Category: BJJ

For a combative sport that involves two players facing each other from a standing position, a stance is of paramount importance. If you don’t pay attention to your stance in BJJ, you won’t be able to get the position or technique right. 

How you stand, where your feet are pointed, how is your body weight distributed and the position of your body are all important factors to consider. That’s what stance in BJJ is all about. It gets you to a good start and gives you the kind of momentum you need to execute your technique and bring the competition to the conclusion you desire with a submission.

Ironically, stance is one of the least covered and talked about aspects of BJJ. Despite its importance, you won’t find much information about it. Your teacher will touch on it in passing and assume you get the point without much elaboration. But as we all know, not everyone has the ability to grasp concepts intuitively. So we put together this post about stance in BJJ.

Stance in BJJ

Since takedowns are an integral part of BJJ unlike other MMAs like Judo or Karate, this discipline pays extra attention to how you maintain your balance from a starting position and how you distribute your body weight. The last thing you’d want is for your opponent to catch you on the wrong foot or take advantage of your lack of balance.

Hence, the adoption of the wrestling stance. You face your opponent with your legs close to your body and your weight distribution leaning toward the front of your body rather than the back. You need your upper body muscles all alert and ready to engage. Grappling is as we know the heart and soul of BJJ, so your arms are usually the first to take action against the opponent.

That doesn’t mean that your legs stand around idly, if you get my drift. Far from it. While your arms are out and your hands are itching to get a hold of your rival’s Gi and grapple with them, your thighs have a role to play. Your feet are apart at shoulder distance and your knees are bent and relaxed. You don’t want to be tense or have stiff knees. That makes it easier for the opponent to take you off your feet.

Your eyes are on the opponent. Your peripheral vision engulfs the rival’s limbs but you’re really focussed on their arms. Your foot work matches that of a fencer. As the opponent moves, you move as well. If they come at you, you counter with your defense. You’re watching for a flaw in their stance to launch your offense. Of course, they are doing the same as well. 

From the first moment, your stance says a lot about you. If you get it right, your opponent will find it hard to penetrate your armor. If your stance needs working on, this makes the rival’s job much easier. BJJ stance can work either for or against you.

When you’re on the offense, the right stance helps you deliver your assault with great force. When you’re defending, a good stance maintains your balance and blocks the opponent’s attacks effectively.

Why is BJJ Stance so Important?

While stance is important in all combative sports, in BJJ it has special benefits. Why? Because in BJJ both your face and crotch are not protected. And while you’re not really going to kick your opponent the way Karate players do, you still need to take into account that both those areas need to be guarded.

In Karate for example, the player’s stance focuses on the hips. That’s because they’re going to launch their attack using their legs if they need to. But in BJJ, if you’re starting from a standing position, then grappling is your go-to strategy. This is why balance is crucial both as a defense and offense mechanisms.

When we say balance, we mean how your body weight is distributed. If you lean forward too much you leave your legs and feet vulnerable to an attack. If you lean too much on your feet, your upper body loses the momentum you need to grapple and fend off a frontal assault from the opponent.

But as you know it’s not always black and white in BJJ. There are no clear cut answers. How you place your feet sometimes comes down to personal preference. Some players choose to keep both legs level. This is the wrestling stance. Others choose one leg leading forward the way Karate players do.

But stance is not just about where you place your feet. So let’s explore the different types of stances and what each one means and entails.

Open vs. Closed Stances

When you start with one leg leading, you have two options. Either the open or closed stance. The difference is in the distance between the leading leg and your other leg at the back. In general, the open stance is preferred over the closed one and you can probably see where this is going.

Remember we talked about balance and weight distribution as essential aspects of a good BJJ stance. When you keep your legs close you are not maintaining a good balance. Your stance is awkward at best. Your body weight is focused on a few points which means that a good grapple will make you at the mercy of your opponent. So you need to go with the open stance instead.

The right distance between your feet is a matter of personal choice. It depends on how tall you are and how wide your legs can open without you careening like a ship at a rough sea. Tall players can have a more open stance and this helps them cover more of the mat and look more intimidating.

But this is BJJ. So no matter what your height is, you can still achieve the right stance that correlates to your body size and give you a great advantage.

Long vs. Short Stances

While open stances refer to the distance between your legs laterally, whether you keep your legs on the same level or should you place one in front of the other is also up for debate. We already covered that when we talked about the difference between the wrestler stance and Karate stance.

So if you decide to go with the Karate stance, how far should your lead leg be from the back leg? Experts have varying opinions here as well. A long stance means your front leg is way ahead of your body. It is favored because it gives you more balance and allows you better reach as well.

But a short stance has its merits as well. It makes you more agile and alert. You can shift gear so to speak in a heartbeat and change your strategy quickly. So which one is better?

It’s a matter of choice. You can try both and go with the one that works best for you. But if you can’t make up your mind, you can just keep your feet shoulder-width apart. This one works well in most situations and gives you balance and agility at the same time. The best of both worlds.

Weighted vs. Unweighted Stances

Weight is undoubtedly what makes stances in BJJ such a debatable topic. A weighted stance throws your weight on either your upper or lower body. An unweighted stance, on the other hand, means you have your weight well proportioned between both your feet. Your weight is equally shared and supported by each foot.

Whether you go with the weighted as opposed to the unweighted stance depends on the type of stance you choose from either the wrestler or Karate types. A wrestler stance is unweighted. Your feet carry your weight in equal proportions. You have good balance and your stance allows you to go on the offensive or fend off an attack.

It’s the Karate stance that is a little more complicated. Since you got one leg forward, your weight can either go with that leg or you can choose to throw your weight on the rear leg. The first one is well suited for the offense. You have chosen to launch an assault and you need your weight in your upper body. 

The backward-weighted stance is when you’re on the defense and you need to hold your ground against an especially aggressive opponent. 

As you progress on your BJJ journey and get the basics down, your stance will develop on its own. You might choose to stick with one stance that works for you all the time. Or you might mix your stances to keep your opponent guessing and make it harder for them to read you or know your game plan.

To drill or not to drill? Many BJJ players are asking themselves this question nowadays. And they have a good reason to want to do away with drilling altogether. They see it as a boring part of their practice that involves doing the same thing over and over again. Where’s the fun in that?

Rolling is more exciting and it helps you become a stronger player and hone your skills and techniques. But how would you acquire those skills and techniques in the first place? Drilling, that’s how. So if you want to progress at a fast pace in BJJ, you’re going to need both drilling and rolling. They are the two wheels of the bicycle. Take one wheel off and you’re left with a funny but unfunctional bike.

But are they both of equal importance to your skill progression in BJJ? Or does one outweigh the other? Which one is that? Let’s explore the role that both rolling and drilling play in your journey and how to get the most out of both of them.

Should you Drill?

Absolutely. You know all those skills that you use on the mat while sparring? All those moves that get you out of a tight spot and all the techniques that you know so well? Drilling is how you got them to begin with. Just think of the first day at the academy. The very first class when you sat in a circle or a rectangle, butterflies in your stomach and awe in your heart.

