11.00am Tuesday 18th May: Time to get ready for my first ever lesson in BJJ at the Andy Roberts BJJ Academy. It’s been over 3 years and  bit of excess weight since I stopped training in Taekwondo because of injuries and joint problems, so I’m not a pretty sight, and definitely not fit!! Still, I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and, with a little persuasion from Can Sonmez , I’ve decided to take the plunge!

1.00pm: So it begins. A light warm up of jogging round the gym, a few ground drill, and, already I’m labouring!! Yep, confirmation if ever I needed it that I am not as fit as perhaps I wanted to believe.

The lesson lasts an hour and a half, and by the end I am shattered.

So, was it good? Is it suitable for someone fast approaching middle age? I would have to say YES!!

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous at the thought of the first lesson, but I was soon put at ease by Andy Roberts and the rest of the class. “Take it easy, don’t overdo it”….advice I quickly took note of!! What struck me, compared to when I have started in other martial arts in the past, is that here there was no air of superiority from the more experienced people (if memory serves, 2 blue belts and 8 white belts of varying levels,plus Andy, the Black Belt Instructor). I was never made to feel inadequate or inferior to anyone else, very refreshing!!

The lesson consisted of learning a few basics, drills, and I had the pleasure of a bit of one to one with one of Andy’s experienced Blue belts. It looks easy when you watch BJJ, but that could not be further from the truth!! Although these exercises were ‘basic’, I found them physically and technically challenging! At a certain age in life, you lose your flexibility and learning takes a bit longer, and here I was shown immense respect and patience, as I tried to not just do the drills, but to also understand them. In fact, I was more than happy to be the ‘guinea pig’, as I felt that understanding what was happening to me would help me understand more about the application.

Wrapping legs around people, reaching up under collars, using the opponents hips for leverage, trying to get another hand under your arm and into the collar, getting one leg up his back, the other over a shoulder or head, I was beginning to feel I would need to be a contortionist!! Until I was shown why I couldn’t do it!! Not flexible? Not a problem, white belts and blue belts alike would come over with a few tips on body position, and suddenly, the things I was learning were beginning to become a little easier….well, easier insofar as I could do them!! Learning the fluidity and technique to perform them correctly was going to take a lot of time!

One great bit of advice I was given by Kevin Capel was “Enjoy it, and remember to tap, and tap often!” And I followed that advice precisely haha! Another advantage of being older is you don’t have an ego as such, and you know your own limitations!! I was interested in learning and trying to understand the technique, not getting hurt, and certainly not hurting anyone else through my own inexperience.

The sign of a good lesson is, in my opinion anyway, you don’t notice the time….We started at 1.00pm, and before I knew it, it was 2.30pm!!

I have to say, with all honesty, that this BJJ lesson is the hardest thing I have ever done, physically and technically! It is also one of the most enjoyable things I have done!! No picking on the white belts or looking down on them, no trying to hurt and be ‘the big man’ from any of the other students or the Instructor. Courtesy, respect, and, above all, a friendly environment to train in. Here, I felt under no pressure to excel, or to master anything quickly. And it was never too much trouble for anyone to show me once, twice, three or even more times how to actually do something!!!

The beginning of a journey? Yes, I think it might well be….I’m certainly going next week for more!!!