150,000 BJJ black belts Globally?

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

I am in Australia IBJJF is pretty big over here also.

Sounds similar in terms of other belts managing promotion, but that's a bit annoying for your students to have you rely on specific people to come out promote them.

In the end it only matters if all that is important to them.

Maybe we can safely say, that IBJJF is big only in English speaking countries then

Re: promoting BBs.

Ive never promoted a BB yet, and Im in no hurry for that.
By the end of this year, I can do that myself.

Quite the opposite, over the years, there were several occasions, where people (not from my gym or team) have asked me to promote them.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Fuck belts
I trained karate as a kid and then moved to boxing and kickboxing

I enjoyed training to improve and nobody needed belts to know who was the better fighter and who had the most knowledge

For me it's as much a gimmick to keep people interested and pay their dues

Let's face it, if you start a martial art to gain a belt, you will likely quit sometime. Those that obtain the higher belts would have still trained to that level regardless

Gaining a belt is an achievement and I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be proud of their progress, but imo too many focus on a belt and should just enjoy the training and self improvement

If you aren't a happy individual with a white belt? You will likely not be much better off if you become black belt

 

[Arashikage4Life]

Fuck belts
I trained karate as a kid and then moved to boxing and kickboxing

I enjoyed training to improve and nobody needed belts to know who was the better fighter and who had the most knowledge

For me it's as much a gimmick to keep people interested and pay their dues

Let's face it, if you start a martial art to gain a belt, you will likely quit sometime. Those that obtain the higher belts would have still trained to that level regardless

Gaining a belt is an achievement and I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be proud of their progress, but imo too many focus on a belt and should just enjoy the training and self improvement

If you aren't a happy individual with a white belt? You will likely not be much better off if you become black belt

Good post

 

[Quebec Nick]

Maybe the gyms you've seen don't, but wrestling is practiced at full speed all the time.

Muay Thai is trained at full speed in Thailand.

Kyoukushin is practiced at full speed everywhere Ive been.

Judo is trained at full speed in competitive dojos.

Jiujitsu is not special in that aspect. As a matter of fact, Id say, Jiujitsu is the sport, Ive seen been constantly played at slow mo, by the vast majority of practitioners worldwide, by choice.

Muay Thai is known to be high volume every day

People that go hard in sparring are seen as amateur

Full speed VS full strenght / power is maybe why we see this differently

You can't kick all your sparring partners at full strenght, you will injure everybody and have nobody to train with very fast. Same thing with takedowns.

But in BJJ, you won't injure anybody even if you go full throttle on a guard pass or in a sweep. You just have to stop cranking on some subs and that's all. You can go at competition speed / intensity with pretty much everybody and nobody will go out the gym in an ambulance

 

[TheMaster]

But in BJJ, you won't injure anybody even if you go full throttle on a guard pass or in a sweep. You just have to stop cranking on some subs and that's all. You can go at competition speed / intensity with pretty much everybody and nobody will go out the gym in an ambulance

This is true regards striking, but you pretty much invalidated your point regarding other grappling arts.
"You just have to stop cranking and go slow on some subs, otherwise with BJJ you can go all out".

Well same with Judo, "You can tone it down a bit on some footsweeps and throw entries when training with beginners, otherwise you can go all out".

The risk factor for BJJ is higher going all out especially after they added leg locks and from what we now now about the risk from strokes from chokes if you don't tap or if you struggle too much as it's applied.

Judo you can pretty much train at full power and speed and there is little risk especially as you can just do pins on the ground instead of going for subs. There may be some impact from throws but with good ukemi and decent mats this is minimized. The risks from having a sub attempt cause damage from struggling though is higher making it harder to train with full resistance.

 

[Quebec Nick]

Fuck belts
I trained karate as a kid and then moved to boxing and kickboxing

I enjoyed training to improve and nobody needed belts to know who was the better fighter and who had the most knowledge

For me it's as much a gimmick to keep people interested and pay their dues

Let's face it, if you start a martial art to gain a belt, you will likely quit sometime. Those that obtain the higher belts would have still trained to that level regardless

Gaining a belt is an achievement and I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be proud of their progress, but imo too many focus on a belt and should just enjoy the training and self improvement

If you aren't a happy individual with a white belt? You will likely not be much better off if you become black belt

I'm with you on that one

It's more detrimental than motivationnal

The belt level competitions are bullshit because of sandbagging, people focus way to much on it and you loose good practionners because of the belt system

The only thing I like about it, is that it's a way for your coach to tell you you're going in the right way. But I'm in a mid sized gym, I train with my coach all the time, he knows who I am and we talk a lot, I don't need a belt to know that I'm progressing. In a bigger gym, it may be more important to know that the top guys aknowledge you.