Back then you didn’t know anything about BJJ. Maybe you have watched a few videos, but you had no skills to help you and you didn’t know the first thing about defense and offense techniques and positions. And look at you now, sparring against the best of them and your movement is fluid and your mastery of the basic techniques is decent. How did that happen?

This knowledge didn’t just descend on you in your sleep. You didn’t acquire it through magical powers. You spent hours learning and mastering them. That’s what drilling did to you. It’s tedious and not as fun as sparring. But it’s an essential part of your progress. That’s how you learn the concepts, techniques, and positions. And then you can put them into practice on the mat against your colleagues and classmates.

In other words, we remain students in BJJ no matter what color the belt we wear around our waist nor how many stripes we have. Ask any black belt and they’ll tell you how they learn something new every day. BJJ is a large discipline and wrapping one’s head around every aspect of it takes long years of learning and studying.

So while it’s boring to keep repeating the same technique over and over, it’s the only way to get better and learn the ins and outs of it. Some people learn with repetition, others pick it up and run with it. But both types can’t do without drilling. It’s just part of your BJJ life.

When to Call it a Day for Drilling?

With all these advantages that drilling has, there comes a time when you say enough is enough. Drilling can’t give me any more or I can’t get much more out of it. The repetition gets to you and you yearn to the excitement of sparring and mix it up with other players on a more realistic level.

And that’s the operative word. Drilling just isn’t realistic. You know that your training partner or your teacher isn’t giving it their all. The goal is not to get you to submit, but to teach you a certain technique. And for the sake of learning, competitiveness gets thrown out the window. And that’s one of the biggest drawbacks of drilling.

You just lose your motivation and get stuck in a rut. You’re learning new techniques, but you’re not really using them. You know how to execute, but your creativity is taking a back seat while you learn the next new position. And let’s face it, that’s not going to help you in the long run.

BJJ is a perfect balance between learning and acting. It’s more like performing arts. You need to feel it inside in order to express the emotion. And if you’re more focussed on drilling and putting tournaments and competitions on the back burner, you’re not doing yourself any favors there. You need both. So when do you know that you need to up the rolling dose and cut down on drilling?

You’ll feel it inside of you. That urge to do something different. Like a revving engine that urges you to release the brakes so that it roars forward, you’ll feel that energy surging. If your teacher doesn’t nudge you toward taking part in a tournament, your teammates will. And once you get a taste of what sparring is in an official capacity and what it feels like, there’s no turning back.

Why Rolling Matters?

To answer this question we need to get down to the brass tacks. What is BJJ all about? It’s a self-defense system, right? What that implies is, you’re being under assault. Your enemy looks for your soft spot and hits you hard. You need to get in the same fighting spirit if you want to come out victorious. You’re not trying to hurt the opponent, mind you, you’re just trying to control their movement and get them to submit.

The underlying tone here is the competitive spirit. You won’t get that from drilling no matter how many hours, days, months, or years you practice. Competitiveness comes from competitions. It’s right there in the name. And sparring is what instills that spirit or rather wakes it up in you. Whether you’re facing a mugger in the street or an opponent on the mat, your fighting spirit is what will see you through the ordeal.

It’s not a given. It doesn’t come nicely packaged and delivered right to your door. It’s something you need to work on, cultivate, and nourish. And live sparring is the best way to get there. This is why there are BJJ tournaments in the first place. Unlike other martial arts such as Karate, BJJ tournaments are all about sparring. You don’t see a single player executing techniques solo and getting awards for it. To defend yourself against danger, you have to put yourself in the way of danger many times. And a competition is the right way. 

So how do you get prepared for a live tournament? Rolling is the answer. You might get good mileage out of drilling, but rolling is the rehearsal before the grand opening. Sometimes rolling can be the soft opening as well. When adrenaline starts pumping and you feel every fiber in your body rising to the occasion. This is your mind calling on your body to give it all it got. That’s the fighting spirit rising and taking over.

Striking a Good Balance between Drilling and Rolling

We already established that you need both drilling and sparring to become a better BJJ player. But sometimes it’s hard to draw a line or strike a balance between them. So when is it a good time to give drilling a break and engage in more sparring? 

While sparring is a wonderful thing, it comes at a price. The risk of injury is higher during rolling than during drilling. Your teacher will not harm you and keeps a watchful eye on your movement to ensure you get the position right without injuring yourself or your mates. But when you’re sparring it’s a different ball game. All caution is thrown to the winds and what matters to you is to force your opponent to submit or pass the guard.

It’s common knowledge that tempers heat up during sparring and cascading testosterone might escalate and turn a friendly rolling session into a fight. That’s not what you’re there for and nobody wants that. But it happens. If that happens to you, maybe it’s time to go back to drilling more. 

In general, your first few years in BJJ will be marked by more drilling than rolling. That’s the normal order of things. You need to learn the technique from your teacher before you can use it against an opponent. As you climb your way past the blue belt, that’s when rolling starts to occupy more of your time and attention.

By the time you’ve earned your purple belt, you’ll realize that rolling has a lot to thank for. Your progress becomes faster as you spend more time sparring than drilling. Mind you, the lines blur sometimes between the two. You might step onto the mat for a sparring session only to realize that you actually needed to try out a variation for a certain technique. It’s all good in the world of BJJ.

Both karate and BJJ are self-defense systems whose origins come from Japan. But that’s as far as the similarities go. From uniform to rules and ranking systems, the divide between both sports couldn’t be any wider.

Karate is more focused on punching, kicking, and using elbows and knees, BJJ is mostly about grappling and controlling the movement of the opponent. But that’s not the only difference. Even the ranking system varies widely. While BJJ has only 5 belts, karate has 8 belts and keeps progressing after the black belt with degrees or dans. 

Each sport has its advantages and disadvantages. Based on your goal, you might choose one of them over the other. This article helps you make the right decision and join the system you feel is more relatable or helps you achieve your goals. 

Origins

While BJJ is a relatively new sport that was developed a little over a hundred years ago in Brazil, most of its rules and philosophy are built upon Judo. When Mitsuyo Maeda traveled to Brazil to introduce that ancient discipline to Latin America, little did he know that he would inadvertently help establish a new sport. The Brazilians absorbed the new system and created BJJ out of it.

The Gracie brothers are credited for developing that new sport. One of the brothers, Helio, was too short to perform all the Judo techniques and resorted to developing a parallel system that didn’t require the player to have an athletic body type to perform it well. So in a way BJJ is a sport that lets people of all sizes defend themselves against aggressors who outweigh them.

Karate is a much older system. It’s also a self-defense discipline that allows the practitioner to fight off an opponent who might or might not be armed. In the 17th century, the Japanese government banned weapons including swords and knives. So karate, which means “empty hands” was the response to that ban.

Karate was influenced by Kenpo, a Chinese discipline that was introduced to Japan when some Chinese families migrated there. Whatever the origins of karate are, one thing is for sure, it took a long time to evolve and become the sport we know it today. 

