Which Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt is the hardest one to get? I guess that would be the black belt. However, despite what people might think, the black belt is actually not the belt people crave the most. The most desired belt of all is the BJJ blue belt. Why? The answer is simple – nobody likes to be a beginner at anything. That said, most folks so desperate for that coveted blue belt have not idea what’s waiting on the other side. If there’s one belt where people endure the most difficult of times, it is the blue belt. And this is our ultimate survival guide to get you through it.
The BJJ blue belt is a huge milestone and exciting time for grapplers. It is also the ultimate test of perseverance. If you can make it through a blue belt, it is safe to say you’ll stick around and become a lifetime grappler. However, making it through is the tricky part. Bleu belt often ends up being the longest time you’ll spend at a certain belt level. Moreover, it is the one time people massively quit BJJ. No wonder the blue belt blues gets so much attention. To be honest, being a blue belt is tough, challenging, and in great measure demoralizing. However, there are ways of getting through it. And trust me when I say, it is better on the other side.
Blue Belts Are Not Food.. Or Are They?
One very common BJJ quote is that “blue belts are not food”. AS things stand, if there’s a need to say this in a quote, then people do see them as food. And by people, I mean purple belts and above. Blue belts are usually those that get most of the attention during rolling. They’re not white belts that pose no challenge to the higher belts. However, they’re also not at their level, or above, and as such, provide a great way for higher belts to try stuff out. The thing is, most of that stuff is not very blue belt friendly.
As a BJJ blue belt, two things are for certain. One, you still have no idea what people are doing, but you’re starting to discover what you’re actually doing. This is in contrast to white belts who have no idea what and how they’re trying to do every time they slap and bump. The second thing is that you’ll get submitted and positionally “tortured” a lot. That’s the life of a blue belt. If you think white belts have a difficult time when they come into the gym, you should see what blue belts have to endure. Higher belts usually take it easy with new people or skip rolling with them altogether. However, when it comes to blue belts,s they’re the perfect scapegoats.
In all honesty, I can’t claim that this approach is the wrong one. Of course, I didn’t particularly admire it when I was a blue belt myself. And just like everyone else, I saw blue belts as food for most of my time at the purple belt. Still, that all-important grit and defensive mindset are the two things anyone in BJJ has to learn. And the blue belt is the perfect time to do so.
The Ultimate Survival Hack For The BJJ Blue Belt
When I say survival, I mean surviving in the literal sense of the word. Even with more experienced white belts, blue belts have their hands full .there’s a very good reason for this. As a BJJ blue belt. You still have no idea how timing, weight distribution, trap setting, and other key concepts work .instead, you’re too focused on gathering as many techniques as humanly possible. That’s all well, but you’ll soon end up quitting if all you do is tap out and struggle for a couple of years. Instead, keep doing what you’re doing, but start doing it defensively. In other words, the one key thing you need to learn at a blue belt is how to defend against attacks. Don’t worry though, that doesn’t mean not doing any attacking of your own.
The one biggest lesson I always try to teach blue blets is to smile. The idea behind this is easy. when you smile, you can’t have a clenched jaw. conversely, if your jaw is not clenched, your neck and body can stay relaxed. That means you can think about what you’re doing without having to collapse in a heap after every roll.
The tactics here are, to survive before you attack. The one thing most common for blue blets is to try and defend everything, often to great success. What they fail to do, though, is act upon that successful defense. So, try and approach things this way – stay safe first, completely off the bat. Keep smiling to stay relaxed and make sure that every time you defend something you try and see how you could use the same movement to launch a counter-attack. That’s it. You don’t actually have to succeed. It is enough to help you turn defense into attacks, and survive the toughest period in BJJ.
Moving Out Of Survival Mode
Speaking of the toughest period in BJJ, there’s also a catch. As a BJJ blue belt, you’re expected to become progressively more and more difficult to submit. However, if all you do is defend, there’s no way to progress. Many people make the mistake of becoming too comfortable in just defending, and end up as blue belts for much longer than needed. Here’s another hack – instructors are going to wait for you to open up your game after you become sound defensively before they’re even going to consider promoting you to a purple belt.
