Category: BJJ

The relationship between BJJ and fingers is a love-hate one. You have to grapple in BJJ but that isn’t easy on your knuckles, ligaments, and wrists. To be fair this is a common issue with many combat sports including wrestling and Judo.

But since grappling techniques are at the heart of BJJ, your hands take a thorough beating every time you step onto the mat.

Does this mean that BJJ players should take hand damage as a foregone conclusion and resign themselves to the fact that they’ll never moonlight as hand models? Not by a long shot. You can still keep your fingers intact and prevent hand injuries if you go to class or the tournament well prepared and ready for what awaits you. Read on to find out all about hand care in BJJ both on and off the mat.

BJJ and Hand Damage

It’s not uncommon to ask a BJJ black belt who’s been through their fair share of competitions about the body part that took the most beating and they’ll look down at their hands and mumble something about how their fingers ache, man. We’re talking about a tough person who has endured so much pain and got themselves out of numerous bad situations on the mat many times before. Yet when it comes to hands, everyone is a big baby.

So what is it about the hands that make them such a vulnerable point in the armored body of the BJJ practitioner? To answer that we’ll have to go through an anatomical tour of the hands. Each finger except that thumb has 3 joints. So the two hands have 28 joints between them. Add the wrists and you have 30 vulnerable spots. Each one of those is a veritable weak link in your defenses that your opponent can exploit.

And since many offense and defense techniques in BJJ are closely related to grappling, you can imagine what those sore points go through. It’s no wonder that after each class or training, the player goes home with swollen knuckles, bruises, bunions, redness, and bumps. If you ask them how their hands feel, they’d answer that they feel like they’ve been put through a shredder.

When you consider that age is nobody’s friend and that even the healthiest joints and bones show wear and tear with time, you can only imagine what would become of those hands as the player gets older. They’d probably be a constant source of pain and aching. But that’s not the only impact that BJJ can have on your hands.

Is there a Connection between Arthritis and BJJ?

All that wear and tear can have lasting effects on your body and your hands in particular. One of the often cited examples of hands gone awry in the world of BJJ is the famous player Joao Miyao. It’s fair to say that his mangled hands are just as famous as the man himself. And he won’t stop talking about them. 

The law of nature is where there’s pressure, something has to give. In the case of BJJ, your hands are the first to give in. Use and abuse them on a regular basis on the mat and you might develop osteoarthritis. That’s a form of arthritis that has nothing to do with genetics or the auto-immune system. It’s something you inflict on yourself when you don’t take care of your hands. So how does osteoarthritis develop?

Remember those 30 joints we talked about? They’re held in place by a cushion called the cartilage which is as tough as they come. In normal situations, the cartilage is durable and will serve you a whole lifetime without giving you trouble. But when you put them through hell with excessive training and improper care, you’re really asking for trouble. This cushion wears thin and eventually disappears altogether.

Now your bones are rubbing against each other without protection. Imagine the inner parts of your car engine working without engine oil. That’s exactly how your bones feel without a healthy cartilage. First, there will be a pain, then bone spurs appear and if things get worse, you could develop bony enlargements which are not fun at all.

It’s the gripping and grappling that puts that mechanical distress on your fingers and causes these health conditions. As we all know you can’t progress in BJJ without grappling. So if grappling is a must, what can you do to protect your precious fingers and give your hands a second life?

Does taping your fingers help?

There are two ways you can help mitigate the problems that might develop in your hands and fingers as your BJJ practice gets serious. You can protect your fingers with tape and use techniques that safeguard you against common combat injuries. We’ll elaborate on the latter below. So let’s see what tapping the fingers involves.

The market is full of medical tapes designed specifically for fingers. They’re made with BJJ players and other combat sports and MMA in mind. A review of these products is beyond the scope of this article. Instead, we’ll focus on how to use the tape to protect your fingers before each practice or match.

1. X-taping: In X-taping, you apply the tape around your finger in X shapes. The point where the tapes cross should lie directly on top of the middle joint of your finger. The advantage this method has is it gives maximum protection to the fingers while also providing you with mobility. The tape doesn’t interfere with your movements and you can perform your grips and grappling techniques with ease.
2. Restrictive Taping: You use restrictive taping with an already injured finger. It is supposed to help the finger heal while protecting it from further injuries. The way you apply it is to wrap the tape tightly around the joint or joints of the injured finger. This immobilizes the joint and limits its movements, hence the name. One drawback is your finger might get snagged in your gi.
3. Buddy Taping: With body taping, you apply X-taping not just to one finger but to bind two fingers together. One of those fingers is the injured one while the other acts as support. In other words, you’re creating a tourniquet but instead of using a stick, you use the neighboring finger. It still restricts the mobility of the two fingers but its protective advantages are immensely high.
4. Thumb Taping: With thumb taping, you’re protecting an injured thumb. Due to its unique position in your hand, your thumb carries a lot of the heavy lifting as far as your grappling is concerned. This puts you on the spot if your thumb is injured. You want to keep training but you know that might not be a good idea. Taping the thumb is the least effective type of taping and you should stay off the mat until that digit has healed.

Hand Pain Prevention Techniques

While finger tapes are a good option, their uses and protection for that matter are limited as we have already seen. A better way to keep your fingers in good shape is to learn to take care of them and not throw them in the wringer. That might sound easier said than done but in BJJ it pays to listen to your body and make several adjustments to your training.

One of the first adjustments to consider is your guards. Guards that rely heavily on gripping tend to be hard on the fingers. Take the Spider Guard for example. It forces you to grip the sleeve of the opponent and keep that grip tight while the adversary is doing all they can to break loose. In this case, it’s your fingers against the whole body weight of the opponent. Not an ideal situation for your knuckles. The same thing applies to the la Riva Guard. You might want to look for alternative guards. I’d recommend the Half Guard, Butterfly Guard, and Closed Guard to put less strain on your joints.

Another technique is to do more training without your gi. While the gi is crucial to acquire the necessary skills in BJJ, you can still learn a lot when you train without it. For some reason, the coarse material the gi is made of puts more strain on your grip and requires more pressure which accelerates the wear and tear of the joints we talked about above. 

And finally, you need to go easy on your adamant obsession with grips. Yes, your instructor will demand that you have a steely grip that keeps the opponent pinned, but try not to go overboard with that grip. Here, moderation works wonders. So try to use that tight grip sparingly and give your hands a break between each deathly grip you use on your rival.

BJJ like every other sport where combat is involved puts you at a high risk of getting injured. It’s not that the sport itself is not safe. It’s usually lack of training or over-practice that can lead to injuries.

Some of the body areas prone to injuries in BJJ are the neck, ears, lower back, knees and shoulders. Those five injuries are the most common one and no BJJ practitioner hasn’t had a nasty experience with at least one of them

In most cases, either you don’t pay attention to your teacher or try to overreach. This is why the rule of thumb in BJJ and all MMAs is to listen to your body and never push it too far. So how do people get injured in these areas in BJJ? What can you do to avoid such setbacks? And What to do if you happen to suffer an injury? Read on to find out the answer to these and other pertinent questions.

