BJJ Training

BJJ Gyms - How to Know Which Gym is Right for You?

December 29, 2024 3 min read

Beginning a jiu-jitsu journey can be overwhelming, especially when faced with the abundance of BJJ gyms available. Our team at Porrada has been through the same issues. Trying to find the balance between a convenient location and also a culture that promotes intense training.

When picking a place to train at, it’s important to consider the following:

Credentials
Convenience
Training environment

These considerations will help you identify gyms that best align with your beliefs, goals, and values.

Let’s examine one of the first things to look for in a BJJ gym.

Credentials of the BJJ gym

The first consideration is credentials. What credentials does the gym have?

If you intend on competing in BJJ tournaments, looking for a gym that has a track record of consistently winning medals in competitions can give you insight on how they can advance your competitive journey.

If you just want to learn the basics of BJJ but don’t plan on going to competitions, you don’t have to look for a gym with tons of medals. Gyms with qualified instructors (i.e. experienced grapplers, blackbelts, licensed trainers) can help you hone your skills and learn new techniques.

Convenience of the bjj gym

Once you've identified gyms with solid credentials, the next step is evaluating their practicality.

Here’s an example for perspective:  

Gym A has great instructors, a consistent schedule, a great training environment, and costs $90 a month. They do not have many members and aren’t as focused on competition but it’s only a 5-minute drive from home.  

Gym B has great instructors, several gold medals from tournaments, has received praise from highly-respected members of the BJJ community, and is $70 a month. Gym B is a half hour to an hour away, depending on traffic.  Based on this information, which gym would you rather go to?  

Even though Gym B looks more promising, it may be better to go with Gym A as its distance will make it easier for you to consistently train BJJ.

Additionally, if you feel the need for a change of environment every once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to visit the other gym a couple of times a month to get experience from different grapplers.

When you start off your jiu-jitsu journey, consistency is a must, so finding the gym that is the most convenient is crucial for long-term success.

Training Environment

Lastly, it’s important to see what the training environment is like in the BJJ gym.   

There’s an old saying that goes, "You are the company you keep."

This is especially true when you’re first starting out. You want to make sure you’re around the right people to develop good fundamentals and so forth.

You may not yet know what a good training environment looks like, and that’s okay! As you train more consistently and explore different gyms—whether by visiting them in person or researching them online—you will begin to develop a clearer understanding of what makes a great training environment.  

However, there are a few key questions that you should ask yourself in the beginning when looking for a good training environment.

What is the gym's training philosophy?
How do grapplers treat each other?
How do the instructors treat grapplers?

Training philosophy of the BJJ gym:

Training philosophy is about what kind of training the gym engages in, and what their beliefs are about it.   

A gym with good training philosophy reinforces BJJ fundamentals, gives a profound breakdown of each move being taught, and emphasizes the importance of athleticism for peak performance.  

How grapplers treat each other:

The way grapplers treat each other is also important. You want to be in a place with a supportive community that motivates you to go beyond your limits.  

Relationship between instructors and grapplers:

Instructors are the number one people you look up to in a gym, as they have immense BJJ knowledge and years of experience.  

A good instructor is patient, understanding, and may be open to new ideas (like moves, mindset, etc.) from students or other instructors from outside. The best instructors are the ones who are still hungry for growth.

These are the questions you can ask yourself to determine which training environment best suits your needs.  

Conclusion

Finding the right gym may be challenging at first, but understanding these concepts will help you determine which ones will elevate you to your highest potential as a grappler. Remember to try several gyms before deciding on your new “home” gym. Be open to new things and be humble and respectful when visiting gyms. See you on the mats!

FAQ

Porrada is a Portuguese term commonly used in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Brazilian culture to describe a tough, intense, and gritty style of training or fighting. The direct translation of porrada from Portuguese to English is "beating" or "brawl." It embodies the spirit of going all out, giving your maximum effort, and pushing through challenges. In BJJ, practicing porrada means training with high intensity and determination.

This website is a collection of resources curated by grapplers, for grapplers. Our goal is to provide you with all the information you need to succeed. Whether you want to learn about nutrition, training on the mats, lifting, or anything in between, we are here for you. We want to see you on the podium most of all, and we hope to help you do exactly that. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot us an email or DM us on any of our social profiles!

There are two main ways you can get started with training: 1) You can find a BJJ gym near you and do a trial day, or 2) you can create your own mini home gym and start training with friends. Option #2 is how our team at Porrada got started! We ordered 1-inch thick puzzle mats in a 10’x10’ square and began training using online resources. If you do start with the second option, we recommend eventually finding a gym down the road in your career. It will help you by allowing you to roll with more people and receive high-level instruction.

BJJ is quite similar to wrestling. Both start standing and use takedowns as a method to score points. Both use very similar mechanics overall. The main differences are that there are no pins (you can be on your back in Jiu-Jitsu), BJJ involves submissions, and the points system for each is very different. BJJ grants points for takedowns/sweeps, back control, mount, guard passes, and knee on belly. Wrestling grants points for takedowns, escapes, and back points (back exposure for freestyle).

BJJ is a very unique sport in many ways. There are so many incredible benefits to training Jiu-Jitsu. The biggest reasons we advocate for it are the mindset training and the added ability to defend yourself. In BJJ, you are forced to humble yourself over and over again, every single day. This sport is a great way to mature rapidly and generally become a better person (in our opinion). You will also have a better ability to defend yourself than 99% of the population—a pretty big bonus.

You’re never too old to start training! We see people on the mats of all ages and sizes. Large and small, old and young can, and should, train BJJ. If you are on the older side, it is perfectly acceptable to take it slow and learn at your own pace. You don’t always have to go full speed—don’t worry. There are typically also classes that separate people by goals. Certain classes are for those who want to compete, some are for general instruction, and some are specifically for self-defense teachings. There is a place for everyone on the mats.