# My first Jujitsu class!



## MattofSilat (Jun 22, 2014)

Hey there everyone! At 11:00 this morning, I went to my first Jujitsu class. I guess I'll describe the whole thing, because this forum hasn't been posted on for a few days so hell, some of you may find it interesting to see the mindset and experience of a martial arts noob. I'll do a summary afterwards. Well, actually, it was my first martial arts class, full stop. I have been very interested for the last two months, but haven't done anything about it, so I was ripe with anticipation. 

*Whole story:*

I arrive 10 minutes before it starts. Joggers and T-Shirt as opposed to Gi and Belt. Like a boss, a very embarrassed boss, yet a boss all the same. I make the walk of shame into the hell and stand against the wall with everyone else. Quite a few green belts, a blue belt and two brown belts. The brown belts happened to be about a foot taller than me, and it just so happened the only space to lean on was next to them. The minis clear off, and do a bow as they walk off the mats. I am about to walk on, then everyone around me bows! Quickly, copy them! After doing so, I line up, in the wrong line. Great. So then I line up again, alongside the Green belts as opposed to the brown ones this time.

I don't really know what it was, but the main instructor kept saying things in Japanese and, as a result, everyone followed (With me closely on their tail). It basically went: One Knee down, Other knee down to kneel with crossed feet, bow while still kneeling, get up, etc. It seemed quite traditional, maybe you guys know what it is. Then the brown belts basically told us to do various stretches (Including 30 press-ups, pretty sure I was the first to do it in my line. Well proud.) Everyone else lines up, while I get pulled aside by the other instructor to learn how to breakfall. It was a bit of a failure at first, but I soon got the hang of it. I like the front breakfall, nice and simple. The side ones are the most difficult, with the back one sitting in the middle. The instructors were really nice, they told us practical self defense techniques with variations, they had a good sense of humor, could be seemingly brutal at times (Demonstrated a technique on my blue belt partner for me, basically swept the floor with him instantly). They just seemed like really good instructors in general, and were also constantly coming around to help us. We are doing kick defenses. I can't really remember the techniques very well, but they all started with parrying the opponents leg as they kicked, then stepped to the outside. Here's the ones I remember:

1) They kicked, we elbowed to the solar plexus (after the aforementioned step). We then bent one leg so I was closer to the legs, but not in range on knees or kicks (Atleast, they wouldn't have any power if they somehow managed to kick/knee from that position) We then put the arm around their leg, armpit around the front, to sort of trap their leg to my body. I then put my weight on to put pressure on the knee, so they fall backwards or break their knee.

2) They kicked, I pushed their leg inwards to turn them towards me as I step outside, a punch in the back followed by an arm around the kneck to drag them back into the knees. This is where it got pretty cool. Our instructor taught us several moves to follow up. He taught me how to Strangle and how to choke, advantages and disadvantages, etc. He also taught to twist and drag their hands back, stand on them, then break the nose. The cool bit is, he told us that you use the choke when it's 1v1, or the strike when the opponent has 'his mates' around. I found it really cool how they adjusted the techniques for self defense purposes, I didn't think they would do that.

3) The other two were quite similar. The first was catching the ankle, pulling it forward to stretch, then sweeping the same leg with a shin kick to bring them to the floor. I can't really remember the other one very well, but it was a shin kick sweep to take them down.

Due to being the same height, my partner was the blue belt. He looked about equal to me in the practice (Is there a name for that 'practice'?), then the instructor told him to do a demonstration, and he basically did it perfectly, fluently and instantly. That was a bit of a wake-up call. After all this, the intructor told us to do two hip throws on eachother, then call it a day. Awesome, the basic move, easy, right? Well, my blue belt friend nailed it. I, did not. I was told how to do it. One hand on the sleeve, around the waist, step infront, hips out, roll him on the back, push off knees to throw. Sweet! Sadly, I could not get him on my back. Needless to less, it kind of ended up as me 'tripping' him by pulling his arm and therefore his torso into my *** so he fell over. I need to work on that. Then we did the sequence of kneels, bows, and stuff again, before waving goodbye. Only three more weeks, then there's a month off. I'm happy it's only a month off, I really need to improve, and I want to. The instructor said that we can go to Adult classes as well if we wish, on Mondays and Thursdays. I'd love to go, going 3 times a week will surely improve me massively, but I am definitely struggling enough with my own weight/height/skill/age, so going to Adults aswell may not be the best choice at the moment.

