A different sandpit

At Lockdown, I always recommend that people train at other clubs and get perspectives from other trainers (in addition to Lockdown) as I believe it can only help them improve. If you train only with one coach, you tend to only get one perspective and no matter how good they are, it is still just one point of view. Training with others gives you another set of eyes, often a fresh set of eyes, different perspectives, opinions and approaches. Trainers, like everyone else, have specific biases, different body-types and strategies developed through years of training and in most cases, this is very helpful. Therefore, I recently went to different club for BJJ; it was a one-off and it was just to do some rolling. I thought it would be good to play in someone else’s sandpit, and I was right.

I am also a personal trainer and one of my clients who I get along with really well who also trains in BJJ but at a different club. During our sessions we often talk BJJ and one day he said I should come to his club for a roll. I made the usual bullsh**t excuses. But then thought “come on, let’s do it” – practice what I preach and all that. Since I’ve only recently gotten back into rolling with a gi, I said to give me a couple of weeks and it’s on. I wanted to feel a little bit better about my rolling with a gi after having a few weeks off due to school holiday parental duty. I also had to put some stupid/arrogant thoughts aside; thoughts like they might know me because I am an MMA instructor (I had a disagreement with one of their instructors), more-or-less, my worries were mostly about rumours and reputation. As the date got closer, my approach to it changed to “just go along and let them make their minds up about me”. The agreed day arrived, and we walked to the club. We turned up and in the changing room a couple of people were in there with the ‘new guy’ look, I then put my belt around my waist and more assumptions were made. The guy I went with introduced me to the instructor, we both knew each other by name but was good to have a face to face meeting. He was very welcoming and pleasant, he asked some questions just to get a feel, like anyone does with someone new. He got the class going and let me know that we would be rolling together first. I began thinking “oh great, is this going to be a point-proving roll?” I was not sure how hard to go, intensity wise, as you don’t want to make a bad impression. We started rolling and it definitely picked up as the roll went on, but nothing crazy, just a good roll. The instructor was a skilled black belt, so I had my hands full to say the least, but it was fun. There was no point-proving of any kind, just a good roll. I then rolled with the fellow who invited me to the club, another black belt, a brown belt, a blue belt and finally a purple belt. They were all good rolls, some more skilled than others but the attitudes were all very good and no one did anything dumb or dangerous (including myself) – just like a normal BJJ club, go figure. At the end of the session I went and thanked the instructor who welcomed me back. Everyone I rolled with had a little chat which all made me feel welcome. I plan on going back for another roll just to keep things fresh.

What did I get out of it? The club I usually go to has some very good guys who tie me up in knots. However, as good as they are, it is the same people week after week and the club has an overall feel/style (just like any other club). Therefore, it was great for me to roll with some different people in a different environment who presented different challenges. The feel of the rolling was different, not better, not worse, just different. They had other escapes to one of my favourite positions which added a new challenge, they favoured other submissions and most importantly, the experience was filled with varying styles and approaches; something that I was hoping to encounter there.

Putting aside my silly concerns, I found it was great rolling at another club. You always have doubts if your belt will hold up against other clubs, especially if you have had a big break from gi rolling. But at the end of the day who cares? Everyone has two arms and two legs; some will be better, and some will be worse so make the most of these opportunities to train with different people as it works out for the best (most of the time).

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor