Being a Good Training Partner Part 2: Training with New Students
Continued from part 1, located here.
In addition to training appropriately with smaller people, being a good training partner also means that you can train safely and productively with new students. When training with students who are just beginning BJJ, keep the following tips in mind.
Check on your partner’s submission knowledge. If you’re training with a new BJJ student, find out which submissions they know before starting live training. Applying submissions to students who are unfamiliar with them is unsafe and unproductive. If you have a new student in a submission and they don’t seem to recognize that they should be tapping, stop and explain the situation to them. Also be sure to follow your gym’s rules for allowed and disallowed submissions. Most jiu jitsu schools prohibit certain submissions at the white belt level.
Confine the round to positions with which your partner is familiar. If you’re training with a student who is in the beginning weeks or months of their BJJ training, they’ve likely only worked from a few positions. For example, if your partner has only learned moves from closed guard, limit your live training with them to closed guard, even during full jiu jitsu rounds. This will allow new students to practice explicit techniques that they’ve learned in class instead of blindly navigating positions with no technical knowledge or positional goals.
Focus on helping new students learn. The first weeks of a Brazilian jiu jitsu practice are a very novel experience for many students, especially if they have no other combat sports or martial arts experience. Having helpful and supportive teammates allows new students to progress faster, and may even affect whether or not they stick with jiu jitsu. Try to see new students as future training partners that will help you improve in turn. The sooner they can navigate all of the main positions and submissions of the sport, the sooner you’ll have another training partner to try new techniques on. While you should refrain from teaching new students if you don’t have the appropriate knowledge and experience to do so, giving them general guidance, such as explaining positional goals, providing simple cues, or reminding them of techniques they’ve learned in class can go a long way.
Keep things moving during your rounds with new students. If you have a new student in a pin or bad position, don’t just hold them there indefinitely. Instead, walk them through an escape or move on to another position (if appropriate). If your partner makes a decent escape attempt, let them work out of the position and give them increasing resistance as they improve. While it’s important to cultivate mental fortitude and patience in BJJ, which includes being stuck in difficult situations for long periods of time and successfully navigating out, students in the first weeks and months of their jiu jitsu journey will benefit most from the acquisition of fundamental skills and an understanding of positional goals.
Continued in part 3, located here.
-OGA Staff
Oregon Grappling Arts offers adult and kids’ jiu jitsu classes six days a week in Portland, OR. All classes are led by black belt head instructors Hannah Sharp and Eddie Jamrog. If you or your child is interested in checking out Brazilian jiu jitsu, feel free to reach out to us. All prospective students receive a three-day free trial.
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