After 16 months, I recap the highs and lows of my BJJ journey as a white belt and share some of the most important lessons I’ve learnt along the way.

A little over a year ago, I wrote an article entitled “Getting Started : Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” as a guide for what to expect in your first few classes of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At the time, I had been training for a couple of months and after countless questions from friends and coworkers about what to expect from training, I figured it would be a good idea to write out my experiences and share it online. The article was read nearly two thousand times and I’ve had a lot of postive feedback from people who said it helped them to feel a little bit more prepared for those first couple of intimidating classes.

As I discussed in my original article, I was hooked from the first class I took and immediately started training four days a week. I’ve continued to train four days a week for the past 16 months (except for when I had a couple of injury setbacks). Three to four classes a week seems to be the sweet spot for me and currently my schedule is allowing for this, I know that down the road I may not have the ability to train as much as I do now and therefore I’m taking advantage of my schedule flexibility while I can. At our gym, we have people who train 6–7 times a week and others that only drop into classes every few weeks but so long as you’re training, you’re improving and it’s worth continuing.

The major takeaways that I’ve found since originally writing my article are listed below :

RELAX : The vast majority of people who start training bjj tend to rely on strength and athleticism because they’ve yet to learn or at least absorb proper techniques. I fell into this trap and early on my muscles would be extremely sore after training and I’d gas out very quickly after one or two rolls. Once you learn proper technique, there is no need to force things and you’ll be able to rely on good technique and stay calm in most situations and at the same time you’ll find that your cardio will greatly improve. Stay calm, rely on good technique and don’t put off your training partners by trying to be the second coming of the hulk. DRILL : The excitement and joy that comes from rolling at the end of class can often overshadow the importance of drilling. I have fun and joke around from time to time during class but ultimately it’s the time where I can really absorb the technique and grasp the small details that will make the difference between the technique being a success or failing during live rolling. It’s very important to get the technique perfect and if you’re having a hard time with it, do not hesitate to ask your coaches or teammates for help. EXPLORE : It’s very easy to get comfortable using the same couple of passes, submissions and sweep techniques and use them as your bread and butter for every roll. I’ve found it very beneficial to go outside of my comfort zone and try new techniques, often times these techniques may not work right away but eventually you’ll find ones that work well for you and your game will evolve. I often fail or get submitted when trying new techniques / approaches but when the smoke clears, my game gets better and there will be more tools for me to use in the future. RECOVER : During a freak accident on the mats, I fractured my toe in October and I was off of the mats for 6–7 weeks. Within a couple of days I was back in class, sitting on the sidelines and trying to absorb as much as I could without being able to drill or roll. During my toe recovery I still went to class 2–3 times a week while allowing my toe the proper time to recover. Too often does the desire to train surpass the body’s need to recover and heal and this is ultimately how lifelong injuries can occur. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a contact sport that uses nearly every muscle in your body and if you do not allow for proper recovery you may end up with long term injuries that keep you off of the mats for good. HELP : Don’t be afraid to ask for help from your coaches / teammates or seek out help online on Reddit or other forums if you’re puzzled by a technique or keep getting caught in bad positions or submissions. In my first few months of training, I think that every member at Cunningham Jiu Jitsu caught me in an arm bar and many of them did it multiple times. I asked my coaches and teammates for help in preventing arm bars and by asking for that help I was able to prevent them with a great deal of success. Everyone’s goals should be the same at your club and that’s to get better and your teammates should be more than happy to share the knowledge they have — so don’t be afraid to seek it out. SOCIALIZE : It can be very intimidating when you walk into an MMA or BJJ gym for the very first time but very quickly you will realize that everyone is there to improve themselves and to work hard. I’ve met incredible people from all walks of life and from all around the world from training at the Adrenaline Training Centre. The social aspect of training was something I never considered when I started out but making new friends and connections has been one of the most rewarding parts of my training.

It’s been a really great 16 months of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I know that at this point I’ve hardly even scratched the surface. My goals for 2018 are to receive my Blue Belt and to help encourage others to start training by sharing my experiences with as many people as I can.