Guide
BJJ etiquette for beginners
What are the etiquette rules in a BJJ class?
Most of it reduces to three habits. Tap early and without embarrassment, because tapping is information rather than defeat. Talk to your partner: say it is your first class, say where an injury is, and say if a grip hurts. Look after the person you are training with, which means short nails, clean kit, controlled pressure and letting go the instant they tap. Specific house rules differ by academy, so ask about the room you are in.
Tapping, which is the only rule that really matters
A tap ends whatever is happening, immediately, with no negotiation. Two clear taps with the hand, a foot tap if your arms are pinned, or simply saying stop: competition rules accept all three, and in a class the point is only that your partner notices and stops.
Tap early. You do not have to wait until something hurts, and you should not wait until you find out whether it will. Tapping to a position you dislike, to a grip you cannot see, or because you are out of breath are all normal. Experienced people tap constantly, which is precisely why they are still training.
On the other side of it, let go the moment you feel or hear a tap, and let go slowly rather than releasing a joint with a snap. If you are not sure whether your partner tapped, stop and ask. Nothing is lost by stopping; something can be lost by continuing.
If your arms and your voice are both trapped, tap with your foot, and if you cannot do that either, make noise. Partners are watching for it.
Sources: IBJJF rulebook downloads · IBJJF Rule Book (PDF, June 2024). Checked 3 November 2026.
Talking to your partner, which beginners do far too little of
Say you are new, at the start, out loud. It changes how someone drills with you, how much they explain and how hard they go, and it is not a confession.
Name your injuries before you start, not when they flare up. A bad left shoulder, a reconstructed knee, a recent operation: tell your partner and tell the coach, and ask for the drill to be adapted rather than hoping it will not come up.
During the round, speak. Ask for a lighter pace, ask someone to ease off a grip that hurts, say you need to sit the next one out. All of these are ordinary requests and a reasonable partner will simply do it. If someone does not, stop training with them and tell the coach.
Afterwards, thank the person. Most rooms shake hands or bump fists at the start and end of a round, and copying whatever the room does is the whole of that custom.
Looking after the person you are training with
Cut your nails. This is the one hygiene rule everybody has a story about, and the competition rulebook makes it explicit: fingernails and toenails should be trimmed and short, and long hair should be tied up so as not to cause your partner discomfort.
Train clean. A clean kit for every session, a shower before if you have come from a full day, and no training in clothes you wore to the gym. Cover cuts and grazes. If you have a skin condition, a rash you cannot explain, or anything contagious, stay off the mats and ask a doctor; the competition rules take this seriously enough to have a medical officer decide it, and a shared mat deserves the same care.
Control your pressure and your pace, particularly if you are bigger than your partner. Strength used to force a technique in a drill is not practice, it is just a way to make someone not want to work with you.
Spatial awareness is a courtesy too. Look before you move into space, give way to a pair who are already rolling, and do not back a scramble into somebody else.
Sources: IBJJF rulebook downloads · IBJJF Rule Book (PDF, June 2024). Checked 3 November 2026.
During the class itself
Arrive early enough to be changed and ready when the warm up starts. If you are late, catch the coach's eye and wait to be waved on rather than joining a drill mid-sentence.
Watch the demonstration without talking, then drill the thing that was demonstrated. The instinct to try the move you saw online instead is strong and worth resisting for a few months.
Do not coach other beginners. You will be tempted after your fourth class. Pointing a question at the coach instead helps your partner more and costs you nothing.
Ask your questions. The ones about why a grip goes where it goes are the valuable ones, and holding them until the end of class is usually the right timing.
What is general custom and what is house rule
Everything above is general good practice across grappling rooms. It is not a set of rules handed down from any governing body, and nothing on this page is another academy's policy repackaged as one.
Specific customs genuinely vary: whether people bow or shake hands coming onto the mat, whether shoes are required off the mat, whether you can wear a rash guard of any colour, whether children and adults share a session, how hard beginners are expected to spar and when. Ask, or watch what everyone else does for ten minutes.
So do the practical rules. At this academy the published ones are that outside clothes are not allowed on the mats, so bring a clean set to change into; every session is no-gi, so there is no gi to buy; classes are booked ahead and walk-ins are not accepted; and each class closes with an open question session rather than a hard spar. Those are this room's, confirmed by the academy, and they are the ones that apply here.
Before your first visit, the first class walkthrough and printable checklist covers the practical side of the same hour.
The two mistakes that actually cause problems
The first is not tapping, usually out of embarrassment, usually by a strong beginner who thinks they can hold on. Holding on past the point where you wanted to concede is how a joint lock or a strangle stops being a controlled practice and becomes an injury, and it is avoidable in a way that an accident is not. The sport only works because the concession is cheap, so make it cheap. If anything does hurt, stop the round and tell the coach rather than training through it.
The second is training while ill or infectious. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is full contact with shared mats and shared skin, so one person who comes in with something contagious can pass it to the people they train with. Staying home for a session is the cheaper choice for everyone, and the coach is the person to tell.
Related questions
Early, and whenever you want to. You do not need to wait for pain: tapping because you dislike a position, cannot see a grip or are out of breath is normal. Two hand taps, a foot tap if your arms are trapped, or saying stop all count, and the position ends immediately.
No. Beginners tap constantly and so do experienced students; it is how the sport stays safe enough to practise. The only mistake in this area is the opposite one, holding on past the point where you should have conceded.
That you are new, and where any injury is. Those two sentences change how someone drills with you and how much they explain. During the round, say so if you need a lighter pace or a grip eased off; both are ordinary requests.
Short finger and toe nails, long hair tied back, clean kit for every session, cuts covered, and no training with anything contagious. The IBJJF's competition rules make the nail and hair rules explicit and have a medic rule on skin conditions, and a shared training mat deserves the same standard.
It depends entirely on the room. Some academies bow, some shake hands, some do nothing in particular. Watch what everyone else does for a few minutes and copy it, or ask the coach before the session starts.