If your question isn't answered here, just ask. We'd rather have a real conversation than have you guess.
10th Planet is a no-gi Brazilian jiu jitsu system created by Eddie Bravo, who earned his black belt under Grand Master Jean Jacques Machado.
What makes it distinct is that it was built for no-gi from the ground up, rather than taking gi techniques and stripping the grips out. That's where positions like the rubber guard, the truck, and the twister come from — they only make sense in a world without a jacket to hold onto.
It has a reputation for creativity and for refusing to sit still. The system is expected to keep evolving, which is a big part of why it works as well as it does in MMA and submission grappling.
Yes, and for a specific reason: most real fights end up on the ground, and that's exactly where jiu jitsu operates.
Rather than trading strikes — which favors whoever is bigger and hits harder — jiu jitsu teaches you to close the distance, control an opponent's body, and end the situation with leverage and position. That's what makes it work for someone who isn't the biggest or strongest person in the room.
It's also honest training. You practice against a fully resisting partner every session, so you find out what actually works rather than what looks good in a demonstration.
Coach Adam Sachnoff — founder and head instructor. A first-degree black belt awarded by Eddie Bravo, with 17 years of experience, multiple championships, and world-championship-level competition. Adam teaches the afternoon and evening classes.
Coach Frank Chen teaches our 6:00 AM morning classes. Frank is a brown belt with 8 years of training.
Coach Ian Sulcer leads the entire kids program. He earned his black belt from Coach Adam in June 2025 after nearly a decade of dedicated training.
Gi training uses the traditional kimono, and grips on the jacket and pants become a huge part of the game — it tends to be slower and more methodical, closer to a chess match.
No-gi is trained in a rashguard and shorts. With no cloth to grab, control comes from body position, underhooks, and grips on limbs. It's faster, sweatier, and harder to hold someone down.
Our adult classes are no-gi in the 10th Planet system. Our kids program trains in the gi, which suits how kids build patience, grip strength, and discipline at that age.
Honestly? It's about mindset, not athleticism. Someone who's out of shape but genuinely trying will always belong here. Someone technically gifted who drains the room does not.
What we celebrate is effort, consistency, a good attitude, and the willingness to keep showing up when it's hard. What has no place here is flakiness, half-effort, disrespect, or dangerous sparring — regardless of skill level.
If you want a place where people root for each other and hold each other accountable, this is it. If you're after something casual and convenient, we're probably not the right fit — and that's genuinely okay.
Yes — 3 free classes, used within one week of your first class. No payment info required to book.
You'll train in a regular group class alongside our members from day one. There's no separate beginner intro class and no watered-down preview, because we want you to experience exactly what you'd be signing up for.
The trial is a one-time offer for local residents who are genuinely considering membership. If you're visiting from out of town or already used your trial, we have day passes instead.
Book online through our Get Started page. Pick a class time, reserve your spot, and show up.
All first visits must be scheduled in advance — we don't accept walk-ins. That isn't us being difficult; it's so your coach knows you're coming and can give you real attention instead of noticing a new face mid-warmup.
Street parking. There's usually plenty right on Amphlett, and 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue are right there as backup.
On busier evenings you may end up walking a block — worth building a couple of extra minutes into your arrival time, especially on your first visit.
Arrive 10–15 minutes early. You'll meet your coach, fill out a quick waiver, and get shown around so you're not wandering.
Class starts with a warm-up, moves into drilling the day's technique with a partner, and finishes with live rounds. As a first-timer you'll be paired with someone experienced who'll walk you through it, and you're never obligated to spar on day one.
Tell whoever greets you that it's your first class. We'll take it from there.
Completely. Every single person on our mats walked in that first day not knowing anyone and not knowing what they were doing.
The nerves are the price of admission, and they burn off faster than you'd expect — usually somewhere in the middle of that first class, when you realize nobody's judging you and everyone's just training.
The hardest part is the parking lot. Once you're through the door, we've got you.
None. Most people who walk through our door have never grappled a day in their life.
Our classes are all-levels, which means you'll be learning next to people at every stage. That's on purpose — experienced students help newer ones, and teaching something is how you find out whether you actually understand it.
No. And I mean that personally.
