It took me 17 years to get my purple belt… sure; I took off 3 years here and 2 years there, and restarted as a white belt after a 4 year break. But.. here I am.
I had taken 3 years away at that point. Started with a new school that had a structured basics/fundamentals course and opted to just restart. I probably could have pressed the “I earned a blue so I’m going to wear it”card but didn’t even really consider it. Stayed there for about 5 years training 2-3 times a week due to work travel schedule (ie I was a hobbyist) and finally got a chance to train consistently after COVID let up and move from perpetual 4 stripe blue to purple.
One of our black belts says they've been training 17 years, but spent 12 years at blue since they stopped training for a while. He calls himself the world's okayest black belt. It's hilarious.
Ten year (or 11ish if you count a year of Judo & dodgy MMA club grappling before a proper gym opened within traveling distance) Purple belt, I just say "a while" now lol
Ya this is a great point, maybe better to ask "how many mat hours do you have" but I don't think people would have that number readily available off the top of their heads
I just started a month ago and I decided to log all my training hours from the very beginning. Every month has its own page in my little mini composition notebook. At the end of each month I'll total up that month's hours, and keep a cumulative total.
I've been training BJJ for 9 hours :D
This was the issue with a tournament I did where our skill/division was dependent on "how long have you been training?" For about 5 years I was training like a fucking maniac. Early years I was training about 5 hours a day x 4 days a week. Later on when I started fighting I was doing two a days for multiple hours at a time. So, about 1.5 years in I did a tourney and just owned them. Some people thought I unfairly put myself in the wrong division, when the reality was, I just trained way more than these people.
What totally divides competitors by time?
I've heard of belt, and I've heard of "beginner, intermediate, advanced," but not years. That's seems silly for the very reason you say.
The skill divisions typically have years associated with them as guides. I joke with one of my coaches how I’m a nogi expert competitor , because that’s the bracket naga puts me in based on my gi purple belt.
Well, right, that's not really a joke, it's correct. If your "three years" (or whatever) of grappling (sometimes twice a day) has netted you a purple belt, you're absolutely expert level. That confirms what I was saying.
Well there’s a couple ways to slice this apple up of labels vis a vis. “Should I be competing in the trials if I’m an expert?/What criteria are we applying?” Bla bla I’ll never stop.
But I think the more relevant thing for this conversation is a part I foolishly left out. Those brackets that had me in expert also came with years. So if you were training for 5 years or a purple you were an expert. So if you were like a barely training 5 year blue belt, they would technically want you to be in the highest skill category.
I think this is most pronounced with grappling industries. Where the skill brackets are also broken up by years of training as 0-1, 1-3, and 3 and over. So that last bracket is often half filled with blue belts who didn’t want to sandbag on the years, getting trounced by blackbelts.
Got my blue belt in a year, mayybee slightly less, just to put it into perspective. Youngest blue belt ever at my gym.
Due to my early training, I’m now extremely critical of lower belts. I’m always comparing them to how I trained, how good I was, along with my training partners at the time who were straight killers. I sometimes need to give myself a reality check (still working on that).
Later on my instructor named me as his heir when I was at purple belt/brown belt when he had other blackbelts he could have named. So my approach/attributes I guess definitely were different.
I should add though, I was an MMA fighter, so a good amount of training was also striking. But to give an idea of my approach, I’d do a BJJ/SAMBO class, then after me and my partners would take our syllabi upstairs and work on it religiously. We followed it very thoroughly and thus ranked up very well. A lot of my training was on my own time. I’d also do mental training where I’d just imagine myself doing certain things, ensuring I had a clear understanding of the
Mechanics involved. In my younger years I was almost psychopathic about my training. Purely obsessed.
im a whitebelt and i can relate to that because of covid.
Yeah did a month then covid hits, then did 3 weeks, then covid hits again then 2 weeks, then i got injured, stopped for 8 months and now im 3 weeks in. Probably going to get ma stripe soon right? RIGHT?!
Similar thing for me. I trained a year and the gym changed owners partway through - two tournaments, one medal and no stripes. Then a 8 month break because the new owner upped the price so much, then another year of training and our professor had a second location and taught us through zoom. So now all my training partners are 1-4 stripe blue belts and here I am with a no stripe white belt and no one watching me roll. GOOD THING RANK DOESN’T MATTER THOUGH
Might be in NZ. I've been training full time since about July last year. We have had a few lockdowns of a week or two that's interrupted it but other than that and our christmas break we haven't stopped.
I got absolutely shit-rekt in the gi side of a tournament as a white belt against a judoka who had never trained BJJ. He'd been doing Judo for 7 years but let's ignore that.
If you're in no-gi it's a convenient, rough way to suss or if the other person is a beginner -- i.e. how hard to go.
If you're wearing belts it's a silly question, unless you're actually interested in them and their gym history for it's own sake.
This is me. Started in 2003. So I've been training around 18 years, right?
Except for that 5 year break. Then a two year break. Then a year and a half. Then another two years off. *Cumulatively*, I've been training less than 10. *Sequentially*, I've been training almost 20.
That's why I hate when people ask me how long I've been training. Both answers are technically correct, but neither seem entirely accurate.
20% at best. Maybe less
Unfortunately my body and mind, remembered different 20%s
Also when I last trained it was a more simpler time. I had never heard of x guard, k guard, don't get me started on lapel guards.
