What would you teach on the first day?

[bAby norAA]

Ok so long story short, in order to get the mats i wanted in for myself (550 sq/ft worth) and get the fitness facility to pay for them i had to agree to teach a BJJ class. I feel i have plenty of knowledge to pass on, thats not the problem but the problem i'm having is knowing what to begin showing the first day. Its been so long since i was at a beginner class that i dont really know what will and what wont overwhelm them. I have taught many of my fellow teamates but 1 on 1 is much different then a class setting of 16 individuals.

basically this is the plan i thought out...

-Streches and talk about class over view (99% of students either have no grappling experience or dont really know what BJJ is, they just signed up for a new class we are offering haha)
-talk about the diff positions breifly (guard, mount, backmount, side) basically grab a volunteer and just show what each looks like.
-go over a simple bridge and roll mount escape
-have the students partner up and do 15 reps each side
-go over one submission ie: armbar from mount and have them do reps on that for a while (maybe something else?)

i dont know about any free rolling afterwards as most like i said have no prior background and i dont want someone getting hurt on the first day, but i also dont want this to be too boring.

did i leave anything out that should be on a first day? Feel free to add anything you want to this. i dont plan on taking any of these students to any high level of jits, but i would like to give them a good overview of what BJJ is.




CLIFFS
-not sure exactly what to plan for first jits day.
-looking for any imput on class planning/class structure.
-Thanks.

[farsscf]

Tell them not to go challenge people too soon

[craigers2007]

Sounds like you have a pretty good set of ideas to go on.
I'd throw in shrimping. Maybe have them do bridges w/o somebody mounted on them too (as a warmup). As a warm up, we also do sets of 'threading the needle' (don't know if that's a common term, or not)

[bAby norAA]

Originally Posted by craigers2007

Sounds like you have a pretty good set of ideas to go on.
I'd throw in shrimping. Maybe have them do bridges w/o somebody mounted on them too (as a warmup). As a warm up, we also do sets of 'threading the needle' (don't know if that's a common term, or not)

awesome great idea with the shrimping and bridges...not sure what "threading the needle" is tho.

[Stopdroproll]

Tell them they can fight UFC afterwards because you're just that good of an instructor.

[smahker]

Teach the positions, some break falls, upa, some shrimping, some stretches, but also throw in a basic sub or two, make it fun otherwise it'll seem boring


Also are you going to be teaching regularly or just a 1 time thing?

[craigers2007]

Originally Posted by bAby norAA

awesome great idea with the shrimping and bridges...not sure what "threading the needle" is tho.

You start on your back, feet on the floot (like you were bridging).

As you thrust your hips up, you drive a foot under your other knee so that you end up rolling onto your hands and knees.

Think about it as if you were side mounted by somebody, you get the underhook and then bridge/roll out.

Make sense?

[2kool4skool]

Teaching a basic RNC could be good. In addition to being relatively easy, it would get them used to the idea it's not about cutting off air, but rather bloodflow.

[poopoo333]

Well my first class we stretched, went over front rolls, back rolls, side rolls, shrimping, and some technique, forgot which one though I think it was escape from mount.

[bAby norAA]

great ideas guys...some things i've overlooked

everyone with a helpful response will get repped.

[dragonmachida]

Originally Posted by bAby norAA

great ideas guys...some things i've overlooked

everyone with a helpful response will get repped.

Tell them if a guy doesn't tap, make sure to apply enough pressure to break the joint or choke them out. In fact, tell them to apply the sub fast enough that there is no time to tap.

(Tell them to let go of subs if their partner doesn't tap, you're there for training not for an ego check)

[Stopdroproll]

But he wants to get members to participate!

[Dmaul]

Showing fundamental movements and escapes is very important, but to a newbie this can seem weird and boring. They won't understand what an elbow escape/shrimp is and how important it is. Although I am sure you will do a good job explaining all that.

Along with the bridges and escapes, be sure and show a basic submission. This will show them something "cool" that they will be able to demonstrate to their friends who will also think its "cool" and go to your class.

If their friend says "what did you learn in your BJJ class" and they show the elbow escape shrimp drill, their clueless friends will laugh. But if they show a keylock or kimura, then there will be interest.

[dragonmachida]

Originally Posted by Dmaul

Showing fundamental movements and escapes is very important, but to a newbie this can seem weird and boring. They won't understand what an elbow escape/shrimp is and how important it is. Although I am sure you will do a good job explaining all that.

Along with the bridges and escapes, be sure and show a basic submission. This will show them something "cool" that they will be able to demonstrate to their friends who will also think its "cool" and go to your class.

If their friend says "what did you learn in your BJJ class" and they show the elbow escape shrimp drill, their clueless friends will laugh. But if they show a keylock or kimura, then there will be interest.

I would show a choke, just because you always see little tapout ***gots running behind their friends and putting them in a sloppy RNC yelling "TAP OUT MAN, TAP OUT!!!"

[forcefedfreak]

Honestly it sounds like you are going to overwhelm them with all that stuff. If it is literally people who have no idea what they are signed up for, then you have to start from the very BEGINNING. Keep in mind not everyone knows what guard is, or even what a "submission" or "tapping" is. I would explain these basic terms first, and then head to shrimping and other hip movement exercises that are basics in the movements of BJJ.

From there I would work explaining the different positions and why they are important. Pair people up and have each person simply GET INTO that position (top and bottom each) just to feel what it's like. Then maybe cover ONE simple sweep. I wouldn't even touch a submission the first class.

all IMHO though.

