What belt colors mean in Jiu Jitsu
Whether you have been training Jiu Jitsu for some time, or you are just starting out, you probably have found yourself wondering what do these belt colors mean? What is the difference between a Jiu Jitsu blue belt and a purple belt? How do I earn my blue belt?
What ever you do, don’t tap out just yet. I’m going to break down the differences between the Jiu Jitsu belt colors for you in a way that most everyone can understand. And I’m going to use one simple analogy: school.
White Belt in Jiu Jitsu
Imagine if you will walking into a Jiu Jitsu gym and stepping out onto the mats for the first time. There are new faces everywhere, and you are not really sure what to expect. It might remind you of your first day of high school.
Ideally, you’ve got two arms and two legs and a head on your shoulders. You also have some courage, demonstrated by the fact that you showed up and are now standing on the mat. You have all the basic prerequisites begin training Jiu Jitsu covered. But you don’t have any skills.
So you spend the next one to two years learning the ropes. You spend your time learning the fundamentals. You learn the mount, the side mount, the guard, the half guard. The basics. Then you learn how to apply a submission or two. Likely, you learn how to lock up an Americana, some form of an arm bar, and a choke or two. Meanwhile, you also spend your time practicing another key fundamental principal of Jiu Jitsu: escapes.
You learn how to get out from under your opponent. You practice various mount escapes, like the trap and roll, and the elbow escape. At the same time you work on getting out from under your opponents side control. You learn various sweeps and more escapes.
A Full Arsenal of Submissions
Then you begin to learn more submissions. You build up your arsenal of chokes, learning the rear naked choke, all different types of guillotine, the Ezekiel choke, the D’arce choke, north-south chokes, the triangle choke, chokes with the gi, chokes without the gi, etc. etc.
You learn different ways to attack the arm. Armbars and kimura variations are drilled over and over. You also learn foot locks and ankle locks.
And, of course, you roll. You spar and you spar, and you work out the details of all the fundamental techniques you have been drilling. The more that you roll with your training partners, the more you can experiment and figure out what moves work best for you.
Does this seem like a lot? Maybe it is. But before you earn your blue belt most people say that you should be able to regularly submit a bigger, stronger, more athletic opponent who has no Jiu Jitsu training. If you can do this, congratulations! You are ready to graduate.
Blue Belt in Jiu Jitsu
By the time you are awarded your blue belt, you should already have confidence in your escape techniques. What might surprise some people is that by the time you earn your blue belt, you should also have a full arsenal of submission techniques: chokes, arm locks, leg locks, in the gi, and no gi. You should be able to consistently tap out a bigger, stronger, more athletic opponent who has no or little jiu-jitsu training.
After you have developed these effective escapes and submissions, you are ready to graduate high school and move on to college.
Entering college for the first time can be a little bit daunting. But don’t panic. You are not going away to school. You stayed close to home and will be attending classes with the same people you went to high school with. For you, college is not an altogether foreign experience. You went to a good college preparatory high school and paid some dues there. Your instructors and classmates have all helped prepare you for this moment.
Majoring in Jiu Jitsu
There is no need to pick a major. The college you enrolled in specializes in one field: Jiu Jitsu. The good news is that you studied in the practical program in high school. You already have a good baseline of fundamental Jiu Jitsu skills and techniques under that blue belt that holds your gi together.
Now you are routinely tapping out the new people who come into the gym. Sure, you were doing this sometimes after you were awarded your first and second stripe on your white belt. But now, you are tapping them out fairly quickly and consistently. But that is because you are in college and they are in high school. So you had better hit the mats and study and get better, otherwise they will catch up to you fast.
As a blue belt, you will be expanding your arsenal of techniques. Techniques for everything. Passing techniques, takedowns. Chokes. Always chokes. Chokes and more chokes. Armlocks for days.
Don’t forget that Jiu Jitsu developed as a martial art, as a system for self-defense. As a blue belt, you will continue to work on your defensive skills and perfect your self protection from all the other belts on the mats. You should be getting tapped out less and less. In order to graduate college, you are going to have to build up a bachelor’s degree worth of skills and techniques.
Purple Belt in Jiu Jitsu
Congratulations! You have graduated college and you have decided to earn your Master’s degree. Finally, after years of hard work, gallons of sweat (gross), most likely some blood, but hopefully no tears, you graduated college.
Now you are a full fledged adult in the Jiu Jitsu world. As a result of all your hard work, you should now be able to submit all the white belts at your school all the time. Of course, you should be able to submit the blue belts too. However, in the process of earning your degree you learned that it’s not always possible to submit everyone all of the time.
Over the course of these last few years, you have learned countless techniques and acquired new skills. Perhaps more important than all the Jiu Jitsu skills and techniques is that you have learned more about yourself.
