The Most Important Next Edge Rules

1. The tap means stop immediately. There are no exceptions.
2. You can decline any roll. Nobody at Next Edge is entitled to train with you.
3. Come to class clean. Your body, uniform and training gear should all be clean.
4. Never walk barefoot into the bathroom and then back onto the mats.
5. Protect your training partners. Their safety is more important than winning a round.
6. Match your partner's intensity. Not every round is a tournament final.
7. Use technique, not instead of strength.
8. The bigger and stronger you are, the more responsibility you have to control yourself.
9. Tap early enough to train again tomorrow.
10. Don't brag about who you submitted in practice.
11. Don't coach someone through the submission they just caught you in. Tap, reset and continue.
12. When a coach is teaching, stop talking and pay attention.
13. During drilling, practice the technique being taught.
14. Don't ask for a belt. Ask your coaches what you need to improve.
15. If someone is training dangerously, communicate. If necessary, get a coach involved.
16. Don't retaliate against a rough partner. We don't use "gym enforcers" to teach people lessons.
17. Expect to lose. Getting controlled and submitted is part of learning Jiu-Jitsu.
18. Expect to feel confused. Nobody understands the entire game when they begin.
19. Learn to stay calm. Panic creates bad decisions and injuries.
20. Be the person other members want to train with.

Safety Rules: These Are Never Optional

1. Respect every tap immediately. The instant your partner taps with a hand, foot or voice, release what you are doing.
2. Stop first and ask questions second. Your partner may be tapping because of a submission, injury, cramp, panic, caught finger or something you cannot see.
3. Make your tap obvious. Whenever possible, tap directly on your partner several times and use your voice.
4. Tap early. Waiting until a joint reaches its absolute limit is not toughness.
5. Tap during drilling when the technique is correctly applied. Drilling is not the time to demonstrate how flexible you are.
6. Never intentionally slam a training partner.
7. Do not accidentally slam someone because you attempted a lift you could not control.
8. If you pick someone up, you are responsible for returning them safely to the mat.
9. Control takedowns. Your teammate is not a crash dummy.
10. Learn how to fall before worrying about throwing people hard.
11. Do not use dangerous techniques that your coaches have not approved for your experience level.
12. Do not dangerously stack someone's body onto their neck.
13. Do not bend individual fingers.
14. Do not bite.
15. Do not eye gouge.
16. Do not pull hair.
17. Do not jab your fingers into someone's ribs, clavicle, armpit or other sensitive areas just to cause pain.
18. Never yank a submission. Secure the position first and apply pressure gradually enough that your partner has time to tap.
19. Control submissions during scrambles. Catching a limb while both people are moving quickly requires more control, not less.
20. Don't add another squeeze after someone taps.
21. Don't "finish the movement" after the tap. The tap ended the movement.
22. Protect your partner even when you could force something.
23. Hard training is allowed. Reckless training is not.
24. Tell your partner about injuries before the round begins.
25. Respect your partner's injury restrictions.
26. Stop the round when something becomes unsafe even if nobody has tapped.
27. Stop for tangled fingers, uncontrolled falls, blood, collisions or equipment problems.
28. Your goal should be to train again tomorrow.

Hygiene Rules

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is an extremely close-contact activity. Hygiene isn't just about smelling good. It protects everyone who trains at Next Edge.