Knees

Your knees carry the full weight of your body and that’s no small burden. So how do BJJ players get knee injuries? The most common occurrence when performing leg locks. It’s one of the most popular techniques in the self-defense sport. You use it to take control of the opponent’s body, limit their movement, and open the way for submission.

But as important as the leg locks are in BJJ, there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes in this seemingly innocuous technique. You’re not just wrapping your thighs around the adversary’s body and locking them in place, you’re calling on all your joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons to rise up to the occasion and help you out here.

Which as you can imagine is easy to get wrong. Push your joints too far and your knees pay the price. It’s the ligaments in the knees that are first to give in. These tough yet fragile parts of the knees are resilient enough but there’s only so much they can do. Keep pushing and they will snap.

The first thing you’ll feel is a searing pain in your knee area. This is more serious than the dull pain you get if you fall on your knees on the mat or your opponent slams their body weight over your knee. The pain here is immediate and demands your full attention. In this case, medical attention is in order. Don’t try to ignore it or roll with it. Remember what Dr. House said about the knees.

Lower Back

While a knee injury is a serious issue that requires weeks of rest depending on the condition of the injury, you can still go back to the mat even before your knee has fully healed and focus your training on the hands’ defense techniques and upper body. The same however cannot be said about lower back injuries. These affect BJJ players of all levels, ages, and body shapes. 

Ask any BJJ black belt about their worst experience while training and the most common issue that crops up is the lower back maladies. Call it a curse if you will, but it seems nobody is immune to this affliction. And it’s easy to see why. All the heaving, contortions, and twisting of the body make every player vulnerable to lower back injuries.

Your spine is a series of connected vertebrae and the only thing that keeps them from breaking are the groups of muscles that line alongside the backbone. However, those muscles weaken around the small of your back leaving that area open for the odd injury from a deep twist in the wrong direction. The problem with these injuries is that the pain is not immediate as is the case with knee afflictions. Not at all. Lower back pain takes time to show up. Usually, a few hours and sometimes you go to bed feeling fine only to wake up in the morning and you can’t get out of bed. 

This is what happened to me when I got my lower back injury after a BJJ class. I spent the next couple of days crawling on all four like a toddler. Luckily, in my case, it was just a matter of a twisted muscle but some BJJ trainees don’t get off so lightly as far as back injuries are concerned. Many suffer from a herniated disc which is a painful condition and takes a long time to heal. 

You won’t be able to roll with a lower back injury. Rest is the only way to get better and you won’t step on the mat again until you get the all-clear from your physician. So don’t force yourself and be patient.

Ears

Believe it or not the ears take a lot of punishment during BJJ practice. Whether you’re training, a top-ranking practitioner in a competition, or just testing the waters trying to figure out whether to commit to BJJ or not, your ears are vulnerable. There’s a term for it in BJJ. It’s called “cauliflower ears” and it’s worthy of a full article on its own.

The ears are mostly made up of soft bones called cartilage and skin. Soft bones imply they can be bent and twisted which is exactly what happens when your opponent gets you in a  headlock and your ears get squeezed in whatever inhumane shape they happen to be forced into. And the injury shows almost at once. 

Blood vessels in the ear rupture and the broken cartilage form unworldly shapes and clumps in your ear. Naturally, this is accompanied by the suitable amount of pain you can imagine and your ears become too sensitive to the touch and even a gentle breeze will make them smart.

You can protect your ears with headgear. If your ears are injured, you can still train but focus on lower body engagement and avoid any technique especially rolling that gets your ears close to the opponent or the mat.

Shoulders

Your arms play a major role in BJJ. Both offensive and defensive techniques rely on strong arms to get you out of a bad position and perform locks. All that is fine and dandy and you often forget that your shoulders are really just joints that are prone to all the ailments and vulnerabilities that all joints have in common.

Whether you’re rolling and your shoulder joints are pushed into a weird twist, or you’re engaged in arm attacks, you can sustain shoulder injuries in more ways than you can imagine. Keep an active posting up for long and your shoulders will pay the price. 

A shoulder injury is easy to detect. The pain from the sprain or snap echoes throughout your arms and shoulder blades. You’ll feel it at once and you need to disengage and have a doctor examine it. You should also apply ice to the injured area on your way to see the doctor. Your physician will recommend plenty of rest and you’ll need to abstain from BJJ practice until you’re fully healed.

Some players still go to class with an injured shoulder. It’s not the recommended option but if the injury is light and not serious enough, you can tie that arm with a belt and try to avoid getting in contact with another player on the mat. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least it protects you from making your shoulder any worse.

Neck

Your neck sits pretty well balanced over the top of your spine. It carries the weight of your head and relies on a group of muscles to keep the precious load of the spinal cord, glands, and large blood vessels intact. This works in ordinary situations but when your neck is in the vise-like grip of a BJJ opponent intent on getting a submission, all bets are off.

Again it’s a matter of bad practice and lack of experience both on your side and your opponent’s that could land you in neck trouble. If techniques like Mata Leao or the Guillotine are performed accurately you won’t sustain an injury. But if the adversary got you in a neck crank clumsily performed you might even know that your neck is being molested beyond all recognizable BJJ rules and laws.

An injured neck is not a trivial thing. You cannot just ignore it and power through it. You might need months of rest and neck braces and every time you want to turn you’ll use your shoulders rather than your neck. So, yeah, you can’t roll with this one. Stay safe!

It’s common knowledge that BJJ is a marathon, not a sprint. There are no shortcuts and you can’t fast-track your way to the top ranking with sheer personality and bravado. It takes patience, lots of work, and above all commitment. The average person takes up to 10 years to get the black belt in BJJ. So what should your first six months be like?

In BJJ just like anything else in life, moderation is the key. You need to find your sweet spot as far as the number of classes to attend is concerned. You need to focus on learning submission and guard replacement techniques, getting into sparring, and most of all, you need to give your body time to recover. Home recovery is just as important as attending classes regularly.

When you think about it, your first 6 months in BJJ are about getting your bearings, wrapping your head around the basics, and establishing a rhythm. It’s important to get the dynamic right with your classmates and teachers and not get off on the wrong foot. And while those early few months would be chaotic for the most part, there’s a way you can turn that to your advantage and survive the chaos and uncertainty.

Surviving your First Few Classes

How you make your appearance on the first day you present yourself to the academy and your classmates sets the tone for the rest of the year. It pays to be prepared. So even if you don’t have a gi a tee shirt and shorts will do. Don’t forget to pack a bag with a change of clothes, flip flops and a bottle of water. The flip flops are for when you visit the bathroom.

From the get-go, you’ll get a feel of the place, your teacher, colleagues, and your love for the sport. So you need to set the number of classes you’ll attend every week and stick to it. Too few classes mean you will not progress as fast as you hope to. Too many classes and you might injure yourself or burn out. 

As you’ll soon find out, nobody can tell you how much training is right for you. You need to listen to your body and learn to differentiate between the sweet tingling of achy muscles and the sharp pain in the bones that is a sign of a body being pushed to its limits. The first symptom is a sign your body is accepting and welcoming the practice. The other one means you need to rethink your schedule and learn to take longer breaks between classes.

