What is a brazilian jiu jitsu blue belt?
The first thing that comes in mind is that Brazilian jiu jitsu has fewer belts then most other martial arts (that have belts of course). White, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black (and coral). Many go with stripes on the belt too.
Some academies don’t do belt testing, none of the academies I have been to. I know some has belt testing. I my opinion the best way to hand out belts is when the student roll even and can hang with the upper belts. In bjj there is also a roll of lineage when speaking about belts.
To get a belt in bjj you got to deserve it. There is pride involved. That’s why there are a lot of fuss when someone is trying to impose as a bjj black belt but clearly are not.
When you first set your feet on the tatami you do it as a white belt (except those few who are fake black belts). There are a lot of things to learn before you get that first change of belts. Some are stressed and want the blue belt as quick as possible others feel they don’t deserve it when they get it. When getting the purple belt for sure it must feel like it’s way to early and now you have a crosshatch on your back.
Being a white belt its time for learning the basics and get it’s important to get it right from the beginning. You don’t want to engrave techniques into your body to later find out you got it wrong. If that happens it takes a long time to correct it. The Professor/teachers abilities make it or break it. You need a person who can se where you are and tune your moves.
When you are ready for your blue belt some say its time for experimentation to find a game that suits you. We all have different body types and should try different games till we find what fits us. But trying different games does not mean to seek new techniques all the time. It means you should concentrate on selected moves at the time and then feel what’s your cup of tea. Myself I have short legs and closed guard is not for me. Of course I need to know the closed guard and be able to use it when necessary but it´s not my bread and butter.
You also need to calm down a bit and get away from using your strength. Be explosive, flow between techniques rather then use all your energy in one technique. To get there you first need to learn different techniques and string them together. The Roy Harris black belt Roy Dean often mention an analogy: first you learn words. You learn to speak and then put those words into sentences. You get better at speaking and can later on debate… well I think he uses that between blue and purple actually but it can apply to white-blue belts to.
Shifting from white to blue you feel a little more responsible for getting the techniques correctly performed. You are now getting up the food chain being hunted by white belts and humbled by purples (hunting purples as well). Don’t worry about tapping to lower belts, use the opportunities to test new things. Nobody cares if you get tapped out by a lower belt except you and the white belt. You just made his day and he now feels closer getting his blue. It doesn’t make you worse it makes him feel his on the right path. Get into weak spot positions, find ways to work from there. If you never tap you wont get new knowledge. In the beginning of my blue belt years I wouldn’t want to loose to the lower white belts, it took time for me to swallow my pride and put myself into new roads. Nowadays I let them get the submission, sweep and so on if I get to a point I screwed up to much. Like the Ralph Gracie black belt Kurt Osiander would say “you f**cked up a long time ago”.
Also during the blue belt you can feel stuck, development seems to put to halt. Sometimes it feels like you are worse and regressing. This is called to plateau.
It can last for weeks or more. It’s like a bjj depression. Just keep on rolling, don’t stop! Analyze what you are doing wrong (or maybe what others are doing correct).
When you get out of you blue belt blues maybe you found out a game that suits you.
It’s mentioned by others that the time you spend under the blue belt is prolonged. Probably it’s the belt you will have the longest time (except black if you get there). When starting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the black belt is a goal. But it’s a long hard ride to get there. The dropout rate would probably peak at blue. If you make it to purple it’s a good chance you will continue you journey.