As such, you have two main avenues that you can head into from a defensive-based game. One of them is counter-attacking, which we already covered. The second one is escaping after you defend. Make sure you understand the clear distinction between defending and escaping. Defending is, for example, staying turtled up for the duration of around. Escaping is finding a way out of the turtle and into gaur, or back up to standing. If you can’t launch a successful counter after defending, then you have to think about the next logical step – escaping. Otherwise, people are going to find cracks in even every defense.
Closing Arguments
The BJJ blue belt is a huge thing for anyone training JIu-Jitsu. It is a tough time, granted, probably the toughest time you’ll have. Still, the lessons learned at this level are immense, and they carry over to everything you do later on. Survival is the basis of grappling since you can’t do anything unless you know how to stay safe. Learning this as a blue belt means you’ll always have a safety net when you roll, which will make it a lot easier for you to open up your game as a purple belt.
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- A practical blueprint for the journey through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
There’s really not too much to say about BJJ. After all, you are reading a website named BJJ World at this very moment. “The Gentle Art” is Brazil’s biggest achievements in the world of martial arts, and some might argue, in sports. I think the millions of soccer fans might disagree, so let’s leave it at that for now. BJJ is the product of Japanese Judo, that ended up transformed beyond recognition by a few Brazilian family members. The family in question is, of course, the Gracies.
Historically speaking, Capoeria ended up as the only way of defense for people that used to work at coffee plantations. It is a product of the joining of African and Brazilian culture. The dance was originally intended to hide the fact that people are practicing martial arts. In the days of slavery, slaves had no right ot train in martial arts, and they came up with this innovative way of training while appearing to only dance. Suffice to say, as a martial art Capoeira is very effective and not to be underestimated.
Vale Tudo took off in the early 20th century in Brazil. Similar to catch wrestling in England and the USA, it was mainly a thing reserved for carnivals and traveling circuses. As it started becoming more popular, it actually turned into a full-blown competitive sport of sorts. Of course, as it caught on, it also got some bad media attention. This was mainly due to the number and type of injuries that came as a result of NHB fighting. Similarly to MMA, Val Tudo ended up back underground, condemned by the public. However, MMA managed to survive by implementing rules, and Vale Tudo was not far behind.
That said, “Luta Livre Brasiliera” is a martial art that is a mixture of Judo and Capoeira, crated by Euclydes Hatem in the 1920s. Luta livre is essentially a grappling martial art, one that’s pretty heavy on submissions. Among thos, Luta Livre fighters are notorious for the use of leg locks, which were a great way of gaining the upper hand over BJJ in the early days of rivalry. It was extremely popular in Brazil when BJ Jburst on to the scene. Luta Livre was the “poor kids way of grappling” but it was no less effective than BJJ. However, as BJJ grew worldwide, a lot of Luta Livre fighters, just like Vale Tudo ones, migrated looking for options. Luta Livre is still something you can train in Brazil although not nearly as popular as Jiu-Jitsu.
Let’s now take a look at some of the lesser-known Brazilian Martial Arts. To begin with, we have Maculele, similar to Capoeira but with swords and spears. The history is not quite clear, but some think it originated during old tribal wars in Brazil. Once again the development of the art, similar to Capoeira is rooted in salves figuring out how to defend themselves In this case, the machetes used at sugarcane plantations, and sticks from the sugarcane were used to train. The most distinct aspect of Maculele is using flaming torches during performances. This is a result of slaves using sticks from the fire to fight their “captains” in the past.
Kombato is a martial art that came about in the 1980s. It is basically a combination of different martial arts combined together for an effective self-defense system. In that sense, it is similar to things like Israeli Krav Maga or Russian Systema. It is mostly used from bodyguards and personal; protection professionals. The man behind this representative of Brazilian martial arts is Paulo Albequerque. He was well versed in many martial arts, but mostly in Philipino Eskrima. HE used al his knowledge to devise a system that turned out to be Brazilian Kombato. Similar to Krav Maga and Systema, there is both a civilian and military version of the art. Ther’s no competition since this is a very self-defense-oriented martial art that uses scenarios in training.