Modern karate has a lot to thank Itoso Anko for. He’s the grandfather of karate who helped shape it and even introduce it into Japanese schools. Many variations of the sport sprouted all over Japan including Goju, Wado, and Shito systems. 

Ranking System

Your progress throughout either sport is marked by belts with different colors. While they both start with a white belt the ranking system in Karate is more complex. Both BJJ and Karate use a black belt to signify the ultimate pinnacle of the belt system, although Karate still offers more progress markers, called dans, even after a player has earned their black belt.

Karate follows a rather more rigorous path for its practitioners to earn their belts, get promoted, and level up. For adults in the sport, there are 8 belts to be won. They start from white and progress to yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, and brown before the players reach the black stage of their journey.

But black isn’t the end of the road for Karate players. There are degrees to black belts that players progress through. These degrees are known as dans and the more dans a player earns the better their status in Karate is. To get promoted in Karate, a test is provided which the player or student has to ace much like in the educational systems worldwide.

As for BJJ, it’s a different story not much in the belt system but also in how belts are awarded to students who merit a promotion. In BJJ, there are only 5 belts to go through. They are white, blue, purple, brown, and finally black. It takes on average about 2 years to make it to the next belt which puts the journey of the player in BJJ to roughly about 10 years in total. It’s the same story in Karate.

But unlike Karate with its well-defined testing rules, BJJ is more laid back as far as promotions are concerned. Some academies have tests in place, but many just leave that step to the discretion of the teacher. If the teacher is satisfied with the progress of the student, they might award them the promotion at the end of the class. It’s as simple as that. 

Rules

For two sports that originated at different times and for different purposes, you can expect the rules to be distinct and unique for each discipline. So let’s talk about BJJ and its competition rules first.

BJJ is a point-based system much like Judo. The goal of the competition is to secure a submission. The competition has a time limit which grows smaller as the player levels up. In general, a takedown, knee on belly, or sweep earns the player 2 points, a guard pass is valued at 3 points, and a mount is a top scorer with 4 points. 

Under this point-system, only a limited number of submissions are allowed. However, there’s another type of BJJ competition that is submission-based. This one allows all types of submissions and points don’t matter.

While Karate is also a point-based system, you earn your points for a different type of fighting. Rather than securing a submission or controlling the opponent you straight out punch or kick them. Some of the points you earn are for Jodan kicks, Chudan kicks, and punches to the seven areas that we’ll get into more detail below.

Not all Karate competitions are about full body contact. Some are meant to show the player’s skills and techniques in a solo session. These types of competitions test the player based on their athletic performance in areas such as speed, balance, and strength. They also check their technical side of their game including timing, breathing, stance, and transition.

Fight Techniques

We already touched on the fighting differences between the two sports in passing. So let’s elaborate and detail the differences a little bit more. 

In BJJ the focus is on grappling. While the Japanese Jiu-Jitsu allows some form of striking the opponent, BJJ is purely a non-striking sport. Remember, that BJJ was developed to allow people of small size to take down opponents much larger than them. So in this sense, trying to strike a bigger opponent is both futile and leaves one vulnerable to a counterattack. 

This is why BJJ teaches one about choke-holds, takedowns, and joint locks. These three areas are what you’ll be spending most of your time learning about and mastering. BJJ is about grappling and controlling the movement of the opponent using one’s body weight. This is more effective when there’s a big size or weight disparity between the opponents.

In Karate, it’s a totally different story. As we said, Karate was the response to the weapons ban in Japan. It’s essentially a fighting discipline, where you try to take down your opponent by striking or punching their body. The golden rule here is that you need to aim for the upper part of the opponent’s body. This includes their face and torso. 

Kicks and punches are taught at Karate classes. And using your elbows and knees to strike down the opponent is not only allowed but embraced with enthusiasm. The force of your strike can tip the balance of power in your favor even if your opponent is a lot heavier than you or has a much bulkier frame.

Gear

In BJJ you step on the mat with nothing but your Gi and belt on. You rely on your skills and techniques to see you through the competition. But Karate is a little different. You still have to wear your Gi and belt during a tournament or in class, but some weapons, such as the famous bo, are allowed. 

The Karate Gi is also different from the BJJ Gi. For one thing, in Karate, your Gi is always white, loose, and made of light material. It’s designed to give you plenty of room to perform your kicks and punches without coming in the way of your movement. 

BJJ is a little different. The Gi can be of different colors but it has to be made of sturdy fabric. It needs to withstand all the grappling and pulling that the sport is famous for. Without the need to kick someone or raise your feet to the opponent’s face level, your Gi doesn’t have to be loose. Durability is the main feature of the BJJ Gi.

Both BJJ and Karate are popular sports that have their followers worldwide. While Karate is an older and a well-established discipline than BJJ, the latter is taking wide strides in conquering the hearts and minds of MMA practitioners everywhere.

The color ranking system in BJJ was set to chart the path of progress for practitioners. It’s not meant to be an end in and of itself. Each color has its own merits and responsibilities. But among all the belts, the purple belt stands out as a major milestone in your BJJ journey.

Purple is the color of coming into your own as a BJJ player. It’s the coming of age for everyone serious about their practice. You start to develop your sense of identity and style. This is the time when it all starts to make sense and instead of following instructions blindly, you begin to develop your own style.

So how does your path to the purple belt look like? And what do you need to work on as a purple belt? This article answers these and other questions.

Getting to Purple

You come to purple from blue. Your years wearing the blue belt have been spent learning about the basics of BJJ. You now know the main positions by heart. You’re familiar with a few variations to some of these basic techniques. And you have seen and been part to more than a few competitions.

Of course, getting to purple hasn’t been easy. Not only did you need to detect the patterns, but also connect the movements and know which technique can get you in trouble if you don’t pay attention to the opponent’s intentions. It’s more of anticipating their moves and acting accordingly. That’s when a blue belt starts to get into the mentality of a purple belt.

You also lose some of your tendency to be overly aggressive on the mat. You learn that BJJ at its heart is a self-defense discipline not one meant to be cracking skulls and crushing bones. So you develop the habit of watching and opponent and countering their moves. With practice it becomes automatic.

When you see the connections and patterns that signifies a shift in your thinking and development. You’re no longer looking at the positions in isolation. You can see the patterns and get insights, albeit insignificant ones at this stage, into the techniques. This budding conceptual thinking is what sets you up to be promoted.

Your teacher notices these improvements and they consider you for promotion. It’s when you show initiative learning about combos and set ups that finally awards you the coveted purple belt.

Coming into your Own

Purple means moving horizontally and vertically at varying speeds and paces. By horizontally I mean you’re covering a lot of ground in the technique department. It’s fair to say that the time you spend wearing purple will be used to learn about all the techniques that you’ll be using by the time you earn your black belt. 

You don’t limit yourself to just a few guards or positions that you have mastered. You get the urge to get out of your comfort zone and explore other positions that you haven’t considered so far. If for example you have found the butterfly guard not to your liking, you decide to give it another try. If the top positions used to give you a shudder, being a purple belt means you put away your fears and experiment with them.