*SUMMARY:* Instructors are awesome. Traditional knee, kneel, bow, thing. Stretches. I learnt to breakfall. We learnt kick defenses. I wasn't that bad, they seemed pretty simple yet effective. They contained parrying the leg, following up with a strike of some sort (I was happy to see we were using Knees and Elbows to strike, that was one of my main concerns), then did a takedown, sometimes followed up by finishing techniques/strikes. Tried to do a hip throw. Did **** at that. Said goodbye.

One more funny thing. First practice, first techiqnue, first partner. Thrown with a hip throw. BREAKFALL! Breakfell on the wrong arm, fell head first. Hurt a lot. Recovered. 


Now some *questions:*

1) Breakfalls. Can I just practice them out in the Garden? We only actually practiced a total of four (Front, back, each side) for a total of five minutes, so let me confirm. On the back, you slam both hands down on either side. On side, slam appropriate arm down, angle it up towards the head to it happens before you hit your head. For front, just land on forearms. Is that correct?

2) Hip Throws. 1. How can I practice them at home? I know they're basic, and I know it's my first two hip throws ever, but I was unbelieveably bad. 2. It MAY have been a strength issue. I go to the Gym 3 times a week, but never work on lower back or glutes because I've never really used them in a fashion where they have to be strong. Should I start working them, if not, what muscles are the most important for Hip throws and the variations of them. Would it be best to do a whole body (Like, not arms, shoulders, upper body, quads, Hamstring, ENTIRE body, including Lower back and glutes) for Jujitsu, as it appears that it uses a very large variety of techniques which use all different parts of the body. 

3) Anything else you would reccomend I practice at home? I do skipping quite a bit because my hand eye coordination kind of sucks, is there anything more I can practice then breakfalls?

Thank you for reading. Tell me about your first experiences with Jujitsu, or, in my case, marital arts in general!


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## hoshin1600 (Jun 22, 2014)

hey matt, congrats on surviving your first class and thanks for sharing.  my first class was back in 1978 or something like that.  it was a private lesson the teacher had me punching at sand bags hanging on the wall. i remember all these wierd weapons hanging on the wall.  he showed me a defense for a shoulder grab from behind.  the instuctor stressed that martial arts was for real self defense where your life may depend on it and that i should never tell anyone that i do martial arts or brag about it because people will always be looking to test you out.  it was a different time and way of looking at things. 
to answer the question about hip throws, i dont think you really want to muscle your way through the technique.  if it only works for you using all your strength then you probably need to work on the details of the throw.  i really dont know exactly what your trianing in jiu-jitsu is a very broad brush term so i really cant give you any adivse on what to work on at home. i do think that metal practice is good. maybe boring to you but it is good to visualize yourself doing the techniques if no one is around.


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## ST1Doppelganger (Jun 22, 2014)

For practicing hip throws solo id break it down to first getting comfortable with the foot work next start doing the footwork with the squat and stick the hip out then finally after you get comfortable with that go from footwork to squat with hip popped out to pulling over with your hands and popping up. You can practice the segments individually but remember it should develop in to one fluid step in with the footwork as your squatting & sticking the hip out  and then pull over with arms as you kind of pop up in your stance. It will help you learn but you still need a partner to get the off balancing and real feel out of it. 

As break falls go just start from a low squared stance and get comfortable with them then slowly start doing them from a higher stance till your standing and doing them. Key thing is to remember to never post with an arm and always slap the mat. Id personally would do this inside on carpet but if you want to get dirty the garden will work. 

Congrats on the first lesson and remember YouTube has videos on hip throw foot work and break falls that might help you in between lessons


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## elder999 (Jun 22, 2014)

MattofSilat said:


> 2) Hip Throws. 1. How can I practice them at home? I know they're basic, and I know it's my first two hip throws ever, but I was unbelieveably bad. 2. It MAY have been a strength issue. I go to the Gym 3 times a week, but never work on lower back or glutes because I've never really used them in a fashion where they have to be strong. Should I start working them, if not, what muscles are the most important for Hip throws and the variations of them. Would it be best to do a whole body (Like, not arms, shoulders, upper body, quads, Hamstring, ENTIRE body, including Lower back and glutes) for Jujitsu, as it appears that it uses a very large variety of techniques which use all different parts of the body



Been doing judo since I was 11 or 12, and jujutsu a little less time: my first experience? Dad said, _C'mere, son. Let me show you something._ :lfao:

Tie two belts around a tree that's about as thick as a man: one at your waist level, and one at shoulder level-the one at shoulder level should have about an arm's length hanging from it, and the one at waist level should be tied like.....well, a belt!

Try to throw the tree:you can practice the entry and loading for _ogoshi, ippon-seonage, koshi-garuma,etc._ any hip throw, and really just about any throw if you put your mind to it: _osoto gari_ for instance, and I never would have ever even gotten the pitiful _morote seonage_ and _sode tsurikomi goshi_ I have today if it weren't for that tree in my backyard.

Been doing this weekly for 43 years, now......never did throw one of those trees, but after practicing with them, men got to be kinda easy......:lol:

EDIT: Naturally, I got this from my teachers, so I'm not the only one who has done it:


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## donald1 (Jun 22, 2014)

It's important to practice your martial arts it will help you remember what you have learned,  the more practice the better your techniques will be and you will not get tired as easily. 

It sounds like you found a good traditional class and the brown belts sound like good leadership,  perhaps if you stay with it you will eventually achieve success and be good as well 
Best of luck


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## tshadowchaser (Jun 22, 2014)

Congratulations on your first class.  My i ask which system of jujutsu you are studying


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## jks9199 (Jun 22, 2014)

MattofSilat said:


> Now some *questions:*
> 
> 1) Breakfalls. Can I just practice them out in the Garden? We only actually practiced a total of four (Front, back, each side) for a total of five minutes, so let me confirm. On the back, you slam both hands down on either side. On side, slam appropriate arm down, angle it up towards the head to it happens before you hit your head. For front, just land on forearms. Is that correct?
> 
> ...



1. Your description is one of the basic ways to do breakfalls.  The idea is to use the force of your slap to neutralize the force of the fall...

2. One way I've heard of to practice hip throws without a partner involves using one of those elastic training bands and "throwing" it.

3.  Seek your instructor's guidance.  Do practice the breakfalls.


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## MattofSilat (Jun 24, 2014)

tshadowchaser said:


> Congratulations on your first class. My i ask which system of jujutsu you are studying



To be fair, I'm not really sure.

But here's a link to their FB page, maybe you'll figure it out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jiu-Jitsu-Guernsey/1420935341469088?sk=info


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## Chris Parker (Jun 24, 2014)

MattofSilat said:


> To be fair, I'm not really sure.
> 
> But here's a link to their FB page, maybe you'll figure it out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jiu-Jitsu-Guernsey/1420935341469088?sk=info



Hmm, yeah, I'm not surprised you can't say what the system is&#8230; in a real way, it isn't one. At least, not in the way an actual Japanese Jujutsu system would be known. What it appears to be (especially from the connection to Robert Clark's WJJF&#8230 is a Gendai (modern) Western system, taking influence and inspiration from a range of fairly disparate and unconnected methods. That's not saying it's bad, good, or anything else, but it's not what would be actually considered Japanese Jujutsu. I'd also caution against following what's written in the description on that Facebook page, for the record&#8230; there is quite a lot that's simply wrong there, incorrect application of terms, incorrect history, bad descriptions, and more. 

Now, to be absolutely clear here, there's no problem at all in a modern, eclectic system (which is what you're doing), even one highly focused on giving a "traditional" approach (without the requisite traditions), provided it's not claiming to be an old traditional system. I don't see anything indicating that (it could easily be read into the page there, but it's not quite saying that that's what it is&#8230, so all good. The main thing is that you enjoy it and get value out of the classes, which it sounds like you did.


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## wingchun100 (Jun 24, 2014)

Congrats on having a fun first class. I am limited in my knowledge of throws and so on, but I DO remember from judo days that you should not be muscling through at all. Having said that, don't give up on exercise. It's always better to be in better health than the average opponent.


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