How to Get a BJJ Blue Belt

You may have just started your career in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Perhaps you have been doing it for a few months and are wondering where to go from here? Or maybe you’re at the brink of a color belt and you want to know what it means to have that prestige around your waist. Make no mistake, there is a certain pride with any belt you wear in martial arts. Even as you ascend white belt you are making your mark in the world of martial arts. But there is nothing like the feeling of the first color belt that tells the world, “Hey, I’m not a rookie anymore.”

First it’s important to know that getting your blue belt says nothing about what kind of blue belt you are, it says what kind of white belt you were. Because of this, it’s important not to rush to blue belt like many people do. Make no mistake, white belt is both the most exciting and most difficult belt to get through. Why? An entire new world is opening up to you as a system you are probably not familiar with. This makes it both exciting and challenging.

This is something that is hated by white belts and loved by everyone else. I remember failing a second stripe white belt grading because I was doing things like X-guard and spider guard. Sure those moves kill white belts, and maybe you might shock the odd color belt, but if you can’t do a proper triangle than what’s the point? Basics build the foundation and understanding for everything else in BJJ. Forget about the cool moves for two reasons. First, everything you need to know to protect yourself on the street, as well as the money moves that work time and time again in both BJJ and MMA are learned during white belt. Second, it’s impossible to cope with the complexity of coloured belt techniques if you don’t have the know-how and understanding of the basic movements.

A proper mindset will accelerate your training and bring you to the blue belt you want to be faster. There are a wide variety of people that enter the gym, from the muscle headed extrovert to the shy minded introvert. It’s important to understand that once you step on those mats, it doesn’t matter who you were outside. A gym is a family. You will be training with these people for years to come! Check your ego at the door and go to the mats to learn and grow and push yourself along with your training partners. Once you’re in that mindset, you need to understand that getting to blue belt takes time. You will be both discouraged by how everyone is so technically advanced to you and amazed at how quickly you can dominate your buddies in a wrestling match despite this. Soon you will want to his that level of technical experience. You may have learned some complicated moves from the internet or even tap a few color belts! That doesn’t make you a blue belt. Patience and diligent training will get you there, and the focus on technique and the gym is the pinnacle of advancing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

This is the most important of the three. What you learn is crucial and how you go about absorbing the philosophy and lifestyle of BJJ is imperative. But unless you put in the time on the mats, you will never reach that goal. Like everything else, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu requires practice if you want to get good. Taking the details you learned in the vast amount of positions and techniques taught through white belt and transforming them into realistic manoeuvres with real rolling resistance is what makes great martial artists. Practicing on willing dummies is great for an instructional, but if you can’t do it in a match, then everything you have learned is for nothing. Drilling techniques and rolling with teammates will refine what you have learned and bring you blue belt with the tools necessary to kick it with the senior belts.

So there you have it. From the right head to the right techniques, it’s important to understand the path to blue belt. Becoming a blue belt is the first step into opening up the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu beyond the bread and butter. And as a white belt, that is what you are. You are the bread and butter of the art. White belt is the bridge between newbie to a fully fledged BJJ practitioner. When you get there, you want to represent the art, your team and most of all yourself. Your blue belt is your badge of honour, wear it with pride that you got there the right way.