Meathead

There are meatheads out there, hiding everywhere; sharks waiting for the newby

I've trained at the Gracie Academy, and they have an atmosphere of care and cooperation. They do everything possible to discourage meatheadism by word, and by deed; by example and by direction. There are still meatheads there.

Meatheads are the guys who don't seem to care if their partners get hurt. They push, and crush, and try and brute things through.

I don't find them fun to roll with, or particularly challenging. Let's say Mister Meathead goes for an armbar, and I defend it properly. He'll keep on pulling, long after it is clear that the thing just isn't going to work, but he can't let it go. This is really common with Mister Meathead. You need to be really ready to tap when you're with these guys, as they go hard and fast, but getting “stuck” is a more likely scenario, assuming you know what you're doing.

Suppose you were a brand-spanking new student in a Jiu-Jitsu school. Would you want to roll with one of these guys?

At a lot of places, newbies roll on day one. They might get a lovely, gentle, helpful partner, or they might not. It will also be likely that they will rotate through several people.

They might get Mister Lovely, Miss Gentle, Billy Helpful, and then Mister Meathead. Through the first three partners nothing really goes wrong, but the newby will be getting rolled and swept all over the place without a clue as to what's happening.

Then Mister Meathead shoots for something hard and fast and bang.... injury. Likely it will be minor, but it will likely be scary; an arm a bit overextended, or a neck crunched. No way the newby will ever return, not if he's smart. What if the injury isn't minor? Then he can't come back.

Even if there is no Mister Meathead, would the newby still want to come back?

I am a retired teacher, and have spent many years trying to present educational material successfully.

Let's present math in the same way that Jiu-Jitsu is often taught.

A new student arrives, and is put in with a bunch of students of varying levels of expertise. The new student knows nothing about math at all. A lesson is presented about trigonometry. After the lesson, the students are given a number of problems to solve as practice. The new student cannot even begin to do them. Students are then paired up, and race one another to get problem solutions. The new student can't even begin to solve the questions. After the class, the new student is asked if they want to sign up and pay a significant amount of money in order to continue lessons.

It is remarkable that anybody ever comes back, what with the basic educational model involved; with a layer of meatheads layered on top.

There needs to be some kind of provision made for the new student. A successful school might hold separate beginner classes with a curriculum geared just to them. Many schools don't have enough new students to justify separate classes, so a tutor program might be employed.

The point is, to treat the beginners well. Give them a chance to experience success right from the very first day. Protect them from injury until they have been sufficiently prepared to protect themselves.

I am proud that this is something our school does well.