1. Arrive clean.
2. If you've spent the day sweating or doing physical work, shower before class.
3. Use deodorant.
4. Take care of your breath. Brush your teeth, rinse, hydrate or do what you need to do before training.
5. Wear clean underwear and clean base layers.
6. Wear a freshly washed gi every training session.
7. Wear freshly washed rashguards, shorts and spats.
8. Do not wear yesterday's sweaty training gear again.
9. Wash your belt. Your knowledge will survive the washing machine.
10. Own enough training gear to always have something clean available.
11. Trim your fingernails.
12. Trim your toenails.
13. File freshly clipped nails. Short nails can still have sharp edges.
14. If your nails can scratch somebody, they are too long or too sharp.
15. Bare feet belong on the mat.
16. Wear sandals or shoes when you leave the mat area.
17. Always wear footwear into the bathroom.
18. Never wear outdoor shoes onto the training mats.
19. Cover open cuts before training.
20. Make sure bandages are secure enough to survive grappling.
21. If you start bleeding, stop training immediately.
22. Clean yourself and make sure any blood on the mat is properly cleaned before continuing.
23. If you have a suspicious skin condition, don't just cover it and hope for the best. Talk to a coach before training.
24. Bring your own water bottle.
25. Keep basic first-aid items in your training bag. Tape and bandages are useful.
26. Keeping nail clippers and a file in your bag isn't a bad idea either.
27. Put dirty gear somewhere separate from your clean belongings after class.
28. Take your dirty gear home and wash it promptly.

Choosing Training Partners & Saying No

1. You can say no to any roll at Next Edge.
2. You don't need a dramatic explanation. "I'm sitting this one out" is enough.
3. Do not pressure somebody after they decline a roll.
4. Don't ask "why not?" and make them defend their decision.
5. Do not take a declined roll personally.
6. Belt rank does not override someone's right to say no.
7. At Next Edge, lower belts may ask higher belts to roll.
8. Higher belts are allowed to decline too.
9. Don't assume an experienced student thinks training with you is a waste of time.
10. Experienced grapplers can be some of the safest partners for new students.
11. Choose partners based on safety, not ego.
12. Size matters when choosing partners.
13. Experience matters when choosing partners.
14. Temperament matters when choosing partners.
15. A calm experienced student may be a much safer match than another brand-new student who is twice your size.
16. No one owes a substantially larger, stronger or uncontrolled beginner a round.
17. Your first round with someone should help you learn how they train.
18. Feel out their pace before assuming the round should be hard.
19. Communicate before the round if you need something specific.
20. Tell your partner if you want a lighter round.
21. Tell your partner if you're protecting an injury.
22. Different training partners can have different types of rounds together.
23. Keep physical interaction professional and training-related.
24. Don't make close-contact positions weird.

Don't Be the Spazzy White Belt

Most beginners don't intentionally try to hurt anyone. Problems usually happen because they are using more speed, strength and effort than they can actually control.

1. Match your partner's intensity.
2. Do not use 100% effort simply because you don't know what else to do.
3. Trying harder is not always the answer.
4. Use technique.
5. Don't use strength instead of learning technique.
6. Use the minimum amount of force required to accomplish the job.
7. The bigger you are, the more control we expect from you.
8. If you outweigh someone significantly, don't make your entire strategy "be heavier."
9. Pressure is legitimate Jiu-Jitsu. Crushing someone smaller just because you can isn't useful training.
10. When training with a smaller partner, try to solve the technical problem.
11. When training with smaller tpartners, teenagers regulate your physical advantage.
12. Regulating your strength does not mean becoming a dead training partner.
13. You don't need to let someone win all the time.
14. Create a technical round rather than a strength contest.
15. If a technique fails, don't panic.
16. A failed technique is not permission to start flailing.
17. Random explosive movement is dangerous.
18. Only move as fast as you can remain in control.
19. Learn to breathe while rolling.
20. If you're holding your breath through the entire round, slow down.
21. Not every round needs to be competitive.
22. Some rounds are for learning.
23. Some rounds are for experimenting.
24. Some rounds are for helping your partner work.
25. Some rounds are hard. That's fine when both people understand the pace.
26. Hard and reckless are not the same thing.
27. Don't attack an upper belt like your family's honor depends on the round.
28. If an experienced grappler gives you an opening, try the Jiu-Jitsu you've learned.
29. If you start going completely wild, don't be surprised when an upper belt simply controls you.
30. Winning the room is not the goal.

Cheap Moves, Bad Habits & "Dick Moves" to Avoid

New students occasionally discover things that hurt enough to make somebody move. That doesn't automatically make them good Jiu-Jitsu.