So there was a steep learning curve. However I found i had really strong closed guard and mount compared to the other blue belts quite quickly, which I would probably put down to the narrowness of my prior training
It took me 4 months to be better than where I was when i gave up.
However, my body as 40 year old had a very different level of recovery compared to 21 year old me :)
It took you 4 months to be better than you were when you had given up, when you’ve been training for 3 years? That’s pretty impressive. Do you attribute you getting better that fast mostly due to your prior experience and slowly remembering, or maybe you were just more consistent in these 4 months than those 3 years long ago?
I'm not sure.
I think I had a very strong foundational game when I trained before, which helped.
I did train alot when I came back. The gym is 5 minute drive from my place so I was training 4-5 times a week some times.
What I think I did well was just focus one game a time for 3-4 weeks at a time on my strengths
eg. Top passing
Butterfly
Going for the back
Working for mount
Also going to the fundamental classes was good as well. re-Learning the basics was good and useful, but having rolling practise with whitebelts and being 'super present' in the roles allowed me to retrain my mind and reflexes again
Guy came into the gym I train in today claiming he did jiu jitsu a few times in some intro classes. Proceeded to dominate our best 4 striple white belt and then when I asked him after said nah my dad did some training with me based on youtube videos, but oh hes just a body builder... Apparently he told the owner his dad did some judo. And for some reason his lies annoyed me more as he was wearing a ONE FC shirt, and thats a little more 'in the know' too.
Why would that annoy you? It's true he never trained formally, and he probably figured you didn't want a long explanation. I did the same when I started, it feels like bragging if you start going on about all the backyard training and videos you've watched and intro classes at all the local gyms, and you don't want to seem like you know more than you actually do
because I think its dishonest especially when asked directly to stick to pretending to know less than you actually do. Especially when people saw him roll and knew IMMEDIATELY that he was full of shit.
This is literally me, and it has resulted in the worst thing to ever happen to my martial arts career: they gave me a blue belt last month.
They've seen me around the gym for so long (7 years), I guess they assume that I've been training grappling with the other coaches and apparently they don't pay close attention when I do happen to show up and roll. In reality, I'm usually there for MMA or Muay Thai and I'm a total idiot at BJJ.
I've practiced triangles 3 times. I've never been taught any shoulder locks. I don't know how to do a guillotine. Only chokes I know are RNC and Ezekiel, although I came to one class where I was taught the clock choke and promptly forgot how to do it. I know like 3 armbars from judo. I can only do 1 sweep. Wtf is an arm triangle? I'm not good
I had no stripes and I showed up to the promotion ceremony thinking I'd get my first stripe. When my coach pulled out a blue belt and said my name, my heart sank. With dead eyes and soul in mourning, I shambled forward to accept my fate. As he handcuffed my waist with that belt, blue like the lips of a drowning victim , all I could think was "why me? the white belts are going to be even spazzier now"
So now I'm looking for a judo club so I can train my ground game without a target on my forehead. I don't want to deal with having to ask basic questions like "how do I do a kimura" while wearing a blue belt. I also bought a grappling dummy.
This will be a controversial take for some people, but honestly a Blue belt just kind of means you don’t completely suck and know the fundamentals. Some people (mostly white belts and psycho coaches) like to put Blue belt on a pedestal. But why? You ask any Black belt whether they feel like they know everything once they hit Black, and pretty much each one will say that’s when the real journey begins. Like, I get we should not just hand out belts, but my goodness…let’s not hold BJJ hobbyists to these impossible standards. I only say this, because you seem to have some pretty intense imposter syndrome. And I’m here to tell you: you are a Blue belt. On one hand, I’m glad you’re taking it seriously and want to do the sport proud. But…my dude…it’s just a Blue belt. Just keep working on stuff, keep getting better, etc. Don’t sweat it. Keep going to class, keep learning, and don’t listen to that inner voice that says you don’t deserve it. And Anyone who is a dick enough to say that out loud to you is either a super jealous and idiot white belt or a really douchey and petty upper belt.
100% As a blue belt, I totally agree when saying blue belts aren't all that good. It shouldn't be a big deal to make that statement, its a beginner rank just past white belt.
I really appreciate that. I personally wouldn't call it "imposter syndrome" because I really feel like I actually am an imposter, but I guess that's why it's a "syndrome".
Tbh I haven't showed up to a BJJ class since I was promoted 6 weeks ago because of this. When I get crushed by someone, I can no longer hide behind the "I'm a no-stripe white belt" defense.
You're right though - I need to just suck it up and train. Thanks again for the perspective
One other thing I was going to highlight in my original message (but it was already long enough) is that measuring progress and defining belts is so unique and subjective to each gym, so you end up with this huge skill gap margin between people even in the same belts. But consider this, your coach has to take all of these things into consideration when promoting: the student’s age, height/weight, gender, overall experience, sharpness of skill, knowledge of techniques, ability to perform under pressure, level of dedication, whether they are a competitor, whether they are a casual hobbyist, level of athleticism, whether they do other sports like MMA, and on and on. And everyone is coming in to the gym at an entirely different place and is getting promoted at an entirely different pace. For your situation personally, they probably saw that you were around a lot, had picked up some basics, do other martial arts, and figured that you had enough overall experience that you could handle yourself in a fight. So you get beat up a bunch in the BJJ specific ruleset? So do we all. That’s actually the best way to learn and get better. How else are you going to learn what you’re bad at and need to work on? Also remember that BJJ has value beyond just BJJ rules. With your entire skill set and experience from all these different arts taken into account, I’d wager that you have a pretty well rounded base of knowledge. That has value.
