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I keep on switching gyms...is normal?

IamnotJonFitch

IamnotJonFitch

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Since about two years ago, I've been to three different jiu jitsu academys. Before that, over the course of about 4 years I switched between two MMA gyms.

I really feel like I struggle to stay motivated and find the perfect gym for me, and although I think I may have with my new one I always seem to think that in the beginning.

I'm wondering, is anyone else like this? I do tend to stick around with my current gym for a good while- it's ten minutes away, affordable and has perfect instruction for my game.
 
Im the same way. I try to find a gym that isnt too far away, is what Im looking for in terms of gi or no gi, good price, right atmosphere, etc. Most places have the majority of one thing, but lack in something else and its hard balancing what you can do without and what you must have.
 
at least there are choices now. Within a 5 mike radius from where I live there are about 15 places offering bjj. Some are straight bjj, some are MMA, some have traditional martials with bjj, and some have crossfit.

I'm a blue belt and only changes schools once.
 
I've changed 4 different gyms. All the gyms are friendly with each other though with the exception of one that I had a falling out with the owner, not the instructor.

I needed to be closer to my house and now there is one only 10 minute drive from home. It's a good gym. Kind of young in that I'm a purple belt and there are about 4 other purples and 1 brown belt but we are growing. The others are blue and white belts.
 
Ive been with the same gym I started with.

You sir are Creonte!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
 
Normal is boring. Now that we got that out of the way...

There are drawbacks and benefits to switching gyms. I used to bounce around mma gyms here and there, mostly due to change of locations. Well, except for my last mma gym.. they just stopped sparring for a month, and after a month let us spar with strikes only below the neck... I felt like I was being treated like a child... And frankly I was just bored without sparring once a week or so.

But now I found a great BJJ focused gym, adopted
the gi and I've been having a lot of fun just doing the grappling thing. Anyway, being in a lot of different gyms adds a lot of perspective, you now know good practice from bad practice, you are used to going against different people and body types, you learn different drills and teaching styles as well as what works best for you. Over all you become an educated martial arts customer and practitioner. I suppose the drawback would be a lack of comrodary. Additionally if you are only training in one gym for years, it could be a mediocre gym and you wouldn't know any better because you're drinking the coolaide...
 
Found the perfect shirt for you...

creonte-top-team-on-blk.jpg


http://www.bjjtees.com/product/creonte-top-team/
 
One of my friends who is a blue belt doesn't actually train at one gym at all, he bounces around tons of different places. I'm not sure if he winds up spending more money that way (i.e. by paying drop in fees, or just showing up to open mats, etc), but yeah, he'll train at Team Flo one day, Sambo7 the other day, Fist Fitness the next day, etc. I'm pretty sure he doesn't care if some guy calls him creonte in broken English lol. I've learned about a lot of different places to train from that dude. I will say that, you'll only get a sense of the different schools in your area and what they might have to offer if you train there.

I once envisioned myself remaining under my first instructor, but unfortunately, I was cast out by him under weird circumstances. I'd like to make amends with him, but if not, then I need to either find a new home gym or start gym hopping like my friend.
 
comradary, the feeling of family, etc. that all goes to shit when you are charged a late fee because you forgot to give your gym your updated credit card info but yet are sometimes asked to start warm ups for the class because the instructor is late. examples like that are BS. you can't say you are "family" yet treat things as a business when money is involved. it's either one or the other. it's a gym, not a cult, walk away if you must but don't burn bridges. trust me, your old gym will always welcome you back because they value your money. unless you were an a-hole.
 
Shit happens.... Lol i've been training for a bit over 6 years now. And have since been: "kicked out" of 2 gyms (political BS, nothing more..) And trained under 6 coaches. (not counting other gyms I visited regularly for open mats). Right now I'm not even a member of a school... Open mats on sundays, and training at a buddy of mines school 2x a week in the morning.

Changing gyms happens, do what's best for you. but don't Burn bridges when at all possible. BJJ is a large community lol.
 
I wouldn't be opposed to switching gym for a year or two to get different training partners and lessons from another legit brown, black belt. I would ask for blessing from my main coach though if he was okay with that first.

My coach hired or allowed a new brown belt who recently joined our gym to teach a couple of classes and he is from a totally different BJJ black belt lineage then my coach and I actually enjoyed the lessons/classes being taught more by the new brown belt. I never thought I would say this or even think this but would even leave his gym to join the brown belt gym if he were to open his own gym in the future. I kind of got bored with my coach's teaching lessons/methods and learning from the new brown belt instructor made me realize this.