1. Don't grind your elbows into someone's thighs to force their closed guard open. Learn an actual guard opening.
2. Don't grab individual fingers because they make convenient handles.
3. Don't dig your fingertips into pressure points.
4. Don't claw into someone's ribs.
5. Don't dig your fingertips into someone's armpit.
6. Don't jab the clavicle or throat simply because pain gets a reaction.
7. Don't squeeze someone's head aimlessly like a schoolyard headlock.
8. Don't crank someone's neck because you don't know how to finish the position.
9. Don't rip submissions.
10. Don't add unnecessary pain once you already control the position.
11. Pressure is part of Jiu-Jitsu. Punishment isn't.
12. Don't grind your forearm across someone's face because you're angry.
13. Don't intentionally make a crossface nastier because you're frustrated.
14. Don't pin someone significantly smaller for five straight minutes just so you can say you won.
15. Don't explode out of a position you don't understand.
16. Don't turn every grip break into a max-effort movement.
17. Don't yank people's fingers while breaking grips.
18. Don't snatch submissions during fast transitions without first establishing control.
19. Don't coach your partner through the submission they just caught you in.
20. Don't suddenly become the instructor because a lower belt is about to tap you.
21. Don't turn every round into a lesson for your partner.
22. Don't constantly give unsolicited coaching.
23. Don't say "I was letting you work" every time someone does something successfully.
24. Sometimes your partner simply did something correctly.
25. Don't tap and tell.
26. Don't go around telling everyone who you submitted in practice.
27. Don't brag because you caught a higher belt.
28. Don't celebrate a training-room submission like you just won Worlds.
29. It's okay to be excited internally. Reset and keep training.
30. Don't try to destroy visitors to "defend Next Edge."
31. Visitors should leave thinking Next Edge has technical, controlled and welcoming training partners.
32. Don't use a gym enforcer to punish someone who trains too hard.
33. Talk to the person first when appropriate.
34. Get a coach involved when necessary.
35. Don't retaliate because somebody rolled harder than you expected.
36. Don't create an unspoken fight inside what was supposed to be a training round.
37. Don't make eye contact weird. Awareness is good. Staring through someone's soul for five minutes is unnecessary.
38. Don't humiliate someone over normal bodily accidents. Sometimes pressure makes things happen. Laugh it off or ignore it and keep training.

Drilling Etiquette

1. When the coach is demonstrating, stop talking.
2. Watch the demonstration.
3. Don't continue practicing the last move while the next one is being shown.
4. Practice the technique that was taught.
5. Learn the basic movement before immediately trying to invent five variations.
6. Drilling is not sparring.
7. Allow your partner to perform the technique while they are learning it.
8. Don't secretly resist because you want to see whether the technique "really works."
9. Resistance comes when the coach asks for resistance.
10. Cooperative drilling does not mean being completely limp.
11. Give your partner realistic posture and body position when the drill requires it.
12. Do not make your partner fight through 100% resistance while they're learning the movement for the first time.
13. Don't prove how flexible you are during submission practice.
14. If the armbar is correctly extended, tap.
15. If the choke is correctly applied, tap.
16. Don't hold your breath to prove the choke wasn't good enough.
17. Don't teach another beginner an entire technique you barely understand yourself.
18. If you aren't sure, call a coach over.
19. Small reminders are okay when you're certain of the detail.
20. Don't appoint yourself assistant instructor.
21. Ask questions when you're confused.
22. There is no embarrassment in not knowing something as a beginner.
23. Ask specific questions when possible.
24. Make mistakes.
25. Try to learn from the mistakes instead of repeating the exact same one forever.
26. Don't assume something is a universal rule because it worked once.
27. Don't chase advanced techniques simply because fundamentals feel boring.
28. Learn your positions before trying to collect every technique on the internet.
29. Learn how to keep your gi and belt reasonably secure during class.

