This pic popped up in my facebook feed (don't worry, I am getting off that slowly and gracefully) from a year ago. It kind of struck me as just last night, I was training with these 2 killers exactly as I was a year ago. So what has happened in a year? We each have a new stripe or 2 (marking the progress we have made) and a few medals of different tints from the competitions in 2017.
So what should happen for everyone else in a year?
White belt - Some jump in, show great dedication/aptitude/progress and go from complete beginner to Blue Belt. Not me.....took me 9 months to get my first couple stripes and a couple years to achieve Blue Belt. Typically, once you get over the burning desire to stripe up and graduate, a good year for a white belt in my mind would be a couple stripes, your first competition (hopefully more) and the creation of a solid foundation which includes knowing how to breathe, survive, work for dominant position, and even get to the point where you have a few submissions that work from Guard, Side Control, Mount, and Back control. The fast you have been training for a full year is fantastic and you have probably gone further than 75% of people who have ever trained.
Blue Belt - Once you are classified with this level of killer, you probably realistically have up to 4 years at Blue Belt. A stripe or 2 (if you put much value in those at this stage) a steady rhythm of competitions, a strong grasp of the basics, and hopefully graduating from feeling totally outclassed by the 4 stripe killers, to filling holes in your game and finding some consistency. You probably have brought a couple friends into the fold who are experiencing the same challenges and benefits which is a fantastic accomplishment as you give back.
Purple Belt - In my first year as a Purlple Belt, I had the chance to start to develop my personal game to leverage my strengths, deal with my weaknesses, and focus upon the DETAILS of the techniques I am able to have trained a few times each now. Earned a stripe, medalled at a competition, and proud of the fact that I am still going as strong as I had planned a year ago, and am still avoiding injury and keeping those ears as pretty as possible! I am in no hurry and wil report back next year at purple again.
Brown Belt - Your guess is as good as mine (better if you are brown or beyond) but I hear that Brown Belt could be the shortest time. You are smashing purple belts at will (I can attest to that) are often thrown in with Black Belts at the smaller competitions, and have most likely added a strong Judo and Wrestling game to your arsenal. I can tell you that us purple belts fear your skill and power, and relish the opportunity to train with you and learn from you.
Black Belt- You have crossed a finish line of sorts, and are really just starting out on the next leg of the journey. Do you measure yourself in the teaching aspect? Compete at the world stage at a level high enough to medal? Own your own gym? Travel to the homeland (Brasil) and other academies around the globe to train and instruct? THAT would be interesting to hear about.
Anyhow, reply with what last year meant for you as far as stories, challenges and accomplishments go. What does a year mean in your eyes?
Good read man.
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Much appreciated. Any idea how to get the humble warriors of the gentle art to share their accomplishments? I love hearing about the success of others along the same journey.
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Hi there! This is the kind of posts that I would like to see more of in the Steemit BJJ tag. I like how you summarized your breakthroughs and your projections of how the next belts would be like (if I understood correctly, you are at purple right now, right?).
I only have been practicing for about one and a half years, but the difference between me from one year and me from now is huge. Not that I am a super killer or anything, but the improvement is evident.
I am still a white belt and I reckon I will probably be one of those "late bloomers" that take a couple of years to get their blue. I am always puzzled at how some people are winning competitions and just becoming super good after just 6-9 months of training, since at that point I was still pretty clueless and often would find myself out of ideas regarding what to do when rolling. Funnily enough, it was during a three-month long time off due to a knee injury that things started to click for me: since I couldn't train, I watched tons of instructionals, interviews, videos from matches, etc. and that really helped me understand the basic principles behind the moves. Once I went back to training, I was able to consistently get better, also competed twice which definitely helped boost my progress.
I'll stop here since I already wrote a novel, haha... Cheers to a new year full of BJJ accomplishments and successful, injury-free trainings!
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Hi @irime yes you have it right. Currently purple belt and I often find myself a little lost at times, and definitely feeling like there is an ocean of improvement to make. I am pretty sure that never changes actually so get used to it!
I am glad you enjoyed the post as anything I pass on is usually second hand knowledge learned from the true experts. I just like to add my own perspective to it so that people from no experience all the way to ones who have been where I have can relate to it.
Thanks for the reply and hopefully I can keep going......injury free at that! Welcome back after yours and I wanna hear more about your journey.
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