Between one class a week and having a class every day, I’d recommend you start with 3 classes and see how you’re taking them. Remember that you’ll be losing a lot of weight during those magical first 6 months. You’ll get fit and as you build up stamina, you’ll also enjoy great bursts of energy. So it’s important to get the training frequency right to avoid pushing your body too far.

Warm-up and Techniques

Before you set your hungry chops in the meaty parts of the techniques (BJJ is notoriously choke-full of techniques and variations of techniques) you need to get your body prepared for the strenuous tasks you’re going to push it through. And by that I mean you need to learn the importance and value of warm-ups. 

Now, this is the normal start of every class in BJJ. Your teacher will introduce you to various exercises and stretching routines to get your blood flowing and loosen those cramped up joints and muscles. Don’t take these warmups lightly nor go through them like a chore you have to do. Embrace them with vigor and enthusiasm. You never know, they might be the difference between classes that go smoothly and taking forced long breaks until you recover.

BJJ is an invasive sport. This means you’ll probably work out every muscle in your body by the time you’ve finished your first month. So if you’re out of shape, it’s recommended you try to get yourself in some form of light workout before you start your BJJ practice. This will help you a lot as you learn your offensive and defensive techniques.

As we mentioned the techniques are varied but in your first few months you’ll be focussing on submission chains, roll and bridge escapes, scissor sweeps, hip escapes, and guard replacement among others.

Stand up techniques are also important at this early stage in your training and your teacher will introduce you to many of them. Try to master the art of getting close to your opponent so that you can execute a takedown.

Sparring is a Serious Business

Sparring is at the heart of BJJ. As a self defense system, you’ll need to learn sparring in order to progress on your journey. If you find it challenging or intimidating to get on the mat and get ready for sparring, take heart in the fact that many BJJ practitioners feel the same way. It doesn’t mean that you’re not built for this or that BJJ is not for you. It’s a natural reaction to shy away from getting so close to being hurt or causing someone else to hurt.

The good news is BJJ is safe. As long as you follow your teacher’s instructions and pay attention, you’ll be fine. Don’t stroll onto the mat like you got this and don’t be afraid to bruise your ego. You’re into BJJ to learn your strengths and weaknesses and what better way than to spar with your teacher or classmates?

And you’ll learn about your weaknesses soon enough. Tapping out is almost mandatory and you’ll be doing a lot of that. If you feel your pride aching, look down at the belt around your waist. As long as it’s white, know it’s fine to get beaten and tap out more often than you can count. Everybody goes through that stage.

Drills are important in BJJ the same way they’re part of the daily life of a military cadet. So go through them without resenting them. They’ll help you become the fighter you aspire to be one day. If you feel demotivated take a break between classes until you get your spark back. 

Take Time to Recover

Motivation and setting a goal for yourself is a vital part of passing the test of the first 6 months. These are arguably the most important months in your whole BJJ endeavor. Your body is going through changes, your mind is also evolving. There’s a lot to take and it’s not uncommon for students to burnout or worse, quit.

To avoid both of those unwelcome outcomes, you need to learn the importance of taking breaks between classes. Many BJJ experts recommend 3 classes a week for beginners. This gives you 4 days of rest. Think of these days as forced recovery time. Your muscles get injured during training and need time to heal. Your joints go through hell and back and if you keep pushing them they might snap. And your mind, too, needs the break. You’re learning a lot in every class and cramming doesn’t work here. Your brain needs time to process, sort out, and file the information you’re receiving. 

Exhaustion is your number one enemy. I’m talking about physical as well as mental fatigue. People get injured in BJJ mainly because they become sloppy and lose their focus. Sparring, in particular, is where injuries happen the most. An over-zealous opponent can cause harm if you’re not paying attention. All that flowing adrenaline that spikes on the mat needs time to cool down. 

Related to rest and recovery is sleep. You’ll need to get as much sleep as your body needs. It is recommended you have 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. This is the time your body heals faster so don’t deny yourself that right.

What NOT to Focus on 

People join a BJJ academy for various reasons. There are those who have their heart in the right place and know how to treat their teacher and classmates with respect and there are the others. Now, you wouldn’t want to be one of that other group. 

As a combat sport, there’s a lot of ego in BJJ. Adrenaline and testosterone flare up and students start to act cocky. This is the easiest way to lose friends and make enemies in the academy. Every class has one or more of those students. They walk around looking for someone to pick up and slam down on the floor. That’s not nice and soon you’ll learn the hard way the importance of humility.

BJJ is not wrestling and you don’t need to show off. You’ll get a chance to spar with an opponent so don’t go twisting their necks until they crack or squeezing their head to make their eyes pop out. Being courteous and attentive to the health, safety, and wellbeing of your fellow classmates is just as important as mastering the techniques and learning the drills by heart.

The color purple is associated with joy and uplifting thoughts and experiences in life. You paint your living room purple because you’re on cloud nine and bouncy happiness is dancing around you every step you take. But in BJJ, the color purple is a whole different new game. It’s the color of momentum, movement, and adequate takedowns.

This explains why it is one of the hardest belts to achieve. It takes a blue belt anything from 2 to 3 years to achieve the purple belt. As for a BJJ novice still in the first stages of the journey, they’ll have to work tirelessly for up to 5 years to get to the purple color. It’s a coming of age sort of stage in your BJJ development. Which explains why it takes so long to get there.

If the white belt was about getting the basics down and blue was about mastering the defense and offense techniques, purple is all about laying the BJJ foundations as a way of life and coming into your own. But what does it really mean to have a purple belt in BJJ and how good is the belt both in the sport and in life in general?

How Good is the Purple Belt in BJJ?

First things first. What is the significance of having a purple belt in BJJ? Is it just another high ranking color that makes you feel superior to white and blue belts? Far from it. If anything it’s the other way round. The purple belt practitioner is full of humility. He or she understands that they’re half way through their BJJ journey and there’s still so much to learn.

So they’re less prone to show off or let the spirit of competition and ego blind them to the fact that the path is still long and fraught with hardships. They have learned a lot and got many techniques down to an art over the past few years making their way from white to blue belts. But there’s still more to work on, a lot to explore, and many holes in their techniques and style to plug.

This explains why the BJJ belt ranking system has laid down a rule for the minimum age for a person to achieve the purple belt. It’s 16 in theory. But in practice, many people manage this elusive belt late in their 20s and early 30s at least. And while age should not come in your way since BJJ is a sport for all ages, still a level of maturity is often a prerequisite for getting to the purple level.

What this means in practical terms is that if a white belt goes up against a purple belt, they absolutely have no chance of scoring a win. A purple belt has a solid game and as for grappling, they got this down too. In a one on one game between a purple belt and blue belt, the purple has the upper hand since they can find chinks in the blue armor rather quickly and explore them to their advantage.

The bottom line is, the ranking system is not just a meaningless set of rules that reward colorful belts to practitioners at random. Every belt builds on the foundations laid out painstakingly by the earlier stages. It takes years and a lot of blood and sweat both on and off the mat to move up the ranks in BJJ. 

Purple is Movement and Momentum

As a middle stage between white and black, purple is the type of level that gets you searching your soul more. Don’t get me wrong. You still need to learn new techniques, hone your skills, and find flaws in your style to improve and work on. But mostly you’d be thinking about what BJJ means to you and how it has changed the way you look at life and those around you.