And then there’s the vertical dive. You expand your horizons and learn to focus on movement. The transition between moves is just as important as getting the technique right. The fluid movement is what sets a mature player from a novice. And the player learns a lot sparring against blue and even white belts. It’s no longer about the outcome, but honing the skills and mastering each move and technique.

As a blue belt, you learned to connect moves and create a combo. Now you learn to pay attention to your rhythm. This is harder than many people think and the best way to learn it is to work with inexperienced students. That’s right. Being a purple belt means you take your first steps in the vast world of teaching other students.

Teaching as a Way to Learn

The best way to separate facts from fiction about a topic is to explain it to someone who doesn’t know anything about it. Assuming the role of a teacher or a mentor is a great responsibility. But its rewards for the teacher are immense. This is why purple belts are encouraged to become teachers. It’s an opportunity to look at the other side of the equation.

Naturally it’s not an easy step to switch roles and start flanking questions from curious beginners and answering with authority. It’s not a role for everyone. And many purple belts balk when they think about it. But it’s an important part of their journey and every player is encouraged to take part.

When you teach a technique or a move, and you watch a beginner get it wrong so many times, it dawns on you that moves are not separate. On their own they don’t lead to much. The real power of the move is in connection to what led to it and what comes after. Every move is like a single link in a chain. And if a chain is as strong as its weakest link, your technique is only as good as the worst move.

Teaching also is the gateway to great insights. Your brain shifts from a receptive mode to assuming a more proactive role where you examine and analyze rather than accept information as it is. This important step is necessary if you are to find your own identity in BJJ. This is the time when it all starts to make sense and you get an idea of what it means to be a BJJ practitioner. It’s not just a few techniques you learn, it’s way more than that.

More Competitions

If teaching beginners isn’t just your cup of tea, then try sparring with white belts. This mismatched competition isn’t for you to show off your skills and act all macho. It’s for you to discover the flaws in your style and help you shed the mentality of the student.

Learning from a teacher has its advantages, but just like watching too much TV, it puts you in a passive mode. Yes, you’re learning and practicing, but your brain is programmed to receive. You’re not in the driver’s seat. You’re sitting comfortably in a back seat and trusting the driver, your teacher, to deliver you safely to your destination.

You need to set that aside and take control for a change. You do that by sparring with low levels. You watch them make mistakes and you realize that maybe there’s another way to approach this top position. It’s also a great opportunity to try out those techniques and guards you’re not comfortable with. 

This all leads to getting into more competitions. By now you have enough knowledge to fill multiple books. But it’s the mat that is the real test of your skills. There’s also something about the competitive spirit that taking part in a tournament brings to the table. A tournament is a whole different game than a friendly competition or a training session with your buddies.

Competition brings out the real spirit of BJJ in the player. You dig deep and sometimes you surprise even yourself when you execute a movement with great skill. You’re not following the cue of a teacher. Out on the competition mat, it’s just you against the opponent. And sometimes it’s you against yourself. BJJ is a mental discipline before anything else.

Keep Learning

In BJJ, we remain students no matter what belt color we wear around our waist. And even though you have covered all the techniques you could possibly encounter and a few that you’ll probably never use, there’s still a lot to learn. And the path to learning isn’t limited to classes.

Someone once said that to get really good at BJJ you need to breathe BJJ. This means it becomes part of your life. You dedicate as much time to it as you can afford to spare. If you can go to classes every day, do so. It will make your progress even faster.

Youtube videos become part of your learning process. This is why we always include videos here to stress a point or show in more detail a complex technique. As a purple belt, you’ll be spending more time watching videos teaching you about various techniques and how to execute them elegantly. 

It always pays to watch the masters at work. And instructional videos are the best teachers. You can rewind and rewatch them many times over to get the subtle nuances of the move. Unlike a teacher at a class, you have thousands of videos available to you any time of the day or night who will answer your every question and patiently elaborate and detail the answers.

To be a purple belt means your path the black belt is well charted and clear in your mind. You’re in charge of your path and you’re on your way to achieve your goals.

Many BJJ beginners don’t see much difference between brown and black belts. They’re both years away and the lines seem to blur between those two distinct belts. But of course, there’s a huge difference between black and brown belts in BJJ. 

While the brown belt in BJJ is all about thinking conceptually, learning to plug the holes in their techniques and setting traps, the black belt is more about reflection and focusing on the big picture. Black belts also go into teaching and passing their knowledge and skill to the next generation.

As you progress on your BJJ journey, you’ll find out that the path isn’t linear and getting a promotion isn’t just about piling up knowledge and skill. BJJ is a way of life. At its heart, its core values guide you throughout your entire life. So it’s important to know how each belt marks a new milestone in one’s life. 

Brown Belt

The brown belt is someone who’s been in the game for many many years. The got the basics down well and they have lots and lots of knowledge. They know many offense and defense techniques and they know how to get themselves out of a tight spot. There’s nothing new to them in the general sense of the sport. 

Too much Information

A brown belt is someone who’s been through a lot of competitions. They have a lot of skill and their game is really good. But, among all the good techniques, they still have loads of unuseful fluff cluttering their mind and cramping their style in more ways than one. As you make your way from a white belt up, you tend to learn a lot of things along the way. However not all those things you learn are good or work in your favor.

After a while, that extra knowledge comes in the way. You find yourself in a tough situation, you know how to get out of it, you can see your way, but then you can’t execute the maneuver the way you’d imagined it. Why? Because you still have a lot of baggage. Small pieces of information that prevent you from honing your style. Like bugs in the code, they have to be eliminated and fixed.

Conceptual Thinking

Then you need to work on your conceptual thinking. That’s an important part of the discipline. It’s one thing to know all the details, but you have to take a step back and look at the technique or position from a new angle. You’re no longer absorbing information that your mentor is passing down to you. You’re processing that data, analyzing it, crunching the numbers, looking for flaws or ways to improve the technique. 

That’s what we mean by conceptual thinking. Instead of taking the information at face value, critical thinking steps in and cuts through the noise to get to the core of the technique. At some point in their development from a learner to an evaluator, the brown belt decides to have an opinion about everything they have learned so far. 

This is how you develop your own style. You no longer follow the same steps that you have been doing for years when facing an opponent on the mat. You start to go through each movement and decide for yourself whether this step could be improved on. Whether instead of reaching for the opponent’s wrist, it might be better to grab their thigh instead. 

Experiment, Distill, Improve

In a way, the brown belt is distilling the information they got from their teachers, the skills they learned along the way. This is important for them to get rid of all the garbage information that keeps them from reaching the heights they hope to achieve.

You might say that the brown belt starts to come into their own at that moment. They still accept feedback and criticism from the instructor and other players. But mainly, most of the work is internal. They look for weaknesses in their game and try to improve them. In a way this internalization is an important step towards the ultimate goal of earning the black belt.

Some brown belts take a break here. They might devote their time to teaching or they might just go away for a while. This too is important for their development. You need to take time off to digest all the information you have and process it all. Time off helps them lose the fluff and what remains is the good data.

