Beginner Tips

• Drink water throughout your day before class. Most people don't drink enough water and come to train, already dehydrated. When they sweat during class they lose even more water. This can lead to feeling sick, dizzy, affect athletic performance, lack of focus, and reaction time. That being said, bring water to class as well.

• Refrain from eating heavy meals before class. A light healthy meal is okay, but nothing greasy, processed, or anything in an excessive amount, it will slow you down, as well as affect your alertness and focus during technique study. Some of your body's energy goes to digestion, if it needs to digest a lot it will need more, leaving you feeling sleepy. Protip: Don't eat anything processed or greasy after training either to not let your hard work during the training session go to waste. Smoothie, salad, acai, you know the deal. 

• Attire. You'll need a workout shirt or a compression shirt. Try to avoid regular t-shirts because they get caught easily in fingers and hold in liquid. Nothing with zippers or metal rivets. Try to avoid pockets too as those tend to get caught as well.

• Get a good night's rest. Shouldn't need to be said but many people cancel because they simply stay up late the night before. We cannot improve if you don't meet me halfway with your own self discipline. Coaches get the effort out of students or athletes. Every high level profession requires/required a teacher, coach, mentor or team for when self discipline isn't enough. Also, you don't want to be tired during class. Can't recall technique if the mind wants to sleep.

• Cut your nails. Accidental scratches happen, and some are pretty bad. Nobody wants to go throughout their day with a scratch on their face or body.

• Dental hygiene is encouraged. This is a close contact activity. Be curious and clean, if not for yourself, do it for your training partners.

• No cussing on the mat. No Cussing on the mat for a couple of reasons. One, jiu jitsu is for everyone including children. I'm not everyones' parents and neither are you, please respect not exsposing them to bad language. "But coach Nate, I don't care about children." Okay, reason two then, usually when someone gets submitted they curse. Usually this is out of frustration and a lack of emotional control when adrenaline, heartrate, and emotions run high. The goal is to get to a point of emotional control where getting tapped doesn't hurt your ego at all/frustrate you, just rest and try again.

• Basic hygiene is also encouraged. Shower up right after practices. Don't let bacteria from sweat settle on your skin for too long.  Ringworm and other skin infections are a hassle to get rid of and you will have to take time off the mat because they spread fast. To be safe put athlete's foot cream on open wounds after "after practice showers" to be safe. Redness around a open cut is a bad sign. 

• Wash your gi after ever practice. Use good soap and fabric softener  for your own comfort and gi longevity but also, nobody likes training with someone with a smelly or rough gi. DO NOT use the same unclean gi for more than one practice.

• Mouthguard. Invest in a higher quality mouthguard. You don't want to chip your teeth or your jaw to ache when training form a cheap uncomfortable mouthguard. Spend the extra cash for comfort, its worth it.

• Jiu Jitsu is smooth. A professor can explain a technique 100 times. Memorizing steps is one thing, putting them into action is something else. If it feels clunky, choppy and not smooth, its probably wrong. Keep practicing and the coordination will come. Respect the technique and train.

• We are here to learn, not fight. We are not learning "fighting." We are learning a martial art. We are a team. A group of individuals with lives and families such as yourself. We want to learn in a good environment and reduce the risk of injury. The goal is to Train Forever. That is not possible if we keep getting injured or hurting out teammates. We are here to learn a new skill. Nobody cares about your past streetfighting records, how tough you think you are, how smart you think you are because of your high paying job...sorry to say but, that doesn't matter when trying to learn something new. We are here to learn Jiu Jitsu. You've come to learn something you want to know more about. Clear your mind of the ego and what you think you know and be teachable. That's how you will learn and grow in the most efficient way. A Student's Mentality.

• Don't get frustrated. Part of being a martial artist is emotional control. When you get angry, mad, sad, etc. you cloud your judgement, and aren't able to focus or retain information. That being said, Jiu Jitsu is an endless maze of trial and error. Make a mistake, get submitted, and learn from it; try not to make that mistake again. It's a difficult skill to master. Be patient with yourself. Tap and try again. You get unlimited tries. Learn from the mistakes, do not get angered by them or let them control your thoughts. 

• Refrain from teaching other beginners. I get that we want to help or learned something new and want to share it however, you may be missing details and end up confusing who you are trying to help. Jiu jitsu takes years to master and even longer to learn how to teach it. Enjoy the benefits of being a student and absorb all you can. Leave the teaching to the instructor.