Written By Guillaume (Gile) Huni, BJJ black belt and head instructor of Kimura Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Belgrade, Serbia.

Learning Jiu-Jitsu, is like learning how to swim.

Aim to improve 1% per day.

Your first training sessions in BJJ can be very intimidating and stressful, but you need to relax. Everything is going to be ok. Just enjoy the ride.

All of us that have been training for years were once beginners and have all gone through the phase of feeling lost. No one will judge you or make fun of you because you don’t know what to do, in fact most people want to help you figure it out.

Basic principles:

1. Relax and try to use what you have learned. Enjoy.
2. Defend and Survive. Look at what other people are doing.
3. Try to improve your position.
4. Don’t use too much strength.
5. Tap fast, tap early.
6. Position before submission.

When sparring, just relax and don’t try to ‘win’ right away. Nobody will try to hurt you. They will let you try out techniques and will try to help coach you along during the roll.

There is an exception: when somebody ‘spazzes’. That means that they spar very hard, using a lot of strength without really knowing what they are doing. They might injure themselves and injure others. Some BJJ training partners will try to teach them a lesson when that happens by submitting them using as ‘ego killers’ such as the infamous knee on belly or some strong chokes.

You have to realise that in a Jiu-Jitsu training session, no matter how big, strong, tough, you think you are, you are going to get submitted by somebody much smaller but also much more skilful. It’s part of the learning process and you should learn to embrace it.

Basic Rules when sparring:

– No striking, punching or kicking.
– No eye gouging or hair pulling.
– No slamming (picking someone up and dropping them).
– No twisting or grabbing fingers.
– No heelhooks (twisting the foot or knee).
– No neck cranks.

1st Degree Black Belt, Brandon “Wolverine” Mullins, gives an introduction to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Brandon explains to a beginner in BJJ about the training mentality to have in your first training sessions.
Check out the video: