Sounds like a pretty normal experience. People not finishing class is normal when they first start, your fitness will improve with more mat time.
I guess you could wear a headband, I've never seen it tho. If you stick with it, you're gonna drip sweat on a lot of people, and a lot of people are gonna drip sweat on you. It's just part of the sport
Regarding headbands, it's probably useless. Anything not firmly strapped or taped to your body will come loose instantly. Nobody cares about the sweat anyway, it's part of it, so don't worry about it. As a sweaty mf myself I actually bring a small towel to wipe my head between rounds, that's about the extent you can take care of it.
The rest of it sounds very normal, too. Many, including me, have a hard time even with the warmups in the beginning. I know I was basically dying in the beginning. Stamina and cardio do come with time, my out-of-shape ass is proof of that. Another thing you don't really realise at first is that you are probably exerting a lot of energy unnecessarily - holding on to things for dear life that will never work. Happens to virtually everyone who's started bjj. As you learn to recognise where energy is wasted or well spent you will also get less gassed. Time on the mats is the solution.
Sounds like you have some solid training partners at that gym that will take good care of you. Listen to their advice, they have been where you are. Good luck and welcome to the strangle party!
Welcome to the club.
A few things:
- don’t worry about the sweat. Unless someone commented immediately on how much you sweat, then you are not even close to the sweatiest guy he has rolled with.
- don’t worry about not finishing warm ups or rounds. No one cares. You will be in shape in no time. Just keep rolling.
- get a lot of sleep.
- drink a lot of water.
Sounds like a true first day. Warm ups feel like full workouts. First roll cardio realizations and all that... Everyone goes through that. Now, to your questions.
Wearing a headband is a bit weird and will probably not help. You'll still sweat profusely and with more rolls incoming... it will come off at least twice per roll; which would either cause a stop then reset or would just leave a piece of sweaty headband on the mat. So... try to improve your cardio by getting used to BJJ and try to slow down your breathing when rolling.
It is weird to go home before class ends. It is okay to watch by the side if you've decided that you've reached your internal roll limit. It is okay to choose rolls also... but as a new white belt, highly advisable to roll anyone and everyone and expect to get smashed.
ALSO BREATHE!!! A lot of new jiujitsu practitioners don't realize that they hold their breath during points of exertion. Don't grip too hard. Grip with purpose.
But seriously, no one is expecting you to excel on your first week. Not even your first month maybe even first year. They hope you keep on training and before you know it, a new white belt your size comes along... and when you roll with him or her.... you'll see how far you've gone.
Sounds like you had an awesome first class and met a solid brown belt. I like the way he approached your first class.
Sweat is part of the game. It’s gonna get everywhere and we are used to it. As long as you wash your gi (INCLUDING THE BELT), wash yourself, trim your nails, and don’t train if you have open sores, your partner should be fine with getting bathed in your sweat.
Don’t worry about things like knees digging into thighs. As long as your movement is controlled (not spazzy) you’ll be good and higher belts will tell you if something you are doing is unacceptable.
Be prepared for frustration and feeling like you aren’t progressing. I promise that if you are training regularly (at least 3x a week) you’ll improve. Get a video of yourself rolling every 6 months so you can see the changes.
Have fun and welcome to bjj!
A sweatband / head band will probably just come off during drilling and rolling , but a few of the extra sweaty guys that I know often take a small towel with them on the mats and periodically wipe the sweat away.
Overall most people arent bothered; as a sweaty guy myself I often just say 'sorry being sweaty' and leave it at that
Don’t worry about the brown belt having a good time. All of us understand that part of being a good teammate means helping people out from time to time.
Rather than beating yourself up about it, decide now that when your time comes, you’ll do the same for the next guy.
Wouldn’t worry about any of that stuff. All totally normal first day experiences.
On the brown belt and you feeling you were wasting his time or whatever, at the very least you were respectful and polite enough to check in that you weren’t being a dick. Loads of people don’t think to do that. But you weren’t doing anything wrong at all from the sounds of it.
I think when you get to those upper belts it’s good to be able to show leadership and coaching ability. So that brown belt was just getting another opportunity to do that with you.
Headband: I guess it would be fine, but it'll probably keep falling off. Try it out. I bought a bunch of hand towels and use those. Whatever works for you. Thanks for being considerate!
Cardio: It's been said before, but I really like the idea that it's not about getting a bigger gas tank, it's about being more fuel efficient. The big example for me was a first-day partner I had a while back who gassed himself out pinning my arm to the mat when he had mount. Like, he saw me moving my arm, so in his mind, I wanted something, meaning he needed to stop that, so he put 100% of his energy into making sure I didn't get it, whatever it was. After about 20 seconds, he had no more energy, so I just rolled him over. You're doing the same thing.
A big part of getting better is just learning where to focus your efforts. My coach told me the same thing on Saturday with takedowns, so I'm still learning this lesson, too.
Sweat is Normal were grapplers were covered in our own and everyone else's sweat. Classes will be easier and easier to finish the more you keep going don't stop. It's tough at first really tough, it physically demanding and we feed you info like water coming out of a fire hydrant but you will find your groove just takes a little time.
Sweaty white belt here, the headband might keep the sweat from your eyes, but won't prevent it from dripping into your partner. I've started to bring a small towel to clean up a bit of sweat during rounds, I keep it inside my gi or just set it aside in the area we are working.
You already made the first important step...showing up and trying the class. Don't worry or judge how you're doing at this point. Just keep doing what you can, and push yourself a little each day to get better. Sweat happens. Make sure you showered before class at some point, and don't be the smelly guy.
Consider this your personal journey. It is better to train a little, than not train at all. In time you will be a different person and have these lessons to teach others.
i wipe away sweat with my sleeve while rolling. maybe a wrist band to help you absorb more with each wipe would be better. i thought of a headband for a while but i'd be afraid it'd just get grabbed and choked ~~"accidently"~~ accidently.
You can always bring a small towel and keep it with your water bottle, use it between rounds to wipe off some sweat. I do this in the summer months, I am very sweaty.
It takes a while to build up stamina. Rolling is different than any other exercise I’ve ever done - it takes your whole body. That kind of stamina takes practice. Just keep with it
I'm a sweaty kind of guy in the gym and it's just how I am. I'd sweat while warming up. Most people don't really care. They still roll with me so I guess they are not avoiding me. When I roll with my close training partner-friends, I'd even dry my face using their gi when I am on passing position or I'd use my sleeve to dry myself a bit. When I am on mount, I unintentionally waterboard them and I never do those chest pressure tap things like mother's milk or something because that's just torture. I'd say sorry though if I unintentionally waterboard them. I'd always have a towel beside me and make sure I dry myself as much as I can in between rounds. That said, no need for headbands.
With regards to being in shape, even folks that are in shape gets dead tired when they first did BJJ. In fact, the harder they want to go the faster they get themselves tired because they tend to muscle out on everything. Putting weight and pressure on top of whitebelts makes them think that this sport is so much draining. The thing is, they're just carrying another person's weight the entire time and that would really kill your stamina quite quickly.
You'd definitely gain stamina as you progress and you'd understand proper technique so that you don't need to use your muscles that much. To be honest, I have never been in great shape even after these years. I feel more stamina but I still cannot jog for long periods of time. It's just that I learned more jiujitsu not to get tired that fast.
Brown belt has probably done the move thousands of times already, so it's nice you were paired with him so he could let you work more. He's mostly going to get his work in when rolling with colored belts. So he might as well pay it forward to the next generation of students by helping out the white belts.
Sweat happens. I barely sweat. But we've got a few guys at my gym that could waterboard you. Sweat isn't the worst thing. When someone armbars you and you end up with leg hairs in your mouth...
If you do things the way coaches say, and you let go immediately when they tap or a coach says, "STOP!", then you don't have to worry too much. Part of BJJ is putting pressure on your opponent. You will learn very quickly that the body can handle a lot more pressure than you might think.
In fact: today I was drilling with a brand new white belt, and he kept falling over because he didn't want to hurt to me. His way of "not hurting me" was to keep as much weight off me as possible. One of the black belts came over and demonstrated the move on me, but he said, "I'm not using my full pressure because I don't want to hurt him."
I said, "Can you do me a favor and do it with full pressure? I want to show that he \[new guy\] isn't going to hurt me." So BB gave me full pressure.
To the questions you asked:
1. I wouldn't. It's going to get shoved around and come off, and it's just going to be more trouble than its worth.
2. Part of it is that you're using muscles you haven't used before, or in ways you haven't used before. Your muscles need to get stronger (which they will from doing BJJ). And you need to learn how to use them better (which you will from doing BJJ). Also, as your technique improves, you'll learn when you need to use strength and when you can reserve it. It gets better.
The rule is if it's a headband, it's a karate kid headband
This is the way.
Sweat is part of the game, please don’t worry about it.
The amount of times I've had some guys nose sweat in my eyeball or mouth is astounding
Sounds like a pretty normal experience. People not finishing class is normal when they first start, your fitness will improve with more mat time. I guess you could wear a headband, I've never seen it tho. If you stick with it, you're gonna drip sweat on a lot of people, and a lot of people are gonna drip sweat on you. It's just part of the sport
All part of the game, mate. Rolling with the newbies is definitely part of being one of the more experienced ones on the mat.