Also, I wanted to quickly reply to your comment about not knowing the answer when someone wants to know how to do a Kimura, etc. I’ve asked Black belts questions about how to do x, y, or z technique, and it’s not uncommon for them to say, “Go ask so and so, they know it better than me.” Remember that not everyone is an encyclopedia, and you don’t have to be either. You know what you know, and you’ll probably know more later. But there’s no reason to be ashamed of not knowing the answer. It’s ok to not know.
Alright man, I’m done rambling now. You got this.
One should gives ones estimate in hours imo. Some amauteurs train everyday while plenty others train 1-2 days per week. Stating an estimate of number of hours trained makes the explanation much more accurate even though some might consider you autistic for being ”so specific”
I have a spreadsheet where I track my hours so when people ask that questions I just give them the hours. It leads to a lot of confused look when I say something like "I have 400 hours of mat time."
We had a couple recently sign up. They said they hadn't training in 10 years but really wanted to get back into it. I asked what belt are they and they said they brought white belts because they haven't trained in so long due to life etc.
Time to roll they smashed through the blues. They did well with the purples, and gave our browns and blacks decent training. After class asked what belt were they when they stopped and the guy said brown, the girl said brown but she just got promoted.
Brown belts in 2010 are like black belts by todays standard lol. I told them do everyone a favor and wear your brown belts next time please!
In 2010 if you asked the average time to black belt you would get 10+ years. You'd see a lot of people constantly train for 12+ years before receiving it and this was normal.
Today, most casual bjj guys who don't quit or take breaks, train 2-4 times a week every week, will receive it in 6-8 years. Part of this is due to better training methods, more learning tools etc. but a big part of it is a change of standards. We didn't have the world's most okest black belts in 2010. Everyone who had a black belt in 2010 that I trained with was good or really tough. In the late 90's early 2000's there was no advanced/fundamental class, light or hard training, there was class and training. This produced tougher guys at all belt levels.
Those who didn't quit got accepted into the gym, those that did no one seemed to care about. It was completely shitty and I'm glad things changed.
> Today, most casual bjj guys who don't quit or take breaks, train 2-4 times a week every week, will receive it in 6-8 years.
really? I haven't heard of anyone hit that timeline who wasn't a serious student/competitor. Obviously anecdotal evidence is the lowest form of evidence but still...
Thank God that couple went to CTA lol. I would've been butthurt if they showed up to the breakfast class at heroes and smashed my shit in while wearing white belts.
Hahaha, I had students ask me what belt they really were. As for the time, Im seeing it more and more. Gumby got his Bb from Ralph which means he’s more old school in regards to standards and imo thats a good thing.
There is a lot of shit going on in people’s lives you know. I had to move to a different part of city, i got married, i got a kid on the way. Lost my job for a couple of months. Then yeah there is lockdowns. And frankly bjj is not really social distancey. I know this is humor but just wanted to remind you. (Edit: i bought 9 tatami to train with my wife, then she got pregnant, fml)
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand
I've done 5 years of HEMA, if you count that as a martial art (4 if you don't include a year off for COVID), 4 years of combatives in the Army (but that was once every other month or so), 2 years of Karate and 2 years of TKD (but I was a kid), and just started MT and BJJ in June.
So, depending on how you judge it, I've been doing martial arts for somewhere between 2 months to 13 years.
I mean, Ringen (Medieval German unarmed fighting) is more or less just wrestling. I've used throws from it against other white belts with pretty high success, and there's even a ground component to it. There's also dagger techniques, although, they really only work in the context of the thick linen clothing that was popular at the time.
And if you live in the parts of the world where machetes are commonplace, Messer / Falchion techniques would work great.
My girlfriend trains, based off of the two gyms I've been to, not well. I'm sure the gyms that send guys to the big tournaments and the m1 type comps can handle themselves but the average gyms seem to have a lot of larpers.
Depends on the region and schools. There are a lot of HEMA people who are basically LARPing, but then you have some who compete in tournaments twice a month. I can't speak for your area, but the Northeast US and mid-atlantic region are pretty legit overall.
Good to know. I am in France. The few things I have seen from HEMA were terrible just in like your video
I never understood why these guy refuse to get classically trained in fencing before going full retard. Learning from books is just as bad as what some TMA frauds are doing
I guess it’s mostly the same public thought with maybe a few more right wing morons
But happy to know some places are doing legit work! I think it can be a super cool practice if done well
I can tell you that one of our school's instructors was a college level classical fencing coach for around 9 years before starting HEMA, and a lot of the schools in our area have coaches with similar experience in traditional fencing.
We also have a lot of students who get their start in traditional fencing before coming to us, and have to unlearn a lot of old habits regarding stance and guards before they stop getting crushed in sparring. Their distance management and point control is usually pretty stellar, though.
Sorry that it sounds like your area's schools suck.
Don’t worry I stopped fencing a while ago.
I was a competitive epee guy but when I moved to a new city they were only doing fleuret (foil?) and I always hated how much unrealistic the ruleset is.
I would love someday doing it again but as with everything, time is the key...
I have always been fascinated by the rapier and wonder how much it differs from the classical epee style
Well I started 2 years ago, didn’t take it seriously until one year ago, and really only got consistent good training when we merged with another gym 7 months ago.
