Well, it's been a long time to this point.

I've been teaching my instructor's kids class for the past 4 years, in between everything else, and finally, a few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to teach my own adult classes at a new club, run out of one of my training partner's Aikido dojo, as head instructor. I have people wanting to train, marketing in progress, the works. The first class begins this evening.

Whilst I have a pretty good idea how to teach, I need to ask one question of the established instructors posting here: What measures do you think helped build up the skill level in your clubs? Whilst I have been one of the senior members at my academy for the last year or so, I haven't really had to build a group of newbie white belts up to a decent level. Any tips that you could possibly have would be greatly appreciated.

This doesn't help at all, but the answer is:
A critical mass of blues and purples.

When I started at my school you were lucky if there was more than one or two blues there. Damn lucky if you ever got to roll with one of the purples. Now days people go from newbies to solid much more quickly because there are better training partners.

Aside from that one of my favorite randori drills is also one that I think has been the most helpful. 3 minute rounds starting in back (down), then back (up), mount, side, half, in guard, opponent in your guard, under half, under side, under mount, etc. Exhausting but really drills the positions (and escapes). Either with or without subs (reset when position escaped.)

This doesn't help at all, but the answer is:
A critical mass of blues and purples.

When I started at my school you were lucky if there was more than one or two blues there. Damn lucky if you ever got to roll with one of the purples. Now days people go from newbies to solid much more quickly because there are better training partners.

Aside from that one of my favorite randori drills is also one that I think has been the most helpful. 3 minute rounds starting in back (down), then back (up), mount, side, half, in guard, opponent in your guard, under half, under side, under mount, etc. Exhausting but really drills the positions (and escapes). Either with or without subs (reset when position escaped.)

Good point. You need people better than you to work your defense, people less experienced to work you offense, and people around the same level to put them both together and flow with.

Kinda generic but I think it gets the point across.

Good point. You need people better than you to work your defense, people less experienced to work you offense, and people around the same level to put them both together and flow with.

Kinda generic but I think it gets the point across.

Firstly, I know that UpaLumpa actually bothered to read my initial posts. I can see you didn't.

This is a NEW club - i.e. the skill level that exists is as follows:

Me! - a decent purple, or at least the shiny competition trinkets say so - the head instructor.
The Dojo Owner - he'd probably describe himself as a weak purple, recently promoted, oft injured in early to mid 40s, hence why I've been given the instructor title and he hasn't started a club as yet himself
A Very Good if Somewhat Rusty Blue - A former training partner of mine. Admittedly I was bouncing off the walls when I heard he would be coming - meant I'd have help at times!
One somewhat experienced white belt I used to train with
Some other white belts I've never trained with who left other academies a while back
Some newbies

Now, I would love to have a few more purples and blues....but alas, were wishes but fishes I'd be eating sashimi by the bucket with a huge ****-eating grin on my face. I was more interested in how to lay the foundations to produce said purples and blues in the future from the perspective of people who have actually been there and done that

From what I've seen at my school it really was just time.
Besides that, maintaining a high level of athleticism too.

If there aren't going to be many experienced players to make the beginners pay for there mistake then one of your first lessons needs to be on what NOT to do.

For example at a school with experienced training partners you learn pretty quickly not to pass with one arm in and one arm out, but if your training partner doesn't know how to triangle off that people are going to pick up bad habits. The same is probably true for things like leaving your arms out when under side control/mount and giving up your back when you try to escape side control.

Firstly, I know that UpaLumpa actually bothered to read my initial posts. I can see you didn't.

This is a NEW club - i.e. the skill level that exists is as follows:

Me! - a decent purple, or at least the shiny competition trinkets say so - the head instructor.
The Dojo Owner - he'd probably describe himself as a weak purple, recently promoted, oft injured in early to mid 40s, hence why I've been given the instructor title and he hasn't started a club as yet himself
A Very Good if Somewhat Rusty Blue - A former training partner of mine. Admittedly I was bouncing off the walls when I heard he would be coming - meant I'd have help at times!
One somewhat experienced white belt I used to train with
Some other white belts I've never trained with who left other academies a while back
Some newbies

Now, I would love to have a few more purples and blues....but alas, were wishes but fishes I'd be eating sashimi by the bucket with a huge ****-eating grin on my face. I was more interested in how to lay the foundations to produce said purples and blues in the future from the perspective of people who have actually been there and done that

I read your post, did you read your post?



Well, it's been a long time to this point.