Black Belt

Reaching this stage in their progress isn’t the end of the road for black belts. Just because you have the black sash around your waist, doesn’t mean you stop learning or improving. If anything, it’s quite the opposite. Learning never stops and black belts remain students of the game and discipline.

Comprehensive Learning

It’s one thing to learn the inside out of every technique and its many variations, and it’s a totally different thing to look at the situation from both sides. The two sides of the coin is the kind of thinking that a player who has been in the game for many years can achieve. 

Newton taught us that for every action there’s a reaction. The black belt is not only focussed on the action, but also the reaction. If I pass the guard to my left, what’s the opponent’s move or moves? And what if I decided to pass it to the right instead? Will that confuse them? Is the rival reading me like an open book? Should I mix my game a little? Or a lot?

This is the black belt’s thought process. And it doesn’t just happen on the mat. They think about BJJ all the time. Some even dream about it. That’s normal. Because so much commitment and dedication to the sport is the only way one can get the black belt. It’s a continuous process that never ends. 

This dual thinking allows you to anticipate the opponent’s next move. Instead of being surprised by something you didn’t expect, you’re ready for the opponent and you have a ready answer for that. Compare that to doing the same thing over and over. When confronted with a novel approach you lose your edge and go on the defensive.

Keep Plugging Holes

Since the learning doesn’t stop, so the uncovering of weaknesses in your game. The more you learn, the more convinced you become that you’re not perfect. Your game is far off from the summits you hope to achieve. You’re still far away from where you want to be.

So with new learning, the black belt discovers they’re still carrying baggage from their novice days. Things they have learned and they need to unlearn. Even after all these years, misinformation still lingers in the mind of the black belt and throw a wrench in the process. It’s unavoidable and you’d be surprised to know how many black belts still cling to concepts that they learned years ago.

This is why some black belts like to train against players of lesser experience. And they put themselves at a disadvantage as well. Why? So that hey can audit all the information they have learned and weed out the bad and useless one.

Someone once said that the best way to learn more about our beliefs is by explaining them to a child. The same concept applies to BJJ. Only instead of explaining the technique, the black belt tries to practice it in every variation possible. That’s when they get deep insights into the technique and learn the flaws as well as the strengths of each one.

Cover All your Bases

The idea here is that the more you know the better prepared you are for the unpredictable. And if there’s one thing sure on the mat, it’s how unpredictable your opponent can be. Maybe they discovered an old variation and would like to try it on you. If you’re not prepared, you might as well forfeit the match.

This is why the black belt strives to learn about all the techniques and positions even those they don’t usually use. Not only that makes them well rounded players, but also prepares them for their role as teachers. 

Imagine it’s your first day in your new role as a teacher or instructor at the academy and the first student asks you about a certain technique that you have never tried. You won’t look very much like a competent teacher if you brushed the question under the carpet or ignored it. You need to learn about all the techniques out there.

Even though both brown and black belts have immense levels of experience and knowledge under their belt, the differences between the two levels couldn’t be broader. While one of them is trying to sift through the piles of useless knowledge and understand their game better, the black belt is all about getting the big picture and going out of their way to learn more about the less known techniques.

In a sport where you sweat a lot like BJJ, hygiene is paramount. You shower after every class and you wash your Gi often. But what about your belt? Should you wash it too? With all the grappling and tugging, the belt gets dirty over time.

Many BJJ players refrain from washing their belt for fear of losing the stripes. But careful washing in lukewarm water will ensure the stripes don’t fall off. Machine washing tends to shrink the belt, so it would be better to handwash it. And if you do lose your stripes, just put them back on.

But the question of washing your BJJ belt is deeply rooted in superstition. As we’ll see later, many players especially those who compete in tournaments are a little sketchy when it comes to washing their belt. So let’s separate fact from fiction, dispel the myths, and ensure you show up to class in a clean Gi with a clean belt as well.

Should you Wash your Belt?

That shouldn’t even be an issue at all. Do you need to shower? Yes, you do. Do you have to wash your clothes? Absolutely. Unless you want to repel people off wherever you go. So the answer to the question of should you wash your belt is you definitely have to.

Apart from the hygienic aspects we just mentioned, there really is no reason for you to walk around in a stained and smelly belt. It’s not just appearances, but it also poses a health risk. When the belt absorbs sweat, that makes it fertile grounds for germs and fungus. 

Because of the intimate nature of BJJ where you get in contact with your opponent’s Gi and belt often, a germ-riddled belt can cause many skin diseases as well as respiratory ones. And it doesn’t take much friction to damage the skin of the player and transmit lethal germs inside their body. BJJ students go to the academy to learn about the discipline, not catch diseases.

And yes appearances matter. Just take a look at your teacher’s belt. Is it dirty or stained? Does it look like it hasn’t been washed in ages? Of course not. You should emulate your teacher in their adherence to good hygiene and go to class dressed in clean clothes. Your BJJ belt is no exception. It complements your whole image and instills confidence among your classmates.

Common Superstitions

But why do some BJJ players think twice about washing their belt? The answer to that, believe it or not, has to do with superstition. Now we all know that in competitions, players tend to go off the rails and associate certain objects with either good or bad luck. A certain player, for example, will not shave on the day of the tournament. Now, that player isn’t hoping to use their facial stubble to force the opponent into submission. It’s just superstition. The player associates an unshaved chin with luck. If they shave, they feel the universe isn’t on their side.

So what has washing the belt got to do with superstition? Well, for one thing, sometimes your stripes will fall off the belt during washing. Some players consider that a bad sign and it could mean they will lose the next match. Of course it’s easy to put the stripes back on the belt. But to the superstitious mind, losing the stripes is tantamount to losing the competition.

One can’t argue with superstition. So when a player values an unwashed belt and considers it a symbol of their fortitude and dedication. But what has a smelly belt got to do with one’s involvement in the sport? Nothing of course. But what has a black cat got to do with luck? Or why do some people avoid walking under a ladder or become jittery if they break a mirror? Superstition has no legs under the light of reason. 

And let’s not forget that BJJ is built on skill and reason, not voodoo. You don’t go to class to learn to cast a spell. You go there to learn techniques that require using your skills. Whether your belt is tattered or your stripes are awry will have zero effect on the outcome of the competition. 

Why you Need to Keep your Belt Clean

There are so many reasons, but we’ll just cover the main ones here. The first major reason why you need to keep your belt as well as your Gi clean at all times has to do with the health risks associated with dirty or stained belts. I think we can all agree that in these times, getting an infection is the last thing one would want.

More and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. To get in contact with a dirty belt exposes you to a fungal infection that causes a rash and might develop into something more serious. Allergy and rashes are not to be taken lightly. An untreated rash could become more than just an inconvenience. The longer it goes without being looked into, the higher the chances it would take years to get it fixed.

Then there’s hygiene. Just think about it for a second. Every time you get on the mat and your belt touches an opponent, small skin particles and droplets of sweat get absorbed by the belt. With time and with lack of washing, that skin and sweat pile up increase and pretty soon you’ll be walking around carrying DNA footprints of every player you ever went up against on the mat.