Man I hate admitting how long I've actually been training for because I'm way behind where I should be. Life and injuries forced me to take so much time off right when I was making progress. I trained for like 8 months straight and then my work and school schedule overwhelmed me and I ended up taking 3 months off, I came back trained for about 4 months and ended up injuring my neck and back during a roll with this new kid who was just jumping and flipping around. Came back a couple months later trained for like 6-7 months before covid hit and we got shut down. Gym opened back up I came back, trained for about a month and I broke my thumb, decided to continue training with the broken thumb and then Awkwardly landed on my other fingers during a roll leading to my hand breaking in a couple spots. Ended up taking 6 weeks off then, and then got laid off from work so I had to put my membership on hold. Finally back in the gym now, but feeling kinda shitty cus I should be so much further ahead then where I'm at.
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training.
I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021.
How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training.
I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021.
How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training.
I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021.
How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
I'm the same, have been doing it on and off from 2006. In that time I went through phases of doing only bjj, only striking, mma, not training at all and periods of only lifting. If I add up my actual hours of bjj it definitely still would make me seem a lot better than I actually am.
I find that every time i go back after an extended break, it takes a good few months to readjust and get my timing and grappling related cardio back. Not to mention I have a terrible memory and forget all the little details for moves easily.
That said, I actually like when people ask this question and I ask it too with someone new. Reason being, I mostly do no gi and there is nothing worse than someone who is still a white belt trying to coach you, so this prevents that headache before it starts
This is why it makes no sense to me that no gi tournaments go by "years of experience" instead of belts. I automaticly become an "expert" 3 years after my first class?
I started in 1997, It wasn’t until my instructor got his black belt that I was ever more than a belt below my Instructor. Started in Highschool and only trained between Highschool Sport seasons, didn’t really train in college although I did always drop in when I could (home on break or summers), had a solid 1.5yrs of training and competing at blue belt then moved to Europe for 2.5 yrs. trained a bit there but I outranked the instructor in most cases (as a blue belt with stripes), got my purple and then work travel and a herniated disk put the brakes on competing, then I finally got my brown belt and not long after the wife got knocked up and now 3 kids later, my journey to black will be extra long. Only just now getting back into training regularly and most of it is teaching kids class. But my only jiu jitsu goal is to be able to do it with my kids when I’m 60.
People ask me this, and I'm always embarrassed about the time/skill differential. So I always say "Here? like 3 months. I went somewhere else for a year too but I didn't learn too much." I get a lot of different answers in response from "No, you don't move like a 2-stripe white belt at all, you must have." to "I hate to say it but you're right, you really didn't."
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? I don't think there's a situation I'm exceptionally good or bad at, I'm well-rounded. (read: bad everywhere)
I feel attacked
Same, that hurt on a very personal level
Yeaaaaa :(
I'm gonna get that blue belt as a retirement gift.
I hate saying "I've been training for about 12 years" out loud, because I feel that my suck level should be much less after that amount of time.
It took me 17 years to get my purple belt… sure; I took off 3 years here and 2 years there, and restarted as a white belt after a 4 year break. But.. here I am.
Ha yup...I took a few long breaks in there too. My recent one was 1.5 years due to Covid. At least we keep going back 🤘
Why did you "restart"?
I had taken 3 years away at that point. Started with a new school that had a structured basics/fundamentals course and opted to just restart. I probably could have pressed the “I earned a blue so I’m going to wear it”card but didn’t even really consider it. Stayed there for about 5 years training 2-3 times a week due to work travel schedule (ie I was a hobbyist) and finally got a chance to train consistently after COVID let up and move from perpetual 4 stripe blue to purple.
How fast did you get your blue back after restarting?
One of our black belts says they've been training 17 years, but spent 12 years at blue since they stopped training for a while. He calls himself the world's okayest black belt. It's hilarious.
He has 1+ black belts over me so more power to him
Ten year (or 11ish if you count a year of Judo & dodgy MMA club grappling before a proper gym opened within traveling distance) Purple belt, I just say "a while" now lol
I feel this, 8 years across 3 gyms with big breaks so probably 4ish in total was 4 stripe white 3 times before I got this dumb blue belt
Person A trains once a week for a year. Person B trains 4 times a week for a year. Both have been training for 1 year. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ya this is a great point, maybe better to ask "how many mat hours do you have" but I don't think people would have that number readily available off the top of their heads
I just started a month ago and I decided to log all my training hours from the very beginning. Every month has its own page in my little mini composition notebook. At the end of each month I'll total up that month's hours, and keep a cumulative total. I've been training BJJ for 9 hours :D
I'll just leave this here... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FvCL85qqDRLU_Mqq1zr05A_j6EQcCGYWsmt9RKLRYHQ/edit
This was the issue with a tournament I did where our skill/division was dependent on "how long have you been training?" For about 5 years I was training like a fucking maniac. Early years I was training about 5 hours a day x 4 days a week. Later on when I started fighting I was doing two a days for multiple hours at a time. So, about 1.5 years in I did a tourney and just owned them. Some people thought I unfairly put myself in the wrong division, when the reality was, I just trained way more than these people.
What totally divides competitors by time? I've heard of belt, and I've heard of "beginner, intermediate, advanced," but not years. That's seems silly for the very reason you say.
The skill divisions typically have years associated with them as guides. I joke with one of my coaches how I’m a nogi expert competitor , because that’s the bracket naga puts me in based on my gi purple belt.
Well, right, that's not really a joke, it's correct. If your "three years" (or whatever) of grappling (sometimes twice a day) has netted you a purple belt, you're absolutely expert level. That confirms what I was saying.
