Safety Tips for Your Jiu Jitsu Training
At Oregon Grappling Arts, one of our highest priorities is to create a safe training environment for all of our students. We encourage our students to implement the following safety tips in their Brazilian jiu jitsu training.
Control your physical output. If you watch many of the best BJJ practitioners in the world, you’ll notice that they grapple fluidly and efficiently and have a smoothness to their movements. It takes time to cultivate efficiency in your jiu jitsu, especially for brand new students. However, if you’re gasping for breath or shaking when you roll, if you’re accidentally hitting your training partners, or if you’re unable to roll more than a round or two at a time, you likely need to lower the intensity of your training and focus more on technique and pacing.
Tap early to submissions and apply submissions with control. One of the easiest (and entirely avoidable) ways to get hurt or hurt someone in jiu jitsu is to stubbornly resist a submission or apply a submission too quickly. In general, you should tap no later than the moment the submission becomes fully locked on. If you’ve got injuries or concerns about getting hurt, tap even earlier. Similarly, if you’re applying a submission, it’s your responsibility to give your training partner enough time to tap. You’ll likely develop jiu jitsu relationships with some of your training partners in which you feel safe implementing later-stage submission defense. In general, though, err on the side of caution and tap early.
Don’t apply higher-risk moves in the training room. Some BJJ techniques, such as kani basami or jumping closed guard, tend to be more likely to result in injury and shouldn’t be applied during practice. Many jiu jitsu gyms, including OGA, have disallowed moves as well as moves and submissions that are permitted only at certain belt levels. Talk to your coaches if you’re ever unsure whether a move is safe or allowed in the training room.
Be selective with your training partners if necessary. No student is ever required to roll with any other student. We do our best to ensure that all students are rolling safely at our gym, but if you ever feel unsafe rolling with a particular person, it’s perfectly fine to decline to roll with them. Relatedly, if you’re a smaller student and prefer rolling only with students close to your size, or if you’re an older student and prefer rolling with more mellow students, you are entitled to make those decisions about your jiu jitsu training.
Wear a mouthguard. We strongly encourage all students to wear a sports mouthguard while practicing BJJ. While serious injuries are rare, accidental bumps can happen.
-OGA Staff
At OGA, we offer gi and nogi jiu jitsu classes in Northeast Portland six days per week. You can find our schedule here. Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of your coaches at OGA if you have any questions about training outside of regularly scheduled practices.
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