Before I found jiu jitsu I was over 300 pounds, depressed, and going nowhere. After my first class something clicked. I trained twice a day, six days a week, lost more than 80 pounds, and I've kept it off for over eleven years.
Nobody here is going to look at you sideways for being out of shape. You'll work at your own pace, you'll be tired, and you'll get better. Waiting until you're "ready" is just a longer way of not starting.
— Coach Adam
Almost certainly not. We have students starting in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
Jiu jitsu is skill-based — leverage, timing, and position matter far more than athleticism. That's exactly why it rewards people who train smart, and why older students often progress faster than the athletic 22-year-old trying to muscle through everything.
No, and this is worth understanding about how our room works.
Our classes are all-levels by design. Experienced members help newer ones — that's not charity, it's part of how they earn their own progression. When you join, you're not just taking; you become a resource for the person who walks in after you.
Only when you're ready. New students typically start with positional drilling — working a specific situation with a cooperative partner — before moving into full live rounds.
Nobody is going to throw you to the wolves. And dangerous sparring has no place here regardless of who's doing it; that's a standard we enforce, not a suggestion.
It's a contact sport, so let's be honest — you'll be sore, and bumps and bruises happen. But jiu jitsu is one of the safer martial arts precisely because there's no striking.
The tap is the entire safety mechanism. When you're caught, you tap, your partner releases, you reset and go again. Learning to tap early and without ego is one of the first things we teach.
All classes are supervised by instructors, and reckless training partners get corrected fast.
Yes — that's the founding premise of the art. Jiu jitsu was built so a smaller person could control and defeat a larger, stronger one using leverage, position, and technique.
Training with bigger partners is how you learn to use it properly, because you can't fake your way through with strength.
Often yes, but talk to us first — and talk to your doctor.
Plenty of our students train around bad knees, surgically repaired shoulders, and backs that have seen better days. Tell your coach before class what's going on, and you can modify or sit out anything that puts it at risk.
What we won't do is pretend an injury doesn't exist and hope for the best.
Yes — and I'm going to be straight with you instead of selling you something.
Right now we have only a few women training regularly, and more often than not you'll be the only woman in class. I'd like to tell you otherwise, but you'd find that out on day one anyway, and I'd rather you hear it from me first.
Here's what that does and doesn't mean.
It means you'll be training with men most of the time. Jiu jitsu is close-contact — that's the nature of the art. So the standard on our mats isn't negotiable: respect, control, and paying attention to your partner. Anyone who makes a training partner uncomfortable doesn't stay a member here, and that's not a call I've ever had to think twice about.
It does not mean you'll be handled like you're fragile, or quietly left out of the hard rounds. You'll train, you'll be coached properly, and you'll get better.
I want more women on these mats, and I'm not going to get there by pretending we're already there. What we need are a few women willing to be early — to build the foundation that makes it easy for the twenty who come after. If that's you, you'll have my full attention and support.
And if you'd rather train somewhere that already has a room full of women, I understand completely. No hard feelings — go train somewhere. The art is worth it either way.
If you want to talk any of this through before committing to anything, call me at 415 218 8848 or email info@10thplanetsm.com.
— Coach Adam
Open mats are members-only, and we ask that you have 10 classes in or a coach's okay before jumping in.
That isn't gatekeeping for its own sake. Open mat is unstructured live training with no instruction running — you'll get far more out of it, and keep yourself and your partners safer, once you've got some fundamentals and know how to move.
Once you're in, it's some of the best training available. Ask a coach when you're ready.
There's no fixed timeline, but realistically expect one to three years per belt, and eight to twelve years to black belt with consistent training.
What moves that number: how often you train, how much you actually retain, whether you can apply it under pressure in sparring and competition, and your attitude on the mat.
That last one isn't filler. Someone technically gifted who drains the room doesn't get promoted here ahead of someone who shows up, works hard, and makes the people around them better.
Two to three times per week is the sweet spot for steady progress without wrecking yourself.
Consistency beats intensity every time. Someone who trains twice a week for a year will be dramatically better than someone who trains six days a week for a month and then disappears.
We run three groups, all led by Coach Ian Sulcer:
Those ages are a starting point rather than a hard rule — see the next question on how we actually place kids.
Coach Ian earned his black belt here in June 2025 after nearly a decade of training, and he has a rare knack for taking the most energetic, unfocused kid in the room and turning them into a disciplined practitioner.
