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Beginners in BJJ face many challenges. Using our tips and tricks, you'll be able to overcome all your struggles and improve your BJJ ability.
There is no doubt that BJJ is one of the most challenging martial arts in the world. It takes years to become proficient on the mats and understand the science behind each move. It's not surprising that BJJ beginnings are also hard. As well as being the hardest martial arts style, they are also the most difficult.
Beginners must eat lots of humble pies. You will also feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you need to learn. Even though the beginnings are challenging and painful, they are just a test you must pass in order to succeed and enjoy BJJ.
Even after a few sessions, many students leave the mats and never return. You will breathe BJJ for the rest of your life if your body and ego survive the first few months. In my opinion, the journey of every BJJ student begins as an emotional roller-coaster ride and ends with the best decision of his or her life.
The goal of BJJ is to enter the gym with a smile and leave with a smile. In order to make your beginnings more pleasant, we have gathered the best tips and tricks to deal with all the challenges you may encounter.
5. Leave your ego behind and embrace the struggles
In the first few months of your BJJ experience, you must completely focus on learning. It can be frustrating to be constantly subjugated and dominated. It is also possible to grow angry when you fail to see any results despite your efforts.
Take a moment to remind yourself that your only goal is to learn, instead of feeling nervous every time you attend class. There is no expectation that you will start dominating people right away. It takes some time for your body to adapt to the exhausting training sessions, as the famous saying goes: A black belt is a white belt that never gave up. You also need to learn how to deal with all those failures on your mind and ego.
It is best to stay humble and embrace the struggles because we have all been there. Everyone would wear black belts around their waists if BJJ was that simple. In fact, it can help you grow as a person and as an athlete since it is a never-ending learning process.
4. Set your own goals and be patient
It is important for beginners to learn how to navigate through classes. It is also important to keep yourself motivated during the white belt phase.
The feeling of being stuck can be terrible sometimes. There is a feeling that you are not progressing despite all the work and effort. Frustration and anxiety are kicking in at this point. Nevertheless, being nervous and overwhelmed with negative emotions is counterproductive and very unhealthy.
No matter what our combat style may be, we all have the desire and energy to improve. However, don't set too high a standard. When you're a beginner, it's important to be realistic and true to yourself. Rather than thinking about promotion to the higher ranks, set your own goals and take a positive approach.
Write down one month from now what you want to accomplish and start working on it. You'll feel that you're moving forward when you accomplish those small tasks. You can also boost your motivation by doing this. It's all about achieving small goals that lead to much larger ones in life.
3. Stay productive outside the gym
In order to improve faster and stay in top shape, it is important to be productive outside the gym, whether you are a total beginner or an experienced student. It is also a great way to stay on top of classes if you can't attend more than once or twice a week. There is no substitute for rolling endlessly on the mats and working with the instructor live.
Getting access to quality BJJ content online has never been easier thanks to the internet. BJJ students use instructional videos to test their knowledge from the previous session. They will also be able to remember the moves better this way. Videos of this type are usually brief, understandable, and not very expensive. There are also a few great YouTube channel you can watch for free.
There are many well-written books available if you like to read. The science behind BJJ techniques will be explained to you by them. There is always time to be productive outside of the gym during the day. An instructional video or a five-minute stretching session before bed can be enough to improve your game sometimes.
2. Improve flexibility
The ability to be flexible is extremely important in BJJ. Rolling sessions involve twisting joints and putting the body in awkward positions during training. It is therefore common for beginners to sustain injuries since they still need to learn how to keep their bodies safe.
In order to prevent injuries, you should stretch before and after a training session. Stretching regularly will also enhance your progress on the mats. Most BJJ techniques and positions require high levels of flexibility.
As a result, stretching improves your skills as well. You can switch between positions faster and execute finishing moves much more easily this way. Besides strengthening the body, stretching also improves balance. Below are some stretching routines to get you started. Our article on how to improve flexibility for BJJ has already done the research for you.
1. Learn how to escape
You can make your time on the mats much more enjoyable if you learn a couple of escaping techniques. A defensive move is one that prevents your opponent from securing a dominant position. As well as creating scrambles, escapes can be used to reverse positions.
Escapes and great scrambles have become an important part of BJJ competition for many fighters. Jeff Glover, a world no-gi champion in BJJ, is one of the most famous. Beginner drills focus on finishing techniques or transitions between positions. You must know how to perform these drills, of course.
In the first few months, you won't be able to submit anyone higher than you. By taking a bit more time to improve your defense, you will see a significant improvement. You will definitely have a better chance of surviving against more experienced students if you are good at escapes. In this way, you can quickly gain the respect of the more experienced grapplers as well.
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