Typical BJJ lesson.

Hey guys. My knee's a bit better now. And with a knee support on I reckon I'll be able to get back into the JuJitsu. I'm planning on starting BJJ withing the next fortnight. And was wondering if any of you seasoned BJJ guys could give me some pointers on what to expect on my first day. I'm going to turn up on my own, so I wouldn't mind knowing what's going to happene etc. I'm still going to do my TJJ on a monday night. Do you think this is a good idea, I assume they'd go hand in hand. And also I've found a thai boxing club. So i'm going there on Fridays.

Any help would be great!

Cheers lads. Oh, and Happy New Year.

Robsco. Have you ever considered having an Ultimate Ju-Jitsu meet, where you could all meet for a spar or whatever? Thought it'd be quite interesting.

warm up, drill techniques then spar but you wont spar till your instructor thinks you're ready

Maybe in the future Nathan, think we'd need a few more regulars first.

Would be good to meet everyone, but not sure about the sparring. If we did that, Andy ain't allowed for a start! :-p

Don't think the sparring would work unless it was for BJJ, maybe an idea for a seminar for everyone to 'have a go' at BJJ and see it for themselves.

Well im back from my trip Andy be good if you found that BJJ club on merseyside for me as im looking and if there is still no good ones im off to GB Manchester (Bolton?) Carl Fisher is the instructor seem to have a load of blue belts and looks like a good club? Do you know him Andy ?

Nathan the one i had was pretty similar to a TJJ lesson , warm up excercises etc then a technique is taught and practiced.

email me on andyrobertsbjj@hotmail.com yeah I know Carl and he has a decent club

Andy, try not to keep everything to email if it's gonna interest everyone.

Obviously there might be some 'private' stuff, but the more people getting info the better.

Andy emailed you please reply if you get a chance... Need to get rid of the mince pies.... :-).

Nathan good to hear about the knee.... Make sure your really happy with it before starting BJJ though.... Hows the yellow belt coming? Any dates for your grading yet?

Been off it for about 2 months coz me knee Si. But I'm going back in a fortnight. It'd have to be at least March for the Yellow belt, as it's a minimum of 6 months between gradings for each belt. There's obviously more gradings between that, but you have to be a white belt for at least 6 months. But I'm only going to be going to TJJ once a week now as I've found a Thai Boxing club and it's on the same night as my second TJJ session.

What does anyone think of the prices and quality of this BJJ club. I'm starting very soon, doesn't it look a bit expensive?
http://www.mantisproductions.net/bjj.html

£5 per class is normal, but most places do something like £40-£50 per month for unlimited classes.

Yeah, this place does £5 a week for one class, £10 for any 3 classes and £15 for unlimited classes. You have to pay by standing order though, which is a pain if you can't manage to get to one or two classes in the week. The guy seems nice enough though. I've been sent a pack about it all and he seems very professional. It's handy as well as they've got lessons in Norwich (where I work) and Great Yarmouth (where I live) so I should be able to get to a lesson at least 3 times a week.

The Instructor's name is Steve Cowan. Anyone heard of him? The club is part of the Royce Gracie Network.

I'm a bit confused about the grading in BJJ.. but I'll post a seperate post about it.

Yeah he's a legit guy Nathan so don't worry about it.

I think Steve also has the rights for all Royce Gracie UK merchandise. I know he has the rights for the ATAMA kimonos anyway coz i tried to get them but Steve beat me to it. He's one of two chapter reps in Royce's UK network and has a great setup with places to train/facilities/website etc

Also the prices he charges are in reflection of of Royce's monthly and annual network charges which arent cheap!;-) Steve certainly wont be making any money out of you or anyone else due to these charges.

Yeah. Nice one Dave. He seems alright and I'm starting next Saturday I hope. So I'm quite excited. Should I just take my normal TJJ Gi along to to my first class do you think?

Yeah just take along your TJJ Gi. To be honest Nathan you will soon find out that all Judo,TJJ, BJJ and Sambo kimono's all do the same job and arent really that diifferent apart from weights of cloth different stitching and of course the BJJ patches.

you will find that bjj kimonos have a different cut to others

I was thinking of getting one of them Kimono's off www.roycegracie.com, them atama kimono's. They look quite cool. But with all the prints and logo's, do you think they look a bit 'much'. I'm just gonna pop along in my usual gi first though. I'm going to one lesson a week for a bit, just to get the feel of the place. Then I'm gonna go as much as I can, I am just sooo looking forward to it!

I didn't get a proper BJJ gi until after I got my blue belt. This was based on the schoolyard logic that no-one likes the rich twat with the Adidas Predators that can't even pass a ball 10 yards.

But you're still the rich twat with the Adidas Predators that can't even pass a ball 10 yards :-))

Nathan, you can always get one from www.atamakimonos.com and add ya own patches

I'm not rich and I've never owned predators, but I am a twat.

Anyway, the point is- you'll be fine just wearing a normal judo gi or whatever. And don't rush into buying anything you can get cheaper elsewhere. I'm told you can get some good stuff on ebay, not necessarily used either.

Well done Andy the cut of the cloth is different!!!;-)

As i said Nathan all gi's do the same job but come in different variations. The Sambo Kurtka is probably one of the strongest out there but i doubt if you will be allowed to wear one in Steves classes. The more i find out about BJJ it seems to have just as much politics and BS involved as any other art. People spitting dummies out about badges and patches springs to mind.