Rolling & Mat Etiquette

1. Don't spend the entire beginning of a round wrestling.
2. If you're starting on the ground, one person can play guard and the other can work on passing.
3. If the round starts standing, use takedowns you can control.
4. Learn to breakfall.
5. Stay aware of other groups rolling around you.
6. Your round isn't happening in a private room.
7. If two pairs get too close, the lower rank needs to move.
8. Safety matters more than arguing about who has the right-of-way.
9. If another pair is about to collide with you, move.
10. Reset in open space instead of continuing through another group.
11. Don't throw someone into another pair of students.
12. If you're late because life happened, come train.
13. At Next Edge, we'd rather you get some training than skip the entire class because you're late.
14. Enter quietly and join class without making your arrival everyone's problem.
15. Don't intentionally arrive late every day because you want to skip the difficult part of class.
16. If you have to leave early, that's okay. Be low-drama about it.
17. Don't make a habit of disappearing the moment everyone else starts cleaning.
18. Help take care of the training room.
19. At Next Edge, the room belongs to all of us.
20. Help with mat cleanup when it is time to clean.
21. Keep uniform and pants adjustments discreet.
22. Keep bags, bottles, phones and shoes where they belong.
23. Keep the edge of the training area clear.

Rank, Belts & Promotions

1. Seek skill before belt color.
2. Don't ask your coaches for a promotion.
3. It is completely appropriate to ask what you need to improve.
4. "What should I work on?" is a productive question.
5. "When am I getting my blue belt?" is a different question.
6. Promotions are the responsibility of the coaching staff.
7. Your responsibility is getting better.
8. Don't assume belt rank makes someone socially superior.
9. A higher belt is simply farther along technically.
10. Show basic respect to everyone in the academy regardless of belt.
11. White belts deserve respect too.
12. Don't treat upper belts like royalty.
13. Don't treat lower belts like disposable practice equipment.

The Beginner Mindset

1. Expect to lose a lot.
2. People smaller than you may submit you.
3. People older than you may submit you.
4. People who don't look athletic may submit you.
5. Technique matters.
6. Don't confuse losing a round with failing to learn.
7. You can have a terrible competitive round and an excellent learning round at the same time.
8. Don't expect to consistently beat experienced blue or purple belts after a few months.
9. The people you're trying to catch are still getting better too.
10. Learning something new may temporarily make you worse.
11. You may lose positions while trying a technique you're still learning.
12. That's part of actually developing the technique.
13. Don't rush through the journey.
14. Be curious when someone does something to you that seems impossible.
15. Replace "that sucked" with "how did they do that?"
16. Your first superpower is staying calm.
17. Learn to stay calm underneath mount.
18. Learn to stay calm underneath side control.
19. Learn to stay calm when somebody has your back.
20. Being uncomfortable is not automatically the same thing as being in danger.
21. Defense is not wasted training.
22. Surviving against more experienced people is progress.
23. Escaping positions is progress.
24. Recognizing the mistake that put you there is progress.
25. Train with people better than you.
26. Train with people around your level.
27. As you improve, train with people less experienced than you.
28. Each type of partner teaches you something different.
29. Don't build your identity around beating other white belts.
30. Early physical success can fool you into thinking you're learning faster than you really are.
31. Make training enjoyable enough that you continue doing it.
32. Choose a training schedule you can sustain.
33. More training isn't automatically better if it constantly leaves you injured.
34. Take care of your body outside Jiu-Jitsu.
35. Basic strength and mobility work can help keep you training.
36. Don't overthink your "game" after twelve weeks of training.
37. Right now, exposure and repetitions matter.
38. Learn to survive before worrying about looking impressive.

Learn the Jiu-Jitsu Map

One of the biggest problems beginners have is not a lack of techniques. They simply don't know where they are yet.