Since my purple belt, I understand it's all about staying on the mats, being regular, having a constant progression and getting better at my craft. Brown belt and maybe black belt one day will be there on my road. Who care if it takes 5-6 or 10 more years

The fun of it is to better your game, being able to apply techniques and chain them together

The belt won't make you better

 

[Quebec Nick]

This is true regards striking, but you pretty much invalidated your point regarding other grappling arts.
"You just have to stop cranking and go slow on some subs, otherwise with BJJ you can go all out".

Well same with Judo, "You can tone it down a bit on some footsweeps and throw entries when training with beginners, otherwise you can go all out".

The risk factor for BJJ is higher going all out especially after they added leg locks and from what we now now about the risk from strokes from chokes if you don't tap or if you struggle too much as it's applied.

Judo you can pretty much train at full power and speed and there is little risk especially as you can just do pins on the ground instead of going for subs. There may be some impact from throws but with good ukemi and decent mats this is minimized. The risks from having a sub attempt cause damage from struggling though is higher making it harder to train with full resistance.

Maybe I have a sense of false security at my gym, we can go full speed and power to break the defenses on the subs, but you don't have to crank it because they know when it's over.

Same thing in your defenses, you can go all the way for an escape and be confident that when it doesn't work you won't have that extra crank that will injure you. There's some people that I will tap early in leglocks because I'm not sure that they know what they are doing

Maybe it's a question of skills, Most people are not that good at wrestling and judo at my gym, it's all shitty takedowns with no control, so for me takedowns are injuries waiting to happen.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

I'm with you on that one

It's more detrimental than motivationnal

The belt level competitions are bullshit because of sandbagging, people focus way to much on it and you loose good practionners because of the belt system

The only thing I like about it, is that it's a way for your coach to tell you you're going in the right way. But I'm in a mid sized gym, I train with my coach all the time, he knows who I am and we talk a lot, I don't need a belt to know that I'm progressing. In a bigger gym, it may be more important to know that the top guys aknowledge you.

Since my purple belt, I understand it's all about staying on the mats, being regular, having a constant progression and getting better at my craft. Brown belt and maybe black belt one day will be there on my road. Who care if it takes 5-6 or 10 more years

The fun of it is to better your game, being able to apply techniques and chain them together

The belt won't make you better

You see, your post above us exactly my point and it's the right attitude.

You have the focus to improve and keep honing your technique, the belt will always come. Also I'm not saying anyone shouldn't be proud of obtaining a new rank, they bloody well should. But it's not something to obsess over

Also I agree about sandbagging. A friend of mine is a former pro mma fighter who has been grappling as part of his training (mostly nogi) for the best part of 13 years. Yet he is just a recently promoted blue belt

He doesn't care for higher promotions, because he is doing extremely well in the local tournament circuit and raking up medals.

So a guy who has grappled for 13 years, was a boxer before mma and a really good athlete is competing against other guys over 40 who has likely been training less than 3 or 4 years. That is definitely sandbagging and I know it is pretty common in grappling

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

Most people are not that good at wrestling and judo at my gym, it's all shitty takedowns with no control, so for me takedowns are injuries waiting to happen.

That s entirely different issue.
Same situation in striking, would give same results.

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

you pretty much invalidated your point regarding other grappling arts.
"You just have to stop cranking and go slow on some subs, otherwise with BJJ you can go all out".

This

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Do you compete in IBJJF competitions or promote people who have issues competing?

Anyone you promote won't be recognised as a black belt at IBJJF from my understanding and will have to sandbag it at brown. I personally think it's stupid, but my background is predominantly no gi and grappling with no belts.

Anyone you promote at any belt level needs to be listed under an ibjjf registered BB or they can't compete.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Also I agree about sandbagging. A friend of mine is a former pro mma fighter who has been grappling as part of his training (mostly nogi) for the best part of 13 years. Yet he is just a recently promoted blue belt

He doesn't care for higher promotions, because he is doing extremely well in the local tournament circuit and raking up medals.

So a guy who has grappled for 13 years, was a boxer before mma and a really good athlete is competing against other guys over 40 who has likely been training less than 3 or 4 years. That is definitely sandbagging and I know it is pretty common in grappling

Most of my struggles at white and blue was against those kinda guys. My 3rd ever tournament was against an amateur mma fighter who had gone to pans as a white belt 3 years in a row. It was fucking ridiculous.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Most of my struggles at white and blue was against those kinda guys. My 3rd ever tournament was against an amateur mma fighter who had gone to pans as a white belt 3 years in a row. It was fucking ridiculous.

