I am a teacher (of another topic). I make my students tell a story about the reason for their late arrival. Creativity is encouraged over accuracy. Leads to hilarious moments for the whole class.

I’m an old, retired university professor. And in all my years of teaching, I never had a strict policy on tardiness or absenteeism. I found it will work itself out. If they’re excessively late or absent, there is no way they can pass the tests and their grade will reflect that. On the other hand, if they only show up for the tests and do well, then they never needed to attend lecture anyway. Of course, I’m sure it would be difficult to apply such a method in the case discussed in the video.

When I was starting off BJJ years ago I had this buddy that took me to this gym out in the middle of nowhere. There was just one guy there who spoke very robotically and talked about the process of training in different tiers and how newcomers weren’t allowed to train with or speak with the black belts until you passed several trials. It was all really cultish and weird. I didn’t go back.

I agree. I’ve been practicing BJJ for close to 10 years, on and off and I am a purple belt now. I’ve been at great gyms and bad gyms. These red flags are absolutely spot on. Sounds like you have a great gym! Great info!

BJJ gyms with any of these red flags are just cults 😂

Im a 2 stripe white belt and always ask Higher belts to roll, Getting tapped out 10 times in 20 minutes is a great learning experience

I’ve been involved in BJJ and MMA since 2012. I’ve seen most of these red flags over the years through different gyms in two different states. I’m at a gym now that gets most of it right. You sound like a great gym owner. Earned a new subscriber!

Thanks for transparency

Red flag 9!
There was a reason we didn’t have female upper belts and they weren’t sticking around. At first I thought everyone’s an adult and it’s none of my business, but as I stayed longer I realized there’s a power dynamic at play. I truly despised gym dating bc most of the time it meant the female was the one that wasn’t returning when things eventually didn’t work out. There’s no reason for an upper belt to take a special interest in a new white belt.

On the Okinawan island (A part of Japan) there's some military bases and on one of them a local black belt teaches class twice a week for $100 a month, very good teacher and glad to see that the only one of these is that he has you buy a gi- he will let you train without one for the first class but after that he wants you to either provide your own or buy one of his for $200

Contracts are lame, not a deal breaker but totally lame. If you have a good product you don’t need it

Love all of these. More importantly, your explanations behind each one are great!

You just redflagged all Gracie Barra gyms😂

Great! Another "If they don't do it my way, they are a cult" video. I just love these!

Regarding the being to late for class. The rule was introduced lately in the gym I train in because it really escalated. The lesson would start and literally half of the people arrived up to half an hour later.
We had to little space on the Mat after all.

I'm a judo guy and can agree with the points raised.  For me, there's a final one: cost.  If someone gets promoted to a new colour belt and has to pay stupid money for it, that is a major red flag.  Promotion takes work from everyone, and paying silly money just because you have a new colour belt is ridiculous.

Good list. I trained at GB for a few years. The uniforms didn’t bother me, but I know some people have an issue with it. I’m older so it was a good fit for me. Open mats were great because you can roll with all belt levels. The upper belts will absolutely roll with you and help with techniques. I took private lessons for a while but really you don’t need to because if you stay after class the instructors will show you anything you want. And GB doesn’t tolerate that macho BS you find at a lot of other gyms. Overall, the culture and curriculum were a good match for me, and I learned a lot there. Your gym sounds solid too, I would def check it out because you care about your students and want to help them get better at BJJ.

3:59 I actually left a gym over this issue (and several others). I was not the student that was being chided into paying extra, but an assistant coach. I determined that if I continued to train and teach there (where I was volunteering my time for free) I was condoning behavior which I am morally and ethically opposed to.

I like how you think. Sounds like you have a great gym! Thanks for the video.

"Let me know if I was wrong on any of them"

It's a good thing you said that because we all know the comment section on YouTube is diplomatic and tactful, and would have reserved their opinions for a private discussion!🤣