Are BJJ Private Lessons Worth It? My Experience With Privates

If you can afford BJJ private lessons, they are usually worth the cost. This is, of course, assuming that you are learning from a quality BJJ instructor who loves to teach.

Private lessons can help you fast-track your understanding of the art of BJJ. However, if cost is a major concern, there are cheaper ways to improve your jiu-jitsu.

But if you are serious about BJJ and have the funds, I believe BJJ private lessons are worth the extra costs. However, there are cheaper alternatives to private lessons if you want to improve your jiu-jitsu faster.

My Experience with BJJ Private Lessons

I have personally had great experiences paying for private lessons in jiu-jitsu. But I also have had the privilege to learn from some of the best instructors in the world.

My head coach at Fight Factory Jiu Jitsu, Rodrigo Cabral is not only one of the best instructors in Austin, Texas, but he is one of the best teachers on the planet.

My other coaches at Fight Factory are Andrew and William Tackett. So needless to say I am lucky to be surrounded by such great instructors.

All of my private lessons have come from one of these three coaches. So thankfully, investment in private lessons helped me improve my jiu-jitsu tremendously. But the key is having a good instructor.

I was able to leverage private lessons to help me keep up with other students in my Academy even though at times I was not able to train as frequently as they could.

This is simply because my work schedule did not allow me to make it to as many classes per week as I would have liked to.

Benefits Of Private Lessons

One of the best times to try private lessons is when you are a white belt. It will quickly help you understand the basics of BJJ and help you to get an early game plan.

In other words, it will help you to understand what you should be focusing on from the start. I would suggest getting a private lesson after coming to class consistently for a month or two.

I didn’t try private lessons until about one year after I started BJJ. After getting a bonus check from work I decided to buy 10 private lessons from Andrew Tackett.

I feel like I learned more from those 10 weeks of training than I did from the first year. I probably didn’t but it certainly felt that way.

That is at least from the mental level. I was learning techniques in class but I didn’t understand how to start putting it all together.

Avoid Bad Habits From The Start

It is, of course, best to stop bad practices before you develop them into bad habits. Getting one on one time with your instructor can help you avoid bad habits from the start.

I’m not the strongest guy in the world but as someone who has been doing strength training for many years, I am certainly stronger than most people. This can be a great asset to your jiu-jitsu game but could cause you to develop some bad habits.

When I would roll with most people in the white and blue belt class I could often use strength to escape from bad positions instead of using good technique. However, I soon as I ran into someone as strong or much more skilled than me I didn’t know what to do.

I was developing bad habits without realizing it. However, once I started private lessons my coach was quick to point out that I had developed some bad habits.

Perhaps you are developing some bad habits as well. Your  BJJ instructor will likely be able to identify these bad habits pretty quickly. By doing private lessons you can address them before they become habitual.

BJJ Private Lessons Can Help Prepare You For BJJ Competition

Whether you are an experienced competitor or are preparing for your first competition, BJJ private lessons can help you tremendously.

Your professor will be able to help you develop a game plan much better than you could by yourself. They will be able to see what your strengths and weaknesses are and help you develop a winning plan.

Of course, even with a great game plan you still might lose. That said, just getting out there and competing is part of the process of getting better at BJJ.

After a loss is one of the best times for a private lesson, just make sure to get someone to film your matches.

Especially if the person giving you private lessons is not there to watch you compete. You will learn a lot from a loss. You can go over the footage with your instructor and they can help you understand what you need to work on.

Fixing Holes In Your Game

One thing I learned from my first two competitions is that my stand-up game needed some major help. Unlike many people, I didn’t have a background in wrestling or judo. Most of my martial arts background was from boxing and other striking arts.

In class, I would spend the vast majority of the time top position. In competition, however, I found myself mostly in the bottom position. This is because I failed to take my opponents to the ground and secure the top position.

It quickly revealed that I had two major holes in my game. That is my takedowns and my bottom game needed major work. Perhaps you have holes in your game too. If so private lessons can help you fix these holes fast.

Private Lessons Are Great For Busy Schedules

The most common reason people don’t do BJJ is that they cannot afford it. Perhaps you have a different problem. Maybe you can easily afford BJJ classes but what you are lacking is the time to get to class.

If you have a busy schedule and can only make it to class 2-3 days a week, having one of those days be a private lesson will help you keep up the pace with people who can go more often. This was true for me at least.

You might even progress faster than some of the people who can go 4-5 days per week. A one-hour class can end up taking up your whole evening if it does not mesh well with your schedule.

With private lessons, you might be able to schedule a class that works better for your busy day. So if you are strapped for time then you might want to consider private BJJ lessons.

Cons Of BJJ Private Lessons

The only real downside of doing private jiu-jitsu lessons is the cost. A one-hour BJJ private lesson will likely cost anywhere from $50-$200. Of course, some well-known instructors will charge even more than that.

But that is probably the average for the average BJJ gym in the United States. So as you can already see doing a weekly private lesson would cost you about $2600.00-$10,400.00 per year.

That’s all fine and dandy if you are a high-income earner but for most people, this is simply out of reach.

A Cheaper Alternative To Private Lessons

One alternative to private lessons is online courses and instructionals. Though some courses might cost as much or more than a single private lesson you can continue to go back to them time and time again.

That said, we understand that finding good quality instructionals at an affordable price is a major problem that needs to be solved.

That is why Tackett Jiu-Jitsu is launching a free online Jiu-Jitsu program that can help you improve quickly without needing to fork up the money for private lessons just yet.

Not only will you get access to our free courses, but you will also get access to William Tackett and our free BJJ community page.

Between the free courses, access to world-class instructors, and a free community page, you can get the same benefits of private lessons without the high costs.

So if you are worried about the costs associated with BJJ private lessons then why not give our free program a try first? After all, You have nothing to lose.