A drowning man can't learn to swim. You need to take people out of a situation they are freaking out in let them decompress then teach them some options. And then do it exactly as chewy said. Great video

I'm a new 47 year old white belt (two months in) and I decided to wait to start rolling until I had done enough drills and watched enough videos to have some idea of what I was supposed to be doing. I stay after every class to watch the rolling to see what is expected and types of techniques that I haven't been shown yet. Two weeks ago I started doing some limited rolling just passing guard and resetting and I'm having fun doing so. Even though I still spend most of my time just reacting to what is going on I occasionally have a moment that I know a good escape or an opening to pass. I'm beat up and bruised, but having fun and your videos help answer a lot of questions I have. The most important lesson I've learned about rolling is to tap early and tap often. Don't risk injuries to your body to prevent a bruised ego, you'll just end up with both.

At my gym the coaches will allow day one newbies to roll during beginner class; position only, no subs. They are also paired up with trustworthy partners to work the technique and to roll with; a sort of mentorship, to help them along. If you have a colored belt, you will work with a newbie.

We call this positional sparring at my gym. It has helped alot regarding spazy white belts. It also forces me to train in positions I normally avoid.

My gym is 10 minutes away from a marine base so most people that come in have some basic understanding of grappling. Unfortunately they're only used to it in the context of trying to tear their friend's head off so all the new guys are more spazzy than usual

I think the best thing for beginners as well as anyone are "pass the guard drills".

As a 51 yr old newbie--only about 9-10 classes so far---I'm still stuggling with being tense and learning how to breath and relax a bit.

I had to have four classes before I started to really roll. After that, I had roll with the professor and a couple higher belts a couple times before I was "set loose". That coaching I got in the very basics, rolling with the coaches, was invaluable to me. I don't think I would want to do it any other way. It made me a safer Newbie to roll with and I am having a blast. Also, not having a problem finding people to roll with.

"You're going to get into a fight and you're going to lose." - Tyler Durden

I'd advise brand new folks to focus on defense and [shutting down opponent] rather than getting upperhand

I dont know... I appreciate how thoughtful you all are (teachers, students, most of people here in the comments), but i feel like you all keep beginners like in a bubble.. I guess this the PC of JJ. I am 40 years old , so im not a senior citizen, but im not a youngster either. Im a White belt, 3 stripes. I train AND ROLL (EVER SINCE DAY ONE) with wild white belts, with heavy blue belts, with thin and fast brown belts, i roll with my sensei (if being submitted in 10 secs is considered rolling). Some roll fast, some roll slow, some roll heavy, some roll soft. I have learned a lot thanks to me being able to roll with no fear, with confidence. I dont have that mentality of "oh i will roll once im ready because im old and wanma feel safe". I appreciate the times my 215 pound partners steamroller'd me. Or the times the agile brown belts made me feel like slow poke. And i thank the wild white belts that taught me how a real person with no training actually behaves in a situation like this.

4 months white belt here. I learned one month ago how to chill out during rolling (mostly). The rolling just became way more plesant and technical for me and my trainingpartners 🤙

Chewy is 100% right! my coach didn’t let me roll for 4 months straight until I had some under standing of basics. I am almost a year in and I love it

The reason I was a spaz is because I knew I'd have to go hard as hell in order to make up for the fact that I didn't know what to do. The only thing I knew is that if I did nothing everybody would eventually have their way with me so I tried my best to overwhelm everybody with aggression as if it was a street fight. Pretty stupid looking back, but I just didn't know!

One thing I find helps for relaxing is cardio and some hard drilling before sparring, people aren't as spazzy when their limbs are a bit tired, they naturally get more relaxed. That translates to more experience rolling while relaxed. It helps with guys who are a few weeks in who are starting to get frustrated against better grapplers and spazzing a bit.

My professor only allows certain people to roll with new white belts un(fortunately) I am one of those people. 1.) I always wear a mouth guard with the new guys. 2.) I feel out their energy. If they start panicking after I begin to do something, I immediately lay off on the pressure and walk them through what’s happening. It’s inevitable that you’ll catch elbows or fists, but it’s also good practice for upper belts to learn to handle a spazzy partner. Odds are these are the type of people you will find in the streets anyway. Most recently I had a new guy start clawing the sh!t out of my hands as I started sinking in a RNC. I immediately stopped applying pressure and told him to stop clawing me as it’s not going to stop someone from choking you, then told him how to properly defend a RNC.

