Okay, tomorrow night I teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to beginners at some posh health club. There will only be 8 people attending, two of which are the owner and his teenage son. Keep in mind that it is our first lesson and that I am only a blue belt. Since I am also a physical education teacher, I kind of devised my BJJ lesson plan similar to any other lesson I would teach. My main concern is that I may not have managed time effectively and my instruction content may not be appropriate (is it too much? too little?). Anyway, I would appreciate your comments, suggestions, etc. Here it is:
5-min. Introduction (getting to know students, BJJ history, etc.)
2-min. Rules and Procedures
"check your ego at the door"
no disrespectfulness toward each other
cleanliness (after all, women work out at the gym also)
"tapping out" (no cranking, ignoring someone's tap-out, etc.)
FIT (be focused, intense, and tough)
8-min. Warm-up
jogging in small circle (2 min.)
crunches (1 min.)
rest (30 sec.)
1 burpee set (1 min.)
rest (1 min.)
1 "leg switch" set (1 min.)
rest (30 sec.)
1 Turkish get-ups set (1 min.)
rest (1 min.)
35-40-min. Instruction/Demonstration
POSITIONING*
side-across
mount
guard/half-guard
back control
north-south
*Emphasis on the importance of positioning; gaining guard when defending and passing guard when attacking.
TARGET TECHNIQUES
Americana/Key-Lock
Kimura (top, bottom, and standing)
25-35-min. Sparring Session/Technique Application
Example Feedback:
"Try to incorporate the techniques and concepts you learned today into your sparring session."
"Why did you get swept from that position? How should you have had your hands/feet?"
"What did you learn from your session? Is conditioning an important component of your game?"
Ya think, DW? I was kind of afraid of that. But the thing is, the owner used to be a collegiate wrestler and mentioned that 1 or 2 of them have a wrestling background. I don't want to lose these guys' interest either if what I am showing is TOO basic. Know what I mean?
So should I stick to the Americana/Key-Lock (from side-across) and then maybe guillotine from guard? That was my original idea but I was worried it'd be boring.
I thought of that, but again, I was worried that it wouldn't be "dynamic" enough. I figured that I'd introduce the shrimping, break-falls/rolls, etc. in the upcoming classes. I want the students to feel like they're getting a good tough workout. What do you think?
I will def. be teaching escapes, Steve. That's part of the "positioning" portion of the lesson. Just real basic escapes from every position. I realize that they're not going to remember everything but my intention is for them to experience them so that they better understand them when it is re-introduced in the future.
Way too much, IMO. Foremost, if you are only demonstrating positions and explaining them, that's fine, but there's no way you could explain and have them practice all those positions in that amount of time. Also, a full minute of burpees is too much for beginners. A few things:
1) F.I.T.-how are you presenting this concept, and who are you catering to? You mention a 'posh' health club. Is this appropriate for your clientele? Not being critical, I'm thinking of it in terms of the fact that you are most likely going to have a mix in terms of age and gender. You don't want to give a green light to a musclehead who may be in there to prove himself, or scare off someone who genuinely needs to work into it at a slow pace. Not saying to take it out, just be careful how you word it.
2) I agree with JJJ, I would practice shrimping as a basic supplement to the warmup. Burpees and Turkish get-ups are a lot for beginners. Keep it simple at first. I would also include some good stretching because you don't want injuries the first night.
3) As far as technical instruction, I'd do one position, and talk about basic posture and techniques from top and bottom of that position only. How about mount only? Do 1. fundamentals of holding mount from top, 2. a basic americana, 3. elbow escape from mount (reinforces shrimping), and 4. Upa (if you have the time). That's more than enough, and they'll feel that they have gotten a lot out of the class. You could even let them do a 20% live drill at the end of the class for reinforcement and to close the class.
Keep it simple. Open the class, teach a skill, reinforce it with some practice, close the class. Just like in the classroom.
Oh, and as for the FIT... it's something that I tell my kids mostly when teaching them BJJ because I want them to understand that this isn't something to be taken lightly. You need to be focused so that you learn techniques and avoid injuries (yourself or others), be intense so that you perfrom and achieve to the best of your capability, and be tough so that you're not easily rattled, especially by defeat or (minor) injury, such as scrapes, etc.
I would stick to one position. The classic thing to do is to have guard and have one person try to keep guard and one person try to pass. Maybe you could also start them in side control, and have one person try to mount and one person try to recover guard. I think i like the side-control idea best actually, because basic mounting is pretty easy to teach (STEP OVER), and you can teach the shrimp to get back to guard (shrimping is key to all BJJ obv).
By the way, is it unprofessional or "gay" to have my lesson plan on hand so that I review exactly what I am doing/saying every so often? I ask because I don't recall any of my BJJ instructors doing this. Should I just memorize everything?
I agree with teaching shrimping during the warm-ups. You can do stationary shrimping along with shoulder bridges in 30 seconds cycles if you want it to be a more intense workout.
A good follow-up to shrimping would be to teach elbow escape from the mount followed by the scissors sweep. Teach it separately then make it a back and forth drill, which whill force them to see the importance of shrimping. This can also be a very intense drill getting them to feel the flow of bjj.