Why don’t black belts do warmups with the rest of the class?
Do you ever ask yourself, "Why is it every single class I attend, the professor never warms up"? Should he be leading by example or is it better served that he or she is guiding our warm ups?
Let’s keep in mind a few things. Our professors are able to chain tap us into oblivion at will. The fact they do not warm up or even spar doesn’t mean they didn't earn their rank as our professor. They did in fact earn their rank.
Also keep in mind you pay good money to warm up and learn BJJ. After all it is a martial art as well as exercise regimen. Plus they have to conduct a class of people who are at different levels, probably train for competition when they can make the time and have a variety of responsibilities. Maybe guiding warm ups are a better use of attention. Some people need attention and refinement. Not everybody hip escapes correctly believe it or not. In fact I hear its uncommon to learn the true value of shrimping until your a blue or purple belt.
Keep in mind I am in southern California. Its super warm and maybe muscles are better adapted to exercise here. I am not sure about other states but ask yourself “does my professor need to warm up”?
I am not sure I have ever seen any of my professor's do a front roll (except where I currently train)…EVER! In fact, I very much respect each of my previous professors however I think this raises an interesting point, and honestly don't we work a bit harder when we are lead by our professor? I know I do.
Should warming up for BJJ be BJJ? Could this be why purple belts are always late?
Let’s look at another issue. First, is it really unfair that we are running in circles, doing hip escapes, penetration drills, army crawls and leg drags for 15 minutes?
What (beside shrimp’s "aka" hip escapes) do these things do to help us in BJJ?
What about front and back rolls? Are we going to use these on the street as we are thrown by an expert student of Steven Segal? Probably not.
Can’t we all just shrimp, do leg drags and get to learning BJJ? I am not complaining or attacking the structure of how a class is run. I really want to better understand how each warm up helps my game or technique.
Maybe I should just ask and stop writing these whining articles...
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Matthew Tropp | BJJ Report