It can be difficult for a beginner to find the best BJJ academy near them, but there are several red flags that nobody should ignore. Looking past things like this might not be an immediate problem, but they are often warning signs of bigger issues that might manifest later on. Although it’s never too late to find a new gym of course, it’s far better to save yourself that trouble and get it right the first time. Rather than focusing on superficial things like the distance or price of the academy you’re considering, paying them a visit and keeping an eye out for these red flags will be far more beneficial.
10 Red Flags To Watch Out For At A BJJ Academy
5 Red Flags You’ll See Early
Most BJJ academies will offer beginners a free class or even a week of classes in order to give them a taste of what they offer, and there are a number of red flags that can appear immediately. Some of these will come up by the end of the first class and some of them will be obvious within minutes of setting foot in the gym. What they all have in common is that they can save you a lot of time in the long run, by helping you to make the decision before you pay any money or sign a monthly contract.
High-Pressure Sales Tactics
Every BJJ academy wants you to become a member of course, building their student base is the way they increase their revenue and grow as a business. There’s nothing wrong with a coach or receptionist telling you the prices they offer or even asking you to sign up once your free trial is over. This only becomes a problem when they start applying pressure, or offering time-sensitive deals to encourage you to sign up. A good academy should trust in the services they offer and will be happy to let you think it over, a bad one will want to get you to sign a contract before you have time to think about it.
Toilets In Bad Condition
This might sound strange and even unimportant when it comes to a BJJ academy but the state of their toilets is one of the easiest red flags to spot right at the start. Because the toilets are largely seen as unimportant, they’re also one of the first things that get ignored. Unclean toilet facilities are a sign that hygiene isn’t a top priority and them being in a state of disrepair means the gym either doesn’t care or isn’t financially capable of looking after students. Whether you need to or not, you should make use of the facilities they offer during your first trip and make a mental note of what you see.
No Real Effort Made
It can be difficult for a coach to remember a new student’s name, they meet dozens of new people all the time and keeping track of all of them is hard. There’s no need to expect perfection, but you can definitely expect effort. The coach should be asking your name, giving you theirs, and trying to call you by your name at first. They don’t need to give you a free private lesson or spend more time with you than anyone else, that would be unfair. What they should do is at least check in on you after the class is over to ask if you enjoyed it or when they’ll be seeing you again.
No On-Boarding Process
This is sadly one of the most common red flags in BJJ academies around the world and there are some good gyms who will fall foul of this, but it’s still worth paying attention to. As a beginner, the expectation is that you have no idea what to do and the coach should act accordingly. You should be told the basic safety rules of the sport like not twisting fingers or wearing jewellery, along with hygiene rules like not wearing shoes on the mats. A gym that neglects to tell you this is at least letting beginners make these mistakes in their first few class, and at worst allowing all of their students to do them regularly.
Lack Of Female Members
This is something that most women will be on the lookout for immediately, but it’s something that men should pay attention to as well. Obviously this is important for women because it means that they don’t have any ideal training partners, but it can also be a sign of bigger problems. BJJ is a male-dominated sport so every academy will have more male than female students, but no female students at all is a sign that the academy may not be a safe one. Harassment or inappropriate behaviour will chase female students away and they are less likely to put up with dangerous behaviour on the mat too. Neither of those are things you will want to deal with.
5 Red Flags You’ll See Later
Sadly, it’s not always possible to see any red flags in a BJJ academy during your free trial period. Sometimes an academy might seem like a perfectly suitable place at first, before things start to creep up. The problem for many people is that they start to buy into the sunk cost fallacy, and don’t want to leave an academy they’ve already started paying money to. They might have a sense of loyalty to the coach or even friends among their training partners too, but it’s important to be able to recognise these warning signs before they create even bigger problems for you.
Paying For Promotions
This is something that never used to be a part of BJJ in the early days but it has crept in from other traditional martial arts styles, and it’s one of the biggest red flags there is. An academy should hand out a promotion because the student has earned it, not because they have bought it. Making students pay for a promotion is just a way of making more money off them, because the cost of a belt is very minimal. If the academy charges a small fee for the belt itself that seems in line with what it costs, that’s not the end of the world. Realistically though, it should be factored into the cost of membership from the start.
Bans On Cross-Training
Most BJJ academies will have a very open policy when it comes to cross-training and may even host open mats or arrange visits to nearby ones at other gyms. An academy that doesn’t allow cross-training is seriously hampering their students’ development and making them miss out on good opportunities. The only explanations are that they are scared of their students finding out they’re not very good, or losing them to other academies. It doesn’t really matter which one it is, either one is a problem and a ban on cross-training is a sign that there are better options out there.
Coaches Playing On Their Phone
Just like anyone else would in their place of work, a BJJ coach is expected to focus on the task at hand as a priority. A coach is only human though and everyone has a life outside of work, so make sure you take into account the context around this one. It’s understandable that they might have some kind of emergency or urgent matter to attend to once in a while, and that unfortunately might coincide with your first class. If you see a coach frequently on their phone or even scrolling social media during a class, that’s a clear sign that they’re not invested in teaching.
Clear Lack Of Structure Or Planning
A BJJ academy doesn’t necessarily need to have a set curriculum in place, but the coach should definitely have a plan for the future of their classes. If a coach turns up to a class with no idea what they’re going to teach that day, then that’s a huge problem. Even if they do know what they’re going to teach, the class should also have a clear structure to it that makes sense. Showing a series of disconnected techniques is not a good way to learn, and jumping between different situations or positions every class is just as bad. The class should feel coherent and training for a few weeks in a row should allow you to see connections between the the content you’re taught.
Mats Not Being Cleaned
This is truly one of the biggest red flags there is in Jiu-Jitsu, because it can lead to genuine health problems. Not cleaning mats leads to an increased risk of relatively minor infections like Ringworm and more serious ones like Staph. Even a minor infection will force you to take time off training and can be passed on to family members, but Staph can be serious. Everyone is susceptible to skin infections because of the nature of Jiu-Jitsu unfortunately, but cleaning the mats is one of the most basic protocols that help to limit the risk for everyone on them.
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