in a dilemma between choosing a gym....help!

[dsablan]

Hey guys, been looking into joining a gym here in San Francisco, CA, and Im just not sure which one to join.

I tried out two gyms...bay jiu jitsu, and the new gracie humatai here located at k1 fitness.

First off, i would like to say that I am on a budget here, and want the best for my money...so Ralph Gracies is out of the question..
I first went to Bay jiu jitsu, ran by their black belt Stephen Goyne. Awesome class, but lots of people for a small location. Class was ran well and organized. Gym is clean and had lots of upper belts (for the class i attended, their was about 5 blue belts, 3 purple, and 2 brown belts..and the other 5 were white belts). Now being a beginner in jiu jitsu, i am just not too sure if this is the right place to learn quickly?
The good thing about it is that Stephen offered to take off 20 bucks off the original contract price, since i am a student.

Now for the next gym, Gracie Humatai. I went in for two days...didn't really know what to expect...except that i was thinking that this gym would be really good since a 3rd degree black belt is teaching the place. It didn't matter though because it is a brand new academy that just opened up. It was a really small class (around 8 students) and we were all white and blue belts.

I guess what i'm trying to get at here is, as a beginner in jiu jitsu (2 months of total training), which gym would be my best bet. They are both around the same price for a year commitment. One gym (bay jiu jitsu) having all the talent, yet i have to basically jump in with all of them and learn whatever they are learning...or another gym (gracie humatai), which is a brand new academy, and is lead by eduardo rocha who is basically teaching all the basics, yet...not much talent.

Also...anyone know of the romulo melo bjj academy here in SF? i was thinking of giving that place a one day trial.

 

[TheHereticJay]

I would choose the first option with the higher belts. You'll get crushed and mangled and everything else, but with all those higher belts comes a greater collective knowledge which will help you grow faster. There seemed to be enough whites there to have some your own level so that you're not getting smashed ALL the time and more than enough higher belts to give you the beatings and lessons you'll need to progress.

 

[Grapplingwizard**]

gilbert melendez's gym el nino is good i have never been there but i know many people who have

 

[lechien]

Which ever is the closest

 

[TheSubmissionCh]

Try them all out before deciding, including but not limited to Halph's (unless they don't offer a free trial). It's a fairly big decision. And you will be able to train for free with different folks. - E

 

[dsablan]

Yea.. As much as I would like to join Ralph's, it's about 40 to 50 bucks more a month as compared to these other places. As far as location for these other gyms, they are literally less than a mile and a half away from where I love. I'm in the middle of all year gyms.

 

[GiBurns]

On the bright side of having a small gym class, you will get alot more attention from the instructor than you would at a larger school and would be one of the first blues/purples to be produced in that gym. Both have their upsides.

 

[wvpv]

I would take the gym with the higher belts as they make the best drilling partners. In a class where all the students are new the instructor has to divide his attention. When you drill with a higher belt they can correct a lot of your mistakes quickly.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Pick whichever one has the least amount of rapists. Take a survey, if necessary.

 

[hakkas]

Pick the gym you think you will attend most classes at.

 

[2008]

Hey guys, been looking into joining a gym here in San Francisco, CA, and Im just not sure which one to join.

I tried out two gyms...bay jiu jitsu, and the new gracie humatai here located at k1 fitness.

First off, i would like to say that I am on a budget here, and want the best for my money...so Ralph Gracies is out of the question..
I first went to Bay jiu jitsu, ran by their black belt Stephen Goyne. Awesome class, but lots of people for a small location. Class was ran well and organized. Gym is clean and had lots of upper belts (for the class i attended, their was about 5 blue belts, 3 purple, and 2 brown belts..and the other 5 were white belts). Now being a beginner in jiu jitsu, i am just not too sure if this is the right place to learn quickly?
The good thing about it is that Stephen offered to take off 20 bucks off the original contract price, since i am a student.

Now for the next gym, Gracie Humatai. I went in for two days...didn't really know what to expect...except that i was thinking that this gym would be really good since a 3rd degree black belt is teaching the place. It didn't matter though because it is a brand new academy that just opened up. It was a really small class (around 8 students) and we were all white and blue belts.

I guess what i'm trying to get at here is, as a beginner in jiu jitsu (2 months of total training), which gym would be my best bet. They are both around the same price for a year commitment. One gym (bay jiu jitsu) having all the talent, yet i have to basically jump in with all of them and learn whatever they are learning...or another gym (gracie humatai), which is a brand new academy, and is lead by eduardo rocha who is basically teaching all the basics, yet...not much talent.

Also...anyone know of the romulo melo bjj academy here in SF? i was thinking of giving that place a one day trial.

If it was me deciding and knowing what I know now about BJJ and not being a complete noob at the time, I would go with the newer smaller school with mostly white belts. Why? Like someone said you'll get more 1) personalize attention and the big thing for me is you'll learn the 2) basic fundamentals first, which is very important.

A beginner needs to learn the most basic fundamentals first, at the established school you'll be learning all the advanced techniques taught to blue/purple/brown belts, which will be useless to you at this stage in your BJJ career(unless they have a beginners class).

That is what happened to me when I joined my school it was with mostly advanced guys so I learned what they learned and just got smashed every class for the first 8 months until the school changed to a bigger location and added a beginners class which then I started to learn the fundamentals with guys on my level. I didn't know what the heck I was doing besides pulling guard and hold on for dear life by locking my legs and hoped for the best.

To me its not that important to train with purple/brown belt guys til you get to advanced blue belt level. If your a noob white belt you should be learning your basic A, B, and C, from the alphabets first.

 

[dsablan]

If it was me deciding and knowing what I know now about BJJ and not being a complete noob at the time, I would go with the newer smaller school with mostly white belts. Why? Like someone said you'll get more 1) personalize attention and the big thing for me is you'll learn the 2) basic fundamentals first, which is very important.

A beginner needs to learn the most basic fundamentals first, at the established school you'll be learning all the advanced techniques taught to blue/purple/brown belts, which will be useless to you at this stage in your BJJ career(unless they have a beginners class).

That is what happened to me when I joined my school it was with mostly advanced guys so I learned what they learned and just got smashed every class for the first 8 months until the school changed to a bigger location and added a beginners class which then I started to learn the fundamentals with guys on my level. I didn't know what the heck I was doing besides pulling guard and hold on for dear life by locking my legs and hoped for the best.

To me its not that important to train with purple/brown belt guys til you get to advanced blue belt level. If your a noob white belt you should be learning your basic A, B, and C, from the alphabets first.

You make alot of sense sir. And as much as I believe you are right about progression with the newer school, I want to join the school with more higher belts.

It's just that class was more organized. Yet had a white board of things written on what is going to be done on that day.. A cleaner facility, a well structured class. The only thing was it felt as if the people there weren't inviting. I was busy rolling with another white belt while the others were doing there own thing. Didn't feel quite welcomed.

As for the newer school.. Small class. About 10 people. But the instructor is so hard to understand. He is a 3rd degree black belt though. They are using a gym space for their classes and the locker rooms are Kinda dirty. I had a chance to roll with a blue belt though.. Scrawny guy, but he was sweeping me, passing guard etc.. Like nothing!

I'm rally confused.. One part of Nevis saying join the gym with experience because there will be more talent to see... While another part is saying start from scratch with the newer school, even though it is not the best looking place and tr instructor is hard to understand.

 

[2008]

You make alot of sense sir. And as much as I believe you are right about progression with the newer school, I want to join the school with more higher belts.

It's just that class was more organized. Yet had a white board of things written on what is going to be done on that day.. A cleaner facility, a well structured class. The only thing was it felt as if the people there weren't inviting. I was busy rolling with another white belt while the others were doing there own thing. Didn't feel quite welcomed.

As for the newer school.. Small class. About 10 people. But the instructor is so hard to understand. He is a 3rd degree black belt though. They are using a gym space for their classes and the locker rooms are Kinda dirty. I had a chance to roll with a blue belt though.. Scrawny guy, but he was sweeping me, passing guard etc.. Like nothing!

I'm rally confused.. One part of Nevis saying join the gym with experience because there will be more talent to see... While another part is saying start from scratch with the newer school, even though it is not the best looking place and tr instructor is hard to understand.

A messy, informal, dirty looking gym doesn't bother me as long as the mats are clean or in good shape. I take a shower when I get home so this is not a problem for me unless your going to train before going to work and need to shower at the facility then that could be a deal breaker with the locker room/shower being dirty.

Obviously keep yourself as clean as possible by washing your gi regularly, using hand sanitizer on your hand and feet once your done training, and use dial anti-bacterial soap or defense soap when you take a shower after each training session. Wear shoes when you leave the mat. etc. This should take care of the cleanness issue for yourself.

Every gym has a culture in place and you have to deal with that. With the more established schools and advanced guys you have to pay your dues, put in years of service to get their respect. There not going to be inviting or friendly because they don't know you yet. On top of that a lowly white belt does not offer them a challenge in terms of training. Its like in high school how 11th and 12th graders didn't hangout with 9th and 10th graders because of social and maturity differences. Its sort of like that.

I chose one school over the other because the first wasn't as inviting(and it happen to be the more established school).

 

[dsablan]

Thanks man.. Definitely going to take your comments into consideration.

 

[PayPerView]

Damn... maybe I'm just mesmerized by the Kurt Osiander videos but I couldn't imagine not training at Ralph Gracie if I was in San Francisco.

Theres nothing you can do about the price? Maybe if you negotiate with them you can work out a deal. A lot of gyms charge everyone differently depending on their situation/how often they train/student/etc. However, some gyms stick to a strict price point and feel it would be unfair to charge people differently.

If you have the money and know you are not going anywhere it may be wise to pay for a full year and ask for a substantial discount.

 

[dsablan]

Damn... maybe I'm just mesmerized by the Kurt Osiander videos but I couldn't imagine not training at Ralph Gracie if I was in San Francisco.

Theres nothing you can do about the price? Maybe if you negotiate with them you can work out a deal. A lot of gyms charge everyone differently depending on their situation/how often they train/student/etc. However, some gyms stick to a strict price point and feel it would be unfair to charge people differently.

If you have the money and know you are not going anywhere it may be wise to pay for a full year and ask for a substantial discount.

Yea man.. Spoke with Kurt over the phone because of course I would choose to train under him.. But he seemed real straight with his pricing. I asked him if he had any special student discounts and his response was, "unfortunately we don't have discounts..I've been teaching since 1998 and my prices has only gone up 10 bucks since then."

I work full time right now.. And I live in the city. The gyms I mentioned are within a walking radius. Kurt's gym is about 50 bucks more a month, and is a little farther.

 

[JRal]

One consideration to take into account is how fast are you promoted at each school? For example, does the first school have so many higher belts because it only takes 6 months to get your blue? (I am not familiar with the school, and am not assuming this is the case. It is only a possibility, as these schools do exist.) The school I train at is a Gracie Humaita school, and it takes AT LEAST 18mo-2yrs to earn a blue with regular attendance. (Not sure if all Gracie Humaita schools follow the same standards.)

Basically, I am saying all blue, purple, brown, etc belts are not equal. It depends on the school and their standards.