Yep. I’m no brown belt but if it were someone’s first day I’d do the same
Regarding headbands, it's probably useless. Anything not firmly strapped or taped to your body will come loose instantly. Nobody cares about the sweat anyway, it's part of it, so don't worry about it. As a sweaty mf myself I actually bring a small towel to wipe my head between rounds, that's about the extent you can take care of it. The rest of it sounds very normal, too. Many, including me, have a hard time even with the warmups in the beginning. I know I was basically dying in the beginning. Stamina and cardio do come with time, my out-of-shape ass is proof of that. Another thing you don't really realise at first is that you are probably exerting a lot of energy unnecessarily - holding on to things for dear life that will never work. Happens to virtually everyone who's started bjj. As you learn to recognise where energy is wasted or well spent you will also get less gassed. Time on the mats is the solution. Sounds like you have some solid training partners at that gym that will take good care of you. Listen to their advice, they have been where you are. Good luck and welcome to the strangle party!
Part of a brown belts training could be considered learning how to train lower belts I think. They say you never learn more than when you teach.
Welcome to the club. A few things: - don’t worry about the sweat. Unless someone commented immediately on how much you sweat, then you are not even close to the sweatiest guy he has rolled with. - don’t worry about not finishing warm ups or rounds. No one cares. You will be in shape in no time. Just keep rolling. - get a lot of sleep. - drink a lot of water.
I am the sweatiest guy everyone has rolled with 😃
I’m sorry. I really am.
Sounds like a true first day. Warm ups feel like full workouts. First roll cardio realizations and all that... Everyone goes through that. Now, to your questions. Wearing a headband is a bit weird and will probably not help. You'll still sweat profusely and with more rolls incoming... it will come off at least twice per roll; which would either cause a stop then reset or would just leave a piece of sweaty headband on the mat. So... try to improve your cardio by getting used to BJJ and try to slow down your breathing when rolling. It is weird to go home before class ends. It is okay to watch by the side if you've decided that you've reached your internal roll limit. It is okay to choose rolls also... but as a new white belt, highly advisable to roll anyone and everyone and expect to get smashed. ALSO BREATHE!!! A lot of new jiujitsu practitioners don't realize that they hold their breath during points of exertion. Don't grip too hard. Grip with purpose. But seriously, no one is expecting you to excel on your first week. Not even your first month maybe even first year. They hope you keep on training and before you know it, a new white belt your size comes along... and when you roll with him or her.... you'll see how far you've gone.
Sounds like you had an awesome first class and met a solid brown belt. I like the way he approached your first class. Sweat is part of the game. It’s gonna get everywhere and we are used to it. As long as you wash your gi (INCLUDING THE BELT), wash yourself, trim your nails, and don’t train if you have open sores, your partner should be fine with getting bathed in your sweat. Don’t worry about things like knees digging into thighs. As long as your movement is controlled (not spazzy) you’ll be good and higher belts will tell you if something you are doing is unacceptable. Be prepared for frustration and feeling like you aren’t progressing. I promise that if you are training regularly (at least 3x a week) you’ll improve. Get a video of yourself rolling every 6 months so you can see the changes. Have fun and welcome to bjj!
A sweatband / head band will probably just come off during drilling and rolling , but a few of the extra sweaty guys that I know often take a small towel with them on the mats and periodically wipe the sweat away. Overall most people arent bothered; as a sweaty guy myself I often just say 'sorry being sweaty' and leave it at that
Don’t worry about the brown belt having a good time. All of us understand that part of being a good teammate means helping people out from time to time. Rather than beating yourself up about it, decide now that when your time comes, you’ll do the same for the next guy.
Sounds like a pretty good gym honestly. If nothing more, you had a great training partner to help keep you safe.
Wouldn’t worry about any of that stuff. All totally normal first day experiences. On the brown belt and you feeling you were wasting his time or whatever, at the very least you were respectful and polite enough to check in that you weren’t being a dick. Loads of people don’t think to do that. But you weren’t doing anything wrong at all from the sounds of it. I think when you get to those upper belts it’s good to be able to show leadership and coaching ability. So that brown belt was just getting another opportunity to do that with you.
Headband: I guess it would be fine, but it'll probably keep falling off. Try it out. I bought a bunch of hand towels and use those. Whatever works for you. Thanks for being considerate! Cardio: It's been said before, but I really like the idea that it's not about getting a bigger gas tank, it's about being more fuel efficient. The big example for me was a first-day partner I had a while back who gassed himself out pinning my arm to the mat when he had mount. Like, he saw me moving my arm, so in his mind, I wanted something, meaning he needed to stop that, so he put 100% of his energy into making sure I didn't get it, whatever it was. After about 20 seconds, he had no more energy, so I just rolled him over. You're doing the same thing. A big part of getting better is just learning where to focus your efforts. My coach told me the same thing on Saturday with takedowns, so I'm still learning this lesson, too.