Chewie you gave me confidence to finally start bjj! Thank you 🙏

Chewy's suggestion of asking the more experienced person what to do is good. I believe I've done this in more classes than I haven't. I'm always getting into positions that I'm having a hard time getting out of (or failed submissions that I thought I understood) and will ask for assistance from the upper belts.

I’m on my 6th lesson now. My coach and training partners are great, they let me roll but have instructed me to focus on protecting myself. They’ve started teaching me escapes and a few practical techniques. If nothing else it allows me to have focus and a goal. I’m pretty robust and could over power a lot of them but my coach had explained that this isn’t the purpose of rolling before letting me go. There are a couple of gnarlier guys that like to roll hard who have begun to push me harder and allow me to try things out. It’s not what I expected at all but I really appreciate their approach and attitude.

When I first started rolling for the first time and I had no idea what to do I think the coolest feeling was when I literally had no idea what to do, and as the months progressed and I understood it more, I had a deeper appreciation for rolling. Yeah it sucks at first, but it feels good to overcome that.

Plot twist both people are from the same gym.

We have a line training at our class, 6 guys on the floor and people start walking in only in situational positions depending on what we’re working on that day. It really helps understanding what to do in each position and warms you up for the 3 minute rolls and then 5 minute rolls

Thanks for all the vids Chewie, you're a big reason that I've been wanting to try BJJ and just generally getting healthier.

I full rolled with the owner the first day. I had a little high school wrestling experience and got destroyed. It made me want to keep coming back to learn how to do the same.

That was me. Full roll first day. I was wrecked after...but I loved it. I'm starting to learn to relax after about 1 month at 2 x a week. Obviously hardly scratching the surface but getting there.

I just ended my membership with a world renowned instructor. Not sure why this was rocket science for him. Every thing you covered in this video applied to my experience there. I’ll find a new gym and hopefully I can find a coach with your patience and acumen. Love your videos! I feel like I learn more for you than that shitty experience!

I'm about a 9 month white belt, and we don't have the same sort of control over people starting to roll, straight away, our coach will usually just ask some of us who he knows aren't gonna spaz to look after new people for a couple rounds to show them the ropes. Personally i think if i couldn't roll when i started i would have never fallen in love with this sport like i have

I love hard rolls from day one, Hooked up instantly . Lost 40 kg and now been training for nearly years

It’s 100% mentality. If you’re there to learn, not to “win.” You’ll be fine.

Wow, what a great explanation! I was spazy at first and people got mad at me and I felt guilty but I didn't know what to do differently. Wish I saw this back then.

In judo we had to go the way you coach because people were getting hurt situation training in the beging all tbe way i found it builds confidece .good job keeping your students dafe so they can continue to train

one of theee best videos on the subject! thank you!

Some nifty advice in this Chewy. I especially like the concept of a positional where its DEFEND, not escape. The concept and act of tapping still has a negative connotation to many of us, ESPECIALLY down the chain. I think this is a drill/situational that can really help normalize it in to the greater culture. Thanks as always for the excellent content.

I love seeing how different gyms treat beginners. In beginner classes we’ll learn/drill a move then start in that move with 30 second live rounds and each round slowly move further from that position almost deconstructing it. Earned a sub man!

I started one month ago. Two weeks ago I hurt my rib. Now I have to go at %50. That made me relax and rely on leverage over strength.

Both perspectives from the top of the food chain and the bottom, great video!

Coach your good character is amazing 👌

Amazing video, thanks for the enlightenment. First two classes, I wrecked my knees for an entire week. My third BJJ class yesterday, and I broke a rib. When I return, I'm hoping to sit out during the rolling session for a bit and just observe. I'm paranoid now about any injury, but I hopefully as my body gets more resilient I'll be able to feel better after class. I'm very tall and lanky, so that might be part of the problem. Cheers!

Love your outlook chew

Great suggestions! Thanks as a sandbagging white belt.

Disclaimer we from the uk also call that type of whitebelt a spaz... ;)

i love the basketball analogy, spot on.

Seems spot on and part of why a lot of guys stop coming the “white belt” quits…people wanna learn

Perfect response! Situational drills only for 3 months or until the instructor decides for the white belt to do open mat. Also, no two whitebelts against each other.

Love the ideas. Good stuff.

You seem like a great teacher!

I really liked that basketball analogy. Totally gave me a new perspective

as a heavy dude and a whitebelt, it helps when i lightly hum a song while rolling. The moment i tense up i wont be able to hum anymore.

