Buck Compton said:
We warmed up, worked with a partner practicing some specific techniques over and over, then it was open sparring. They had a brown belt go really easy on me to kind of show me some basics in sparring. That was nice of them. But honestly I was so lost I couldn't really even understand what he was trying to teach me besides the submissions. I had asked him if he could do several different types of submissions to me so I could understand what they felt like.
I guess that's what I'm saying why it was 'meh', I obviously don't know what I don't know. Everything I knew was from watching UFC or BJJ videos. I knew that going in, but I feel like I don't even know where to start in establishing the "basics". Don't worry, I'm not quitting or anything.
There is a fundamentals class at this gym, so I'm going to go to that when my schedule allows. They had one this weekend but I couldn't make that time work on short notice. During the week I travel for work so often that it's difficult to find a consistent time, but going to just go to that class first for now where its just a focus on a foundation and hopefully that helps.
That's an insane way to dip your toe in the water, with an actual Gracie, that's really cool.
What you're describing makes total sense when it comes to your first experience. You're so inexperienced you don't even know what questions to ask. It took me 6 months before I felt like I understood even a small piece of what is being taught, the learning curve is very difficult, it takes a long time to pick up anything in my experience but I started very late in life. Videos can't really do justice to how in over your head you are feeling, experienced guys make it look effortless. I don't have a point of reference from previous sports I played as a kid to compare to, hitting a baseball, bouncing a basketball, kicking a soccer ball are all so different from BJJ. I never wrestled or had any prior experience in any martial arts, those guys can probably pick up things faster due to their experience.
If you do have access to a fundamentals class I would highly recommend it as there will be other students without a ton of experience. I go to a fundamentals class twice a week and Saturdays to an all levels class. When I've rolled with blue belts and higher I still feel like their skill set is so much more than mine that I don't have the ability to even learn from them to be honest, they're just playing with me, there's nothing I can do to them that they don't see coming from a mile away. At least I have a chance with the experienced white belts. Even with as frustrated as I get I just keep going because it's hard, and when you do have a good day you feel great, even if those moments are fleeting and few.
In other news there's a guy from my gym that's moving to Austin this week to start attending classes with The B Team. I've never rolled with him because he's strictly a no-gi competitor. Between them and Roka I know Austin is one of the biggest BJJ centers in the world now, it just seems a bit crazy to me to uproot your life for a gym but maybe he's extremely talented, I have no idea.
