The first class of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can be more daunting than most. Walking into a padded room with odd smells and people in funny outfits, is an experience that many would not seek out willingly. Well I am here to tell you how quickly this padded room with odd smells and people in funny outfits can feel like home to you. However before this can happen you have to make it through your first day. Here are a few essential mindsets to have so that you can get through this first class with ease.
Everybody has the first day jitters
The first day jitters is something that every new person, in any sport or activity ever, has felt. So when you take your first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Fundamentals class know that everybody has been exactly where you are right now and they do not judge whatsoever. With how our classes are structured, the students in the Fundamentals class with you may only be on their second or third class. So they may still feel nervous just like you! This is why we require every student, white through black belt, to shake the hand of everybody else; to build a family and a community.
Nobody is born knowing how to do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is unlike any other sport. The warm ups and motions that we do are not typical warmups that you see any other sport or activity doing. So chances are you have never seen these warmups before. This is not unique, 99% of us had no clue what we were doing in our first class. Some may take to it faster than others but nobody got it on their first time! Take the time to learn these warmups and motions correctly as they can be extremely beneficial moving forward. We put our new members into our Fundamentals classes specifically to build a strong base and to do this you can not expect to rush through.
Be prepared to fail
I could not stress this point enough, I believe that this is the most beneficial mindset to have when you undertake anything. You will do something wrong and you will mess up. Ask any Black Belt what the number one mindset to have in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is. Be prepared to fail and learn from every mistake. You may look silly doing something wrong on your first day. You will also most likely look silly doing something wrong on your one-thousandth day of BJJ. How you react to these moments is the determining factor to growth.