In Huka Huka, both athletes start on the knees. There is a chief man, who enters an arena first, and then chooses his opponent. The goal of Huka Huka is the exact opposite of BJJ. Here, fighters aim to lift the other person up, before crashing them to the ground once again. It is also a traditional way of testing the strength of the young males from the indigenous tribes. Before you write this off as traditional art, not that the Sao Paolo police is integrating it into the training of its officers. Clearly, art is very effective and practical in real life.
Romulo’s take on things is that you need to train hard every day, stop making excuses, and leave it all in the mat. Moreover, this holds true for both training, rolling, and, of course, competing. After a huge victory against AJ Souza, Barral used the phrase for the first time in 2018 and it caught on like wildfire. Today, T-shirts, rashguards, and BJ patches with the phrase are everywhere, as well as a hashtag that’s begun overly used on social networks. It is one of the most popular modern BJJ phrases and it is definitely here to stay. 
Of all the BJJ phrases that we use, this one is the most polarizing. PIlarizri9zng in the sense that you absolutely love it as a white belt, and then slowly grow to despise it as you go up the ranks. This one has its roots in the early Gracie challenges when they were out to prove JIu-JItsu is the best martial art. During such time, they took everyone down or pulled guard and proceeded to dispose of all kinds of martial artists. In that sense, the phrase “the ground is my ocean, I’m the shark, and you don’t even know how to swim” was born. It made sense then, but in modern times, it is just a phrase.
To be completely honest, Mackenzie Dern did start her MMA journey by making baby steps. After dropping out of the 2017 ADCC in the very first round, much to everyone’s surprise, she went on to commit fully to MMA. As such, she began in the Legacy Fighting Championship. She won her first match via decision, and really caught everyone’s attention with her second when she pulled off her signature rear-naked choke submission from an Omoplata position. It is safe to say taht this gave her the spring she needed to rise fast through the MMA ranks. Three more wins followed, tow of which in the LFA and one in Invicta before she signed with the UFC.
Mackenzie’s attitude, though, after her first MMA loss is exactly what a fighter should be doing. She sees the loss as a positive experience and is looking to bounce straight back. According to Mackenzie Dern herself, the loos only make her hungrier. In fact, not being undefeated any more seems to take the pressure off of her and she can now focus on taking more risks during her fights. Or so she told MMA Fighting.
In terms of leglocks, Tarik is extremely efficient with them, and particularly with the IBJJF approved stuff. He has a huge number of submission wins by leg locks. In fact, he is an authority when it comes to leg locking grapplers that wear kimonos. Of course, since I train in a predominantly Gi academy, I wanted to see what his leg locking game is all about. And, even though the bell Down Foot Locks DVD shows only a glimpse of his game, I got to say, I’m now more of a Tarik fan than ever before. 
I have to say, this is where the DVD starts becoming a bit more advanced. The single-leg X with the lapel is complicated enough on its own. However, introducing reactions to your opponent’s movements, like sitting down or rolling forward, that end up with tight leg locks is taking it to a whole new level. Still, all of the work and they’re actually not hard to execute once you get the hang of them. Moreover, a couple of toe hold and kneebar finishes also feature. Finally, a swift ankle lock variation wraps this great DVD up. 
The symptoms usually include red patches on the skin, spread throughout the body’s surface. Often they have thick silvery scales and might be itchy. The skin might also be dry and cracked and the fingernails might be ridged. The inflammation usually comes and goes in cycles and there are several different types of psoriasis. Seeing a doctor as usually is mandatory to get a precise diagnosis and proper treatment.
Impetigo is easy to recognize as a result of the yellow lesions that appear across the body. The limbs are usual hotspots. There’s quite the itch that accompanies these lesions, as well as a rash that might turn to blisters. Pain is not usually present but may appear in some cases. The reason we feature this disease is that it is the most contagious of them all and can easily spread within an academy. Cuts and abrasions are particular hot spots for the emergence of this infection, and we all know how common they are in Jiu-Jitsu. Once again, hygiene is huge here, particularly dressing room hygiene, since there where people usually walk in shoes. Treatment depends on the type of bacteria but usually involves antibiotics. Exceedingly bad cases might even require surgical interventions.