Why Is Jiu-Jitsu So Expensive?

As Ryan Young of Kama Jiu-Jitsu in Texas explains in the below video, he started doing jiu-jitsu more than 35 years ago. It was 1989 and he was paying $80 each month to train three days a week with Relson Gracie in a room where local cheerleaders practiced. The cheerleaders wore shoes on the mats, so everyone’s gis would be stained brown by the end of every session.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was worth it to train with a Gracie. Moreover, there weren’t many options if you wanted to train jiu-jitsu in the late 80s and early 90s, even if you were in Southern California.

As jiu-jitsu became more popular throughout the next decade, Ryan saw the number of schools proliferate. More schools meant more people could train jiu-jitsu without having to travel huge distances, which was a good thing. However, it also meant that students began training under instructors who were not members of the Gracie family.

This created a problem that still exists today. Chances are you’re not going to train directly under a Gracie. There may be a lot of them, but it’s nowhere near enough to supply every town and city where there’s a demand for jiu-jitsu gyms. This begs the question: How can you tell if your local academy is worth the money?

Prestige and Location

If you live in a city with a lot of jiu-jitsu academies, you’ll realize very early on that not all jiu-jitsu gyms offer the same kind of experience. Similarly, they don’t charge the same rates for membership. There are several reasons why not all gyms are the same price, with some of the most important reasons being prestige and location.

There are far more people who want to train directly under a member of the Gracie family in 2025 than there were in 1991. As a result, it’s going to cost you more than $80 per month for the privilege to do so. The more people who are willing to pay top dollar for that experience, the more the gym will be able to charge.

Of course, it’s not just members of the Gracie family who can demand a higher rate. If a gym gains a reputation because the instructor trained under a member of the Gracie family, and that instructor has made a name for themselves as a great teacher or star within the world of martial arts, they will also be able to set membership rates at a higher price point. To use Ryan’s gym as an example, he, Dave Kama, and Fernando Costa are teaching Rickson Gracie’s form of jiu-jitsu, so they can ask a higher rate.

In either case, it’s simply a matter of supply and demand. The more people who want to train under any given instructor, the more that instructor will be able to ask. If the instructor is just a purple belt who has never met a Gracie, trained under anyone who has won a major tournament, or spent a lot of time teaching, they won’t be able to ask for nearly as much.

Another factor is rent. If the gym is in a high-rent area like Midtown Manhattan, the gym’s owners are going to be paying a higher rent than a gym in areas with lower rent. To cover that expense, they will have to charge more.

Other Factors to Consider

In most cases, you get what you pay for. If the school has cut-rate prices, that will attract a lot of people. That means larger classes, a lower instructor to student ratio, more wear and tear to equipment, and a less hands-on experience. The instructor will not have time to give you little one-on-one sessions during class, so you’ll be left to sink or swim. Some people can thrive in that environment, especially if they develop a good relationship with a core group of training partners.

However, it’s not for everybody.

If you are a person who wants an instructor who is more involved with your growth and development, as well as an environment where the class size is small and you can get your bearings and learn some technique before you’re expected to roll with another student, you’ll likely have to pay for that experience.

As Ryan advises, “Don’t compare schools based on the price of their tuition. Compare them to the overall value you get from training there.”