To use an analogy from the life of birds, the white belt is you trying to gain strength and learn as much about the basics hoping to grow feathers quickly. The blue belt is you learning the basics of flying. You fumble and fall many times as you try to spread your wings and fly without crashing in the trees and hurdles around you. As for purple it’s your soaring to the skies and getting a look at the big picture for the first time.

By the time you’ve got your purple you have already learned the basic and advanced positions such as

• Full guard.
• Half guard.
• Mount.
• Side control.
• Knee mount.
• Back control.
• Butterfly guard.
• De La Riva.
• North-south.
• Spider guard.
• Lasso guard.

With so many techniques under your belt, you feel confident you can escape any bad position you find yourself in and you have proved your mettle on the mat and in tournaments many times over. But now it’s time you’ve learned about the power of momentum. Both movement and momentum play a major role in winning. 

While BJJ is a self-defense system at its heart, you still need to get your offense game up to speed to be the all round practitioner you hope to be. You’ll be using your body weight to control your opponent and gain momentum. Your movement becomes more fluid and most of the time, your instincts kick in even without your conscious mind taking part.

This comes from long hours of practice and gaining a lot of experience taking part in competitions. You learn to become one with your body. Escapes are achieved easily and pinning down the rival on the mat becomes an art in itself rather than a technique you execute blindly.

What does a Purple Belt Mean Skill-wise?

This is all fine and dandy, I hear you thinking, but what does it mean to have a purple belt in BJJ? What skills will I learn and how are the techniques I master a purple belt different from those I learn as both a white and blue belt? These are all valid questions and I’m only too happy to venture a reply.

One of the first things you will learn is to bolster your submissions portfolio. You already know the basics of triangles, chokes, armbars, and key locks. But now it’s time you soar over the basics and add a few more techniques. Guillotines and rear chokes are worthy of exploring more to find the nuances that improve your mastery. Then there’s the anacondas, joint locks, and d’arce to name but a few. The more techniques you master the easier it gets to win competitions. 

Does this mean that a lower level cannot submit you? Well, no, they cannot. No matter how many stripes a blue belt has, with your amount of experience you should be able to read your rival’s weaknesses and exploit them. So what if you get submitted by a lower level? It either means you’re not training as you should or that the opponent isn’t really a blue or white belt at all.

The purple belt teaches you to lose your tension and learn to be fluid. You don’t use guard pulling to get a takedown. Instead, you have learned other ways to take the player to the ground using your body weight and momentum. It’s not about muscle or strength alone. It’s more about being in the zone so to speak. A blend of experience, skill, and unique style all take over and create an opening for you to take down the opponent and achieve a win.

Why does it Take so Long to Get the Purple Belt?

As you can imagine, it’s not easy to reach that state of BJJ nirvana. Here your body and mind work in tandem. You don’t even have to think to get the technique right. It’s not your muscle, it’s your muscle memory that guides your movement on the mat.

And it takes many hours to get there. Technical knowledge alone isn’t enough. You can watch others practice all day long but unless you get on the mat you won’t learn what it means to be a true BJJ player. So it’s all about training and competing. How much training you need to put in on a weekly basis is up to you. But the more classes you attend the better.

This is why some BJJ practitioners take less time to rank up than others. It’s not just that they have the right attitude and aptitude for the sport, they also put in more hours and effort than the average person. And of course it helps if they have previous experience in grappling.

Grappling is at the core of BJJ. If you happen to come to the sport without any experience in grappling, then you’ll be needing more time to get to the next rank. So if you want to get to the purple color without delay, be prepared to train 3 to 4 times a week, and breathe, eat, and live BJJ. In the immortal words of the Mandalorian, “This is the way!”

If you’re like any other BJJ player who thinks of the sport as more than just a hobby, chances are you can’t wait to leave your white belt behind and climb up the ranks. It’s natural. Nobody likes to stay the BJJ noob for any longer than they have to.

It takes the average person anything from 2 to 3 years to earn the right to wear the blue belt in BJJ. Some people can get it in one year or less. It’s all about the time, effort, and dedication you put into it. If ranking up is your goal in BJJ, then nothing can stop you. Not even the rigid constrictions of the space-time continuum.

This is not just hyperbole though. Many great and illustrious names in the world of BJJ have sailed through the ranking system in as little as a year and a half making it look so easy in the process. But we can’t all be Travis Stevens or BJ Penn for that matter. So here’s a breakdown of your path to the blue belt and what you can do to speed things up even a little.

Earn your Stripes

The BJJ belt ranking system is notoriously hard to navigate and slow to climb. It’s not just that the teachers are a little tightfisted when it comes to student evaluations and promotions. The journey itself from one color to the next is a lengthy one. You have to learn a whole lot and master a bunch of techniques and positions before you’re deemed worthy.

So how does the whole BJJ ranking system work? It’s simple really. All in all, you have 5 belts to navigate to make it to the top of the rankings. Adults have a different ranking system than children. Once you’re turned 16, you’re eligible to wear an adult belt. The belts themselves are based on color and are in ascending order:

• White
• Blue
• Purple
• Brown
• Black 

Since it takes years on average to progress from white to blue to purple and so on, BJJ also uses another ranking system called stripes. Teachers and academies use stripes to show student progress within each belt. With each stripe you earn, you get closer to making it to the next ranking.

Usually, each belt rank has four stripes that you need to go through. Your teacher rewards you with the stripe based on your performance, dedication to training, as well as your overall progress. So what if you’re an exceptional student? Does that mean you still have to slug through the stripes subdivisions? Not really. If your teacher deems you ready to move up, they can reward you with the next belt without delay.

Why it Takes so Long to Get in the Blue

I think we can all agree that it takes time to get things done properly. Fast food for example isn’t as delicious as a well prepared meal with plenty of time and effort invested in it. The BJJ blue belt is that lofty goal that takes every ounce of will and commitment you have. 

That said, sometimes it helps if you have prior experience with other MMA sports to make your journey to the next belt shorter. Players who come from a Judo background for example find mastering the grappling techniques much easier than beginners with no experience. 

Your attitude toward the sport is another factor to take into consideration. Those who think of BJJ as a hobby or consider the academy as a place of socializing but nothing more, they’ll be spending years before they can move up. But if you take your training seriously and make sure to get in at least 3 classes a week, then your path to the blue belt will be faster and more rewarding.

But all that training and learning the techniques isn’t worth much if you don’t compete. Tournaments are the fastest way to get ahead in the BJJ belt system. To put it simply, there’s a difference between having a training class with a teacher or a colleague and competing against another player in a tournament. Competitiveness is a great motivator. The more competitive you are, the better you get at BJJ.

As you can see it’s not just one thing that makes you worthy of a promotion. BJJ is a complex and vast field. Many factors come together and converge to make you the practitioner you aspire to be. 

How to Pass the Exam

While all BJJ academies and schools the world over agree on the general belt ranking system and the stripes subdivisions, how a student is awarded a promotion differs widely from one academy to the next. This lack of a universal promotion procedure is not a flaw in the system but an advantage.

Your teacher plays a vital role in whether you get the promotion or not. Some academies give the teachers full autonomy as far as promotions are concerned. Others prefer to regulate the process and require the students to go through some form of an exam. 

