Interesting. I have listed, on a giant chart board, the top 50 BJJ students and competitors with whom I rolled in the last 25 years. The chart is listed as a hierarchy belt holders. For instance, at the bottom of the list, a few good white belts that I submit are listed on post-its. The middle chart are the blues, upward purple, so on and so forth. Now this is where the chart gets chaotic and interesting. If white belts has purple belt skill set level, I put him among the purples. I'll let you imagine the rainbow I made with this chart board. The blue belt students is about the biggest, widest, largest division of people I've rolled with, so glancing at the board, I have blue belts that are comparable to high level white, and other blues that are almost black belt skill set level. The surprising portion of the chart is this 6.4, 225 athletic black belt I rolled with last week. Guess what, is he in the middle section of my board, so basically, I know purples who can technically outgrapple him. I witnessed it, not proxy guessing. Its a live board, so I upgrade some post its, or downgrade others according to where they are skill wise. Last, at the top of this chart, I have comp grapplers one that trained under Danaher's squad and the other one trained with couple of black belt brothers of the same academy.
Well es someone who started in 2008 i can say things have definitely changed dramatically. In the "early" days of 2008 when the first big BJJ wave had come to germany belts really tried to be an absolute meassurement instead of an individual journey. Blue belt was a guy who knew and could demonstrate in training all the basic escapes , sweeps , transitions and positions aswell as the basic submissions. Purple belt was a guy with a past of successfuly competing in tournaments for several years. Brown and Black belts in 2008 were so hard to get that it was basically reserved for pro atheltes. But over time the sport grew and money was to be made. In 2008 we had only 1 BJJ school in my town. In 2024 there are now 11 BJJ schools in my town. IN 2008 i think we had 3 black belts in germany in total.... in 2024 i lost count....i think its probably around 300 overall and about 25 in my town alone. Basically everyone from 2008 i trained with is a BJJ blackbelt now ;) BJJ and its belt system was unique but with success and the growth aswell as the opportunities for making money it became the same thing as it is in every other matrial arts. A belt now just shows how long you have done the sport. But it was really different in the old days
Honestly, you aren't the first person I've heard say something like this. There is good and bad that comes with a martial art growing in popularity and one of them is somewhat "watering down" of it.
The only thing belts to me show is your time, dedication, and willingness to learn the sport. It doesn't really mean much more than that. I've seen older black belts get absolutely handled by young and competitive blues and purples. I don't know why everybody thinks a piece of fabric automatically gives you some kind of level. This is not a RPG video game. This is real life, age, size and athleticism matters but also skill development and theory matters too.
"progress and skills development" - yes, but people (especially before they're experienced) often need feedback to realise they're making that progress. In BJJ, just blue can take someone 5-6 years - that's a loooong time. Focus for professors should be how to communicate people's progress regularly - even an "annual report" would be useful.
@@ElbowsTight stripes are nice, but they don't necessarily tell people where their strengths and weaknesses are - and what they should focus on next. Sure, on the one hand, everything 😅 but there should be a bit more of a structured framework for beginners.
YEEEEESSSSSSSSS MANE....you get it!!! I understand that is alot but feedback is so critical especially for those of us who are cerebral and didn't wrestle prior to this. We NEED feedback.
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Interesting. I have listed, on a giant chart board, the top 50 BJJ students and competitors with whom I rolled in the last 25 years. The chart is listed as a hierarchy belt holders. For instance, at the bottom of the list, a few good white belts that I submit are listed on post-its. The middle chart are the blues, upward purple, so on and so forth.
Now this is where the chart gets chaotic and interesting. If white belts has purple belt skill set level, I put him among the purples. I'll let you imagine the rainbow I made with this chart board.
The blue belt students is about the biggest, widest, largest division of people I've rolled with, so glancing at the board, I have blue belts that are comparable to high level white, and other blues that are almost black belt skill set level.
The surprising portion of the chart is this 6.4, 225 athletic black belt I rolled with last week. Guess what, is he in the middle section of my board, so basically, I know purples who can technically outgrapple him. I witnessed it, not proxy guessing.
Its a live board, so I upgrade some post its, or downgrade others according to where they are skill wise.
Last, at the top of this chart, I have comp grapplers one that trained under Danaher's squad and the other one trained with couple of black belt brothers of the same academy.
Well es someone who started in 2008 i can say things have definitely changed dramatically. In the "early" days of 2008 when the first big BJJ wave had come to germany belts really tried to be an absolute meassurement instead of an individual journey.
Blue belt was a guy who knew and could demonstrate in training all the basic escapes , sweeps , transitions and positions aswell as the basic submissions. Purple belt was a guy with a past of successfuly competing in tournaments for several years. Brown and Black belts in 2008 were so hard to get that it was basically reserved for pro atheltes. But over time the sport grew and money was to be made. In 2008 we had only 1 BJJ school in my town. In 2024 there are now 11 BJJ schools in my town. IN 2008 i think we had 3 black belts in germany in total.... in 2024 i lost count....i think its probably around 300 overall and about 25 in my town alone. Basically everyone from 2008 i trained with is a BJJ blackbelt now ;) BJJ and its belt system was unique but with success and the growth aswell as the opportunities for making money it became the same thing as it is in every other matrial arts. A belt now just shows how long you have done the sport. But it was really different in the old days
Honestly, you aren't the first person I've heard say something like this. There is good and bad that comes with a martial art growing in popularity and one of them is somewhat "watering down" of it.
The only thing belts to me show is your time, dedication, and willingness to learn the sport. It doesn't really mean much more than that.
I've seen older black belts get absolutely handled by young and competitive blues and purples. I don't know why everybody thinks a piece of fabric automatically gives you some kind of level. This is not a RPG video game. This is real life, age, size and athleticism matters but also skill development and theory matters too.
Agreed! Well said.
"progress and skills development" - yes, but people (especially before they're experienced) often need feedback to realise they're making that progress.
In BJJ, just blue can take someone 5-6 years - that's a loooong time. Focus for professors should be how to communicate people's progress regularly - even an "annual report" would be useful.
Completely agree. That's why I'm a fan of stripes and like I mentioned I do think belts are important but shouldn't be the sole focus.
@@ElbowsTight stripes are nice, but they don't necessarily tell people where their strengths and weaknesses are - and what they should focus on next.
Sure, on the one hand, everything 😅 but there should be a bit more of a structured framework for beginners.
YEEEEESSSSSSSSS MANE....you get it!!! I understand that is alot but feedback is so critical especially for those of us who are cerebral and didn't wrestle prior to this. We NEED feedback.
Jui Jitsu is BS !!!
🤣🤣🤙
Its for posers, and pansies @@ElbowsTight