There is no question that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (often abbreviated BJJ) is a very fascinating sport. Although it started as a simply adaptation of Judo, it gradually emerged as a full-fledged sport in its own right. One of the main principle BJJ teaches is that much smaller individuals can still defend themselves against a person who is bigger and stronger simply by fully emphasizing the principles of weight and leverage to their advantage.
A BJJ expert is particularly adept at ground fighting, which is commonly known as “rolling”, within the BJJ community. They then teach many interesting techniques to gain the upper hand once the fight is on the ground, with chokeholds and joint locks being the dominant strategy. Obviously, this sport has had many pioneers over the years, and there are now Jiu-Jitsu tournaments all over the world. Of course, like everything else in life you cannot become a BJJ master overnight.
There are many steps you have to take before you can reach the coveted 10th-degree black belt status. This is a sport of tremendous discipline, endurance, and practice. It takes many hours of dedicated training in order to advance up the ranks. So the elephant in the room is this? How do you eventually reach that status?
The techniques and process
Unfortunately, your first step is to realize that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can get a bit disorganized. For example, when we talk about reaching the status of a tenth-degree black belt, we first have to go through the lengthy process of obtaining the beginner’s status of a white belt, then the blue belt, the purple belt, the brown belt, and this finally culminated in receiving that valued black belt. This is where the disorganization comes in, considering that the first four belts have four stripes, and the black has ten! It goes without saying that everyone will be impressed with you when you finally reach the status of a tenth-degree black belt, however, there is one small issue we should be aware of.
If you are reading this and you have just finished earning all of the stripes on your white belt, there is no question you are probably pretty impressed with yourself, and those accomplishments have endorphins working overtime in your head. However, please be aware that you are getting way ahead of yourself here. Yes, pat yourself on the back for completing all of the stripes on your white belt. However, before you can eventually reach your black belt you will have to diligently work on your blue belt first. How do you go about doing that?
Simply put what are some of the things you will need to know in obtaining your full blue belt status?
This is where the puzzle gets a bit more challenging and confusing. You see, there are many different Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools, and they have different approaches to help you obtain your blue belt status. A short answer? It depends.
First of all, you need to realize that there are many different procedures from school to schools regarding their acquisition of the blue belt. For example, some schools will only give you this blue belt when you have effectively demonstrated and thoroughly beat all of the individuals who hold white belts. Additionally, one of the characteristics these schools want is for you to have the ability to hold your own status against other blue belt designees.
On the other hand, there are other Jiu-Jitsu schools that do not go by these standards. Instead, they will abide a fully detailed list of characteristics that they’ll be expecting from each student in the academy. They want to see them perform these detailed techniques and be able to pass the required tests as well.
Some schools have another method where they expect students to know a set of procedures for each position. These reliable techniques must be demonstrated for each position before you can obtain a full blue belt status. These types of schools want to see you master such things like mount attacks, mount escapes, closed guard sweeps, and closed guard submissions. There are several essential moves within all of these maneuvers, but the good thing is that there are plenty of YouTube videos devoted to the subject if you want to get a head-start on these techniques.
Still, there are other schools that place emphasis on attending certain classes after you were last promoted. It doesn’t matter whether you have all of the necessary skills for your blue belt or not, because if you haven’t attended these classes then you’re out of luck.
Finally, there are some schools that do indeed have a list of techniques and skills that they want you to master, but it’s just on paper. In reality, their promotions are only based on how they see you perform on the mat!