Great advice as always

Full rolling first day is fucking rough. Usually if it is someones first day I'll do a situational round by giving them a basic objective (trap an arm in full guard, push my head off the center line, etc...) Then for the last minute or two I'll show them different ways I can get around that to a top position and restart etc....

Instructors need to explain all this to their students. I'm late 30's and just started this week. First class after a few drills I was thrown into rolling. Instructor briefed me by saying, "No grabbing or bending fingers. No eye gouging. Nothing with groins." That was it, he didn't even say no hitting, lol. I got submitted many times, but towards the end I judo threw a colored belt from standing (and landed on them), and got my first sub on them through a painful wristlock. Only now after watching some youtube do I realize how dangerous the whole situation was. May be a new white belt, but am still 220lb 6ft 2. Instructor was endangering me and everyone else with his 10 second briefing, and with me being absolutely clueless and having to fall back on old stuff from 20yrs ago (TKD).

I’m from Newcastle in the UK and we use Spaz for that use as well, I thought it was a normal thing in martial arts 😂

I bought the diamond concept from Xande Ribiero. Which I think should be taught in day 1. Easily teachable in one hour. Easy to follow. And they can at least do a basic roll afterwards focused on defense. They can just expand from there.

Great advice CHEWY 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻thank you ❤️🤙

I joined my gym for the beginner BJJ sessions but after a week I found the all levels BJJ sessions were much better for my schedule. However the all levels BJJ has a technique at the start and then about 15 minutes of rolling with various people. First lesson I watched, the next I asked to join and haven't looked back since. I last a bit of time against many other white belts and the higher belts let me try some stuff but it's so much fun! My coach has told a few people to go easier on me as they sometimes get carried away but still, really enjoy it

Lol This video makes me feel a lot better about my recent experience. I’m two classes in and have full on rolled after each class. The second time I asked if I could watch because I felt like I was just wasting energy literally not knowing anything but the submission they just taught me. The coach basically made me feel like I was just scared to roll. This is the 3rd video I’ve watched that said white belts shouldn’t roll right away.

Loved that disclaimer on spazz hahaha

Everything that makes a bad striking gym, that should be avoided, seems to make up the average BJJ gym. It's nice to see such a popular channel taking a stand on this issue. The interesting thing is that the changes you've implemented are what we do in the traditional arts (note: I'm not talking about Aikido). We tap one another numerous times per class and there's no ego about it. It's just training.

Great Video!

As a Brit who grew up in the nineties, the word spaz is and always will be hilarious.

In our gym we call it specific training. Go over a technique/s and then we do 3 5 min round from that position. Sweep pass escape or submit you start over from that position. And then after class we roll. Maybe if we have time couple of 5 min rounds from the knees. As a white 3 stripe white belt I love it. I get to work on guards top and bottom that I won’t be able to get into against the colored belts. And now when I roll with newer white belts I can play single leg x or x and have a bit of experience with it. Even if that experience is just getting passed. It goes a long way.

The way i learned to slow down in a roll was by personal observation while my 6'1 300 lbs butt got destroyed by 5'6 150 lbs coach lol. He was calm and collected when we rolled starting in the full guard. I tried using my size to my advantage and i was exerting all my energy to gain position on him and he would just go with the flow calmly and straight faced and it aggrivated me and then i ended up in an arm bar. I caught on to how he maneuvered and would let ME create the opportunity for him to strike. Since then ive been much calmer in my rolls and this lesson has sent me ahead against my fellow white belts and i can now put up a fight against the purple belts in my gym.

I remember getting thrown into the deep end in regards to that and mma.. took me a awhile to realized not everything was thunder dome, especially in sparring. Now fast forward with newbies I try to take the lax approach and remind them to just have fun and that we check the egos at the door.. it works sometimes haha

It's always tricky because I know strong spazzy white belts are dangerous to themselves and other people in the gym. Some of them are also a bit scared so making them roll on the first day might not be great. At the same time, I fell in love with BJJ because on my first day I got destroyed by someone much smaller than me. Over and over and over again. If I hadn't done full contact sparring from the first day I am not sure I would have stuck with it.

Best thing is to put them with really relaxed experienced guys I find I was mirroring my partner and if they were relaxed I would be so much more relaxed.

