May 29th, 2018

The BJJ Practitioner as a Consumer

By Aaron Martinez

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the United States can be kind of paradox when it comes to the literal sense of paying your dues. On one hand, you have this ancient Martial Art steeped in tradition that migrated from Japan to Brazil where the Art was refined in terms of technique, but also in the way it was presented as a business model. The owner of the academy is typically the head Black Belt Sensei and the students are learning practitioners with the ultimate goal of eventually earning their own Black Belt and possibly starting their own academy. On the other hand, here in America we are a consumer based culture with a consumer based economy that can often times lead to some entitlement with the businesses we patronize and support.

I’ve seen conflict over the years between academies and the students concerning this contradiction of needing to display this traditional respect for your academy and the belt system vs. feeling satisfied with what you are paying for each month.

As a student, I never questioned the worth of learning Jiu-Jitsu. Sure, it typically costs more than a gym membership, but the value was so much greater to me. It wasn’t just more effective for me Physically, but also Mentally, Emotionally, and Socially. The ten years I spent running on treadmills and lifting weights could never compare to the ten years I spent training Jiu-Jitsu. I am a different person with a healthier perspective on life. I figure I spent roughly $14k on BJJ dues alone (Not counting Gi’s, tournaments, seminars, and private lessons) and I’ve never considered it as anything other than completely necessary and completely worth every penny.

I also never expected anything from my head Instructor and academy, other than to learn BJJ. All the benefits that coincide with learning the Art (becoming physically fit, gaining self-confidence, satisfaction from accomplishing goals, being a part of something bigger than myself) are simply great results that go along with buying into BJJ and what your Instructors are trying to teach you.

The conflict I’ve seen generally comes from wanting an equal respect, which is really impossible for an Instructor that is truly trying to teach you a Martial Art. A huge part of Martial Arts is showing respect upwards and some people find this hard to swallow when they are paying over a hundred dollars in dues each month. It doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a mutual respect though. I was lucky to find an academy and a head instructor that showed great respect for the students, but also instilled a great deal of traditional respect for the Belt system. Over the years I have heard many of horror stories about students being treated poorly to downright abused by instructors. Do I think students should blindly pay for that and be a part of that? Of course not.

And that is where the balance of consumerism and traditional Martial Arts meet. You should find an academy and Instructor that will teach and guide you with the best intentions. You should feel satisfied that you are paying hard-earned money to become a better person through this Art by trusting your Instructor, even if it isn’t always comfortable. People pay even more money to train with a Personal Trainer to push you past your physical and mental limits; as means to give you greater results than you would have had working out on your own. So, why wouldn’t a BJJ Instructor do the same? Their job is to push you in sparring when you’re tired and don’t want to roll any more. Their job is to teach you Traditional etiquette of the Martial Art, which requires you to bow to them and show them respect. Their job is to tell you when you are emotionally not handling a situation well and to help you calm yourself. And at times, their job is to have a hard conversation about your attitude in class, and sometimes even discipline you. Should you pay for such a thing? Well, that depends on the person you want to become. A big part of coming up the ranks is showing even more respect for the belts ahead of you and to still show respect to the belts behind you. Some of the worst students I’ve seen (Worst in terms of attitude, not BJJ) were able to train for free somehow. I think if they had to pay, they either would have seen the benefits they had to sacrifice for or they would have just quit and had a bad attitude doing something else.

Every once in a while, I’ll see it in a student’s face when they are new to Jiu-Jitsu. Like, they don’t want to pay to be told what to do. They just want to pay to learn new skills. But learning to follow directions and stay disciplined under an Instructor is a new skill if they haven’t learned it already. And after years of training and gaining all the benefits of practicing Jiu-Jitsu, I think most practitioners either feel it was well worth the money in the end or never even thought about it, because they were more focused on learning and getting better than what it cost each month.