
community works.
So one of the um, the lastparts here I want to I want to
talk about, is how this lastpart is really the most
(34:41):
important part.
This last part is really themost important part.
Keep, if you decide to dojujitsu, if you decide to commit
, you've done your trial classesand you've said, yes, this is
for me, I want to do this yousign your contract or your
(35:06):
commitment.
You pay your first month,whatever you get all your gear,
gear, your equipment and thatfirst class is awesome and it's
over, right, it ends, the classends, you line up, you bow out,
you fist, bump, hug, whateveryou do, keep showing up.
Establish for yourself aschedule.
Mine was a minimum of fivehours a week when I first
started and I always madeadjustments to make sure that
(35:32):
happened.
Sometimes I would go twice aday if I had to.
Uh, at the time my job allowedthat.
Well, I liked it.
It's not that they gave mepermission, it's just my
schedule allowed that, and itwas the consistency that made me
better and made me fall more inlove with jiu-jitsu.
Look, you're going to gettapped.
(35:54):
I did not win any sparring rolesmy entire first year, probably
at Alliance.
I tapped so many times and youknow I would be training in the
mornings against.
You know, a lot of times itwould be Rodrigo himself the
(36:15):
professor, and then when Iwasn't training with him
probably one of the best bluebelts at Alliance right now and
at least at Alliance Roswell andthose two were my primary
(36:36):
training partners during thatfirst year and you know I didn't
feel like I was progressing.
I just felt like I was therefor them to beat up sometimes
and try new moves on.
But then I started to make itthrough sessions where I didn't
get tapped by the blue belt andI was able to deal a little bit
longer on the pressure, underthe pressure of my professor.
(36:57):
I was able to start seeingprogress and it was because I
would show up every day, everyweek, and you'll feel like
you're not progressing.
You'll hit plateaus and that'spart of it all.
You know jujitsu is a long game.
You're not trying to be thebest, you're just as they say,
(37:17):
you're just trying to be betterthan you were yesterday and that
mindset will absolutely changeyour life and you can use that.
You know trying to be betterthan you were yesterday in all
aspects of your life, not justyou know jujitsu and this is
where you know some of thoselessons, or life lessons from
(37:45):
the mat transferring to reallife.
You know you're going to makefriends who will push you, who
will support you and celebrateyour wins.
Even the small ones, um, youknow, first escape, first sweep,
first round, where you didn'ttap, uh, those are big deals.
(38:07):
And you know a real example ofthis.
So my brother-in-law startedtraining jujitsu and I couldn't
be more excited to have someoneelse in the family training
jujitsu.
I have a nephew who trainsjujitsu and it's, it's so
awesome having family membersthat train.
Well, um, cal had been going forseveral months and he was, you
(38:35):
know, getting some of those,those fundamental moves, and he,
you know, it's to the point nowin his jujitsu journey where
he's ready to roll.
Now, alliance is one of thoseschools that you have to have a
certain amount of hours and itcan take some time.
You even have to test atAlliance before, technically,
you start rolling.
But one, you know, one class,professor Macio put Cal with me
(39:03):
and we were doing somepositional training and starting
from side control.
Well, during the very firsttime that Cal did positional
sparring listen, somehow,probably because I didn't take
him serious enough, but somehowhe got to my back and he put me
(39:25):
in a RNC and I tapped and, youknow, I celebrated with him.
I celebrated with him and Ididn't get mad, I didn't get my
ego, I didn't go back.
And I mean, when we switched,you know, I submitted him too,
but there was no aggression.
(39:48):
There was no, I'm going to getyou back.
There was a now I'm going to,you know, hurt this guy for
embarrassing me or anything likethat.
No, it was.
It was.
That was his first submission,semi-active role in jujitsu and
(40:10):
you know, that's that, that'sbig.
He'll always remember that andI remember my first submission
and, um, maybe you don't overtime, I don't know.
But my point is is thecommunity that you're in at the
school should be one thatcelebrates accomplishments like
that?
And yeah, that's that's kind ofit on that.
(40:33):
And and the other thing is just,I say at the end of most
episodes to train smart, makesure that you rest when needed,
I say watch, instructionals.
I watch instructionals all thetime.
I've been not training forabout a month now and you know,
the last training session I hadat Alliance which was awesome,
(40:54):
it was with, it was a seminarwith Bernardo Faria and God, it
was awesome.
It was like such a milestone inmy jiu-jitsu journey getting to
meet him and shake his hand andyou know such a great guy and
he's every everything that heappears on of instructionals a
(41:16):
lot of hours and I, like BJJFanatics, I have a lot of those
instructionals downloaded andpurchased.
I don't watch as much YouTubeand IG I mean, I have some stuff
(41:36):
saved on that but a lot oftimes you find that those
techniques aren't necessarilytechniques, they're kind of Hail
Marys.
