Intro Lesson

Learning Goal

This lesson plan aims to meet students where they are, introduce them to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and leave them with an interest in continuing to train at Sunnyvale Jiu Jitsu.

We can accomplish this by enabling:

• engagement (they should understand what we're doing, why we're doing it, and feel comfortable and excited to try it)
• a sense of accomplishment (they should learn something and succeed at what we do today)
• curiosity (they should walk away wishing the intro class was longer) and/or satisfaction (they should walk away having enjoyed the intro class)

Engagement

When they walk in

Greet them when they walk in, and run through the following required steps, interspersed with chatting e.g. about their day, the weather, how it's going lately.

• sign the waiver if necessary
• show them the restroom, changing room, water fountain, where they can leave their things
• set them up with a uniform that fits
  • tell them about bare feet on the mats, shoes off the mat

When they first step on the mat with you

If there's a class running / about to start, you could briefly introduce them to some people!

Start with a range of very low-key stretching / moving. Your goal during this time is to learn about:

• why they decided to try this out & what they're looking for
  • e.g. self defense, have done martial arts before, looking for community, watched Royce in the UFC, watched The Simpsons
  • maybe they've seen an RNC in the UFC and they want to learn that
  • once you know what they're looking for, you can describe the objective of jiujitsu in that context. e.g. for self defense, jiujitsu lets you avoid being controlled, cut angles, and escape. for sport, the objective is to control and submit.
• how they move, injuries, flexibility, athleticism, comfort on the mats e.g.
  • stretch / movement : implication on jiujitsu
  • bird dog : ability to move low to the ground for e.g. knee cuts and other passing. Holding KOB.
  • slow air squats / controlled lunges : ability to be in a wrestling stance
  • lying down slow bicycle with maximum ROM : ability to learn supine guard retention
  • We can improve this list over time, but the bottom line is get them moving with normal non-jiujitsu movements and get a general idea of what they might be able to do today
• how they process and respond to coaching
  • if there's any friction at first, these simple and low-stakes movements are a great opportunity for you to adjust your approach
• The movements here depend on the person! Our goal is to teach things that are not far outside the new student's zone of comfort, comprehension, ability. For example, shrimping is a fundamental but weird and difficult movement. If we prioritize this for a total beginner, they will likely learn a shitty shrimp (low sense of accomplishment), not deeply understand why it's useful (low engagement), and feel awkward and uncomfortable the entire time (low engagement). Even if you show a student that shrimping will get them out of side control, they still likely don't have any lived experience / context for wanting to get out of side control!. If the new student is e.g. athletic, has a grappling background, happens to be a natural, you can scale all of this to whatever is not far outside their comfort, comprehension, ability.

Accomplishment

We're ready to teach some jiujitsu!

By now, you have some idea of where this student is at. Some characteristics you might have noticed are:

• how new are they?
• how athletic, how strong?
• gas tank?
• do they have a striking background? wrestling?
• do they ask a lot of questions? or do they seem to just follow directions?

The answers to these questions will inform:

• how much you cover today
• intensity level
• level of contact / potentially awkward positions
• how you explain things / at what level of detail

We want the student to learn something that is slightly outside their current context and inside their ability and comfort. This will allow them to succeed at what we do, allowing them to have the sense of accomplishment we're aiming for.

Example Lesson Plan: wrestling for a complete beginner

Goal:

• control your opponent and put them on the ground in an inferior position

Game 1

Try to take down your opponent

• teacher will go by the student's pace, but shut down their offense. don't actually take them down, but maybe off balance them, cut some angles, grab snatch singles.

Segue

After each game, have a brief conversation about the mistake they made in the previous round that feeds into the goal of the following game. If they didn't make this mistake, you can touch on its importance and then skip the game that focuses on it.

Lecture: lines of defense

1. base
2. head
3. hands
4. hips

Extra context (gary just made this up and isn't 100% sure about this):

There are three main ways to execute a takedown

1. minimal contact offbalance (e.g. foot sweep)
2. upper body clinch & takedown
3. level change and shots for lower body control & takedown

Game 2

Keep a good base & stay square.

• teacher will focus on pushing them around more aggressively.

Game 3

Keep your head at the same level as your opponent's head. No contact.

• teacher will be on offense first, level changing, moving side to side

Game 4

Use your hands to stop your opponent's hands from controlling you.

• teacher will be on offense first, using collar ties, two-on-ones, etc. nothing super dynamic

Game 5

Mutually look for inside position in the hand fight.

Teach a Technique

e.g.

• wrist control arm drag to (RNC or drag down to open guard)
• inside position and snapdown to (guillotine or open guard)
• shoulder post throwby to snatch single - tree top finish to open guard

Example Lesson Plan: guard passing & retention for a complete beginner (abbreviated)

Games

1. Guard player is trying to stay square. No contact.
2. Add contact.
3. Passer has an additional goal of keeping opponent's shoulders on the mat.
4. Guard player is supine and trying to keep the bottoms of their feet facing the passer. ("eyes on your feet")
5. Guard player is trying to keep their knees above their hip line. Stay contracted.

• Add additional phases by increasing intensity and combining constraints for more complex games.
• As needed, show techniques like
  • basic guard recovery from a torreando, shrimping, inversion
  • torreando, throwby, x pass, leg drag, KOB