My current new bjj professor won’t allow me to roll intel I know how keep hands and feet in right place and know get out certain basic locks which I am very glad to know cause when started bjj at other gym I broke my leg and they told me I was fault cause didn’t move my legs even though I did not know how to they just threw me in and I allowed myself to lose so I could learn and ask questions but worst problem is nobody knew how to get out of locks and chokes, so happy found better gym with amazing teacher(who actual black belt)

I'm a spaz and ended up pissing off a fellow female blue belt. She was angry with me after :( I normally roll with dudes and am playing hard defense, so rolling with a girl was a new world for me. I think I was too rough

Good stuff

Good stuff on the idea of normalizing getting submitted

I rolled from day 1 and it was a bit baptism by fire. I've since learned that most guys there are happy to just do positional stuff when asked but it's daunting to get dropped in it. I also took a fist in the jaw (not a punch but an 'Ezekial choke') that I feel was uncalled for after 3 weeks lol. I know there are good coaches and great training partners where I train but I also know what to look out for

New people's first couple weeks of sparring. I'll allows suggest we start in closed gaurd and work on opening an opponents gaurd or maintain closed the gaurd and breaking opponent's posture... well you just mentioned that as I was typing this so...

White belt 2 strips here. But been in and out of bjj (things weren't consistent at our gym before). I'm scared of rolling with the big long legged spazzy people. Knees and elbows all over the place with no self control 😳😳 I just try to tell them...calm down, chill. I'm older so not some much bottled up energy and takes me longer to get over injuries so I try to be careful while still getting rolls in.

We use "spaz" in the same way in the UK

My professor won't put super new white belts with lower ranked/inexperienced guys right off the bat. We always match guys with higher belts or more experienced grapplers from other systems that are white belts in BJJ. He does that so there are no gym wars and we can tire the guys out and control them without tearing them up. Just happened to me the other night with a brand new white belt who is a wrester (He walked in with his singlet and head gear in hand). Even during warmups he was working with competitive fury. No full roll for him yet, but over time with drills and stuff, he'll be alright and calm down. It is a common pattern.

When I ran a gym we'd do something similar. Give them a specific position: escape side control. start from guard. start In guard. Mount escape. Just focus on those positions only for a while until they have some confidence.

When in roll with new people I walk them Through how to get out of mount and side control and how to escape close guard. Eventually they do it without me telling them to. So I think it can be good to jump right in to sparring if your partner is helping you learn.

My first time rolling (I had only had 38 classes prior) the guy I was rolling with stopped and said "Dude. Relax. Just chill." Simple advice, but some of the best I've gotten yet on the mat.

I'm from the UK and we use it in the exact same way lol

I call it the "white belt clench." Even black belts in other arts have it when they start. Had a guy who was a Kempo karate black belt and had trained in that for 30 years and was still one long clench. It's normal in the beginning.

My professor rolls with me every time we train but his main objective is keeping me relaxed, I was one spastic dude when I started a month ago. Now, not so much.

This applies to anything you can learn. Practice should be done with a specific goal. finger techniques on the guitar, tactical motifs on the chess board. A specific grammatical structure in a second language. I don't train jiu jitsu, but I think if I did, I'd rather spend time passing a guard, or nailing a certain choke or something. I wouldn't be comfortable if I had to just roll

My coach didn't let me hit an open mat for the first 3 months. Didn't even see much resistance for the fist week. Could not thank him enough, when I finally rolled I obviously got killed, but I felt like I was able to slow it down

Maybe 6-7 years ago I took a couple free BJJ classes at a local gym. I had never rolled or grappled before then, so it was a new experience for me. After each class we would have an open session for rolling so I went ahead and asked some of the fellow, more experienced students to roll with me. Looking back now, I am pretty sure I was a spaz. I barely knew anything (during class we went over some leg locks) so I just let instinct take over (a lot of sprawling) It wasn’t until much later that I realized that my opponents were trying to match my energy and once they had enough of my spazzing, they had to show who was boss lol. When I didn’t move, they didn’t move. But when I started sprawling and “spazzing” they would claim a dominant position and hold me down. I was mounted and put in a crucifix…but once in those positions they didn’t go for a submission. I think it’s because they were trying to get me to 1. Slow down and think and 2. Get me to calm down before I hurt myself

As a spaz white belt myself, this was helpful. 😂

I'm a large athletic and muscular guy and pretty much every gym I've started with has me live rolling quickly and everyone goes ham when they roll with me even though I'm usually going like 50-75% effort. It gets annoying because I'm just trying to learn and they seem to be wanting to compete. The best progress I made was when I shelled out the cash to do private sessions and pretty much all we did was positional drilling.