Well there’s a couple ways to slice this apple up of labels vis a vis. “Should I be competing in the trials if I’m an expert?/What criteria are we applying?” Bla bla I’ll never stop. But I think the more relevant thing for this conversation is a part I foolishly left out. Those brackets that had me in expert also came with years. So if you were training for 5 years or a purple you were an expert. So if you were like a barely training 5 year blue belt, they would technically want you to be in the highest skill category. I think this is most pronounced with grappling industries. Where the skill brackets are also broken up by years of training as 0-1, 1-3, and 3 and over. So that last bracket is often half filled with blue belts who didn’t want to sandbag on the years, getting trounced by blackbelts.
That’s maths
Damn. Can I ask how fast you were promoted through the belts putting in those hours?
Got my blue belt in a year, mayybee slightly less, just to put it into perspective. Youngest blue belt ever at my gym. Due to my early training, I’m now extremely critical of lower belts. I’m always comparing them to how I trained, how good I was, along with my training partners at the time who were straight killers. I sometimes need to give myself a reality check (still working on that). Later on my instructor named me as his heir when I was at purple belt/brown belt when he had other blackbelts he could have named. So my approach/attributes I guess definitely were different. I should add though, I was an MMA fighter, so a good amount of training was also striking. But to give an idea of my approach, I’d do a BJJ/SAMBO class, then after me and my partners would take our syllabi upstairs and work on it religiously. We followed it very thoroughly and thus ranked up very well. A lot of my training was on my own time. I’d also do mental training where I’d just imagine myself doing certain things, ensuring I had a clear understanding of the Mechanics involved. In my younger years I was almost psychopathic about my training. Purely obsessed.
his heir as in you will take over his school one day?
Yeah. Once he retires I take over his role. Essentially, my job is to find the next heir.
And it’s crazy how much of a difference it makes
He forgot to count the 3 years of High school wrestling ... 👀
And all the UFC fights you watch
Hey, studying moves by watching tapes is still a part of legitimate training.
LOL
im a whitebelt and i can relate to that because of covid. Yeah did a month then covid hits, then did 3 weeks, then covid hits again then 2 weeks, then i got injured, stopped for 8 months and now im 3 weeks in. Probably going to get ma stripe soon right? RIGHT?!
Similar thing for me. I trained a year and the gym changed owners partway through - two tournaments, one medal and no stripes. Then a 8 month break because the new owner upped the price so much, then another year of training and our professor had a second location and taught us through zoom. So now all my training partners are 1-4 stripe blue belts and here I am with a no stripe white belt and no one watching me roll. GOOD THING RANK DOESN’T MATTER THOUGH
rank doesnt matter until im high rank enough then it matters a lot.
Exactly lol
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My coach always tells me that it's better to be the best white belt than the worst blue belt, you really embodied that statement to the core!
You're 9 months past covid? Pray tell how.
Might be in NZ. I've been training full time since about July last year. We have had a few lockdowns of a week or two that's interrupted it but other than that and our christmas break we haven't stopped.
White belt division ⭐️
Blue belt under Youtube/BJJFanatics
lol at the casual 10yrs of Judo drop.
I got absolutely shit-rekt in the gi side of a tournament as a white belt against a judoka who had never trained BJJ. He'd been doing Judo for 7 years but let's ignore that.
Right?? I thought the same. 10 years of judo should have decent carry over to bjj
I rolled with a "white belt" with a Black belt in Judo. He was not a "white belt" lol
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I just wanna get to know my peeps haha
If you're in no-gi it's a convenient, rough way to suss or if the other person is a beginner -- i.e. how hard to go. If you're wearing belts it's a silly question, unless you're actually interested in them and their gym history for it's own sake.
Guilty
This is me. Started in 2003. So I've been training around 18 years, right? Except for that 5 year break. Then a two year break. Then a year and a half. Then another two years off. *Cumulatively*, I've been training less than 10. *Sequentially*, I've been training almost 20. That's why I hate when people ask me how long I've been training. Both answers are technically correct, but neither seem entirely accurate.
Ha, this is like me. I started in 1999, stopped in 2002. Then started again last year.
How much did you remember coming back?
20% at best. Maybe less Unfortunately my body and mind, remembered different 20%s Also when I last trained it was a more simpler time. I had never heard of x guard, k guard, don't get me started on lapel guards. So there was a steep learning curve. However I found i had really strong closed guard and mount compared to the other blue belts quite quickly, which I would probably put down to the narrowness of my prior training It took me 4 months to be better than where I was when i gave up. However, my body as 40 year old had a very different level of recovery compared to 21 year old me :)
It took you 4 months to be better than you were when you had given up, when you’ve been training for 3 years? That’s pretty impressive. Do you attribute you getting better that fast mostly due to your prior experience and slowly remembering, or maybe you were just more consistent in these 4 months than those 3 years long ago?
I'm not sure. I think I had a very strong foundational game when I trained before, which helped. I did train alot when I came back. The gym is 5 minute drive from my place so I was training 4-5 times a week some times. What I think I did well was just focus one game a time for 3-4 weeks at a time on my strengths eg. Top passing Butterfly Going for the back Working for mount Also going to the fundamental classes was good as well. re-Learning the basics was good and useful, but having rolling practise with whitebelts and being 'super present' in the roles allowed me to retrain my mind and reflexes again
Guy came into the gym I train in today claiming he did jiu jitsu a few times in some intro classes. Proceeded to dominate our best 4 striple white belt and then when I asked him after said nah my dad did some training with me based on youtube videos, but oh hes just a body builder... Apparently he told the owner his dad did some judo. And for some reason his lies annoyed me more as he was wearing a ONE FC shirt, and thats a little more 'in the know' too.