I've been teaching my instructor's kids class for the past 4 years, in between everything else, and finally, a few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to teach my own adult classes at a new club, run out of one of my training partner's Aikido dojo, as head instructor. I have people wanting to train, marketing in progress, the works. The first class begins this evening.

Whilst I have a pretty good idea how to teach, I need to ask one question of the established instructors posting here: What measures do you think helped build up the skill level in your clubs? Whilst I have been one of the senior members at my academy for the last year or so, I haven't really had to build a group of newbie white belts up to a decent level. Any tips that you could possibly have would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not going to get in a flame war or a war of words with you because that's not what this forum is about. I just added to what UpaLumpa said. The fact is, if you don't have multiple ranked people there, the only thing that's going to help is time.

Give it to them and don't rush them. They'll get it. And so will you.

As for my experience:

Me - Decent blue belt; close to purple from what my teacher keeps hinting at, very shitty in tournaments because I get way too nervous when competing.

Cassius Edit: I couldn't resist.

Firstly, I know that UpaLumpa actually bothered to read my initial posts. I can see you didn't.

This is a NEW club - i.e. the skill level that exists is as follows:

Me! - a decent purple, or at least the shiny competition trinkets say so - the head instructor.
The Dojo Owner - he'd probably describe himself as a weak purple, recently promoted, oft injured in early to mid 40s, hence why I've been given the instructor title and he hasn't started a club as yet himself
A Very Good if Somewhat Rusty Blue - A former training partner of mine. Admittedly I was bouncing off the walls when I heard he would be coming - meant I'd have help at times!
One somewhat experienced white belt I used to train with
Some other white belts I've never trained with who left other academies a while back
Some newbies

Now, I would love to have a few more purples and blues....but alas, were wishes but fishes I'd be eating sashimi by the bucket with a huge ****-eating grin on my face. I was more interested in how to lay the foundations to produce said purples and blues in the future from the perspective of people who have actually been there and done that

This isn't from an instructors POV, but you have basically described my BJJ classes, there are 2-3 good technical if not sparadoic blues, instructor is a purple and a few whole bunch of whites with varying levels on their technique and experience, we work the basics alot, everyone rolls with everyone so we can get the most out of everyones attributes, let them ask alot of questions, have a good vibe in the club, and keep it interesting at times

I've been running a little recreational club here at my university for the past couple of years. Started it as a blue (I'm still a blue). The hardest part for me was the students' schedules. Not many of them were able to make it out to the two classes a week so it was very difficult for them to make progress.

Stress the importance of regular and consistent training above all else. Give them plenty of resources to study on their own time if they cant train more than 2-3 times per week.

I found that by teaching my classes in 'themes' I could get them to grasp things a lot easier.

Try to attract other people with experience that are currently in between clubs. I've made some great new friends from other clubs at my level as well as better that are away from their home clubs due to school. I leave the doors open and let people know that we're just there to train and not to worry about politics.

ROLL with all of them as much as possible. Everyone is stressing the fact that people with more and better training partners will progress faster. You have to be that training partner. Switch up how you play, don't get stuck playing your style.

edit: and have fun! I know you mentioned you've been teaching kids classes for the next 4 years so you can understand how rewarding it is to see people get better. It's a great feeling taking someone from no experience to a respectable level of competence.

I was thinking about this a little bit more and have some things that you've probably already considered but may be worth bringing up nonetheless.

When I teach anything, whether lecturing or on the mats, I try to always think about what has made the topic/technique hard for me to grasp when others taught me.

With jits it also comes down more to what I've done in my training that hasn't helped me versus what I could have done. The number one thing is not drilling enough after learning a new technique. This is something that you can make mandatory and establish a precedent that will be picked up by newer students. There is a tendency amongst instructors (at least my instructors) to show too many techniques for my taste. Regardless of taste, the more techniques shown, the less time available to drill each. Par down each days list to 2-3 things and make sure everyone is drilling appropriately.

One of the best classes I've ever been to was taught where every component of the class was connected. This started from warmups where instead of the normal crap or drills we were doing crunches from butterfly. Then we lifted uke from butterfly. Now warm we worked three butterfly sweeps, each building on the previous. Then we rolled starting from butterfly and working only to sweep or pass and then reseting. It was the most coherent class I've taken. I've thought since then about how to structure similar warmups that flow directly into the techniques being taught, if I ever teach bjj it is how I plan to structure training sessions.

Another more innovative thing you could do is have regular sessions where ample time is dedicated to alternative training approaches. For example, you could have one day a week where some amount of time is dedicated, prior to free rolling, to things like those ball drills that people rave about.