In the first type where the teacher has the right to offer the promotion to any student whenever they see right, your performance in every training and tournament you take part in is crucial to your progress. Your goal is to show your teacher your dedication and commitment to getting better every single class. Sometimes a student gets a promotion at the end of the class.

However, if your academy only awards a belt promotion after passing an exam, then you got your work cut out for you. The exam, much like in any other educational institution, would test your technical knowledge as well as your skills on the mat. Some students prefer this since it makes the path to promotion less random and gives them a clear goal to work toward.

What you Need to Get the Belt

Regardless of whether you need to pass a set exam or convince your teacher that you’re ready to rank up, winning the right to wear the blue belt takes two things. They are technical knowledge and sparring skills. You can’t climb your way up the belt ranking system in BJJ without both of them. So let’s explore what each of them means and entails for you.

Technical knowledge doesn’t mean you read a lot of books and watch numerous videos about BJJ. Jiu-Jitsu is an art and the only way to learn that art is right here on the mat. You’ll need to learn a set number of techniques that include

• Guard passes. Even though you’re now a white belt, you’re still required to learn about guard passes and sweeps.
• Submissions. Get a rudimentary grasp of the concept of submissions and how to chain them.
• Escapes. There are two types of escapes you need to practice and master. The first is positional escapes where you try to escape a Back Control or a Side Control position. The second is submission escape to make your way out of armbars, triangles, and others with ease.

You’ll need that knowledge when you’re facing an opponent on the mat. That’s called sparring and many white belt students find it challenging. But let’s not forget that BJJ is a self-defense discipline and you can’t possibly learn to defend yourself against an attacker if you shy away from sparring with an adversary on the mat. Sparring allows you to use all the techniques you have mastered to force your opponent to submit and come out victorious. Since there’s no level below white, you’ll be sparring with other white belts to improve your survival and positional escapes. If you have enough confidence in your abilities, you might even try sparring with blue belts to gain experience.

Can you Fast-track your Way from White to Blue?

If there’s one thing your BJJ teacher never gets tired of repeating, it’s that there are no shortcuts in BJJ. And they’re right of course. The road to the black belt is long and drenched in sweat and right now you’re still at the beginning with a white belt around your waist.

That said, there are a few things that work for you and could help you move at a faster pace toward the blue color. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Use your sparring sessions to practice the various techniques you learned about. There’s no better way to put your knowledge to the test than on the mat against an opponent.
2. Survival is a skill. Learn to relax and keep your wits about you even if you find yourself in a bad position.
3. Roll with it. This couldn’t be truer than when you’re grappling. Go with the flow and let your instincts kick in. You already know a lot of techniques, so don’t let your fear of sparring hold you down.
4. Don’t be too proud to tap out. Put your ego aside before you step out on the mat.
5. Develop your defense skills by sparring with more experienced players and hone your offense on the mat against low level practitioners.

A lot of people interested in training in martial arts are curious about training in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the same time. After all, the two disciplines both cover separate areas of fighting. Muay Thai is primarily striking from a standing position whereas BJJ is about grappling and submissions.

Having a strong background in each discipline seems like a great base to have for combat athletes especially those interested in mixed martial arts.

So should you train Muay Thai and BJJ at the same time?

A martial artist needs to consider the following before training in both Muay Thai and BJJ at the same time:

1. Why Muay Thai And BJJ Work So Well Together
2. The Different Philosophies Of BJJ And Muay Thai
3. Advice On Training Both Disciplines At Once From Firas Zahabi
4. BJJ And Muay Thai Do Not Overlap Much
5. How Often Should You Be Training In Each Discipline?

Why Muay Thai And BJJ Work So Well Together

When the UFC was first created, Royce Gracie used it as a platform to show that Jiu-Jitsu was the ultimate martial art. His success in the first few UFC tournaments led to a surge in Jiu-Jitsu gyms being opened up all over the world. This was really eye-opening for the entire martial arts community and had vast impacts worldwide. The original style vs style format of the early UFCs caused some martial arts’ popularity to explode and others to falter greatly. 

As the sport of MMA grew, however, strikers began to learn the fundamentals of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu so they could keep fights standing. Those who were able to do so then were able to showcase their advanced striking techniques.

As MMA flourished and evolved, some disciplines rose to prominence and others faded away to obscurity. Two disciplines that flourished were Jiu-Jitsu and Muay thai. The two styles were shown to work well in tandem together. Wrestling and Muay Thai also work well in tandem with each other for the fighters not interested in winning via submission. That there is such little overlap in the techniques between Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai is why many athletes feel learning them together is the right approach. 

Many MMA coaches, however, will state that to find success in MMA, you need to be particularly skilled in one discipline and well-versed enough in others that you can take the fight where you want it to take place (i.e standing or on the ground.) Most gyms offer classes in multiple disciplines nowadays. This allows students to train in various martial arts and naturally gravitate towards those that come more naturally to them. 

The Different Philosophies Of BJJ And Muay Thai

It is notable that these two disciplines, which have both gained a degree of dominance in martial arts and mixed martial arts, have polarized philosophies from one another. 

Jiu-Jitsu was developed in the late 19th century. The discipline is heavily-influenced by the Japanese martial art of Judo. The “jiu” from Jiu-Jitsu and “ju” from the word Judo both mean soft or gentle in Japanese. This sums up the philosophy that guides the martial art and much of what made Royce Gracie’s dominance in the early-UFC era so interesting. Both Jiu-Jitsu and Judo are designed to allow a weaker or smaller opponent an advantage over a larger but not as well trained competitor. In Jiu-Jitsu this often means grappling with an opponent until they are in a vulnerable position and getting them to submit. A well trained Jiu-Jitsu practitioner can submit their opponent while delivering (and receiving) the least amount of damage possible. 

Muay Thai has a completely opposite philosophy. It is about inflicting the most amount of damage to your opponent possible. Muay Thai developed in the early 1900s as a mix of the Thai discipline of Muay Boran and traditional boxing. Unlike in Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, there is heavy emphasis on conditioning and strength-building. Jiu-Jitsu and Judo are more like a game of human chess, whereas Muay Thai is skill mixed with toughness and brute strength. 

The opposite philosophies of BJJ and Muay Thai is part of why it is appealing to train the two in conjunction with one another. In many ways, they are the Yin to each other’s Yang. 

BJJ And Muay Thai Don’t Overlap Much

Another reason why many combat athletes choose to train BJJ and Muay Thai at the same time is that very little of what happens in one discipline happens in the other. This is not the case with other martial arts, however, especially ones which emphasize both striking and grappling. 

Martial artists training in Taekwondo and Muay Thai could end up confusing disciplines, however, since both involve striking. In the above video, the presenter notes someone training in these two martial arts would not want to confuse their Taekwondo with their Muay Thai and start blocking low kicks with a downward block.

Another factor when deciding to train in two martial arts at the same time is that you would have different coaches telling you different things. This could potentially pull your training into different directions. Your muscle memory for different strikes or grappling techniques would also be affected.

