The bow in, bow out, and Jiu-Jitsu line up 

Despite being considered a traditional martial art, Jiu-Jitsu is relatively more modern and laxer in its practices. Some academies will encourage their students to bow in and out of the mats upon entering and leaving, but only some. Most academies will have their students line up (in order of belt rank), facing the professor at the start and end of each class.

Optionally, academies will include frames or images of Grandmaster Helio Gracie on the wall, and possibly Grandmasters Carlos Gracie and Carlson Gracie as well. Both professor and students will pay homage to the grandmasters, bowing to them at the end of each class.

General class structure

Aside from some of these formalities, the meat and potatoes of a typical class are more consistent. Most will include a warmup, followed by technique or drills, and rolling to end. Some classes will also consist of “specific” or situational training before full rolling rounds commence.

Situational training example

To elaborate, specific training can be from any given position or situation in Jiu-Jitsu. For example, with the full mount, one partner would start with the mount. The top player’s goal is to keep the mount and work for a submission, while the bottom player is forced to survive and escape. Once this round is over, the partners switch between top and bottom, and the roles are reversed.

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