My professor will only allow brand new white belts to roll with practitioners with years of experience. His philosophy is: if the white belt gets hurt, it's the higher belt's fault; if the higher belt gets hurt, it's the higher belt's fault. We don't smash them, but we "show them how and why jiu-jitsu works." We also try to incorporate the technique/s taught that day or week into the roll so they start to recognize situations.

OK chewy time for me to speak on one of these. OK so I've been watching your videos for awhile atleast a year maybe two. First I have to say I assumed the calmness and lack of arrogance that you seem yo have was a chewy thing. Now I'm learning it's a bij thing. And I LOVE IT now as for you saying you don't let new guys roll, my coach is doing the exact same thing with me I mean it's week 2 I don't expect to win any rolls. But it makes me feel a little weird because every student who's spends their day just letting me try to fight out of their gaurd or practicing my shrimp escapes I feel like is losing their day of training. Now I'll also say this there's a blue belt coach has working with me quite a bit and the blue belt kept telling me I was doing good. and he expects me to very good says I'm developing much faster than he did. BUT I'm like yeah sure whatever he's just being nice. Now today the coach actually said something about it texts our group chat and tells me I did well in class today. So I'm believing it now right. Anyway my question is IF I am doing well why am I still not being allowed to roll with anyone? Like I'm not upset I'm sure there's a reason BUT I DON'T KNOW IT!

48 year old white belt here. I'm tall-ish and 230lbs, more dad bod at this point than athlete, but I know my inexperience and size can make people nervous, to put people at ease I usually tell them I'm old and have bad knees so I don't jump or do anything fast, that'll usually help break the ice. Part of the problem is some people just aren't mindful enough to think of their training partners, I've got the benefit of having a background in judo, I can recognize when about halfway through a throw or move if my partner in a bad spot so I can bail out so it doesn't hurt them. For some people they're just not aware, and sometimes they're just assholes it's really just up to the coaches to discern and see if its worth the effort or weed them out.

May Allah increase your business brother ❤

Chuck on some autumn leaves that should soothe the roll 😂

I seem to remember when I first started, they put me up against a purple belt first, then a brown belt, I guess I proved myself to not be a spaz, because I was pretty much rolling with all the students after that

I got a good yelling from a blue belt that i accidentally slammed. I was much bigger than him, and he locked me up in a leg choke around my head, and I freaked out when the world started shutting off around me and i tried to pull out of it instead of just tapping, which resulted in me lifting him off the ground, then losing consciousness and dropping him a couple of feet. He wasn't pleased, but after he realized it was an accident he calmed down and told me a little about himself and i told him about me, and we rolled again and everything was fine. I try not to spaz too bad. I think it makes a big difference when the instructor pairs new people with the right people. If you have someone in class who just like to smash and go at it, you don't put a brand new student with them when rolling. My instructors have usually intentionally put me with someone who will teach me something, like if i get submitted, will show me how to stop it next time, or will give me hints while I'm doing stuff, which greatly reduces the anxiety level. Usually the belt advancement hungry blue and purple belts roll together and they put someone brand new with a black or brown belt who is pretty mellow. My very first roll was with a black belt, who basically instantly put me on my back under full mount, and didn't let me move from there. He knew i was brand new, so he didn't even try to submit me. Having no idea what you're doing and having someone attacking you is pretty intimidating. Instead he basically just let me attempt to escape until the buzzer went off.

Good video

I understand this. As I coach all new white belts I advise not to open roll right away bc they may roll wrong hurt themselves or their partner. If their cocky with an ego... Kill em and let them humble up (make sure they paid first). Ego is the biggest thing that kills your jiu jitsu journey.

We let new people choose. If they do decide to roll they are paired up with colored belt guard players. We will play guard, control, and sometimes sweep. Most the time they gas out half way thru the round. We do what we can to control the whole round and we remind them to breathe. It's seems to work for us cause they keep coming back

Takes time

I wish I could train under someone like this guy, at my gym it is just kinda sink or swim.

What was the blue belt doing to be in a position to get kicked? Hopefully not heelhooking the poor lad O_O

We do the same thing with new people at our gym we call it live drilling

Sometimes when someone is in my guard and I'm going for something and they move at the same time they get a little kick in the face from me. I always stop and say sorry and no one has gotten really mad yet