Ask a Black Belt - Jiu Jitsu Podcast

128. Navigating the Maze of Jiu-Jitsu Class Schedules

June 26, 2023 Thomas Rozdzynski
Ask a Black Belt - Jiu Jitsu Podcast
128. Navigating the Maze of Jiu-Jitsu Class Schedules
Show Notes Transcript

Ever feel overwhelmed when it comes to choosing the right Jiu-Jitsu classes that fit your hectic lifestyle? We've all been there, which is why we're tackling this head-on in our latest podcast episode. Navigating through class schedules, juggling personal commitments, and maintaining an open-minded approach is a skill in itself, and we're here to guide you on that journey. Be it aligning academy schedules with your personal life or understanding the importance of negotiation, we explore the nitty-gritty of class selection, and how our habits influence our decision-making process.

Discover how to maximize your time on the mats and find the best fitting training times. Whether you are a beginner or more advanced, interested in drilling, learning new skills, or open training, we're providing you insights on how to extract the maximum from your training. Remember, it's not about how many times a week you train, but how consistent you are. Tune in to our enlightening conversation as we navigate the world of Jiu-Jitsu class selection. This episode is a goldmine for every Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast looking to make the most out of their training journey.

Ask me questions on IG @rozdzynskibjj, I will personally respond to you and record the episode with an official answer.

Links you need to check out:
www.rolacademy.tv
www.therolradio.com

Speaker 1:

How to pick classes available on the schedule, how to select which days or which sessions you should be attending Probably one of the hardest decisions that you will need to make when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu Academies. One of the biggest conflicts that we see between students and the academy conflict from the perspective of figuring it out. We all are extremely busy. We all want to get our training in, maximize our training, learn the most what we possibly can, but often times we are not the ones who dictate the schedule. It's the academy who posts the schedule. It's the academy or the instructors who make the classes available. So you have to put some intelligence behind these decisions and really maximize your schedule. So, one, it all boils down to the fact selecting a right academy. If the academy is not offering the schedule that fits your schedule, it's not going to work, no matter how much you like it. But two, i think approaching this topic with a very open mind is extremely, extremely important And as humans, we are creatures of habit. We try to have the same schedule, we try to work out at the same times, we try to do things at specific times, specific parts of the day, specific days of the week. At times we need to make these adjustments, especially if schedule changes at the academy or perhaps you changing the academy. First thing I encourage you to do is really think about what is your objective. Are you a beginner or you're a little bit more advanced? Are you interested in drilling or perhaps learning a little bit more new skills, or are you more interested in open training? Are you interested in drilling or you're interested in more of a group-class scenario? Perhaps privates, one-on-one sessions are something that is a desire to you And that will dictate where you're going to be starting to look at. At times, especially at the larger academies, when there is four, five, six, seven classes a day, it's very overwhelming to pick where we want to be simply because we want to do so much. The flip side of this there's many academies that offer one or two classes a week I'm sorry, a day And oftentimes even weekends are not available, so the selection is much, much smaller.

Speaker 1:

We have to look at the big picture. First, we need to figure out what your schedule is and what your desires are. Two, we have to look at the schedule offered by the facility and we have to mix and match them and see who, how, when we can fit this in. There will be scenarios where you won't be able to train. It is what it is, but it's up to you as a student to figure out the best times that fit your schedule and maximize that really, truly, so you can continue benefiting. Not every situation is ideal. This is the point where I often say you need to be able to negotiate, and part of negotiation is giving something up to gain something else. So there might be scenarios, there might be situations, there might be times where you will need to give up your favorite class for the sake of something else, simply because schedule doesn't work.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to training schedules and topics and that conversation in particular, consistency is the key, and I tell this to my students. We talk about this on the podcast quite often on raw radio quite a bit. Consistency is the point of your success. That's the entry point where you maximize your return on the investment that you are making. So it's not how many times a week you train, but how consistent you are. If you are able to make to the academy twice or three times a week, you are winning.

Speaker 1:

Don't overwhelm yourself. Don't aim for six or maybe six days, or maybe every single day or twice a day. If you can, that's great. If you are hobbyist, two or three times a week is plenty. Plenty time will bring you a very, very high success rate. So, with that being mind, out of seven days, out of seven days on the schedule, you need to find two or three. Now I'm confident that if you look at it and be very, very open minded, very objective about this, you can find couple days in a week to engage, to come to train, especially if you're willing to make some sacrifices on your personal front, on your home front.

Speaker 1:

At the same time, if you have hard time, always, always, reach out to your instructors, always reach out to the staff at the academy. Talk to them. Sometimes they have ideas. Sometimes there might be a class going on that is not on a schedule, that you're not even aware of. Or sometimes we create perceptions about class and we are right away of discarding them. I don't like this class. This is not for me. I'm not going to do this, and you just might be surprised how fun and how productive that class could be for you if you just gave it a chance. As we're wrapping this up, schedule is one of the most impactful things. We are creatures of habit, we do run our schedules and we are extremely busy. But if we are not open minded, all we go into in counter is conflicts. So be open minded, find a good schedule, work with the academy, talk to your instructors and I'm confident you can get into the on the mats two, three, if not more times a week and continue, continue growing your Jiu-Jitsu knowledge. Peace.