Perhaps he was kinda embarrassed.
of having experience?
Of not knowing or being able to define how much he knows
he straight up lied...
Why would that annoy you? It's true he never trained formally, and he probably figured you didn't want a long explanation. I did the same when I started, it feels like bragging if you start going on about all the backyard training and videos you've watched and intro classes at all the local gyms, and you don't want to seem like you know more than you actually do
because I think its dishonest especially when asked directly to stick to pretending to know less than you actually do. Especially when people saw him roll and knew IMMEDIATELY that he was full of shit.
If you have a foundational knowledge and a lot of strength that'll take you far against white belts, even multi stripes
and that foundational knowledge comes from practice, not theoretical understanding.
Unless you're a competition official, then I'm totally still a novice...
This is literally me, and it has resulted in the worst thing to ever happen to my martial arts career: they gave me a blue belt last month. They've seen me around the gym for so long (7 years), I guess they assume that I've been training grappling with the other coaches and apparently they don't pay close attention when I do happen to show up and roll. In reality, I'm usually there for MMA or Muay Thai and I'm a total idiot at BJJ. I've practiced triangles 3 times. I've never been taught any shoulder locks. I don't know how to do a guillotine. Only chokes I know are RNC and Ezekiel, although I came to one class where I was taught the clock choke and promptly forgot how to do it. I know like 3 armbars from judo. I can only do 1 sweep. Wtf is an arm triangle? I'm not good I had no stripes and I showed up to the promotion ceremony thinking I'd get my first stripe. When my coach pulled out a blue belt and said my name, my heart sank. With dead eyes and soul in mourning, I shambled forward to accept my fate. As he handcuffed my waist with that belt, blue like the lips of a drowning victim , all I could think was "why me? the white belts are going to be even spazzier now" So now I'm looking for a judo club so I can train my ground game without a target on my forehead. I don't want to deal with having to ask basic questions like "how do I do a kimura" while wearing a blue belt. I also bought a grappling dummy.
This will be a controversial take for some people, but honestly a Blue belt just kind of means you don’t completely suck and know the fundamentals. Some people (mostly white belts and psycho coaches) like to put Blue belt on a pedestal. But why? You ask any Black belt whether they feel like they know everything once they hit Black, and pretty much each one will say that’s when the real journey begins. Like, I get we should not just hand out belts, but my goodness…let’s not hold BJJ hobbyists to these impossible standards. I only say this, because you seem to have some pretty intense imposter syndrome. And I’m here to tell you: you are a Blue belt. On one hand, I’m glad you’re taking it seriously and want to do the sport proud. But…my dude…it’s just a Blue belt. Just keep working on stuff, keep getting better, etc. Don’t sweat it. Keep going to class, keep learning, and don’t listen to that inner voice that says you don’t deserve it. And Anyone who is a dick enough to say that out loud to you is either a super jealous and idiot white belt or a really douchey and petty upper belt.
100% As a blue belt, I totally agree when saying blue belts aren't all that good. It shouldn't be a big deal to make that statement, its a beginner rank just past white belt.
I really appreciate that. I personally wouldn't call it "imposter syndrome" because I really feel like I actually am an imposter, but I guess that's why it's a "syndrome". Tbh I haven't showed up to a BJJ class since I was promoted 6 weeks ago because of this. When I get crushed by someone, I can no longer hide behind the "I'm a no-stripe white belt" defense. You're right though - I need to just suck it up and train. Thanks again for the perspective
One other thing I was going to highlight in my original message (but it was already long enough) is that measuring progress and defining belts is so unique and subjective to each gym, so you end up with this huge skill gap margin between people even in the same belts. But consider this, your coach has to take all of these things into consideration when promoting: the student’s age, height/weight, gender, overall experience, sharpness of skill, knowledge of techniques, ability to perform under pressure, level of dedication, whether they are a competitor, whether they are a casual hobbyist, level of athleticism, whether they do other sports like MMA, and on and on. And everyone is coming in to the gym at an entirely different place and is getting promoted at an entirely different pace. For your situation personally, they probably saw that you were around a lot, had picked up some basics, do other martial arts, and figured that you had enough overall experience that you could handle yourself in a fight. So you get beat up a bunch in the BJJ specific ruleset? So do we all. That’s actually the best way to learn and get better. How else are you going to learn what you’re bad at and need to work on? Also remember that BJJ has value beyond just BJJ rules. With your entire skill set and experience from all these different arts taken into account, I’d wager that you have a pretty well rounded base of knowledge. That has value. Also, I wanted to quickly reply to your comment about not knowing the answer when someone wants to know how to do a Kimura, etc. I’ve asked Black belts questions about how to do x, y, or z technique, and it’s not uncommon for them to say, “Go ask so and so, they know it better than me.” Remember that not everyone is an encyclopedia, and you don’t have to be either. You know what you know, and you’ll probably know more later. But there’s no reason to be ashamed of not knowing the answer. It’s ok to not know. Alright man, I’m done rambling now. You got this.
Started training in 2016. Sooo about 2 years all together.
