Etiquette Archives

Top 5 Ways to Annoy Your Professor and Training Partners

In Jiu-Jitsu, first and foremost, we are taught to respect the mat, our instructor and our training partners. Sometimes our attitudes, egos, ignorance, or intentions get in the way and we do things to piss off our professor and training partners. Here are the top 5 ways to annoy people in Jiu-Jitsu: 1. Come to […]

Demotions in Jiu-Jitsu

Recently, I was speaking to a friend who is a black belt and head instructor at a Jiu-Jitsu academy. They told me that they had just taken away stripes from one of their white belts and that white belt almost cried when they did so. I was taken aback as you almost never hear about […]

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Show Up Late to Class

Most academies have a strict policy that they adhere to when people show up late to class without notice. This is usually illustrated in the academy house rules or etiquette guidelines. Some instructors take it more seriously than others, while some choose to let students get away with showing up 30 minutes late because they […]

Entitlement in Jiu-Jitsu

en·ti·tle·ment –noun the fact of having a right to something. “full entitlement to fees and maintenance should be offered” synonyms: right, prerogative, claim, title, license; the amount to which a person has a right. “annual leave entitlement” synonyms:allowance, allocation, allotment, quota, ration, grant, limit”your annual holiday entitlement” the belief that one is inherently deserving of […]

Know Your Roll: Rolling With A…

Day One White Belt: Don’t. Day one white belts shouldn’t be thrown into the shark tank right off the bat because they don’t know anything except what they think is how to survive… which could lead to getting injured or injuring others. Stay away. Other White Belts: They’re going to try to kill you. There’s […]

The Unfortunate Price of Cross Training

Recently a friend told me that someone in their community that they knew got kicked out of their academy for cross training at another school (i.e. drop in/open mat) in the same area. Perhaps if this were 10 years ago when cross training at other academies/affiliations were unheard of, maybe this wouldn’t be so surprising. […]

BJJ Etiquette: Asking Higher Belts To Roll

When we start Jiu-Jitsu, one of the very first things that we learn when sparring is whether it’s appropriate to ask a higher belt to roll. There is no hard and fast answer as to whether it’s okay (or not) to ask a higher belt to roll, as it varies from academy to academy. Perhaps […]

Visiting Open Mat Etiquette

Like the saying goes, “Sometimes common sense isn’t so common…” totally applies to Jiu-Jitsu and etiquette. This goes not just for within your academy, but when visiting other schools (of your own affiliation or not) also. Previously coming from a small island with limited Jiu-Jitsu resources, I sought a lot of pleasure in traveling and […]

Passive Aggressive Behavior in Jiu-Jitsu

In a previous blog, we discussed the different types of personalities that we encounter on the mat. Along the same lines as dealing with different personalities on the mat, we also encounter different types of behavior. Since Jiu-Jitsu is such a close contact martial art, it is difficult to hide certain behaviors such as being […]

Humility VS Humiliating: The Case of Constructive Criticism in BJJ

As an instructor, you want to see all of your students succeed – which includes doing the technique of the day correctly. Instructors have different teaching and coaching styles that can include: teasing, coddling, encouraging, and in some cases, humiliating students who they think need more of reality check in training. While the latter is […]

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