Age is one factor, not the whole answer. We also look at developmental level, size, focus, coordination, and athletic ability.
That cuts both ways. Some kids are ready to move up before the listed age. Others do better staying put a while longer — a six-year-old still working on focus is usually better served in Tiny Jitsu than pushed into Mini where they'd struggle and lose confidence.
We usually sort this out during the trial. We'll start your child in the class matching their age. If you have a strong preference, or they're close to the edge of another group, or there's some other reason to think a different class fits better — say so and we'll try it during the trial and see how they do.
After that we keep watching. When it makes sense to move a kid up, Coach Ian will tell you. And if you have a view on where your child fits, tell us. On day one you know them far better than we do.
Yes. Our kids program is a gi program, while our adult classes are no-gi in the 10th Planet system.
The gi is deliberate for kids: it slows the pace down, builds patience and grip strength, and reinforces the discipline of putting on a uniform for training. A gi is included with enrollment, so you don't need to buy one first.
There's no striking in jiu jitsu — no punching, no kicking, no head contact. Kids learn movement, positional control, escapes, and technique.
Coach Ian structures classes tightly by age and size, supervises every round, and stops anything that gets careless. Kids also learn to tap and to respect a partner's tap from day one, which is the habit that keeps them safe.
Confidence that's earned rather than handed out. A kid who gets submitted, figures out why, and comes back the next day changes in a way no participation trophy achieves.
Beyond that: focus, because you can't drift off mid-round. Respect, the kind you give and earn rather than demand. Real physical literacy. And the ability to handle bullying — not just because they can defend themselves, but because kids who've been tested don't rattle easily, and bullies look for easy targets.
Discipline, focus, teamwork, fitness, and respect aren't a poster on our wall. They're the things Coach Ian is actually watching for when he decides who's ready to move up.
Kids earn a maximum of one stripe per month, and it's earned by showing up and working: 8 classes in a month with good effort and attitude puts the stripe on the table.
How many stripes make a new belt depends on the program:
Junior takes twice as long on purpose. The skill expected at that level is deeper, and a belt earned there should mean something.
Stripes and new belts are both awarded at belt promotion ceremonies, held every four months. We do it that way deliberately — a stripe handed over quietly at the end of class doesn't mean the same thing as one earned in front of the whole room with their family watching. Progress should feel like it cost something.
Yes — we ask that a parent or guardian stays on site for kids classes.
For Tiny Jitsu (ages 3–5), parent participation on the mat is required every class. Kids that age need one-to-one adult engagement to stay focused, and we won't pretend we can safely replicate that without you out there.
For Mini and Junior, you don't need to be on the mat — watching is fine — but please stay in the building. We're a training academy, not a drop-off program, and we're not staffed to supervise kids before or after their class while another group is running.
For older, more independent Junior students we're open to talking about it case by case. Just ask.
A parent or legal guardian must attend the first visit for all kids classes, no exceptions.
Please reach out to me directly and let's talk.
My younger son Theo has Pitt Hopkins syndrome, so I understand special needs parenting from the inside — the uncertainty, the logistics, and the exhaustion of having to explain your kid to people who don't get it. You will not have to do that here.
We'll have an honest conversation about whether we're the right fit and what accommodations would actually make sense. I won't make promises I can't keep. But no family gets turned away without a real conversation first.
Call me at 415 218 8848 or email info@10thplanetsm.com.
— Coach Adam
Most kids do well at two to three times per week. Starting at twice a week and building up as they get hooked is a perfectly good plan.
Consistency matters more than volume, especially for younger kids where the habit of showing up is half the lesson.
Not at all. Most of our kids never compete, and they still get everything the program has to offer.
For kids who show the drive and the readiness, Coach Ian runs a Kids Competition Class on Fridays at 5:00 PM — drilling, live rounds, and sharpening what they already know under pressure.
That class is invite only. Coach Ian will let you know when your child is ready for it, so there's nothing you need to sign up for or ask about.
A t-shirt and athletic shorts you don't mind sweating in. That's it.
Avoid anything with pockets, zippers, buttons, or metal — fingers and toes get caught in them and it hurts. Leave jewelry at home, and bring a water bottle.
Kids: normal workout clothes for the first class. A gi comes with enrollment.
