Name: A Guide To Your First Day Of Jiu Jitsu!
Uploaded: 2026-01-27T11:48:05.000Z
Duration: 7 min 38 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Coach Tom, I'm here outside my academy, South Coast BJJ in Seafood here in Australia.

The second conditional

And we're gonna have a look at your guide to starting Jiu Jitsu as if this was your first day joining your first academy.

So obviously everyone's nervous when they walk into an academy.

Academies in Jiu Jitsu are full of awesome.

Then usually you would get me like here at the front desk, you would talk to someone.

You might have to sign, say an injury waiver or something like that.

And then there'll probably be some seating areas.

So for instance, we have lockers, we have like 20 or 30 seats or something around the gym.

And you would probably, you know, put your stuff somewhere.

We've obviously like in our academy, just like all academies, you'll have an area where there'll be change room, showers, toilets.

A lot of people will come already in their gear pants.

If you don't have a uniform, don't stress.

You know, probably the academy that you go to is going to sell them or have lone ones or like in my academy you can rock up in a shorts and T shirt and that's no stress as well.

So then when the class gets started, people start to get on the mats, you know, follow the cues, you'll be talking to people, everyone's friendly.

When you walk onto the mats is always kind of handy.

Now every gym is going to have different etiquette and stuff like that.

If in doubt, call whoever looks to be the teacher or senior students, you know, you can call the teacher coach.

If they're a black belt, call them professor.

Some of them will just want to be called.

Some gyms they might ask you to call them sensei or something weird.

That's not in my academy or where I train.

So just be respectful and if in doubt, show more respect.

And so when you come into your class, you then get started with usually like a warm up.

So most of the time in BJJ academies like mine, you warm up and you start moving down the mats.

So we go down the mats doing warm up drills.

You might do some self defense drills and then say In a typical 90 minute class you might do two or three techniques.

So maybe some warm up drills, two or three techniques.

They might be on a broad topic or going deep on a small topic.

And then there will usually be some drilling or rolling wrestling time.

So usually in bjj you'd start from your knees.

So if I was here with Matty and it was rolling time, the coach would put the timer on.

You normally slap hands and give knuckles.

Some gyms shake hands, but most of them do the old slap and knuckles gangster stuff.

So when you're wrestling and you get started in Jiu Jitsu, the couple things to think about is like the edges of the mats, okay?

And if, say we had some buddies next to us, we would move.

When you're within about a meter, like a yard of someone, just move, you know, so they're kind of like the etiquette things you want to be thinking of.

In Jiu Jitsu, when it comes to the actual class, I mean, keep your mouth shut.

When the coach is talking, you know, most people get that.

I'd say 95 out of 100 students that walk into my academy, they won't be talking while the coach is talking.

Maybe one in 20 you might find we do that and you just have to be like, shut up.

most people understand that, you know, we were taught in school, when the teacher's talking, you know, you don't talk, but

Do open your mouth when you have a question.

So say everyone's drilling and you're like, oh, I don't know how to do this.

You can put your hand up, you know, don't be afraid to ask your coach or your coach's questions.

But then when it comes to getting started and rolling, chances are, guys, even if you're a big strong girl or guy or have a little bit of prior experience, you're probably going to be more the nail than the hammer when you first start.

So just be cool with that and enjoy the process.

Me and everyone else, like, we'll all get tapped out by someone eventually.

Sometimes you might spend your first five years getting tapped 10 times a class.

Remember, guys, in Jiu Jitsu, tapping is learning.

You're acknowledging that you're getting better.

You remember when you come to your Jiu Jitsu academy, whether you're the new guy or the black belt, your job is to get better, not to prove anything to anyone, including, and

So enjoy it, have fun, enjoy your Jiu Jitsu journey.

And for the record, most Jiu Jitsu gyms line up in rank at some point.

So I travel all over the world, you know, certainly pre corona and I've trained hundreds and hundreds of academies.

And sometimes they'll line you up on a wall or around a circ, but

either way, try to work out where you fit Jiu Jitsu in the gi.

So if you're a white belt, go sit with the other white belts.

There'll usually be some hierarchy type thing.

Don't be the new guy sitting up with the black belts or something.

You know, just read the room, you know, just read the room and you'll do great and just enjoy your Jiu Jitsu journey.

If there was any advice I could give anybody, it's to enjoy it.

You know, when you join an academy, you should have a free trial of some sort.

Like in my academy, all adult students get a free week trial.

So basically you would expect to at least have a free first class.

And if you're at a gym where you feel like it's like a lot of sales pitch and stuff like that, it's not your vibe.

If you walk in and walk out smiling, you're going to have a good Jiu Jitsu career.

If you walk in and everyone's all like getting all tough, you know, it's probably not a very healthy vibe for you long term.