Personally I think it's a joke
To be fair to my friend he trained BJJ but just to enhance his skills for mma and not to get promoted

But surely because his years in the mat nogi, he could be fast tracked a little?

A coach in another local gym thinks he is easily a brown belt in skill, or at least a very experienced purple and he is competing against other blue belts??

I'm sure he's not the only one, but it's bullshit imo and a form of cheating

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Personally I think it's a joke
To be fair to my friend he trained BJJ but just to enhance his skills for mma and not to get promoted

But surely because his years in the mat nogi, he could be fast tracked a little?

A coach in another local gym thinks he is easily a brown belt in skill, or at least a very experienced purple and he is competing against other blue belts??

I'm sure he's not the only one, but it's bullshit imo and a form of cheating

You'd be shocked with how common it is for me blue belt comp was harder than purple just from the sheer amount if crazy sandbaged guys.

I live by if you're at that skill level, you get the belt. No need for unnecessary delay

 

[ChickenBrother]

I live by if you're at that skill level, you get the belt. No need for unnecessary delay

+1 but IME this mostly happens for hobbyists who don't compete. Gyms have no incentive to sandbag them and I feel like 90% of hobbyists I've rolled with from other gyms feel about right for their belt rank, maybe +/- 1 year.

But the separate competition divisions for each belt leads to sandbagging and it's just fucking stupid at this point. At least they don't have a white belt world champ anymore lmao.

 

[maximus__]

Anyone you promote at any belt level needs to be listed under an ibjjf registered BB or they can't compete.

Yeah, but it's more reasonable to compete under an affiliation for other belts besides black. Black belt is where the lineage and promotion might result in you having to compete down a level.

 

[maximus__]

Personally I think it's a joke
To be fair to my friend he trained BJJ but just to enhance his skills for mma and not to get promoted

But surely because his years in the mat nogi, he could be fast tracked a little?

A coach in another local gym thinks he is easily a brown belt in skill, or at least a very experienced purple and he is competing against other blue belts??

I'm sure he's not the only one, but it's bullshit imo and a form of cheating

My gi vs No gi ability is pretty different and you see that a lot with MMA fighters.

They are better than their level, but can struggle a bit with the technical gi game past blue.
Whitebelts keeping in the same division with MMA backgrounds for multiple years ina row is pretty silly though. Why would you even bother...

 

[Dana's Moonface]

My gi vs No gi ability is pretty different and you see that a lot with MMA fighters.

They are better than their level, but can struggle a bit with the technical gi game past blue.
Whitebelts keeping in the same division with MMA backgrounds for multiple years ina row is pretty silly though. Why would you even bother...

Yeah this dude never trained in a gi often, but he definitely still did some training in a gi during his fighting days

He was still white belt 12 years after he first trained

 

[maximus__]

Yeah this dude never trained in a gi often, but he definitely still did some training in a gi during his fighting days

He was still white belt 12 years after he first trained

A "friend" of mine may have taken 15 years to blue... There was a period of 8-10 years total off during that period or periods of very intermittent training(once a week). This "friend" may have massively progressed by simply returning to training 3-5 x a week haha.

Competing at white belt would be a bit rough in that case.Training wise, who cares. I trained with an ex olympic level wrestler who was a 2 stripe white belt in the gi. He purposefully didn't wrestle when he wore the gi and played a technical bolo/bottom game for a bit of fun. He even let people take him down who didn't know his wrestling.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

A "friend" of mine may have taken 15 years to blue... There was a period of 8-10 years total off during that period or periods of very intermittent training(once a week). This "friend" may have massively progressed by simply returning to training 3-5 x a week haha.

Competing at white belt would be a bit rough in that case.Training wise, who cares. I trained with an ex olympic level wrestler who was a 2 stripe white belt in the gi. He purposefully didn't wrestle when he wore the gi and played a technical bolo/bottom game for a bit of fun. He even let people take him down who didn't know his wrestling.

Yeah it's all a bit fucked up and we can never control what others do. I only train bjj once per week most weeks and it's mostly open matt, so I do some drilling with a couple mates, then some rolling, but I'm learning some things slowly lol

Maybe in 15 years I will be a blue belt??
In all seriousness, I will eventually progress to BJJ properly in time. It's easier on the body and the more I do it, the more I want to learn, because without blowing my own trumpet, Im pretty ok on the ground, better than standing