Day 2: The ideal first week for a jiujitsu student

There; you have won your first victory in jiujitsu: you have beaten yourself and visited a gym. If you were really brave, you even picked up a gi from the front office and started training. Congratulations, newbie!

What should you try to learn now? Whatever school you choose and whatever technique is taught, you need to keep some primary concepts in mind.

As Rickson Gracie often suggests, now is the time for you not to make the first and most common mistake in the life of a jiujitsu practitioner:

"The practitioner's first mistake is to go to the gym thinking that he or she is going there to fight. To beat someone. That jiujitsu is about proving your worth to the teacher or to your peers."

There; if you have grasped this wisdom, you have learned that you must step on your vanity daily. You are not there to suffer for a defeat, or to face your training partners. In Rickson's words: "If you are a physically strong person, be relaxed in class. If you think you are weak, be sensitive and notice every detail. Just concentrate on the movements, forget about victory or defeat, and pay attention to the positions of your arms, legs, hips."

The jiujitsu school, from now on, will not be a place for you to dominate anyone, or to feel defeated. It is simply the space for you to enjoy your new learning, to refine your technique daily, to feel the body movement of your training partners, to understand the concepts of attacks and defenses, and to create new tactics. And that is when you will realize that jiujitsu is not much more than an infinite box of simple movements that anyone, even you, can masterfully perform.

Little by little, therefore, you will become a white-belt capable of performing these beautiful and almost artistic jiujitsu moves with wisdom and awareness. Have a good journey!

Enjoy the excitement of your first big win and check out a small sample of jiujitsu moves that anyone can learn—and feel safe, as Rickson Gracie teaches his wife, Cassia.