JiuJitsu 365: I know some of the guys and gals who read this blog have been wondering what’s up this month. I usually post with more regularity. Well the ’skinny’ is that I have been spending the last few weeks trying to find the right home to move into in Jacksonville and have been busy wrapping things up at the college where I work.
For instance, this is my last day teaching here (I was singing, dancing and rapping in my car coming to work). I even noticed pretty flowers (or weeds) on the highway… Now I just have to wrap up about a week and a half of administrative work before I will be through here.
When we move I have identified two likely places that I will train. The first place, Smiley’s Combat Athletix, is about 12 minutes away from the neighborhood where we will be moving to and they offer gi and no-gi BJJ and a host of other disciplines. They offer BJJ five days a week.
The other, Jax BJJ (An official Gracie Barra academy), is located about 7 minutes from the college where I will be working and get this, they have morning Jiu-jitsu (open mat) five days a week from 10:30 AM to 12 PM. As a professor, I at least have two or three mornings where I could comfortably work that into my schedule so I am stoked. I wouldn’t mind getting my BJJ fix early in the morning and spending time with the wife in the afternoons. (Oh yeah, Smiley’s has three morning BJJ classes too at 11AM).
I love no-gi so I will definitely train at Combat Athletix, but I also desperately want to train with the gi (at Jax BJJ ) not only for growth in the art but also to see where I line up in the spectrum of BJJ. Sometimes I think I am pretty good and other times, not so much…
Anyway, that’s what’s going on and I’ll keep you posted…
Filed under: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Grappling, Jiu-Jitsu
Speaking of searching around for a school, I’m getting closer too. I’m going to have probably too many good options to choose from…
In a related area, is 2x/week enough frequency for a rank beginner to progress well in BJJ? If not, what is enough? 3x/wk? More?
I’ve heard in a few places that 2x/week is still good, especially for a rank bjj beginner like me. That would also keep my cost down and not cut in to my paid job, phd work, etc.
Good luck in your house hunting expedition - once you are settled in it will help you to focus on the right school to choose.
FuzzyDunlop,
It’s good that you are getting ready to take the plunge.
Although it would be preferable to train more than twice a week, people can still make improvements. When I first began, I went three times a week for seven months straight without a break and I progressed pretty rapidly.
Where I currently train, two times a week still helps me to stay involved in BJJ and I have learned a lot. However, I knew that I would eventually migrate to a place where I could train three to five times a week.
Other factors to consider is that if you miss a day because of travel, work, etc., there will be a total of seven days between classes. Further, it depends on how good you are trying to get. Twice a week can help a person become competent but they will most likely never be able to blaze through opponents in a competition.
Age and recovery time is also an issue. Twice a week is probably all some people want to deal with. Even though I want to train five times a week, I suspect that I will not be upset with myself if I train four times a week…
Thanks Kath,
I believe you are right. Once we are settled in the right choice will become obvious. But I do like the fact that I have so many options
That’s good info. I had actually planned on aiming for 3x/week, so knowing how that compares with 2x is really helpful. One of the places that seems in striking distance as a lot of classes, so I may be able to do even more, depending on other committments.
Thanks again!