No. Come in workout clothes and see whether you like it first.
Once you're training regularly you'll want a rashguard and shorts, and we'll point you at what's worth buying. Sign up online and your gear is on us — a free rashguard for adults, a free gi for kids.
Non-negotiable, because everyone's health depends on it:
If you notice anything on your skin you're unsure about, tell a coach. We'd rather you ask than guess.
Yes, and you should know that going in.
Anyone can record — coaches, students, and parents. We shoot content for social media, and students end up in it. Training with us means being reasonably comfortable with the possibility of appearing in a photo or video.
If you or your child would rather not be filmed, tell us and we'll do our best to keep you out of it. But we won't promise what we can't control: on a busy mat you might still end up in the background of a class shot taken by a coach, another student, or another parent.
If that's a real concern for your family, let's talk about it before you enroll rather than after.
Yes. We have showers, and you can change in the restroom or in our changing tent.
Bring a towel and a change of clothes if you're heading somewhere afterward — especially if you're training on a lunch break.
All current pricing for adults and kids is on our Get Started page — month-to-month, 6-month, and 12-month options, with the prepaid plans discounted.
There's a one-time enrollment fee on all new memberships. Kids' enrollment includes their gi.
Yes — 25% off a second family member, 50% off a third and beyond.
We do that despite being a smaller school with limited mat space, because not every decision is about money. There's nothing better than families training together, and a parent rolling alongside their kid creates something that outlasts any individual class.
Family discounts don't stack with paid-in-full discounts — you take whichever saves you more. Contact us and we'll set it up.
Month-to-month memberships require 7 days' written notice to cancel. Any payment that processes within that 7-day window is final and non-refundable.
Paid-in-full memberships are non-refundable.
We keep this simple and we don't make it hard to leave — but we do need the notice in writing.
Yes, with two conditions: pauses are done in monthly increments, and they require 7 days' written notice.
We don't prorate or compensate short absences. A missed week here and there is just life, and our schedule is open enough that you can usually pick the time up elsewhere. Pausing is for real gaps — an injury, an extended trip, a stretch of work travel.
If you're dealing with an injury, talk to us. We'd far rather pause you and get you back than lose you entirely.
The academy doesn't schedule or run private lessons directly.
Several of our coaches do teach privates independently and are welcome to use our mat space. If you're interested, ask us and we'll point you toward the right coach for what you're working on — you'd arrange the details and rate with them directly.
They don't roll over — and the reason matters more than the policy.
Your plan covers a number of classes per week, and our schedule is completely open. You can mix and match any class in your child's age group, any week that works for you. Some months that shakes out to five classes, some months nine. We don't charge more or less either way.
What we don't want is a kid doubling up next week to make up for one they missed. Jiu jitsu isn't something a casual student should be cramming to get their money's worth — that's how kids burn out and get discouraged, and burnout costs you far more than a missed class ever will. The 3× and Unlimited plans exist for kids genuinely training at a higher, more competitive level, not as a way to bank sessions.
For longer absences — illness, family travel — you can pause your membership in monthly increments with 7 days' notice. Just ask.
One exception to the open schedule: Friday's Kids Competition Class is invite only.
Yes. Give us a call or ask at the front desk and we'll set it up.
Only if you choose to be. Month-to-month has no commitment beyond the 7-day notice period.
The 6- and 12-month paid-in-full options exist because some people want the discount and the accountability of having committed. Both are genuinely optional.
Please do — visiting grapplers are genuinely welcome. We offer day passes and longer visitor passes on our Get Started page.
Book in advance so we know you're coming. Drop-in rates are for out-of-town visitors; local residents need a membership to train on an ongoing basis.
Come train with us as a courtesy — same family, same system.
Two things we ask first. Contact us before you come, and be ready to verify your active membership. Either send us your instructor's contact info, or have them email info@10thplanetsm.com or message us on Instagram at @10thplanetsanmateo.
That's not us being difficult. The courtesy is for active 10th Planet members, and verifying takes about two minutes. It isn't a way around a membership.
You're welcome to, and you're also welcome to just take the free class instead — watching jiu jitsu tells you far less than doing it.
Either way, contact us first so we know to expect you.
Ask us. We'd rather answer honestly than have you talk yourself out of something that could change your life.