1. Always try to identify the position you're currently in.
2. Learn the major landmarks of Jiu-Jitsu.
3. Closed Guard.
4. Open Guard.
5. Half Guard.
6. Side Control.
7. Mount.
8. Turtle.
9. Back Control.
10. Learn whether your current position is generally good, bad or neutral.
11. Know your basic job from the position.
12. Sometimes your job is surviving.
13. Sometimes your job is escaping.
14. Sometimes your job is recovering guard.
15. Sometimes your job is maintaining control.
16. Sometimes your job is improving the position.
17. Sometimes your job is attacking.
18. Attach one or two basic goals to every major position.
19. Before asking "what move should I do?", ask "where am I?"
20. Learn depth before constantly chasing breadth.
21. Notice grips.
22. Notice hooks.
23. Notice underhooks.
24. Notice head position.
25. Notice posture.
26. These details create smaller positions inside the larger position.
27. Build simple pathways through the game.
28. When a pathway fails, figure out why.
29. Maybe your technique was wrong.
30. Maybe you need another detail.
31. Maybe your partner created a reaction that requires another option.
32. Measure progress by how well you navigate positions, not by how many techniques you can name.

Your First Classes at Next Edge

1. It's normal to be nervous before your first class.
2. You do not need to get in shape before starting Jiu-Jitsu.
3. You do not need to understand the terminology before starting.
4. Learn a few basic words as you go.
5. "Roll" means sparring.
6. "Tap" means stop.
7. "Submission" means forcing a safe surrender through a controlled technique.
8. Learn the major positions as quickly as you reasonably can.
9. Learn how to fall.
10. Learn how to stand up safely.
11. Expect movements like shrimping to feel awkward.
12. Nobody was born knowing how to shrimp down a mat.
13. Bring a mouthguard if you want or need one.
14. Bring water.
15. Bring clean training gear.
16. Bring sandals or flip-flops.
17. Have something to carry your dirty gear home in.
18. Come prepared enough that your training partner doesn't have to solve your basic equipment problems.
19. If you don't know what you're supposed to wear, ask us.
20. If you don't understand what is happening, ask us.
21. Your coaches expect beginner questions.

How to Become a Training Partner Everyone Wants

1. Be safe.
2. Be clean.
3. Be controlled.
4. Be willing to learn.
5. Respect every tap.
6. Match your partner's intensity.
7. Listen when somebody asks you to slow down.
8. If a partner tells you that you're going too hard, don't argue.
9. You may not realize what your movement feels like from the other side.
10. Use words before punishment.
11. If somebody grabs your fingers, tell them.
12. If somebody is going too hard, tell them.
13. If communication doesn't solve the problem, talk to a coach.
14. Don't turn every correction into an ego battle.
15. Sometimes "got it" is the entire response required.
16. Congratulate good technique without being patronizing.
17. "Nice one" is usually enough.
18. Training is cooperative competition.
19. You are trying to solve your partner while simultaneously helping create a safe environment for them to solve you.
20. Friendliness isn't weakness.
21. Next Edge can be welcoming and still train very hard.
22. Intensity should be deliberate.
23. Intensity should be controlled.
24. Intensity should fit the person you're training with.
25. Don't confuse roughness with realism.
26. A technique isn't more legitimate because you performed it recklessly.
27. Don't turn a training round into a personal fight.
28. If you cannot safely train with somebody, don't have that round.
29. Don't use safety as an excuse to avoid every difficult training partner.
30. Hard technical rounds are important.
31. Dangerous rounds are not.
32. Don't hide from every difficult position because your ego doesn't like losing.
33. Help new people feel welcome.
34. Remember what your first week felt like.
35. Experienced students should help create the culture they wanted when they were beginners.
36. Visitors should be treated like guests, not invaders.
37. Don't humiliate newer or less experienced teammates.
38. Don't make women, teenagers, smaller students or beginners prove they belong in the room.
39. Leave the room better than you found it.
40. Help keep the mats clean.
41. Treat people well.
42. Contribute to the kind of team you want to train with.

At Next Edge Academy, we don't expect beginners to already be good at Jiu-Jitsu. We expect you to learn, ask questions, take care of your teammates and keep showing up.

Train hard. Train smart. Take care of each other.