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The Journey

The journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a unique experience for every student.  Belts are 100% at the discretion of the instructors, but the factors leading to these decisions are under control of students.

 The journey can be the most difficult in all martial arts graduation systems both in time and required grit. 

The journey to black belt typically spans 10 years with the lion’s share within 8 to 12 years. There are also r students with little interest in belt promotion that just enjoy rolling with friends while staying mentally confident and physically fit. 

Regardless of your own aspirations and capabilities, colour belts are a way to track our progress in mastering the craft. 

All students start as white belts, regardless of experience or age. Kids move from the kids belt graduation system to the adult belt graduation system starting at 16 years old.

Adult Belt Graduation System

 

The adult belt graduation system is more condensed, and so it follows that the promotions are less frequent than the kids belt graduation system. Assuming a 10-year journey, a student averages 2.5 years at each ranking which amounts to a stripe promotion every 6 months. The time at blue belt tends to be longer and that time could be balanced at purple or brown belt.

Stripes awards are flexible and may be skipped, for example, a student with no or 2 stripes may be promoted to a new belt without the full 4 stripes.

The minimum age requirements continue with adult belts, being at least 16 years old for blue or purple, at least 18 years old for brown belt, and at least 19 years old for a black belt.

Kids Belt Graduation System

All students start as white belts without colour, regardless of experience.

 Stripes are incremental promotions between each belt and a student can be awarded up to 4 stripes on a colour belt, the 5th promotion being a new belt. However, stripes awards are flexible and may be skipped, for example, a student with no or 2 stripes may be promoted to a new belt without the full 4 stripes.

Black Belt Graduation System

ACCORDING TO IBJJF RULES:

  1. No one can be a black belt in jiu jitsu before 19 years of age. You can only be promoted to black belt by a black belt INSTRUCTOR with a minimum of 2 degrees.
  2. After three years of receiving the black belt, the the 1st degree may be awarded
  3. After 3 years of the 1st degree, the black belt may be awarded the 2nd degree and after over three years with 2nd degree the the 3rd degree. 

NOW A 3rd DEGREE BLACK BELT, YOU MUST HAVE AT LEAST 9 YEARS AT BLACK BELT!

THE ESSENTIALS

#1 Mat Time

Mat time comes from training BJJ often and consistently. There is simply no substitute for the raw amount of time spent on the mat during the journey, regardless of athletic prowess or other martial arts or fighting experience. 

We focus on “net” mat time because the “raw” duration of training time can include time off the mat from injuries and other reasons. At the other end of the spectrum, the “net” mat time can, in some cases, be more significant than the “raw” net time. 

For example, a serious competitor may advance more quickly over the same duration by training 3x per day, 5 days per week, in an intensive manner. 

The ideal amount of training in a week is typically around 3x, or at least 2x. When training once per week or less, students may plateau as they are not able to build by integrating new lessons with past lessons now forgotten. 

Also, the student’s physical fitness will not be optimized. Long breaks and inconsistent mat time also erode progress. But do keep in mind training 6x weekly or more can be counterproductive due to improper rest, and lead to injuries from over training.

#2 Mat Skills

Mat time is an important aspect of developing mat skills. And ultimately, it is our mat skills that separate us from our former selves and others.

 Mat skills can include outcomes of head-to-head sparring matches against other peer students as well as how we perform against higher and lower rankings. Knowledge of positions and techniques are important.

 Fluidity and transitions during scrambles display instincts. Additionally, across the mat drills and partner drills isolate skill sets for evaluation. 

On the other hand, student’s should not only be concerned with showing “dominance” in mat skills. For instance, a blue belt that submits purple belts will not necessarily be promoted before a blue belt being that is submitted by a white belt. 

There is little value in a purple belt submitting a new white belt student 10x over a single roll. But there is plenty of value in a purple belt testing their range and limits by attempting more difficult techniques on lower belts when on offence, and by placing themselves in dangerous near submissions to practice escapes when on defense.

#3 Mat Stewardship

Mat stewardship rewards all the intangible or indirect aspects of BJJ. How do you define yourself in the BJJ community or within your own BJJ dojo. 

The mat jerk is one instance of mat stewardship slowing down progress — The egocentric purple belt preying on new white belts without any reciprocal learning — Causing injury to other students from reckless training — The B student with C effort — etc.

WEIGHTS

The IBJJF’s strict weight class policies mean that you may want to err on the heavier side rather than risk missing weight and not being able to compete!

POINTS

MASTERS

CHILDREN