This is less the case with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai, however. None of your BJJ submissions will be impacted by your Muay Thai training, since Muay Thai doesn’t involve submissions. Similarly, training in BJJ will have little impact on your Muay Thai training since striking is such a small part of BJJ and a large part of Muay Thai. Your stance and movement may be impacted, however. 

Firas Zahabi On Training Muay Thai And BJJ At The Same Time

Tristar coach Firas Zahabi does not necessarily see a problem with training in the two disciplines at once provided they are both worked into the same session. Zahabi warns that a schedule where a person trains in Jiu-Jitsu 3 days a week and Muay Thai 3 days a week would result in a martial artist becoming a jack of 2 trades but a master of none. Instead, Zahabi recommends that a martial artist work on both disciplines into the same workout and putting more emphasis on one over the other. 

This could mean having a training schedule that involves 1 hour and 15 minutes dedicated to one discipline and then 30-45 minutes at the other. You are learning and practicing in one discipline and staying fresh in the other. Then change up which discipline you focus on at your own discretion. What he specifically warns against, however, is training each discipline in separate sessions. 

How Often Should You Be Training In Each Discipline?

Training two martial arts at the same time is a little like learning two languages at the same time. You can do it but you run the risk of confusing one with the other and becoming not particularly adept at either language. This is part of why training in martial arts which don’t overlap much is important. You need to ensure you are training enough in each discipline to be developing your skills, however. 

For this reason, it is not advised to train in one martial art for an extended period of time then stop and start training in another discipline for an extended period of time. Compare this to if you adopted the same strategy for learning two languages at the same time. If you spent 6 months learning nothing but Spanish, you would learn a lot of what you need to speak Spanish. If you then stopped your Spanish training after 6 months and then spent 6 months learning French, it would have a negative impact on the Spanish you had just learned. Your French lessons will be at the forefront of your mind but much of what you learned about Spanish over the previous 6 months will be muddled, confused with the French you learned, or forgotten altogether. 

The same is true of martial arts. If you spend 6 months training nothing but Jiu-Jitsu, you’ll learn a lot and be more skilled than you were at it previously. If you then stop your Jiu-Jitsu training and focus on nothing but Muay Thai for the next 6 months, what you learned about Jiu-Jitsu will be less fresh in your mind and your skills will have waned. The effect is increased if you go from what martial art to another similar martial art such as Taekwondo and kickboxing.

People get into MMA sports and BJJ in particular for various reasons. Some do it to gain self-confidence and learn indispensable life skills while others just love the raw and primordial emotions that come with combat and competition. But one question that you invariably ask yourself is: will BJJ get you ripped?

Because of the rigorous regimen that is exactly what BJJ is all about, you’re guaranteed to shed the pounds fast. As you work on your grappling muscles and enhance your groundwork techniques, you’ll also develop those core muscles that give you that ripped look.

It’s hard work, no doubt about it. But the outcome is usually satisfying and makes all the hours you spend on the mat and all the effort well worth it. So how do you go about getting that shredded body that BJJ players hide under their gi? Read on to find out the answer to this and other questions on your mind as you start your BJJ journey.

BJJ for the Body and Mind

While getting to the top ranks is the goal and unspoken desire of many BJJ practitioners, there’s more to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu than just learning essential self-defense skills and wearing a black belt. BJJ is a way of life. It works equally on your body as it does on your mind.

One of the first things you’ll notice once you’ve started your BJJ training is that you’ll lose all that extra weight pretty fast. Day after day as you continue your practice, your body starts evolving. It might be the intensity of the training. Or it could be the discipline that is an indispensable part of being a BJJ student. But one thing is for sure, you will start to like the image reflected in the mirror every morning.

The reason behind this physical transformation has to do with the way BJJ treats the body. Your whole body is one unit not just limbs and groups of muscles. Your lifestyle changes as well. You’re no longer stuck in the daily rut of sitting, driving, and sleeping. You become more active and with this increased activity comes a heightened awareness of your body. You learn to take notice of which muscle groups are being activated with every action you take. 

The more you practice, the easier the drills and routines get. The techniques that were hard to execute at the beginning become manageable. Your mobility overall improves and your body becomes more responsive not just on the mat but in your daily life as well.

Add to that the mental benefits that come with the training. If you have issues with managing stress and dealing with frustration, BJJ teaches you how to deal with them. With practice, you get to know there are safer ways to let out pent up anger without hurting yourself or those around you.  

Shedding the Pounds

Before you achieve that bodybuilder figure you so passionately dream of, first, you’ll need to get rid of all the excess weight. You can’t have a six-pack if you have tires around your waist. And to become athletic and fit, you’ll need to shed the unwanted pounds weighing you down. So how does BJJ help you lose weight?

The keywords here are training and discipline. BJJ is not about cramming theories and piling up on the knowledge you get from reading and watching videos. As a student, you’ll be spending hours on the mat learning the techniques the hard way. You’ll be spending more time rolling, grappling, and putting your muscles to good use than watching from the sidelines.

Nothing burns calories, and fat for that matter, faster than using your whole body to overcome an adversary and force them into submission. It’s not just the spirit of competition that propels you, it’s also your inner desire to come up on top. And for that, you’ll push yourself harder, call on every muscle in your body, and strive to get better every day. This is how you lose weight faster than any diet. BJJ sets a goal for you and one of the obstacles that stand in your way is your excessive weight. This is why losing weight is not just a side effect of training, it’s an integral part of progressing in BJJ.

Compare that to diets and new year resolutions to lose weight. With BJJ you have a goal and motivation to propel you forward. And unlike diets, the weight you lose with your training will not come back. As long as you keep your practice, you will not go back to the sedentary life of old, fat will not come back, and your body will stay tuned and fit.

Working the Grappling Muscle

So you’ve been practicing with passion for weeks and you’ve lost weight and your body is becoming leaner and fitter. But you’re not as jacked as your favorite MMA fighters. What gives? For starters, you’re still developing your muscle groups. And secondly, you haven’t started yet on what is known in BJJ as the grappling muscle. So what is the grappling muscle?

Strength and well-developed muscle sets are paramount in BJJ. Remember, your goal is to dominate your opponent and control their movement. For that, you’ll need every ounce of muscle and strength in your body. And since grappling is at the heart and center of BJJ techniques, the majority of the muscle groups in your body come together to make up the grappling muscle.

This means that your shoulders, back, arms, and legs all have a lot to contribute to your overall strength. Ripped shoulders with a weak back will not help you get your rival on the mat to submit. You might have endurance and flexibility, but your hamstrings and gluteus maximus are not up to snuff so you’ll be dominated by your opponent more often than you like.

As you come to the realization that your muscle mass is vital to your progress in BJJ, you’ll pay more attention to the exercises that give you more strength and help you bulk up. And without a doubt, you’ll be needing that jacked body to get those isometric positions and keep your opponent pinned. And when you find yourself being dominated, it’s your lithe and strong body that will get you out of that spot with ease.

Getting that BJJ Shredded Body

That is all fine and dandy, you say, but how do you actually get there? How do you turn your body in its current state, shaped as it is to the contours of a La-Z-boy, to one sculpted like a Greek god? The answer is two-pronged. You need to exercise and know your body limits. 

