Looking to take Privates in Northern Virginia

[Tirofijo2001]

Hear me out on this.

I'm a long time white belt. I've trained off and on (mostly off) for years. Due to work/family commitments, I'm currently training twice a week at a gym. One of those days is open mat with no instruction - just rolling. (And not really a "this is your time to work on techniques and try out stuff," but rather roll hard for 5 minutes and then switch. There's no formal instruction. it's an hour of sparring - or longer if I can handle it.)

The other night is the typical warm up, technique, drill said technique, and then positional sparring or just plain rolling.

No qualms about the instruction, except I'm really just getting one block of instruction a week. The upper belts are helpful about showing you your mistakes, but it's not the same.

I'd like to take privates to accelerate my learning, but they are relatively expensive at my gym. An hour with the head instructor would cost what I pay for the month. Prices are a little cheaper for brown and purples, but not a lot cheaper. Consequently, I don't know of anyone that takes privates. I get the feeling that BJJ is a labor of love for the head instructor. He's probably not too keen on teaching privates. He's got a day job and doesn't depend on BJJ for his income, etc. I say this to explain that I won't go to him and ask him to cut me a deal on his prices. I think that would be disrespectful.

Instead, I thought I might be able to find a purple belt (or a high level blue) that wants to make some extra cash and get experience teaching.

Anyone interested? We'd need a place to train. Nice if you are near Fairfax/Vienna/Falls Church/Arlington, etc.

(For the others reading - Anyone think I'm out of line by seeking outside instruction? No, I haven't asked my instructor. I really don't believe in the the old-school "get permission from the sensei for everything" attitude. At the same time, I don't think I would go to an established gym and take privates even if they were cheap. That I would consider over the line. But me striking a deal with a "non-professional" BJJer isn't. I know, it's a nuanced view. Anyway, that's the best way I can explain it.)

 

[Bryan from DC]

Where do you train?

 

[spectrum]

Might be missing something obvious, but if you have time to take private lessons, why don't you have time to attend classes?

 

[walril]

Brownbelt here. Im in the process of getting some puzzle mats for my basement, but I live in Woodbridge. PM and maybe we can work something out.

 

[Balto]

The best advice I could give to a long time white belt would be to commit to a more regular training schedule. I would consider normal instructional classes at a good gym three times per week to be a good baseline starting point for most people.

Long time, on/off white belts tend to have consistency issues more than anything else. That really can't be fixed by private lessons. Honestly private lessons will probably just be a way to further cover up the underlying consistency problem and may even make it worse.

I would look at switching gyms if the current schedule at your gym does not fit into your life well enough to give you regular instruction. There are a lot of good gyms here. You will get more from that than any privates at your level. You will also probably save some money since even dirt cheap privates ($30 for an hour lesson?) once a week will approach the cost of the monthly tuition at many schools.

 

[Tirofijo2001]

Might be missing something obvious, but if you have time to take private lessons, why don't you have time to attend classes?

There's really only 3 classes offered a week all late in the evening that I can get to, and usually work keeps me away from one of those. Hence, I'm averaging twice a week. The gym does offer more classes early in the day that aren't an option for me.

But let's say there's nothing available tomorrow night, and I might be free from work but sitting on the couch. A private would work. Or Sundays when the gym is closed. Obviously the private instructor and I would have to work out a schedule.

The best advice I could give to a long time white belt would be to commit to a more regular training schedule. I would consider normal instructional classes at a good gym three times per week to be a good baseline starting point for most people.

Long time, on/off white belts tend to have consistency issues more than anything else. That really can't be fixed by private lessons. Honestly private lessons will probably just be a way to further cover up the underlying consistency problem and may even make it worse.

I would look at switching gyms if the current schedule at your gym does not fit into your life well enough to give you regular instruction. There are a lot of good gyms here. You will get more from that than any privates at your level. You will also probably save some money since even dirt cheap privates ($30 for an hour lesson?) once a week will approach the cost of the monthly tuition at many schools.

Fair point. See above for an explanation. But you are correct. Consistency is an issue. Nonetheless, I can't see how some private, detailed instruction focusing on the fundamentals (that I'm missing due to my current frequency of training) is a bad thing. Think about getting one block of instruction a week, and see how long it takes for, say, sweeps from the half guard, to be taught. Or pick another white-belt level technique. It might be a while.

Thanks for the comments.

Brian and Walril - sending you PMs. As to my gym, I don't want to say my gym on the open forum, as I don't want to make it about the gym - which I have no problems with. I knew the schedule when I signed up.

 

[Balto]

Fair point. See above for an explanation. But you are correct. Consistency is an issue. Nonetheless, I can't see how some private, detailed instruction focusing on the fundamentals (that I'm missing due to my current frequency of training) is a bad thing. Think about getting one block of instruction a week, and see how long it takes for, say, sweeps from the half guard, to be taught. Or pick another white-belt level technique. It might be a while.

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah it won't hurt. I'm just not sure you will really get a lot out of that arrangement, and I think it will end up being so expensive that you don't stick with it very long.

Maybe find a buddy to drill with from your gym that is in a similar situation? You could drill on some puzzle mats at your house or something. If you are only getting one block of instruction per week, you would probably benefit most from some drilling time to rep out the basic stuff you are learning in class. You could pay a guy for privates to be a drilling dummy, but that's an expensive dummy.

If you've been a white belt for some years, I doubt the issue is really one of lacking technical knowledge. You have probably been taught the basic things correctly. Almost certainly the issue is the lack of consistency affecting your ability to implement what you know during rolling, and drilling consistently is what will bridge that gap.

That's just my two cents to help you get over the hump at white belt. Consistency is usually the issue, and I think you can solve that problem without spending an extra $100+ per month in private lesson costs.

But however it works out, good luck.

 

[Tirofijo2001]

Might be missing something obvious, but if you have time to take private lessons, why don't you have time to attend classes?

There's really only 3 classes offered a week all late in the evening that I can get to, and usually work keeps me away from one of those. Hence, I'm averaging twice a week. The gym does offer more classes early in the day that aren't an option for me.

But let's say there's nothing available tomorrow night, and I might be free from work but sitting on the couch. A private would work. Or Sundays when the gym is closed. Obviously the private instructor and I would have to work out a schedule.

The best advice I could give to a long time white belt would be to commit to a more regular training schedule. I would consider normal instructional classes at a good gym three times per week to be a good baseline starting point for most people.

Long time, on/off white belts tend to have consistency issues more than anything else. That really can't be fixed by private lessons. Honestly private lessons will probably just be a way to further cover up the underlying consistency problem and may even make it worse.

I would look at switching gyms if the current schedule at your gym does not fit into your life well enough to give you regular instruction. There are a lot of good gyms here. You will get more from that than any privates at your level. You will also probably save some money since even dirt cheap privates ($30 for an hour lesson?) once a week will approach the cost of the monthly tuition at many schools.

Fair point. See above for an explanation. But you are correct. Consistency is an issue. Nonetheless, I can't see how some private, detailed instruction focusing on the fundamentals (that I'm missing due to my current frequency of training) is a bad thing. Think about getting one block of instruction a week, and see how long it takes for, say, sweeps from the half guard, to be taught. Or pick another white-belt level technique. It might be a while.

Thanks for the comments.