As far as souvenirs go, dead skin should be the last thing you want to be wearing around your waist. And since you come in touch with that belt more often than your opponents and classmates, that puts you at a higher risk of catching something nasty like the ringworm. It is responsible for many health inconveniences that you’d rather go through life without. 

How to Wash your Belt

Now that we have established the necessity for washing your BJJ belt, let’s talk about how you can avoid all those unpleasant side effects and keep a clean belt around your waist. Here are the best ways to go about it.

Handwash

When you ask a player why they don’t wash their belt, the first complaint they throw at you is that the belt shrinks with every wash. That may be true with machine wash which is why you need to need to switch to handwash instead. It might be a little bit of work, but the results are well worth the effort.

Don’t soak the belt since that will make it shrink. The idea is to dump the dirty belt in the pot using gentle detergent, give it a few squeezes and rubs then rinse it thoroughly. This will wash away not just the dirt, but also the odors of the detergent. You might want to use a softener to prevent that shrinking issue. It depends on the material the belt is made of.

Lukewarm Water

All mothers know that hot water causes clothes to shrink and wear out quickly. The combination of hot water and strong detergents is too much for the fabric to handle. First, the color fades, then the edges of the belt become tattered. This is why many players prefer a dirty belt over a worn-out one.

Cold water on the other hand doesn’t have the same destructive effect on the belt. If it’s winter and you’re not keen on putting your hands in icy water, then lukewarm water will do the job. As long as no steam comes off the pot, your fine and the belt is in no danger. Don’t use strong detergents. Shop for one more suited to delicate clothes. Also, steer clear from the dryer. It can put a strain on the belt material and speed out its wearing off.

The Stripes

Another problem with washing the belt has to do with the fragile stripes. It’s one more reason to opt for handwash over the washing machine. But even during handwashing the belt, the stripes tend to fall off. So what can you do about that?

Simple. Just put them back on. The stripes are not a permanent fixture anyway. As you progress with your training, you’ll earn more stripes to add to the ones already there. So don’t stress over the missing stripes. 

Another thing to consider is that the stripes are taped. So while washing and ironing the belt, don’t give the stripes the rough treatment. I recommend you use waterproof stripes that don’t come off easily and don’t lose their color or shape when put into water.

A better way to keep the stripes on the belt at all times even during washing is to stitch them yourself. With a needle and thread trace around the edges and make the stripes a permanent part of the belt itself.

If you’re one of those people who have to bend their head every time they pass through an open door, you must be wondering how you can use your height to your advantage in BJJ. Unlike other sports like boxing where being a little squatter can work wonders for you, with Mike Tyson being a shining example, BJJ favors the tall and lanky.

The top 5 guard passes for tall people are:

1. Closed Guard Pass
2. Behind The Back Guard Pass
3. Butterfly Guard Pass
4. Body Lock Guard Pass
5. Slick Tripod Guard Pass

But towering over your opponent is not always an advantage. Even if you use one of those guard passes, without knowing how to use your height properly, your takedown might not go according to plan. For tall people, using the top grip as opposed to holding on to the sleeve or lapel is the preferred and most effective grip. So how do you go about executing each one of those and getting a win on the mat? That’s what this article is here to answer.

Closed Guard Pass

The beauty of the Closed Guard is that it works best for tall people. Now being taller than your opponent entails you have longer arms. And that’s the secret we’d like to share here. If you have long arms, and you’re playing Closed Guard from the top, then you can use those powerful arms to limit your opponent’s movement and crack an opening in their armor. Here’s how to do that.

You’re on top so the first thing to go for is to aim for the rival’s arms. Their biceps will be on the ground at the start of this position so grab each one with a hand and pin them to the floor. This has the added advantage of limiting the opponent’s movement as well as launching your attack against their defenses. 

Lean on your arms and readjust your position sliding your knee under the opponent’s buttocks. This gives you a better balance and prepares you for your next move. Notice how your long arms allow you to keep the body of the adversary pinned down while you have more room to maneuver and shift your body weight. Shorter arms will make your movements clunky and awkward at best.

One of BJJ best known champs, Fabiano Scherner, favors this position because from that starting point he raises himself into the tripod base. He uses his knee to which is still jammed into the opponent’s guard to make the breakthrough. Now all you have to do is sit back down, forcing your knee even further and slicing that guard wide open. You got your knee between the opponent’s knees and your path is now clear.

Behind The Back Guard Pass

The Behind The Back Guard pass starts with you on top the same way Closed Guard does. Your opponent is on his back and again you go for the biceps. Once you get those secured, you use your head to apply more pressure. Lock your head into the opponent’s chest to have full control over their movement. In this position, the rival can hardly use their body nor arms as a defense. All they can do now is wait for you to make your next move.

The next variation is really important and the taller you are the better you can execute it. Use your head and arms to spring your body up into a wide base. The idea is to cradle your opponent’s body into your own arms before you launch your offensive. To achieve that, slide one arm under their body trying to reach for your other hand. Nudge their body over to help you get them in the position you aim for. 

Again long arms work best in getting this technique right. To wrap one arm all the way under the rival’s body you need a really lanky arm. Now with the opponent secure in your arms, it’s time for your knee to work its way between the crouched opponent’s knees. This opens the guard and you can now push their leg to the ground and get you in position for the perfect triangle. From there you can see your way clear to securing the head and arm of the opponent. And it all started with long arms making their way around the opponent’s body.

Butterfly Guard Pass

The Butterfly Guard is a popular technique of guard passes that players learn to master at an early stage of their practice. It’s not an exceptionally difficult one to learn or get good at. But if you are tall you can use your height to add a variation to this technique to make it even more effective. Here’s how you can achieve this.

The usual way players opt for is to keep their heads next to the opponent’s chest on the floor before they make their move and jump over the rival’s hooks. While this is the normal way, it doesn’t mean it’s the most effective. So how can you improve on that? It’s simple. Place your head on the adversary’s chest instead of next to their chest. Why is that effective?

Well, it keeps the opponent wondering which way you’re going to pass. By staying over the rival’s body, you can choose to go either way when you jump over their hooks. You’re keeping your cards close to your chest and not tipping your hand early on. Compare that to placing your head on the mat. This gives away your whole strategy and your opponent can read the next few moves you’ll make and prepare themselves for your assault.

One of the beauties of BJJ is that the more you practice and the deeper you dive in the techniques, the more interesting variations you can come up that give you an advantage over the opponent. Sometimes a simple shift or modification goes a long way into breaking the opponent’s defenses and securing your victory.

Body Lock Guard Pass

One of the problems that white belts and even blue belts grapple with when it comes to guard passes is the leg locking entanglement. Your legs get trapped between the opponent’s and you just don’t know where to go from there. It’s a problem that is exacerbated by a lack of imagination on top of poor techniques. So what can you do about that especially when you have a few inches over your opponent?

When playing the Body Lock Guard pass, it helps to focus on the grip. Your long arms mean you cover a lot of territory and no matter where the adversary hides their limbs, you can reach them. Your grip technique could be a palm to palm or just go for all fingers. Wrists also work if you can get a really tight grip on them. Your next move is to use your head on their shoulder. 