But that being said, if you moved to a new town you should look at different gyms to determine the best fit/price for you. But ultimately you have to choose and become loyal to one gym(generally speaking).

I get the vibe that some students(in real life) purposely gym hop so that they can get training partners and learn while avoid paying tuition fees. Basically learning for free. If they have like 4 or 5 gyms in the area where they can drive to; I'm sure you can get away training at different places with open mats and what not without ever truly paying and that is not cool in my book.
 
Personally, I'm very loyal to my gym. There is a sense of camaraderie there and it's actually frowned upon to leave the gym and fight for a rival gym. I suppose cultures vary, but I think it's considered pretty disrespectful unless you're truly too big for your own gym.

My advice, stick to a gym and learn everything you can from it.
 
Life and living circumstances have caused me to change gyms 7 times (not counting two short stints doing judo in between) since I first started.

Pros of moving around: you're exposed to a ton of different styles, techniques and training methods. You'll get a lot better at applying your game to a larger body of styles.

Cons: Instructors in my experience, and especially when you join a gym with some considerable time under your belt, favor thier home grown guys against you for a while and seem to be reluctant to correct your errors until you've put in a few months there first. Sure they seem welcoming, but noone likes an outsider beating their guys. Going with this your game will tend to grow stangnant as instructors aren't immediately willing to help you expand.

Do whatever makes you happy. You don't owe your gyms or instructors anything. It's a monetary transaction, and not an insignificant one either. I think I'd put more emphasis on loyalty if BJJ weren't so expensive, or if you were doing judo or wrestling at some club for $30 a month.
 
I bounced around a few places until I found the "right" fit. The first BJJ school I started at was also the first BJJ school in the area and boasts the first person to get a black belt in the area (there are many now but that instructor was the first by several years). It's a great school with great people and I don't have a single bad thing to say about it. After nine months though, I left. This says more about me than the school. The way I learn just didn't match up with the instructor's teaching style. I need to learn one move and practice it a lot (I'm kind of on the short bus in terms of jiujitsu learning lol). He would teach multiple moves in one class and there were too many students to get your questions answered.

My next school was a Judo school by work. Great place with a awesome teacher and crazy affordable, but the attendance of the adult students was sketchy at best. The nights I was able to attend often had me standing in line as one of only two adults with a bunch of 7 year olds. I was there only a few months.

My next gym was a MMA gym that also advertised BJJ. When I went in to check it out I was told they no longer had BJJ but hadn't had a chance to update the website to reflect that. I tried it out anyway since I like Muay Thai and I could still get some limited no-gi grappling in the MMA classes. I was there about two years when they finally brought in a proper BJJ coach (brown belt at the time). He eventually opened his own academy after he got his black belt but continued to run classes at both schools. At one point I hit some financial issues. I told the MMA school that I could no longer afford to train. They said "sorry to hear that" and that was that. The BJJ coach said "Why don't you train at my academy. I'll have you help out with kids classes, clean the mats open on days I can't get there, etc. and in exchange you can train for free."

I've been with him ever since. His academy is like family to me and I can't imagine training anywhere else.

TL;DR

Sometimes it takes a while to find the right "fit"
 
IamnotJonFitch said:
Since about two years ago, I've been to three different jiu jitsu academys. Before that, over the course of about 4 years I switched between two MMA gyms.

I really feel like I struggle to stay motivated and find the perfect gym for me, and although I think I may have with my new one I always seem to think that in the beginning.

I'm wondering, is anyone else like this? I do tend to stick around with my current gym for a good while- it's ten minutes away, affordable and has perfect instruction for my game.
Click to expand...
People do it, but be careful about it. It can be difficult to develop a relationship and trust with the training partners and coaches if they think you're only around for a little while, then you're going to bail. They may not feel the need to invest time and effort into you as much as a guy that will be around for a long time.
 
I find the 'creonte' thing really peculiar.

In fact, I trained at a Carlson academy, and one of the shirts was '0% Creonte' and I had no idea what it meant...I'm still a bit lost. I sort of thought that it was more when a black belt opened a rival academy or something...but I'm just a white belt that's been there for about a year, surely leaving isn't creonte?

I really enjoyed that academy, but I've moved and there's one that's just up the road from me that's $30 less a month with really qualified instructors. So, my job, house and gym are all within the same 3 mile loop, it's really easy on my family.

I definitely feel a little guilty, though.
 
You're a spoiled child, have to drive an hour 1 way to train in my bjj desert.
 
I've trained at 5 different gyms, all due to me moving house/location. Though I will say every gym I have joined has been better than the last.... maybe because as I learned more I knew the type of gym/training/atmosphere I was looking for.
 
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