Jiu Jitsu Near Me - Changing Gyms

While some people don't ever have to change Jiu Jitsu gyms, that's not possible for a majority of people, at least based on what I've seen.  This may change depending on your area and how many gyms you have available, but either way, there are many reasons why you may potentially need to change gyms.  As prior military I am no stranger to having to change locations as well as the gym I am training in.  Along the way with having to change locations I've learned a lot about the way to approach changing gyms, and I want to help not only the other military members out there, but also anyone out there that has to change gyms for whatever reason.

Before you jump right into a new gym, check out my other articles on things to look for in a gym, I hope it's helpful to pick and choose the gyms in your new area that might be in alignment with your goals and aspirations.  After you've followed those articles and you've found the gym you really want to sign up at and start to attend then this article will help you understand the do's and do-not's of being at a new gym.

Introduce Yourself as Often as Possible

It's going to take a while for you to become apart of the family, team, inner circle, or whatever you may want to call it.  That's ok! Take your time, but always try to make sure you introduce yourself to everyone in the gym.  You're the new comer, and while some gyms may try to take the time or recommend that students make sure they welcome everyone, not all gyms are like this.  Be proactive and don't let ego or fear keep you from making friends.  Saying hi and making sure everyone knows your name and that you're new to the gym is a fantastic step 1.  You'll be pleasantly surprised how far this goes with people and how quickly you'll get to know people.

Don't Qualify your Skills or Belt to People

This is a huge pet peeve of mine.  People are not going to judge you for how you train when you are new, and if they do they likely don't matter.  I have a lot more respect for someone who just shows up and trains, while getting beat up or not, and who just shakes hands and says "good roll" at the end of the training, than someone who qualifies every thing they do on the mat.  "Oh, I trained a lot more no-gi at my old gym", "I haven't trained in like a month, sorry I'm so gassed", "I just got my purple belt, so I still suck", or anything of the sort.  I've heard it all, and it doesn't matter!

My first day at my last "new" gym that I've attended for the past 8 years, I was a brand new purple belt and I got absolutely smashed by a few killer blue belts.  At the time it was a little demoralizing, but that helped me choose to stay at that gym.  All of these years later nobody remembers my first day other than me, and I have a strong reputation for my knowledge and skill amongst my peers, which leads me to my next topic...

Building Respect Over Time

Jiujitsu and martial arts in general is a very respect based sport/art/environment. A really famous quote that I see quite frequently is "Respect is earned, not given.", and nothing could be more true.  Respect is usually a mutual feeling among people, in that you have to give it to get it, which is what you first want to focus on.  You want to respect your new gyms customs and courtesies, even if they may be different from what you are used to.  Some things you may not even agree with logically, but usually they are small enough that you can get used to them or find the value in them to get over it (cleaning mats, bowing to higher ranks, moving when rolling, etc).  I'm not passing judgement or opinion on these activities, but rather saying that by showing your appreciate the rules of the gym you show you have respect for the gym and the people in it.

Once you've built a base level of respect you will start to build the respect of your peers around your jiujitsu game.  "But I'm not very good!", you say.  That's ok, and can actually be better for you.  While being a world champion will surely earn you respect, being good at jiujitsu isn't the only way to earn it.  Being consistent, training hard, and improving your game over time are also very important to building respect.  One of the greatest compliments in jiujitsu is when you hear a team mate say "He/She is a really tough roll!".  That doesn't even imply that you actually won or beat the person, it just means you worked hard and people are impressed by your work.

So does this still apply to you if you're a purple, brown, or even black belt? Do you still have to build respect at your new gym. Yes, 10,000% you do.  You will have less work to do than a white or blue belt, but you can't assume that you'll be given respect just because you've trained for a long time or even because you can beat everyone in the gym.  You still have to build a rapport with the team, show mutual respect, and consistently participate in training and communication.

Participate in Activities with the Team

Getting to know your team off of the mats is another great way of continuing to build your connection to your new teammates.  As you start to do the things mentioned above you'll start to find yourself getting invitations to more things.  Watching UFC fights, going to grappling events or MMA events for teammates, competing together, or just going to get drinks or dinner every once and a while.  Try to make it to some of these activities to really build a personal relationship with people.  

Conclusion

To be honest, I think these guidelines are helpful for any situation you might be in where you may be the newcomer.   I think that Jiujitsu helped me see a more extreme version of this than I might seen in a work environment.  Martial arts are very personal activities since you are trusting your life and well-being in others hands, so the respect and building that respect is very important.  At work or in other activities it is generally lower stakes and many people don't care about "respect" in those situations since you're just trying to get something done, but the respect of your peers and leaders can go an extremely long way.

I hope this article is helpful in your jiujitsu and life journey.  Please feel free to contact me to let me know if you have more questions or if this was valuable to you.  Thanks for taking the time to give this a read, and see you on the mats!