Philosophy and Expectations for White to Black Belt In BJJ

Wish this was more common, I had an arrogant purple belt dislocate my shoulder as a white belt. It destroyed my experience of BJJ.

Major delay of Blue Belt blues.
Having doubts at Brown belt. About 9.5 years in. Time to give up.

Im on the 4th year of my white belt....Its my own fault as Ive found every excuse to not be consistent. Last night was my first class in 2.5 years, Worse last night than the day I left lol.....But I hope when I look back on this comment in a year I can laugh

Ive been a white belt for 4 years and my grading is Monday.
I had goal of blue belt at start of year and I'm 60/40 that I probably won't get it but it is possible
I trained very hard all year and enjoyed every second of the journey. Around 2 months ago I decided to stop obsessing over belts and focus on improving and ive loved journey more and improved more as result
There were times until recently where I'd be annoyed if I got smashed but recently decided it does t help and focus more on having fun

I feel like I've grown mentally and physically but for some reason I think if I do get my blue belt I will feel somewhat guilty and that I should've enjoyed being a white belt more

Why do you think I feel this way?

I so much agree with you, Chewie 🙏

This is a big part of what’s wrong with jiu jitsu is these cult like critiques yes if someone is being harmful they need to leave but saying they need to be a leader they need to convert I’d never step foot in his gym for these reasons.

I was wayyyy better at white belt, I was consistently subbing higher belts and having them tell me how good I was etc

Now at blue belt I suck, I literally can’t do anything, sometimes I have classes now where I don’t even get submissions on white belts.. I’m getting dominated by two stripe white belts now. Like how does that make any sense

Gracie Jiu Jitsu brown here

Learn takedowns from white to black Bexause you don’t wanna be a black belt that can’t throw.

This is my Ted talk, thank you 🙏🏽

A famous MMA team here in the Northern part of the Philippines with no actual rolling experience promoted their players from no belt or white belt to purple and even brown belt. What can you say about that?

Until Purple belt you are playing checkers after Blue you are playing chess

Well said. I'm a Judo player and I feel a lot of similarities

Thank you for this video, I greatly appreciate it. I've been into it for 9 months (2 stripe white belt). I'm going 4-5X a week. I like it but don't love it yet...I fight myself sometimes to go and other times I look forward to it. I personally think is my Ego because more often I get smashed and other times I survived...or rarely get someone to tap...My question...is this normal? not being in love with it yet? btw...the people at the academy are phenomenal and so are the instructors...just wanted to know if this was normal. Thank you.

What about the kids belts? Grey thru green?

What about training at gyms and Mcdojo associations like killerbees and others. Known for teaching with a cult vibe and focus on flashy moves from the beginning to white belts while black belts who don’t really roll with each other get worshiped by lower belts they dominate ?

Currently a white belt but I'm not too bothered in mastering techniques after already learning the basics and typically I'm just doing whatever makes sense based off of the things I already know. Is it bad to do this? Because I mean obviously taking Dunning Kruger into the mix even though I feel like I slightly know what I'm doing that might not be the case...

he looks exactly like steven crowder

BJJ is a very slow proses, its far slower than most if not all martial arts, for example, I did judo for a long time, then stopped for a while and forgot some stuff, then got onto bjj, I focused on relearning some judo stuff during bjj sparing, i get about 1-2 opportunities to do a good throw during a 45 min rolling sesh, about 20 opportunities for a submission, yet i felt that my judo and BJJ have progressed at the same rate after I've been doing it for 3 months. and FYI, it took about 3 months for me to realize that i even progressed, that i belonged and was not total shit at it, so be patient

White Belt: Crawl
Blue Belt: Walk
Purple Belt: Run
Brown Belt: Fly
Black Belt: JOHN WICK

I like a lot of what Nick has to say here but I disagree on the whole "they're negative" thing. There is a lot and I mean ALOT of toxic positivity in jiu-jitsu. This whole "we're a family" bs for one. Yes, a family who pays to partake in an activity together that is mostly a hobby for the majority of them. What when they stop paying, no longer a family member? There are some cult vibes with things like that. Not everyone shits rainbows all day, some people are fantastic jiu-jitsu practitioners whether they do MMA or they have a desk job, that doesn't mean they should be required to fit a certain mold of personality trait expectations.