Just some musings.

^^^QFT

For the first 6 months or so of my BJJ experinence, the instructor would show some unrelated moves then everyone would roll like it was tournament day...very rough on my learning process. The classes are better now, but I would kill for sessions like you just described.

With jits it also comes down more to what I've done in my training that hasn't helped me versus what I could have done. The number one thing is not drilling enough after learning a new technique. This is something that you can make mandatory and establish a precedent that will be picked up by newer students. There is a tendency amongst instructors (at least my instructors) to show too many techniques for my taste. Regardless of taste, the more techniques shown, the less time available to drill each. Par down each days list to 2-3 things and make sure everyone is drilling appropriately.


Yes. It's better than newer people have a few strong fundamental techniques, than a huge bag of tricks that they can't use. You can always have everyone work something basic, but for those that are a bit more advanced you can always let them work on variations of the same techniques. Newbs work basic arm bar while advanced can do that, or work spin to far side arm bar, or other arm bar variations.

Well, it's been a long time to this point.

I've been teaching my instructor's kids class for the past 4 years, in between everything else, and finally, a few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to teach my own adult classes at a new club, run out of one of my training partner's Aikido dojo, as head instructor. I have people wanting to train, marketing in progress, the works. The first class begins this evening.

Whilst I have a pretty good idea how to teach, I need to ask one question of the established instructors posting here: What measures do you think helped build up the skill level in your clubs? Whilst I have been one of the senior members at my academy for the last year or so, I haven't really had to build a group of newbie white belts up to a decent level. Any tips that you could possibly have would be greatly appreciated.

Congrats on teaching your own class. My thought, albeit with limited experience, is that it sounds like your answer is you and the owner need to be rolling your asses off all the time w/ your students.

I can always learn something when rolling w/ a white belt, but rolling w/ a good purple belt just makes you think differently. Rolling w/ a good brown or black belt is akin to fighting a superhero, it just makes you think that you don't even understand this damn bjj ****. I can only imagine that's what it would feel like after rolling with Jesus Christ. Like, "I don't know what the **** just happened there...but God damn I want to learn that!"

So yeah...if I was one of your students I'd hope you spent considerable time with me.

Good luck!

I was thinking about this a little bit more and have some things that you've probably already considered but may be worth bringing up nonetheless.

When I teach anything, whether lecturing or on the mats, I try to always think about what has made the topic/technique hard for me to grasp when others taught me.

With jits it also comes down more to what I've done in my training that hasn't helped me versus what I could have done. The number one thing is not drilling enough after learning a new technique. This is something that you can make mandatory and establish a precedent that will be picked up by newer students. There is a tendency amongst instructors (at least my instructors) to show too many techniques for my taste. Regardless of taste, the more techniques shown, the less time available to drill each. Par down each days list to 2-3 things and make sure everyone is drilling appropriately.

One of the best classes I've ever been to was taught where every component of the class was connected. This started from warmups where instead of the normal crap or drills we were doing crunches from butterfly. Then we lifted uke from butterfly. Now warm we worked three butterfly sweeps, each building on the previous. Then we rolled starting from butterfly and working only to sweep or pass and then reseting. It was the most coherent class I've taken. I've thought since then about how to structure similar warmups that flow directly into the techniques being taught, if I ever teach bjj it is how I plan to structure training sessions.

Another more innovative thing you could do is have regular sessions where ample time is dedicated to alternative training approaches. For example, you could have one day a week where some amount of time is dedicated, prior to free rolling, to things like those ball drills that people rave about.

Just some musings.

Good to shoot for. Tough to pull off when starting out. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals (aka K.I.S.S.) will make white belts better.

I tried to find the Matt Thornton video where he raps about a good coach just teaching fundamentals--as opposed to, say, the instructor's personal "game" or style of combinations, or even something like "advanced" techniques (which he disputes the existence of)--but YouTube hates my soul. Just trust me that he agrees with me.

When I started teaching (or really, 6 months in, once I felt I wasn't drowning), I tried to teach "magnum opus" classes, teaching whole swaths of techniques, making everything meaningful and related and important. It failed. Most of the time a warm-up is best done as a warm-up. Teach the basics, teach 1 concept or combination or position at a time, add rolling time, and stir. In my oh-so-humble opinion.

I don't think anything I wrote contradicts a need for, nor a stressing of, fundamentals.
Those ball drills are entirely fundamentals (positioning and keeping proper weight distribution during movement). Certainly making a clear connection between warmups and techniques doesn't violate anything.