Knowledge of Self
Now you have a new level of confidence in your Jiu Jitsu game. Your study of Jiu Jitsu principles involving efficiency, leverage, angles, weigh distribution, and defense has taken you to this new level. Not only do you know how to apply the techniques, you understand them. In theory, you should be able to teach the techniques effectively to others as a purple belt.
One of the hallmarks of your time in graduate school as a purple belt is your willingness to develop a deeper understanding of Jiu Jitsu. You already have your basic bachelor’s degree in escapes in submissions. As a purple belt, you will allow others to control you and get deep into submissions so that you can practice your escapes from very precarious positions. By practicing these deep escapes, you will be taking your self-defense to new levels. Soon enough, no one will be able to tap you.
Brown Belt in Jiu Jitsu
Unbelievable as it may seem, you have earned your Master’s Degree! Your dedication and commitment to Jiu Jitsu has paid off in a major way. You are now ready to work on earning your PhD in Jiu Jitsu.
Now you have earned your brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu. By now, you should be an expert on basic techniques and concepts, have a deep understanding of the art. Also by now, you should have an established game in place – techniques, positions, and moves that you know how to work effectively and which consistently work for you. These are your patented moves.
In addition, due to experimentation at the purple belt level, the brown belt should be familiar with some of the more esoteric techniques and positions of Jiu-Jitsu. You are well beyond basic self-defense techniques at brown belt, although you should still practice self-defense techniques and keep them sharp. At this point in the Jiu-Jitsu education, a slight shift towards mastering mental aspects of the art form takes shape.
Setting Traps
While submissions at the white, blue, and purple belt levels are often a result of forcing one’s will upon his or her opponent, the brown belt’s submission attempts more often come as a result of setting traps. In other words, the brown belt should begin honing the art of guiding opponents into progressively weaker positions until submission is achieved. A part of becoming adept at this skill is a commitment to conceptual thinking.
Mastering Concepts
Rather than focusing on specific techniques, the brown belt should begin approaching BJJ from a conceptual standpoint. Concepts are the foundations upon which techniques are built. For example, a standard closed guard hip bump sweep, which requires the trapping of an opponent’s arm, is a technique.
It is through conceptual thinking that the brown belt begins to understand the art of Jiu-Jitsu at a deep level. In addition, students who reach the brown belt level should strengthen their weak points in order to ensure competency in all areas prior to achieving the rank of black belt.
Back Belt in Jiu Jitsu
A final offer of congratulations is in order. You have earned your PhD in Jiu-Jitsu and you are now a member of an elite cadre of Jiu Jitsu practitioners. Only about 1% of people who start training jiu-jitsu ever make it this far to earn their black belt.
Upon reaching the black belt level, practitioners possess a high degree of technical, conceptual, and philosophical Jiu-Jitsu knowledge. Therefore, it’s understandable that some people would view the attainment of one’s black belt as the last stop on the Jiu-Jitsu journey. Black belts know this isn’t the case, however. You are no longer in school. Now you are out in the real world.
A new beginning
As many high-level Jiu-Jitsu practitioners have noted, the attainment of one’s black belt is not the end of the Jiu-Jitsu journey, but a new beginning. The black belt is the level at which the practitioner should re-evaluate his entire Jiu-Jitsu game, fine-tuning both fundamental and advanced techniques in a quest for deeper understanding and greater efficiency.
An excellent way to engage in this kind of deep reflection is through teaching. A Jiu-Jitsu black belt, even if not an official instructor, should be eager to share his hard-earned knowledge with less experienced students.
Finally, black belts should apply the lessons and concepts learned through the martial arts in their daily lives, setting a good example for other practitioners and representing Jiu-Jitsu with dignity and respect.
While belts are a great way to measure your progress, don’t become so focused on your rank that you lose focus of what’s important in Jiu-Jitsu: learning, getting in shape, and having fun! Indeed, the benefits of Jiu-Jitsu are countless. Remember, if you stick with Jiu-Jitsu long enough, the promotions will come. Until then—enjoy the education, the experience, the journey!
Also, don’t forget to check back in with me at MatMartial for more about all things Jiu Jitsu. In the meantime you can check out some of my other posts:
- Returning to Jiu Jitsu after the pandemic 5 principals to keep in mind
- What I’ve learned after a year of not training Jiu-Jitsu
- Is Khabib Nurmagomedov really the GOAT?
- UFC’s Shavkat Rakhmonov: The Nomad and the Cowboy Killer, and proper guillotine technique
- UFC 254 a strong fight card: Oliveira vs Rakhmonov and Murphy vs Shakirova
Legit! Very cool. Thanks, Mat!
Thanks for checking it out!