[dragonmachida]

Originally Posted by forcefedfreak

Honestly it sounds like you are going to overwhelm them with all that stuff. If it is literally people who have no idea what they are signed up for, then you have to start from the very BEGINNING. Keep in mind not everyone knows what guard is, or even what a "submission" or "tapping" is. I would explain these basic terms first, and then head to shrimping and other hip movement exercises that are basics in the movements of BJJ.

From there I would work explaining the different positions and why they are important. Pair people up and have each person simply GET INTO that position (top and bottom each) just to feel what it's like. Then maybe cover ONE simple sweep. I wouldn't even touch a submission the first class.

all IMHO though.

The people that do know what it is, though, expect to be able to bring something back home to friends rather than drills. He needs to figure out a balance. I would just do some positional drills, shrimps, the hip bump escape and the basic guillotine.


Roughly how much time do you have to work with bAby norAA?

[Oigion]

First thing my instructor taught me in an intro class was how to get out of full guard, how to pass full guard to side control, how to go side control to mount then kimura

the next intro class we learned full guard armbar and triangle choke



try that

I would teach like 1 submission an escape and pass or something then after 3 techniques you roll three 5 minute rounds

[bAby norAA]

Originally Posted by dragonmachida

The people that do know what it is, though, expect to be able to bring something back home to friends rather than drills. He needs to figure out a balance. I would just do some positional drills, shrimps, the hip bump escape and the basic guillotine.


Roughly how much time do you have to work with bAby norAA?

i have one hour.

[forcefedfreak]

Originally Posted by bAby norAA

i have one hour.

is this going to be a recurring thing or just a one time class?

[dragonmachida]

Originally Posted by bAby norAA

i have one hour.

Jesus christ that's a short class. Do you know what age group you'll be dealing with primarily?

[IzRiot]

My coach explained to my his reason for teaching me what he did in the beginning which was the shrimp and the RNC, he said that the shrimp is so important and useful that people need to start working on it from day one, and the RNC is a fun finishing move that helps to get the people hooked on the feeling of choking someone wile being easy to apply and an important end game move that should be practiced and learned well. i think after doing only these two for the first lesson the next lesson we went over these to and added the guillotine from the guard. i guess it makes sense though allot of the scramble type stuff can just be random nooby stuff to get them from place to place so long as they something to try to finish with and a way of escaping so they dont feel totally stuck if they find them self on the bottom. I guess if they dont know the basic positions you need to teach them at least the idea behind mount/guard/back to start with at least.

[bAby norAA]

Originally Posted by forcefedfreak

is this going to be a recurring thing or just a one time class?

2x per week

Originally Posted by dragonmachida

Jesus christ that's a short class. Do you know what age group you'll be dealing with primarily?

pretty mixed actually. i know most as they are members at my gym i work at.

[YesThatGuy]

Warm up with jogging--->backwards jogging--->side stepping inside and out---->grapevining


Now form lines and do: shrimping across the mat
front rolls
back rolls
break falls
shooting if you feel like teaching it

demonstrate each before your lines go ahead and do them.


Now the muscles are warmed up and ready to stretch.

Now do your basic stretches.




Now teach your basic positions and explain them from both the top and the bottom position. Tell your students what the objective should be as in if you are in someone's guard, you should try to pass guard. If you are holding guard, you should try to submit or sweep.


Or teach them rep out drills for armbars from guard where you rotate on your hips and hit each arm or the hip out kimura drill or the straight ankle lock drill where you are scissoring your partner and take turns cranking straight ankles/achilles.




Now do 3x3 minute rounds of rolling at the end of class switching partners after each round. Make sure to explain no slams and giving your opponent time to tap and that it is okay to tap, it's just practice.

[poopoo333]

Well I have class 2x a week. After we learned basic movements and things after a week, we did warmups, drills, and about 2-4 grappling techniques on tuesdays, and on thursdays we warmup, do some drilling, and grapple the rest.

[Kane Fan]

my personal opinion is the first day shouldn't have submissions at all
realistically with 16 people they are going to want to roll and you can't watch 8 rolling sessions at once, some newb is going to hurt some other newb if they are going for subs on thier first day

I'd show them all the positions and have them work reps of moving from dominant position to other dominant position like

Side Control -- Scarf -- North/South -- Scarf (other side) -- Cross Body (new side of course) -- Mount

that even might be too much for the first day
you might keep it at Cross Body/Mount switches

or another thing to look at, a dominant position and an escape from that position
that way they train at the same time
like you'd show them Mount and Bridge&Roll like you are planning that makes sence and for several classes you can do that
I realize they will want to learn submissions and they should but I don't see it as safe to let them roll unless you are watching the specific two that are doing true free rolling

but honestly I'm more of a one on one teacher

also when you do show a newb a submission, it's not that Armbar from Mount is complex but show them the absolute simplest submissions in the book
instead of Mount Armbar show them Mount Arm Triangle
or Mount Kimura
the grip on Kimura is more complicated but there is less overall movement so it is "simple" and they can learn it quickly

[Kane Fan]

Originally Posted by craigers2007

You start on your back, feet on the floot (like you were bridging).

As you thrust your hips up, you drive a foot under your other knee so that you end up rolling onto your hands and knees.

Think about it as if you were side mounted by somebody, you get the underhook and then bridge/roll out.

Make sense?

the term we used was Belly Out that might be what people have heard it as

[Kane Fan]

Originally Posted by bAby norAA

2x per week


pretty mixed actually. i know most as they are members at my gym i work at.

I wish I lived close enough to help you man helping a class of total newbs sounds awsome

[bAby norAA]

Originally Posted by Kane Fan

I wish I lived close enough to help you man helping a class of total newbs sounds awsome

haha come on over!

[Kane Fan]

where do you live again

[craigers2007]

Originally Posted by Kane Fan

the term we used was Belly Out that might be what people have heard it as

this