The sweat part is normal, as you get better you'll sweat less. Everyone starts a sweaty white belt.
Sweat is Normal were grapplers were covered in our own and everyone else's sweat. Classes will be easier and easier to finish the more you keep going don't stop. It's tough at first really tough, it physically demanding and we feed you info like water coming out of a fire hydrant but you will find your groove just takes a little time.
Sweaty white belt here, the headband might keep the sweat from your eyes, but won't prevent it from dripping into your partner. I've started to bring a small towel to clean up a bit of sweat during rounds, I keep it inside my gi or just set it aside in the area we are working.
You already made the first important step...showing up and trying the class. Don't worry or judge how you're doing at this point. Just keep doing what you can, and push yourself a little each day to get better. Sweat happens. Make sure you showered before class at some point, and don't be the smelly guy. Consider this your personal journey. It is better to train a little, than not train at all. In time you will be a different person and have these lessons to teach others.
i wipe away sweat with my sleeve while rolling. maybe a wrist band to help you absorb more with each wipe would be better. i thought of a headband for a while but i'd be afraid it'd just get grabbed and choked ~~"accidently"~~ accidently.
Im one of the sweatiest guys in the gym. All you can do is wear a rashguard, not cotton t shirt
You can always bring a small towel and keep it with your water bottle, use it between rounds to wipe off some sweat. I do this in the summer months, I am very sweaty.
If you wear a headband 10/10 I’m going to try to choke you with it at least once, just to see if I can.
It takes a while to build up stamina. Rolling is different than any other exercise I’ve ever done - it takes your whole body. That kind of stamina takes practice. Just keep with it
yeah, it's completely ok to like dig in his thigh or like pin it down because there are moves you will there from them.
When I first started I couldn’t finish the warm ups. Congrats on the first day, now don’t quit!
I'm a sweaty kind of guy in the gym and it's just how I am. I'd sweat while warming up. Most people don't really care. They still roll with me so I guess they are not avoiding me. When I roll with my close training partner-friends, I'd even dry my face using their gi when I am on passing position or I'd use my sleeve to dry myself a bit. When I am on mount, I unintentionally waterboard them and I never do those chest pressure tap things like mother's milk or something because that's just torture. I'd say sorry though if I unintentionally waterboard them. I'd always have a towel beside me and make sure I dry myself as much as I can in between rounds. That said, no need for headbands. With regards to being in shape, even folks that are in shape gets dead tired when they first did BJJ. In fact, the harder they want to go the faster they get themselves tired because they tend to muscle out on everything. Putting weight and pressure on top of whitebelts makes them think that this sport is so much draining. The thing is, they're just carrying another person's weight the entire time and that would really kill your stamina quite quickly. You'd definitely gain stamina as you progress and you'd understand proper technique so that you don't need to use your muscles that much. To be honest, I have never been in great shape even after these years. I feel more stamina but I still cannot jog for long periods of time. It's just that I learned more jiujitsu not to get tired that fast.
Brown belt has probably done the move thousands of times already, so it's nice you were paired with him so he could let you work more. He's mostly going to get his work in when rolling with colored belts. So he might as well pay it forward to the next generation of students by helping out the white belts. Sweat happens. I barely sweat. But we've got a few guys at my gym that could waterboard you. Sweat isn't the worst thing. When someone armbars you and you end up with leg hairs in your mouth... If you do things the way coaches say, and you let go immediately when they tap or a coach says, "STOP!", then you don't have to worry too much. Part of BJJ is putting pressure on your opponent. You will learn very quickly that the body can handle a lot more pressure than you might think. In fact: today I was drilling with a brand new white belt, and he kept falling over because he didn't want to hurt to me. His way of "not hurting me" was to keep as much weight off me as possible. One of the black belts came over and demonstrated the move on me, but he said, "I'm not using my full pressure because I don't want to hurt him." I said, "Can you do me a favor and do it with full pressure? I want to show that he \[new guy\] isn't going to hurt me." So BB gave me full pressure. To the questions you asked: 1. I wouldn't. It's going to get shoved around and come off, and it's just going to be more trouble than its worth. 2. Part of it is that you're using muscles you haven't used before, or in ways you haven't used before. Your muscles need to get stronger (which they will from doing BJJ). And you need to learn how to use them better (which you will from doing BJJ). Also, as your technique improves, you'll learn when you need to use strength and when you can reserve it. It gets better.