Don’t go for the near shoulder. Your guard pass should always focus on the other side. The one the opponent least expects or is prepared to defend. So readjust your base using your head for balance and make your way between the rival’s knees controlling them at the same time.

Needless to say, it takes a lot of practice to get this one down. If your opponent gets a whiff of where you’re going with this, they would clamp down and shut that door in your face. And as with every variation, experiment with it until you find what works with you. Long limbs here certainly give you a better advantage.

Slick Tripod Pass

This technique works well against the Half Guard. As we all know, this is one of the toughest guards to pass. Even a mediocre player who knows what they’re doing can make your life difficult with this one. So as a lanky player, how do you crack this one? 

Use your height and your imagination to get around the stubborn opponent and find an opening that you can exploit. Easier said than done, you say. Well, not if you focus on the knee shield and slyly get a grip on the other leg. With the gi securely in your hand, use your other hand on the collar. Those two grips allow you to rise to your feet while using your head to keep the opponent down. Your body is in a tripod shape.

You now have access to the opponent’s leg. Press it down to the mat with your own leg and move your arm to the side of the opponent. Your head maintains its pressure at all times to prevent the opponent from blocking your offensive. 

For every action, there’s a reaction. You go rough on your body and it pays you back with ailments and disfigurements of every kind. Perhaps this applies more in BJJ where combative contact with the opponent is the norm than in other sports.

So much so that the phenomenon known as the cauliflower ear in BJJ is more common than you might think. On average 30% to 40% of practitioners get it.

The one part of your body that you’d expect to be safe from the malignant treatment you get on the mat would be the ear. And you couldn’t be more wrong. While the ear doesn’t play an active role in your techniques, it still bears the brunt of many mishandling and mistreatment. 

So how does an organ that is no more than a bystander in this whole process gets so crushed and reshaped into this grotesque design? More importantly, as an aspiring BJJ practitioner what can you do about it and how do you prevent it from happening to your delicate ears? We got the answers to these questions to make your BJJ journey as gentle on your ears as you’d hope it to be.

What is it?

The cauliflower ear is a symptom that many BJJ practitioners get after years in the sport. People are usually born with elegantly shaped ears with intricate shapes and grooves and curves. We tend to take them for granted but if someone goes the Van Gogh way (misses an ear) it becomes their distinguishing feature. That’s how important it is to have two symmetrical ears hanging by the sides of your head.

The ear is made up mostly of soft bones and loose skin. They are sensitive by nature and don’t respond well to rough treatment or mishandling. Now rough treatment and mishandling are the middle names of BJJ. You’re not walking onto the mat to have a friendly chat with your opponent. You want to grapple with him, apply a few headlocks and neck locks to force them to submit. And in the middle of this kerfuffle, the ears pay the price.

First, the blood vessels rupture under the ear skin giving it an unhealthy ruddy glow. Then the soft bones get crushed and realigned into clumps. They pile over each other like they’re seeking solace in each other’s company and in the process redesign your whole ear.

What started as a delicate design with smooth curves and contours morphs into a swollen and unappealing lump. Think the face of a boxer after a few grueling rounds against a tough opponent. Nothing but bruises and bunions. And of course the pain. Your ears become raw and sensitive as they take this gruesome shape.

Causes

So who’s the culprit? As it turns out not all techniques and guards in BJJ cause the cauliflower ear. And that’s the good news. The bad news is, some techniques cannot be helped. When your opponent gets you in a headlock, you’ll do your best to escape this bad situation but your ears are the ones who will carry the scars for a long time to come.

And as you can imagine, when your opponent got you in a neck lock you can’t just ask them politely to go gentle on your ears. As we all know the gi isn’t made of the gentlest material. It’s coarse and sturdy to withstand the gripping and grappling. And when your ears are locked between the pincer-like grip of a gi wearing opponent who got your head secure between his arm and rib cage, you know that your ears are as good as gone.

Many people think that cauliflower ears are the result of bad training or mistakes made by the BJJ players during class or competition. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many BJJ champions have cauliflower ears. It’s something that happens whether you’re good or not in BJJ. In other words, it’s not you, it’s just that the sport doesn’t take kindly to your ears.

And it’s not just a matter of aesthetics. Your hearing gets impaired and you can no longer use earphones. So does that mean that this is an escapable situation? When you sign up at the academy you’re as good as sacrificing your ears on the BJJ altar? Not necessarily. There are precautions you can take to safeguard against cauliflower ears. But before we get there, let’s talk about the treatment.

Treatment

One of the common ways to treat the ear is ear draining. This is a simple process that players do themselves. See after an injury, the inner ear gets blocked with blood and secretions (what we normally call ear wax) which over time can damage your hearing and cause hearing loss. So one way to prevent that from happening is to drain the ear regularly.

To drain the ear you’ll need a needle and Polysporin cream as a protective lubricant. Wash your ears thoroughly to prevent infection and give it a good coating of the cream. Gently put the needle in and suck out all the piled up secretions. Next, target the swollen areas in your ear and suck out the blood. It’s more like bloodletting. 

Now you use this method at your own risk. I haven’t met a medical doctor who recommended you operate on yourself and there are many ways this could go wrong. So it’s not an ideal treatment and I mention it here only because some practitioners use it. In my opinion, it’s better to focus on protecting your ears and preventing injury than to seek dangerous and unproven remedy methods.

Better still is if you take your injured ears to a sports doctor and let them have a look at it. Doctors with experience dealing with Judo, football, boxing, or other combative sports will have a fair amount of experience with ear injuries. But as I said, it’s better to prevent the injury than try to treat it. So how do you protect your ears and keep this dreary disease from deforming your face?

Prevention

As we have already stated, not all causes of the cauliflower ear in BJJ are avoidable. You can’t tap the opponent on the arm and ask them to go easy on your delicate ears. A headlock is a headlock. It’s rough and the pain is excruciating. So what can you do about it?

There are two ways you can go with this. When it comes to the unavoidable parts, wear ear guards. They act as a cushion that keeps your ears safe and comfy while the hammering on your head continues. The market is full of many good ear guards and they are not expensive either. You just put them on and tell your opponent to have at it. It may not look good and the optics are certainly not in your favor. 

But when you think of the long term deformity that going into battle with bare ears entails, then the less than cool ear guards seem like the better option. Ear guards come in different colors and styles to match your gi so in a way you can use them as accessories to make a fashion statement. And if your vanity gets in the way, think of the pain of injured ears and how losing your hearing will feel down the line.

Using ear guards is the easiest way to deal with the cauliflower ear malady. But even those nifty accessories may not give your ear the full protection you need. During the scuffle, they might come off leaving your ears open to the relentless assault of the gi. So what is the other option?

You need to be judicious with your training. Just as you’d go easy on your hands during your grappling classes, you need to pay attention to how much mistreatment your ear gets every week. 