Let’s unpack that. To develop your muscles you’ll need to exercise them – duh. The eternal law of nature is: use it or lose it. If you use your muscles they’ll grow. If you leave them in a state of disuse, they’ll simply vanish. So how will you develop your muscles at the same time you’re training for BJJ? It’s simple. Use a simple and uncomplicated tool like dumbbells or kettlebells.

The other part of the equation has to do with listening to your body and understanding your limits. You’re not trying to become a bodybuilder with an arm thicker than the average person’s waist. Your goal is to build the big muscle groups in your shoulders, back, arms, and legs to give you strength. And the key is to respect your limits. If you push yourself too hard, you might get injured. So keep your focus on building muscles for strength rather than for show.

How much Training do you Need?

Injury isn’t the only hazard of excessive exercising. There’s also the risk of burning out. What many BJJ practitioners fail to notice is that balance is the key. The sport is all about doing things in moderation. You build a body, not for vanity but to become strong. You rank up not to flaunt your belt, but to acquire more skills that you’ll be teaching to others later.

And in that spirit of moderation, you’ll need to approach your training with judicious calculations. In the beginning, you might need to scale down your training and limit it to twice or three times a week. Your body needs the rest periods as much as it needs the intense training. They both work in tandem to help you get fitter and more athletic.

As you build stamina and endurance on the mat, you can increase your practice gradually. You’ll know when you’re ready to go training every day. It all depends on your commitment and dedication to the sport. And thanks to the full-body workout you’ll be getting on the mat, your physique and mentality both will go through a wholesome transformation.

Being short and stocky in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has some clear advantages. From having a low centre of gravity to being able to move quicker than larger opponents, if you work your strategy well, you can achieve success in BJJ. With this in mind there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of success if you are short and stocky. 

10 Tips for Short Stocky guys doing BJJ are: 

1. Don’t limit yourself by your body type
2. Learn takedowns
3. Train with tall fighters
4. Redirect your larger opponents motion
5. Be mobile
6. Get  your limbs into places your opponent doesn’t want you to get them
7. Perfect your open guard 
8. Go for your opponents back
9. Close the gap
10. Attack the legs

Don’t Limit Yourself By Your Body Type

While you will likely hear lots of advice about what holds and styles are best for you, do not let this limit you to not trying other things that may also work for you. You should find holds, attacks and positions that you are comfortable with and can perform well. Try out new stuff until you are confident in your ability. 

Learn Takedowns 

As a shorter person, it makes complete sense to learn how to take down your opponents. This will potentially cancel out their height and reach advantage. Knowing different takedowns, how to do them properly and when to use them effectively will make you an effective short stocky fighter in BJJ. 

Train With Tall Fighters

To succeed in BJJ you will need to be able to compete with opponents of all shapes and sizes. It is easy to stick with training partners of similar build to you but this is not the most effective way to improve. By training with tall fighters, you can learn what works best against them for future fights. 

Redirect Your Larger Opponents Motion

Rather than trying to move your larger (and probably heavier) opponent around, it will be more energy efficient to redirect their motion. If they are moving forwards towards you then use that momentum for a takedown or an attack of your own. 

Be Mobile

Shorter people tend to be more mobile and faster than larger people. If this is the case for you then you should use your additional speed and mobility against your larger opponents. Keep moving and don’t be a standing target. By making larger opponents move around, they will tire and become more vulnerable to making mistakes for you to take advantage of!

Get  Your Limbs Into Places Your Opponent Doesn’t Want You To Get Them

Use your limbs to attack your opponents longer arms and legs. Your taller opponent may try to grab you from further back to catch you earlier than expected, however if you try and get your arms and legs around his (in an armbar for example) he will be much less likely to try this again. Get your limbs around his and make your opponent question each move they make. 

Perfect Your Open Guard 

With shorter legs, you will likely find it more difficult to get your opponent into full guard. You will need to perfect your open guard in order to still be able to be the most effective fighter you can be. Practice a lot until you have this perfected. 

Go For Your Opponents Back

Back mount and back attacks should be favoured for short stocky people doing BJJ. It eliminates a lot of the advantages a taller person might have. If you can get your back game on point, you will likely do very well against taller fighters as they are less able to use their reach advantage against you if you are behind them. 

Close The Gap

If you are competing with a taller opponent you will want to close the gap between you to counteract their reach advantage. As they are taller it will be easier for them to grab you from a distance or to attempt a sweep so get in close and close the gap!

Attack The Legs

If you are up against a tall opponent, it means their long legs make for large targets for you to aim for! Attacking the legs will help you takedown your opponent and remove their height and reach advantage over you. 

Tips For Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 

If you are just starting out in BJJ or even if you are a seasoned pro, there is always opportunity to improve and develop. The tips above may be aimed at short stocky people doing BJJ but here are some more that anyone involved in BJJ can use:

1. Train consistently – Regular training is the only way you will improve. Work with an experienced coach who knows what they are talking about on a regular basis and you will see improvements in a short period of time. 
2. Roll more often – Rolling (sparring) is a key part of training and developing your skills. This is where you actually use all the technical information to perform a movement on a partner. You will be able to work out your strengths and weaknesses much quicker if you roll more frequently. 
3. Ask questions – Take advantage of your coaches knowledge and experience. Ask them questions, take their advice and learn as much as you possibly can from them. Your coach will be the person who likely has the biggest impact on your BJJ so make sure you work effectively with them.
4. Never forget the basics – No matter how advanced you become in BJJ, you should never forget the basic techniques such as bridging, grips, passing the guard and breathing properly. These will be the foundation that you build your success on. NEVER forget these techniques while trying to master more advanced stuff in the future.
5. Roll with different partners – You should be able to pull off all the moves and techniques you learn on any opponent regardless of their size, shape or experience. While some opponents will obviously be harder to movie around than others, it is important you get used to rolling with as many people as possible. By doing this you will be able to have a better game plan going into competitions against all kinds of opponents. 
6. Try new things – Don’t be afraid to try something new. Even if you are the most experienced person in your class or already competing at a high level, trying new things could open your eyes to a whole new strength you didn’t know you had. Work with your coach and other training partners to try new things out to see if there is something you could add to your arsenal. 
7. Work on your general fitness – While training specifically for BJJ is important, improving your general fitness is also key to progressing in BJJ. Work on your cardiovascular fitness, strength and flexibility. These will help you improve as a fighter as well as keeping you healthy too! 
8. Relax and breathe – It can be easy to get over excited and go into a state of panic when you start rolling or competing. It is important to take a breath and relax. Being relaxed will help you move more fluidly and not make as many mistakes. As silly as it sounds….always remember to breathe – it’s the most important thing you can do! 

How Long Does It Take To Be Good At BJJ

A common question in BJJ is “how long does it take to be good?” No one likes being the new person in class or the one that always gets picked to roll as they are easiest to throw around. However, it is important to remember that everyone starts out as the new person at some point. 

It takes a long time to be considered “good” at anything. 

In BJJ there are 5 belts to achieve – white, blue, purple, brown and black. It takes, on average, 2 – 3 years to be proficient enough to move up from white belt to blue belt. This should be an indication that it takes a LONG time to make it to black belt. That being said, some people will progress quicker but these tend to be rare exceptions. 