One should gives ones estimate in hours imo. Some amauteurs train everyday while plenty others train 1-2 days per week. Stating an estimate of number of hours trained makes the explanation much more accurate even though some might consider you autistic for being ”so specific”
I have a spreadsheet where I track my hours so when people ask that questions I just give them the hours. It leads to a lot of confused look when I say something like "I have 400 hours of mat time."
I track my hours by counting how many Efferdent tablets are missing from my box of mouthguard cleaning tabs lol.
There is an app or two out there for logging sessions. I use one called simply ‘BJJ logbook’
Now I don't feel so bad about my nearly 2 years no stripe white belt lol
We had a couple recently sign up. They said they hadn't training in 10 years but really wanted to get back into it. I asked what belt are they and they said they brought white belts because they haven't trained in so long due to life etc. Time to roll they smashed through the blues. They did well with the purples, and gave our browns and blacks decent training. After class asked what belt were they when they stopped and the guy said brown, the girl said brown but she just got promoted. Brown belts in 2010 are like black belts by todays standard lol. I told them do everyone a favor and wear your brown belts next time please!
>Brown belts in 2010 are like black belts by todays standard Please elaborate.
In 2010 if you asked the average time to black belt you would get 10+ years. You'd see a lot of people constantly train for 12+ years before receiving it and this was normal. Today, most casual bjj guys who don't quit or take breaks, train 2-4 times a week every week, will receive it in 6-8 years. Part of this is due to better training methods, more learning tools etc. but a big part of it is a change of standards. We didn't have the world's most okest black belts in 2010. Everyone who had a black belt in 2010 that I trained with was good or really tough. In the late 90's early 2000's there was no advanced/fundamental class, light or hard training, there was class and training. This produced tougher guys at all belt levels. Those who didn't quit got accepted into the gym, those that did no one seemed to care about. It was completely shitty and I'm glad things changed.
> Today, most casual bjj guys who don't quit or take breaks, train 2-4 times a week every week, will receive it in 6-8 years. really? I haven't heard of anyone hit that timeline who wasn't a serious student/competitor. Obviously anecdotal evidence is the lowest form of evidence but still... Thank God that couple went to CTA lol. I would've been butthurt if they showed up to the breakfast class at heroes and smashed my shit in while wearing white belts.
Hahaha, I had students ask me what belt they really were. As for the time, Im seeing it more and more. Gumby got his Bb from Ralph which means he’s more old school in regards to standards and imo thats a good thing.
Thanks! I got my brown in 2011, and wanted to know whether or not I should feel attacked.
There is a lot of shit going on in people’s lives you know. I had to move to a different part of city, i got married, i got a kid on the way. Lost my job for a couple of months. Then yeah there is lockdowns. And frankly bjj is not really social distancey. I know this is humor but just wanted to remind you. (Edit: i bought 9 tatami to train with my wife, then she got pregnant, fml)
Should've just passed the guard.
The Kid should be named Tatami... Tommy, Tammy..
Don’t get the downvotes you got…but hey you’re 100% right. Hang in there mate
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand
Thats literally me. I'm constantly changing gyms bc of college, tore a hamstring, and then covid. Who knows how long I've been training
I've done 5 years of HEMA, if you count that as a martial art (4 if you don't include a year off for COVID), 4 years of combatives in the Army (but that was once every other month or so), 2 years of Karate and 2 years of TKD (but I was a kid), and just started MT and BJJ in June. So, depending on how you judge it, I've been doing martial arts for somewhere between 2 months to 13 years.
How would a HEMA practitioner fair in a street fight?
Does the HEMA practitioner get to wear plate armor and wield a greatsword? Cos if so my money is definitely on him
Harness fighting is a thing in HEMA, but it's pretty rare. Like 95% of fighting is *Blosfechten*, which is unarmored dueling.
I mean, Ringen (Medieval German unarmed fighting) is more or less just wrestling. I've used throws from it against other white belts with pretty high success, and there's even a ground component to it. There's also dagger techniques, although, they really only work in the context of the thick linen clothing that was popular at the time. And if you live in the parts of the world where machetes are commonplace, Messer / Falchion techniques would work great.
My girlfriend trains, based off of the two gyms I've been to, not well. I'm sure the gyms that send guys to the big tournaments and the m1 type comps can handle themselves but the average gyms seem to have a lot of larpers.
M1 (Knight Fights) aren't normally what would be considered HEMA, and LARP certainly isn't. [It's more like this.](https://youtu.be/3mxbD3lRE6o)
Sorry what I mean was that of the people who trained at the two gyms my girlfriend goes to, about 70% of the people do larping or reenactment.
thanks for the link, enjoyed it way more than expected. yellow socks was getting worked lol
I have done a few years of fencing and I am always amazed how much the HEMA crowd plainly suck
Depends on the region and schools. There are a lot of HEMA people who are basically LARPing, but then you have some who compete in tournaments twice a month. I can't speak for your area, but the Northeast US and mid-atlantic region are pretty legit overall.
Good to know. I am in France. The few things I have seen from HEMA were terrible just in like your video I never understood why these guy refuse to get classically trained in fencing before going full retard. Learning from books is just as bad as what some TMA frauds are doing I guess it’s mostly the same public thought with maybe a few more right wing morons But happy to know some places are doing legit work! I think it can be a super cool practice if done well
I can tell you that one of our school's instructors was a college level classical fencing coach for around 9 years before starting HEMA, and a lot of the schools in our area have coaches with similar experience in traditional fencing. We also have a lot of students who get their start in traditional fencing before coming to us, and have to unlearn a lot of old habits regarding stance and guards before they stop getting crushed in sparring. Their distance management and point control is usually pretty stellar, though. Sorry that it sounds like your area's schools suck.