Let’s say you go to class 5 times a week. You’re showing great progress and the stripes on your belt are a good indication of that progress. That’s all good, but now your body is showing signs of fatigue. The scars of the onslaught are showing. Remember the golden rule in BJJ, always listen to your body. If you find it common to wake up in the morning with achings and pain, then you need to take longer breaks between classes. 

Or just add some variety to your training. If your neck and shoulders ache, then maybe stay away from upper body techniques for a while. Or you could limit your offensive and defensive techniques to once a week instead of 4 times a week. 

The same rule applies to the ear. Not all people are susceptible to cauliflower ears. If your ears give you trouble that’s a sign you need to go easy on them. Focus on other techniques that don’t involve getting your head in the vise grip of the opponent. You might not be able to keep your ears from the path of danger, but you can certainly give them time to heal and recover between each battle.

Stripes have been a mark of distinction since time immemorial. Hence the saying, earn your stripes. Be it the navy, the military, or MMA. Stripes are a symbol of expertise and skill. The more stripes on your arm the higher ranking you are.

Stripes in BJJ are no different. You earn them as you advance on your path. Whether you get your promotions based on your performance in an exam or based solely on your teacher’s evaluation, earning a stripe in BJJ is a big deal. It gets you closer to ranking up and makes the next belt in your journey so much within reach. 

That said, the stripes system in BJJ is far from being perfect. While it makes the work and interval between belts less tedious and acts as a milestone between each belt, they do have their drawbacks. This article sheds light on the history and meaning of the stripes system, how to earn them, and why you shouldn’t put too much weight on them anyway.

How the Stripe System Started

The history of belts and stripes is older than BJJ itself. The first time belts were used in a sport was in Judo. But there were only two colors. The first is white for beginners and the other is black for advanced practitioners. That’s how things stood when Mitsuyo Maeda arrived in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century. He had great hope that Brazilians would open their minds and hearts to Judo and he only had two belts to offer them in addition to his vast knowledge in Judo.

He was right of course. Not only did Brazilians welcome Judo, but they also loved it so much they refined it and turned it into BJJ. As more colors were added in Judo, other sports including BJJ were quick to adopt them as well. However, the official belt ranking system in BJJ as we know it today was first introduced in 1967.

The stripes came later. Since each belt took on average about 2 years or more to achieve, stripes were introduced to make the long wait less tiring. They gave players hope and motivated them to stick to their practice and keep attending classes since each new stripe was in and of itself a promotion in a way. So how do stripes and belts fit in together and where do you start?

Your BJJ Path in Colors and Stripes

In BJJ your journey starts with a white belt and you make your way to blue then purple before you turn into brown and finally achieve the black belt. There’s also a red belt but that one is rare and is given to practitioners who’ve spent 45 years in the sport. As you can imagine not many players in the history of BJJ have earned the red belt. So in practical terms, black is the more achievable belt that puts you at the top rank of the system.

You get the white belt on the first day you sign up with the academy. You don’t have to prove yourself or show your aptitude or skills. You walk in and sign your name, you get a white belt. It’s as easy as that. But from there, every stripe and belt you earn is based on the time and effort you put into the sport. 

Which is exactly as hard as it sounds. There’s a lot to learn and you need to attend classes about 3 times a week just so that within the next two years you can make your way to the blue belt. Two years is a long time, I hear you say. And it’s true. You’ll be wearing that white belt for 2 years and you can’t tell if you’re getting better or not. Well, not exactly. See, that where the stripe system comes in.

To have a class of white belts toiling for 2 years sounds like asking a lot of BJJ beginners. So the idea of using a different promotion system was introduced. Each belt has 4 stripes. Your progress within each rank is marked with stripes. You earn a stripe for your performance. Get all 4 stripes and you’re ready for the next belt. It’s as easy as that. But that’s not the only advantage of having stripes. Remember what we said about having a class of white belts? How does one tell them apart? How do you know which is the outstanding student and which isn’t pulling their weight? You guessed it. The stripes tell the difference. 

A white belt with 3 stripes on their arm is a more skilled player than the one with just two stripes. So suddenly you’re no longer a homogenous class of white belts. You have marks of distinctions that separate the talented from the rest of the pack.

How you Rank up in BJJ

So how do you earn your stripes in BJJ? Much like ranking up belt-wise, earning the next stripe is based on your performance. However, there’s a big difference. While some academies enforce a form of an exam before the belt is awarded to the student who passes the exam, stripes are mostly a subjective process.

It’s not an ideal system, but then again who better than your teacher to know if you were ready or not to get that extra stripe to adorn your belt? Even in our educational system, exams are not the perfect way to measure the mass of knowledge and skill students have accumulated throughout the school year or semester. So, in a way giving the instructor absolute authority as far as bestowing stripes on students isn’t the illogical thing it appears at first glance.

So how do teachers evaluate their students? Is it a matter of whim? Far from it. Every teacher relies on certain performance criteria that guide them in their evaluation process. As a student, you’re judged based on your skills, attendance, attitude, aptitude, and the time you spent in your current belt. 

Your skillset is by far the most important factor. As you learn more skills, master the required techniques for your current level, and take part in tournaments your performance improves. Your teacher is the first one to notice that improvement. And they weigh in your performance when considering whether it was time to get another stripe.

Just like regular school, your attendance is required. You can’t just win a stripe from home. Remote learning is not a valid concept in BJJ. You need to show up regularly to class. Taking time off is a sign you’re not taking BJJ seriously which reflects badly on your promotion path.

Your attitude is also part of your evaluation process. Students with a big ego who act like bullies to other classmates are shunned at the academy and rarely see their way clear to advancement. This is why black belt masters are known for their humility. They know that no matter how much they learn, they will always remain students. They used their skills for the common good.

Finally, the time you spend in your present stripe plays a role in your promotion. If you’re only a few months old in your stripe, then the teacher will deem it too early to give you the next one. Even if you deserve it, your teacher might hold it back for a while so that it will not go to your head.

How Good is the BJJ Stripes System?

Let’s get one thing out of the way. No system is perfect. This applies to the BJJ stripes system as well. We already talked about giving the instructor absolute authority in awarding students their stripes. If the teacher doesn’t think you’re worthy of a stripe, there’s just nothing you can do about it but keep your head down and try to improve.

But there’s another side to this problem. It’s when the teacher decides to keep a talented student at a certain level so that they win competitions easily and earn medals. Here the student is not the victim but the whole tournament. Imagine a competitor with a brown belt skillset but wears a purple belt who takes part in a match against another purple belt. It’s a common problem but one where the student is very much in on it and willingly takes part.

That said, the stripe system has its undeniable advantages. It keeps students on track and brings them up to speed. Every student can count their stripes to know how far they are from the next belt. As for its motivational value, the stripe system has undoubtedly kept many students motivated at a time when they felt they were stuck at a certain belt for too long.

This is more apparent for students with exceptional talent. Without the stripes to set students apart nobody will go out of their way to excel or learn the techniques or show their personal style or flare. The stripe on their belt gives the student a reason to feel satisfied with the level they’re at on their BJJ journey.