If you are the type of person who wants to be a master of your hobby within a few months, then BJJ is probably not for you!   

10 Tips For Short Stocky People Doing BJJ

These tips for short stocky people doing BJJ can help you develop as a fighter. While it is not an exhaustive list, it can help as a starting point in finding the best fighting style for you. 

The main tip anyone can receive for succeeding in BJJ is to find a coach who can help you develop as a fighter. As well as working with your coach you should study in your own time to speed up your progression further. BJJ takes a lot of dedication so be prepared to put in many hours (years) of training and you can be successful as a short stocky person doing BJJ (or any other body shape for that matter!) 

The ultimate goal of every Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner worth their salt is to get the coveted black belt. It takes hard work, dedication, and passion to earn the right to wear a BJJ black belt. But above all, it takes time.

So how long does it take to earn a black belt in BJJ?

On average, one would need about 10 years to get a black belt in BJJ. Some practitioners might take 14 years to win the coveted belt while others would earn it in eight years or less. It’s not just that the journey to the top ranking is difficult, other factors including individual talent, aptitude, and, yes, ego also play a role.

So what stands between you and your black belt target? A lot actually. Is it hard? Yes. But is it impossible? No. Many practitioners like Geo Martinez and Mads Burnell achieved it in just three years. And you can too. Let’s explore this exciting journey and see what you have to do to wear a black belt in BJJ.

The Journey from White to Black

The belt system in BJJ is quite simple. You only have to make your way through five belts. You start with the white belt and work upwards towards the black one. As you can expect, each belt is more difficult to achieve than the one before it. So by the time you’re ready to wear your BJJ black belt you’re a well-rounded practitioner who’s mastered all the nuances of the sport. Here are the 5 colors in ascending order.

1. White

Your white belt charts your path for you. You still have no clue what your learning journey will be like and you’re just testing the water here. There’s a lot you don’t know about BJJ and yourself. So as you learn about the main positions and get an idea of what BJJ is all about, you’ll also be learning more about your abilities and shortcomings. Your goal is to get the broad outlines of what’s waiting ahead for you. Your biggest obstacles are your ego and getting ahead of yourself. So learn to relax and control your ego. You’ll lose more than you win but that’s OK too.

2. Blue

The blue belt is about building your skills, especially your defense ability. Here you learn how to escape from any position especially the Mount, Side Mount, and Back Mount positions. Blue is also about passing the guard. Many practitioners find this very challenging. So the more time you spend on it early on in the journey, the better you’ll become. Try to learn at least two techniques to pass the guard and get them down to an art. 

3. Purple

You got the basics down during your blue stage, and now it’s time to spread your BJJ wings and fly. You’ll learn concepts like using your weight and that of your opponent to give momentum to your movement and how to avoid wasted movement. During your purple belt time you will also finish your foundational work as you perfect your defense techniques. Set time aside to discover the holes in your sport and plug them. Here you’ll also get some rudimentary offense work started.

4. Brown

The brown belt means you are now familiar with most positions both attack and submissions. You’re comfortable in your own skin both on and off the mat. And you’ve already developed a unique style and know where you stand among the rest of the players. As such you can now teach BJJ to others and you might decide to coach players. You can teach them how to fully use their weight from Mount and Side Mount positions and explore every opportunity to pass the guard. At this stage in your journey, you strive to hone your balance in top positions and improve on your counter techniques to more common attacks.

5. Black

The Holy Grail for every BJJ player. You have an intimate knowledge of both your body and mind. You can read your opponent and explore their weaknesses. But you’re also modest and use your expertise for the common good. Your movement is economical, efficient, and graceful all rolled into one. Yet, you never stop learning because there’s always room to get better and refine your talents. 

Why does it Take So Long to Get the Black Belt?

It’s not surprising, seeing how complex each belt is, that it takes some practitioners two years or more to move to the next ranking. To complicate things further, you should know that your journey to win the black belt isn’t all about sheer talent. In fact, when it comes to BJJ, the belt ranking is a little more complicated than that. 

It’s more than just Skill 

While other MMAs might judge you solely based on your skills, BJJ takes other factors into consideration. For example, your character plays a vital role in your progress towards the next belt rank and might boost or hamper your chances of progressing. 

Your knowledge of the various positions and situations, both defense and offense ones, are also important. Add to that another crucial factor and that is your mental toughness. You can safely assume that your character and mental fortitude are constantly being evaluated every time you step on the mat.

Non-linear Progress 

We talked about progress and moving from white to black belts making mandatory stops at the other colors in between. But that by no means implies that your progress is as simple as moving from point A to point B. Far from it.

Because BJJ evaluates every aspect of your being from the physical to the mental and psychological, not everybody has a smooth sail. Some get bogged down at a certain rank because they have some issues they grapple with. Others find the theoretical aspect of the sport easy to grasp but struggle on the mat.

There’s a Lot to Learn 

If there’s something that sets BJJ apart from other martial arts it’s that for every position and technique there are hundreds of variations. To become a well-rounded player who wears that black belt with pride, you’ll need to master as many techniques as you can and familiarize yourself with their various derivatives. 

This is why the greatest champs of the sport are so humble. They understand that the more they study and learn the more they realize that there’s a lot more to know. You’re always a student in BJJ even after winning the black belt. 

It’s all about Commitment 

Not everyone who trains in BJJ is there to get the black belt. Some treat the sport as a hobby while others consider it the sole purpose of their existence. Between these extremes, there are other varying degrees of commitment. To get promoted you’ll need to take BJJ a little more seriously than just a hobby or a pastime. Regular training and competing are the operative words here.

Have you Got What it Takes?

As we have seen, BJJ is a personal journey. Some sail through it faster than others. Few will get the ultimate promotion of the black belt while others will cut their journey short. So what exactly do you need to make it in BJJ?

Knowledge

People learn at different rates. And one of the challenges that students find daunting in BJJ is the amount of knowledge they have to learn. It’s a lot, yes, but you’ll get there if you respect your learning abilities and refrain from comparing yourself to others. There’s no shame in taking more time to learn a specific defense technique than the next player. Keep at it and never give up. Jiu-Jitsu is about personal growth and it rewards you with more goodies than just colorful belts.

Time on the Mat

Nothing beats the practical experience you get on the mat. Training and competing are the heart and soul of BJJ. Just like watching swimming videos alone doesn’t make you a good swimmer, theoretical knowledge isn’t enough in Jiu-Jitsu. The mat is the ultimate test of how much you know and how much you don’t know. Just watch out for the mat burnout. It’s common among BJJ players. So respect your body limits and strike a good balance between training and study.

A Competitive Spirit

The bookies’ favorite saying is it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters but the size of the fight in the dog. To advance in BJJ, you need to have an elevated level of competitiveness. There’s no winning or losing in Jiu-Jitsu and you learn more from your so-called losses than from the competitions that you prevail in. A competitive spirit drums up your passion and commitment for the sport. And you can’t do without those two in the world of BJJ. 

A Dash of Passion 

Just like everything in life, in order to attain a high and elusive goal, you’ll need to be passionate about it. If there’s one thing that all black belt champs share it’s their unwavering love of BJJ. The more you love it the more willing you’ll be to put in the time and effort to learn, train, compete, and get better.