When choosing a jiu jitsu gym, ask about six things: your instructor’s lineage, the school’s affiliation, how long they’ve been open, how beginners are handled, what the membership includes, and what you see when you walk in.
Most people pick a gym because it’s close and somebody answered the phone. Which, fair. Those are fine tiebreakers.
They’re terrible primary criteria though, and the gym you land in decides whether you’re still training in two years or whether jiu jitsu becomes that thing you tried once. So here’s the list. Steal it. Use it on us.
1. Who Tied That Belt Around Their Waist?
Jiu jitsu is a lineage art. Every legitimate black belt got promoted by somebody, who got promoted by somebody, all the way back down the line. It’s traceable. It’s knowable. And it’s kind of the whole thing.
So ask. Ask your prospective coach who promoted them, where, and when. Watch what happens to their face. A real black belt lights up at this question, because the person who tied that belt on them is somewhere between a mentor and a coach. You’re not interrogating anybody. You’re asking them to tell you their favorite story.
Then go verify it, because you can. IBJJF keeps records. Affiliation networks publish their black belts. Competition history lives on Tapology, Smoothcomp, and BJJ Heroes. Ten minutes of searching tells you plenty.
Ask what else they bring, too. Some coaches competed at a high level. Some came up through military or law enforcement combatives. Some have cornered professional fighters. None of that is required to be a great coach, and all of it shapes how somebody teaches. A coach who spent years getting smashed by amazing practitioners teaches differently than one who didn’t. Know which one you’re getting.
That black belt takes about a decade. Find out who signed off on it.
2. Are They Part of Something Bigger?
Some schools belong to an affiliation. Some run independent. Both can produce fantastic gyms and terrible ones, but either way, you should know.
Affiliation means you’re plugged into a network. Shared curriculum. Standards somebody holds the school to. Visiting coaches who show up with stuff nobody at your gym has seen. And bonus: you can travel almost anywhere and go train. Show up in a city you’ve never been to, roll with strangers who feel like teammates immediately, and go get tacos after. 10th Planet is our affiliation but there are many. Alliance, Atos, Checkmat, etc.
Independent means total freedom to build whatever the coach wants to build, answerable to nobody but their own standards. When those standards are high, that’s a beautiful thing. When they’re low… you get the idea.
Just ask which one, and then check. Most networks publish their member schools.
3. How Long Have They Been Open?
Anybody can open a gym. Staying open is the hard part.
Years on the mat tells you a few things: enough members to keep the lights on, a coach who planted a flag in your town instead of passing through, and enough time for the culture to become whatever it was meant to become.
This cuts both ways. Brand new gyms can be electric, and we’d know, we were one a few years back. A gym that’s been around forever can absolutely coast. It’s just a data point.
Ask when they opened.
4. What Happens on Day One?
Day one isn’t everything, but it may show you whether or not you’re going to stick around.
Ask what your first hour looks like. A gym that’s thought about beginners can walk you through it in detail: here’s the warm-up, here’s how we teach technique, here’s who you’ll be paired with, here’s what live training looks like for you specifically on day one.
Day one live training can be done many ways. We like to do it with positional work. Get to mount. Pass the guard. Learn to move with purpose. Submissions can wait until you know what your limbs are doing.
Ask whether beginners train in the main class or off to the side. Both work. Separate fundamentals classes give you a controlled runway. Mixed classes put you next to people who’ve been doing this for years, which is faster and more intimidating. Neither is better. Pick your preference.
Take the free trial. Every gym worth your money offers one. And pay attention to how they treat you while you’re still a stranger who hasn’t paid a dime.
Curious what a good first class feels like? We wrote up ours, start to finish.
5. What Are You Signing?
Read the contract (if there is one).
Month to month or a term contract? Both exist all over this industry and contracts sometimes come with a better rate. Just know which one you’re agreeing to and for how long. Our members are all month to month so that we have to re-earn their business every 30 days.
Is there a sign-up fee? Some schools charge an enrollment fee on top of month one. Lol. We don’t.
What is included? Unlimited or capped classes? Do open mats count? Are seminars and guest instructors part of it or extra? Any gear you’re required to buy?
How do you cancel? Ask now. We believe in you, but this sport has high attrition. (Much more fun if you’re the one watching everyone fall off on your way to your black belt.)
Gyms that publish their rates have already answered most of this for you, which we’d argue is the point of publishing them. Ours are right here.
6. What Does the Room Feel Like?
Go try a class. You’ll learn more in twenty minutes than from every website in town combined.
Watch how people treat each other between rounds. Do they check in? Do the experienced folks help the new folks, or do they hunt them? Does anybody look like they’re having a good time, or does it feel like everybody’s stuck there?
Watch the coach. Do they fix things person by person, or teach to the room and disappear? Do people ask questions? Do they get real answers?
Look around. Clean mats, clean bathrooms, somewhere to change that isn’t your car. Showers.
Then go ask somebody in the parking lot. Grab a member on their way out and ask how long they’ve trained and whether they’d recommend it. People are shockingly honest in parking lots. That thirty-second conversation is worth more than anything we could put on this page.
You already know how to read a room.
Alright, Run It On Us
We built this list as a general framework and it’d be weird to dodge our own questions. So here’s our homework.
Lineage. Rei Villa is a 10th Planet Black Belt under Curtis Hembroff at 10th Planet Austin, plus an IBJJF First Degree Black Belt. Twenty years in the Army Infantry and a Tactical Combatives Instructor at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Coach Chris Bennett is a 10th Planet Black Belt under Anthony Birchak out of 10th Planet Tucson. Coach Mark Geiger runs striking and has coached professional fighters, including athletes in the UFC. Oh, and he’s a jiu jitsu brown belt also under Anthony Birchak, just for good measure.
Affiliation. Official 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu affiliate, listed right on the network’s locations page. Go look.
How long. Opened July 4, 2023. Yes, Independence Day on purpose. Sort of.
Day one. First class is free. Beginners train in every class with everybody else. Day one live training is positional, no submissions, and somebody experienced is looking after you the whole time.
The paperwork. Month to month. No contract, no sign-up fee, no cancellation penalty, nobody’s going to put you on the phone with a retention specialist. $160 a month for unlimited adult no-gi jiu jitsu in Bastrop. All of it published.
The room. That one’s yours to judge and we wouldn’t want it any other way. What we can tell you is that over 110 people left us Google reviews averaging 5.0, and Bastrop voted us the #1 Best Martial Arts Gym in Bastrop County in 2025. Come see if it holds up.
And if you want the longer version of what we think a great gym even is, philosophy and all, we wrote a whole opinionated thing about it.
Go Use the List
Six questions. They work on any gym in any town, and we’d rather you ask them everywhere than take our word for anything.
If you’re around Bastrop and want to run them on us in person, we’re inside Bastrop Fitness Project at 303 Martin Luther King Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602. Off Hwy 71, by the Buc-ee’s, in the greatest city on Earth.
First class is free. No experience, no gear, no commitment. Just show up.
Discounts for active duty military, veterans, law enforcement, and first responders.
Book your free trial class at 10th Planet Airlock →
Or call us: (512) 271-5260
Or email: airlockbjj@gmail.com
See you in class.
10th Planet Airlock | 303 Martin Luther King Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602 | Inside Bastrop Fitness Project | Voted #1 Best Martial Arts Gym in Bastrop County 2025 | We Defy Foundation Partner
