What is the first thing I should learn to do in BJJ?

What is the first thing I should learn to do in BJJ?

Everyone once in awhile I get asked by a new student what is the first thing they should learn to do in BJJ. There are some stock answers:

• Check your ego at the door
• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
• Shrimp
• Tie your belt
• Wash your gi

These are all great, but I would like to submit the thing I wish I would have learned first in grappling/BJJ. So, if you will indulge me, I want to take you back to January 2004. I am a college students at Iowa State University (Go 'Clones), 

This is CY, the ISU mascot

I have more hair, my waist is trimmer, and I am still able to party until 3am, roll out of bed for an 8am class and rip off a 12 mile run.* I have one remaining general education credit (personal wellness) and I decide to enroll in Judo. 

After the precursory first few days of learning to break fall and shrimp, we start to learn the goods (throwing, joint locks, choking, etc.). One day our instructor (Master Pak) tells us to pair up. I pair up with a blue belt that is close to my size. Master Pak says we are going to learn collar chokes.

Sliding lapel choke

He also explained the concept of tapping out. For those of you reading this that do not know, tapping out is the way you tell your partner, "good job, you could have strangled me to death."  

Master Pak demonstrates a sliding lapel choke and then has us go to town. Well, "Johnny Blue Belt" proceeds to grab my collar and apply the choke with the chutzpah of a 9' anaconda. I freaked out and instead of tapping, I waved my arms around, grasped at the air, grabbed at the mat until I started to go out. Mast Pak ran over and told Johnny Blue Belt to let go. He gave him a bit of a tongue lashing about applying chokes full force to new guys and asked me if I understood what tapping out meant. I told him I did, but I just panicked. The previously mentioned blue belt applies the collar choke again and I tap really quick, he keeps going and I am now tapping violently. When he finally let go, I asked him why he didn't let go right when I tapped. He replied, "You got to feel the choke to know the power."** For the next year of my training, anytime someone got remotely close to my neck I started getting flashbacks of "Johnny the Blue Belt Strangler" living out his "Green River Killer" fantasy and tapped out before the choke was even applied. It was a pretty big mental block for me. 

For those of you unaware of who the Green River Killer is...

Now, in BJJ we tell people to tap early and often, and I agree with that sentiment. Tapping when someone has you in a submission is a good practice. It saves you a ton of injuries. However, there comes a time in everyone's training where they need to start pushing the envelope and trying to find ways out of bad situations. Essentially, this means that you need to trust your training partners to let go if you tap, even if that is a split second before a submission is really locked in.

When you don't tap early and often....

At first glance, that seems pretty easy, trust the person you are working with to respect you enough not to injure you. But, it takes one instance of a partner holding on a little too long and you can become gun-shy lickety-splitsville. With that being said, you will never get better unless you try to work out of really tight submissions.  Personally, my offense never really improved until my defense progressed to the point where I wasn't worried about getting subbed. I didn't stop worrying about getting subbed until I allowed myself to work out of some really precarious situations. The only way you can push your boundries is to find and train with people you trust and then really trust them. 

So, my advice to a new student is to learn to trust your training partner, be the training partner that they can trust, and learn to work out of some bad spots. 

*Writer's note: I can still do any of these thing independently, just not all in the same day. 

Just look at that mane

**Writer's note: This dude would have totally join Cobra Kai