I recently joined a school and at the school the worst guy is me and then theres another white belt with 1 stripe but he’s been coming here for 9 months. My instructor won’t give you stripes for shi 🤣

Great info. Love the Nikki Sullivan shirt as well!

lm

I have been a blue belt for almost three years. I am 40. I can roll with anyone safely except maybe the 200 lb plus spaz (I am 171). I think I contribute positivity to the culture in the gym. I try to help people etc. Occasionally I submit higher belts.
Still stuck looking at this blue belt.
Its discouraging.

This is a great accompaniment vid to another similar presentation titled WHAT BJJ BELTS MEAN from “The Art of The Skill” where the black belt instructor speaks about his lineage from Roy Dean to Hélio Gracie and the progress through the belts, the essential/ necessary mindset and emotional maturity go through as well as surpassing each belt. It much about character as well as physical master.

Your vid is a great addition, it’s about character as well as how one’s progression also inspires/ motivates others.

Thanks for sharing, Chewie

It’s funny when I don’t know a move someone is talking about I say let me see . And let them do it on me . But really it’s let me feel

As iron sharpens iron student sharpens student

In summary, don't be an asshole, keep coming to class.

The podcast clips are great 👍🏼

Beautiful video! Gives me focus to see where I'm heading as a white belt. Gracias!

White belts shouldn't have to drown. If white belts are offered quality fundamentals class there is no need to drown. What Chew is describing is a Sports BJJ survivors mentality!

Never be negative in the gym

I'd like to thank you for these type of videos. I'll start with BJJ in few weeks and till now I've been doing boxing for good two years. From your videos I could learn more about BJJ guys "thinking" and gym etiquette as some of the things are bit different from what im used to and I think they could find me a bit cocky in first classes.

You're awesome, Chewie. 100% agree about promoting a positive mat culture. Good analysis overall.

Bird's words ;)

I felt like I didn't deserve my first white belt stripe. I was in utter shock when my coach gave me my first stripe because I knew I had two left feet and progressing slower than my peers. What my coach said has stuck with me since. He told me "You've been coming in here every week and you've been one of the most consistent new white belts we've had. I know this stripe is just a piece of atheletic tape but I think you've earned it. Jiu jitsu is a long journey but just keep comin and you'll keep learning. Just keep comin man you're doing great"

In about a month I'll be 14 years a white belt!

Great podcast, awesome points Chewy. Much appreciated.

All these people saying they are blue belts tapping the occasional purple belt and im over here still getting tapped by white belts. They are all 30+ pounds heavier than me that I get tapped by, but still, I get tapped by them. I get tapped by mostly all of the blue belts at my gym even when they are lighter than me. I've had my blue belt for almost two years now. I try to train 4 days a week. I definitely feel like a white belt still. Is that normal to some people?

Good stuff brother

Where steel sharpens steel

White belt - Beginner
Blue belt - You can beat a bigger, stronger opponents who are untrained.
Purple belt - You can beat a bigger, stronger, trained opponents. (Massive learning curve)
Brown - Noticeable efficacy in energy, speed and movement from a purple belt. Competition ready
Black - Master; you are the competition.

Yeah, as a purple belt I was a complete monster at guard passing, taking back, and clock choking. I would literally use mount or knee on belly as a transition to back. I did not care about submissions from there. I had my thing and I knew how to do it.

Someone actually cares about the belts????? Whaaat???? I suck at BJJ right but I've seen so many times judo black belts or good wrestlers come in and smash or submit purple or brown belts and they are technically white belts. It doesn't really work that way. Besides my coach promotes everyone at the same time in order not to discourage nor offend anyone which is worthless imo, so belts don't matter. What matters is your ability to win matches and to help other people that are worse than you. I can throw my belt into a garbage bin and be fine with that, it's just a piece of coloured cloth or whatever that thing is

"Brown belt is a polisher." You find that special turd and make it shine.

Rising tides raise all ships! Great video.

Very nice explanation. Thank you for this 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

As well as training in bjj I also instruct in a striking martial art and I'm just curious as to if you have any tips to pass onto students about bringing people up with them because I really like that mentality of "we are getting really good" as opposed to "I am great" but im sure you've had asshole students too and it is difficult to teach them about respect (especially in striking i think) so do you have any words of wisdom to pass onto an inexperienced instructor

@Chewjitsu you should definitely do a cross with Sensei Seth - I think you guys would drop knowledge bombs