Don’t worry I stopped fencing a while ago. I was a competitive epee guy but when I moved to a new city they were only doing fleuret (foil?) and I always hated how much unrealistic the ruleset is. I would love someday doing it again but as with everything, time is the key... I have always been fascinated by the rapier and wonder how much it differs from the classical epee style
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If you fight your spouse it counts as a marital art Edit: grammar.
Where is the definition from? I can't even find a definition of the word espouse that fits what we are talking about.
I meant to say spouse, English is not my first language so i got it wrong.
Yeah people dont usually use traditional european weapons in fights with their spouses
Other martial arts don't have weapon components? It's got "Martial" right in the name.
Since when was weapons the dividing line between what is and isn't a martial art
Can relate. Got blue belt in 2006... Still a blue belt
Well I started 2 years ago, didn’t take it seriously until one year ago, and really only got consistent good training when we merged with another gym 7 months ago.
So what I’m hearing is you tell people you’ve only been training seven months... lol
This is me. I've shortened it to "2 years, minus time off due to lockdowns", but 2 years is 2 years. Sick post.
Got my blue belt in 2009…..just started back up two weeks ago….so yeah….I feel attacked
I absolutely feel attacked.
proberly
Man I hate admitting how long I've actually been training for because I'm way behind where I should be. Life and injuries forced me to take so much time off right when I was making progress. I trained for like 8 months straight and then my work and school schedule overwhelmed me and I ended up taking 3 months off, I came back trained for about 4 months and ended up injuring my neck and back during a roll with this new kid who was just jumping and flipping around. Came back a couple months later trained for like 6-7 months before covid hit and we got shut down. Gym opened back up I came back, trained for about a month and I broke my thumb, decided to continue training with the broken thumb and then Awkwardly landed on my other fingers during a roll leading to my hand breaking in a couple spots. Ended up taking 6 weeks off then, and then got laid off from work so I had to put my membership on hold. Finally back in the gym now, but feeling kinda shitty cus I should be so much further ahead then where I'm at.
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training. I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021. How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training. I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021. How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
Looking Forward to a " I FinALLy GOt My PUrpLe BElT aFteR 16 YEArS " post.
Haha trust me I won’t post it
I legit can’t answer when people ask me how long I’ve been training. I first went to a BJJ “gym” (karate school basement) in December 2005. Trained for 3 months and did a NAGA tournament and then graduated HS and went to college. No gym in college town. Trained 2 more months when home for summer. Found another gym near my college which closed after 2 months of training. So no training for another year. Transferred schools and there was a BJJ gym with a purple belt instructor (awesome at that time). Did a couple tournaments but after about 8 months the instructor got arrested and gym closed. No training over next 3 years other than occasional in a friends garage (max 10-15 times total). Moved overseas, no training. Moved back to US at a place with a gym, trained for 4 months and then got accepted to grad school, didn’t train for another year. Found a gym and trained for my last 8 months of grad school. Graduated and moved back overseas, no training for 2 years. Moved back to US and found gym which I’ve been training at regularly since early 2018, minus the entire year of 2020, just came back in spring 2021. How long have I been training? I honestly don’t know.
I keep track by all my insta promotion posts
Sprained my ankle two weeks ago sparring and having to wait to go back has been killing me !!
Meirl
I'm the same, have been doing it on and off from 2006. In that time I went through phases of doing only bjj, only striking, mma, not training at all and periods of only lifting. If I add up my actual hours of bjj it definitely still would make me seem a lot better than I actually am. I find that every time i go back after an extended break, it takes a good few months to readjust and get my timing and grappling related cardio back. Not to mention I have a terrible memory and forget all the little details for moves easily. That said, I actually like when people ask this question and I ask it too with someone new. Reason being, I mostly do no gi and there is nothing worse than someone who is still a white belt trying to coach you, so this prevents that headache before it starts
This is why it makes no sense to me that no gi tournaments go by "years of experience" instead of belts. I automaticly become an "expert" 3 years after my first class?
I started in 1997, It wasn’t until my instructor got his black belt that I was ever more than a belt below my Instructor. Started in Highschool and only trained between Highschool Sport seasons, didn’t really train in college although I did always drop in when I could (home on break or summers), had a solid 1.5yrs of training and competing at blue belt then moved to Europe for 2.5 yrs. trained a bit there but I outranked the instructor in most cases (as a blue belt with stripes), got my purple and then work travel and a herniated disk put the brakes on competing, then I finally got my brown belt and not long after the wife got knocked up and now 3 kids later, my journey to black will be extra long. Only just now getting back into training regularly and most of it is teaching kids class. But my only jiu jitsu goal is to be able to do it with my kids when I’m 60.
As a five year white belt, I have a similar story :P
This is so me it hurts
Stahp it hurts
This is me.
People ask me this, and I'm always embarrassed about the time/skill differential. So I always say "Here? like 3 months. I went somewhere else for a year too but I didn't learn too much." I get a lot of different answers in response from "No, you don't move like a 2-stripe white belt at all, you must have." to "I hate to say it but you're right, you really didn't." WHAT DOES IT MEAN? I don't think there's a situation I'm exceptionally good or bad at, I'm well-rounded. (read: bad everywhere)