Brown Belt
- Thread starter BADodd06
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congrats.
Thanks! It still hasn't sunk in yet that I got this far in less than 4 years.
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4 years to get from white to brown?
3 years and 6/7 months total
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wow 4 yrs to brown.?
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Cool, Vicente Junior. Where do you train?
In Western MD at Ryoma Academy. We were under Mike Moses (Evolve) until a recent switch to Vicente at the turn of the year. Some weird politics I tried to stay out of lol
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I moved to PA from Austin, TX back in August.
One of the new black belts here was having some IBJJF problems and Vicente is helping him out and not charging him a dime. Seems like a really cool dude.
Congrats.
Yea he's extremely friendly and welcoming and even went out to sushi with us afterwards lol. He seems like the type where it's almost impossible to picture him even getting angry
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That’s so awesome dude. Congrats. Teaching you’ll be the most useful to your instructor as not only a partner but as an instructor . A good instructor is very very hard to come by, not everybody can teach a quality class
Beyond the usual filling in when instructors were sick, I've just started teaching on a consistent/structured basis only recently these past 2 months and it definitely offers it's own set of challenges. I'll need to do some research and pick peoples brains to improve in that area
Congratulations.
That is the minimum time requirement from blue to purple (2 years). Purple to brown is 1 year and half.
There is no minimum time from white to blue.
Yea and from what I was told that's why they waited till January so that I will have been a purple long enough officially. I went from white to blue in 10 months but didn't spend the minimum time at blue.
I don't do IBJJF since they've never really came to this area or KY where I started so I guess it doesn't matter all that much. I kind of want to spend more time in this belt than I did the others though just off principle even though brown is supposed to be the shortest.
Would you consider your promotions normal compare to the other students in your gym?
Not at all. Half of the current blue belts and all the current purple belts at my gym have been training longer than me and a handful were blue belts when I was a white belt.
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How many hours of training do you average a week? What sort of breakdown (drilling, rolling, strength + condition etc)? If you don't mind me asking. Also has this changed as you have gone through the ranks?
At white belt I was training only 3-4 times a week for about 2 hours each time (25 minutes of rolling average). Since I was a blue belt I've usually trained 5-6 times a week with each of those time being 1.5-2 hours but have usually ended up frustrated when class ends with anything less than 3x5minute rounds which has gotten better over this past year after I spoke up. I also usually always show up 15 minutes earlier each day to get some flow rolling, pass/sweep, or rounds in with whoever is early. For most of my blue belt period I would regularly meet up with 3 brown belts an hour away on Fridays and roll for a couple hours which is where I saw my biggest gains and development. Unfortunately they closed their place up and moved a year ago. I used to run and lift way more when I was a white and blue belt but let it slip even though I plan to get back into it now more consistently as well as yoga. I was a college track and field athlete before BJJ though so my athletic ability has definitely helped. Plus throughout purple belt I've always focussed on particular positions, weaknesses, and overarching principles to intentionally work on from week to week which I feel also sped my development up.
I have to say I've never been a big fan of 0-resistance drilling and always preferred more competitive drilling like pass/sweep and positional rolling.
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That's interesting. What do you think it was about rolling with the brown belts that helped you out so much? The large amounts of rolling or the fact it was with higher belts?
How has your game changed as you have progressed? Do you feel like you have a solid base in every area now or are there any 'holes' in your game you still feel you need to fix?
The biggest thing was the make-up of the 3 guys I was rolling with. Even if just 2-3 days each month, as a blue belt I had 3 active/competitive brown belts all with extremely different styles..........all to myself.
It's one thing to have guys that regularly dismantle you then move onto the next partner, but its a completely different thing to have superior guys that pass your guard, heel hook, and anaconda choke you 5 times in a row then immediately sit down and troubleshoot with you exactly what's going on. Plus when you have a clock of 7 minute rounds and just you and 3 guys 2 belts above you, there are no rest rounds and no slacking off. It was a pressure cooker that only made me better. I get to roll with them less often since they moved all over but 2 of them have since been promoted to black belts.
I wouldn't say it's changed but moreso just gotten deeper and more focused although my guard has seen the biggest improvements. The areas I'm most dangerous with have stayed (back, triangles, ankle locks) have always been that way just now they're more refined. 'Holes' have closed up some but there's always areas to work on and weaknesses which for me are still being lazy with my posture on top and not always manipulating their posture posture correctly when I'm on bottom........and actually escaping unfavorable leg entanglements instead of just staying in them and surviving
It's one thing to have guys that regularly dismantle you then move onto the next partner, but its a completely different thing to have superior guys that pass your guard, heel hook, and anaconda choke you 5 times in a row then immediately sit down and troubleshoot with you exactly what's going on. Plus when you have a clock of 7 minute rounds and just you and 3 guys 2 belts above you, there are no rest rounds and no slacking off. It was a pressure cooker that only made me better. I get to roll with them less often since they moved all over but 2 of them have since been promoted to black belts.
I wouldn't say it's changed but moreso just gotten deeper and more focused although my guard has seen the biggest improvements. The areas I'm most dangerous with have stayed (back, triangles, ankle locks) have always been that way just now they're more refined. 'Holes' have closed up some but there's always areas to work on and weaknesses which for me are still being lazy with my posture on top and not always manipulating their posture posture correctly when I'm on bottom........and actually escaping unfavorable leg entanglements instead of just staying in them and surviving