But I'll send them.
You know, every now and then ifI think something's cool or
might work, I might send.
You know Rodrigo, hey, what doyou think about this?
Or I'll send to Randall andwe'll get a good laugh out of it
(41:58):
or something, and you know I dothat.
But for instructionals, in myopinion, you need to be careful
which ones you watch.
I've downloaded a couple thatI'm just like, yeah, there's,
there's no way that's going towork and I've tried it and it
hasn't anywhere close to work.
Um, you know I, I have two orthree um.
(42:23):
You know, uh, uh, I guess peoplethat I will watch
instructionals on, and you knowit's Leo Naguera, uh, who is the
head instructor at Allianceheadquarters and he, uh, he was
one of the first people that Istarted watching instructionals
on.
Um, he was the Sao Paulo pass,which is a phenomenal pass out
(42:45):
of close guard, and BernardoFaria, I have almost all of his
stuff.
He, you know, teaches movesthat are more in line with my
athleticism and with my, um,kind of age range.
(43:07):
Right, uh, um, I have my gameis a bottom game, uh, type
jujitsu.
Um, as fast as I can get you inclose guard, I'm going to or
half guard and then from therethat's, that's where I'm going
to keep you until you know Isweep you or submit you.
You, I don't try hardly any topgame, so instructionals or, and
(43:29):
it's not that I don't learnthose or find value in them, I'd
love to be on the top.
You want to, and and takedowns,right, which which I pull guard
(43:54):
a lot.
I'm a guard puller, but some ofthe takedowns that I do have
and that I do use and have beeneffective have, have come from
him.
And you know, just just keepasking questions and stay humble
and and and you, you, you can'tget better.
You, you can get better withconsistency, but you can't get
(44:14):
better without consistency andasking questions.
I um, I think that's the bigthing and I love when I see new
white belts.
They're there their second uhtraining session.
There's asking questions, butlet me say this there's there's
a difference in asking questionsout of not understanding
something and curiosity, andthere is questioning the
(44:40):
instructor or the professor.
Okay, um, if you have to startyour question off with yeah, but
they could, what about this?
Don't ask that question, in myopinion.
Ask the questions that have todo with the technique.
Um, you can ask well, why doyou hold the sleeve versus that
(45:01):
sleeve?
Why do you hip out this wayinstead of twisting?
You know those types ofquestions, because I can tell
you it does no one any goodstanding there watching the
technique and you startquestioning the professor, and I
think that's a good way to puta negative vibe on the class.
(45:26):
So I could keep talking aboutthis all day, and it is Father's
Day when I'm recording this, sohappy Father's Day to all the
fathers out there who listen tothis.
And I'm recording this beforethe house gets super busy, which
I may start doing solorecording on the morning.
(45:48):
Um, but anyway, uh, so isjujitsu for you.
You know I I can't answer thatfor you, but if, if you made it
this far, at least into thisepisode, you are at least
strongly contemplating it orthinking about it?
(46:09):
And if I was a betting person,I think you probably already
know the answer.
And if you're curious, if you'recraving something different,
something hard, extremely hard,but rewarding Jiu-Jitsu might be
the thing that changes yourlife.
(46:30):
And if you take that first stepmaybe it was this episode or
you just decided to do it I'dlove to hear from you.
Shoot me an email tocaffeinatedjiu-ujitsu at
gmailcom or click the let's Chatbutton in the episode
description.
Also, just let me know how itgoes.
(46:53):
I'd love to hear your story andif this helped you, again,
share it.
Be sure, if you haven't joinedthe Instagram caffeinatedinated
Jiu-Jitsu community, you do that.
The link is in the show notes.
And thank you again for all ofthe listeners that continue to
(47:14):
listen.
You know we're approaching over10,000 downloads now.
It's just been absolutely a joytalking to everyone, meeting
with everyone, havingconversations virtually with
everyone, getting some amazingguests this year so far we've
had a lot of solo episodes and Ilike doing those, but we have
(47:39):
more guest episodes coming upand it is my commitment to you,
the listener, to make sure we'regetting out good content more
keyword, consistently.
And uh, yeah, just thanks fortuning in and supporting
caffeinated jujitsu.
You know, um, stay safe, trainsmart and we'll see you on the
(48:02):
mats for the next episode.
Outro (48:05):
And that's the final tap on today's episode of.
Caffeinated Jiu-Jitsu.
A big thanks to all of ourlisteners, especially today's
insightful guest, for sharingtheir BJJ knowledge and tales.
If you felt that adrenalinerush and are hungry for more,
hit, subscribe, drop a reviewand spread the jujitsu buzz.
(48:28):
For show notes and to contactthe host, reach out to the email
provided in the podcastdescription and to join our
grappling community, head overto Instagram.
Get those geese.
Crisp your coffee strong andalways be prepared for the next
roll Oss.
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