Slow Blue

Our Jiu-Jitsu school has a few issues regarding belt promotions.

The first is the slow progress people are achieving through their Blue Belt levels. As most people never make it out of their Blue levels, it is the more important.

I have heard many people in locker-room discusions about rank say they are in no hurry to get promoted. They say they would prefer to develop solid skills, rather than progressing too quickly. They would rather be a, "good Blue Belt, instead of a weak Purple Belt."

Interestingly, these are not the two choices available.

The rules for promotion through most levels are 8 months of training, and attendance at 100 approplriate classes, and an OK from their instructor. The reason people are not getting promoted promptly is usually failure to complete the attendance requirements.

Lets create a pair of hypothetical twins. They earn their Blue Belts together. The first wants to progress quickly, and he maintains near-perfect attendance. The other, "is in no hurry," and takes a year to complete the attendance requirement and is promoted then.

Which twin will have a more solid level of skill on their promotion day?

It will certainly be the 8-month eager student. We go through material very rapidly. Missing training makes it very difficult to try and keep up.

They will both have accumulated an equivalant amount of sparring experience by promotion time, but even that won't be really equal. The more eager twin will have more things they will actually be able to try out, and that only takes into consideration a comparison at their promotion time, which are actually 4 months apart.

At the first twin's promotion at 8 months, he will have done 1/3 more rolling than his sibling. By the time the other twin "catches up" at 12 months, the first twin will not have stood still and still be 1/3 ahead. He will already be halfway to his next promotion.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with setting your own pace; just don't think that going slowly makes you in any technical way superior to somebody training more intently. It is much more likely that the exact opposite is true.

And just what the heck is a, "bad Purple Belt," anyhow? Not only has every Gracie Purple Belt put in every bit of the required work, they also have to have passed an evaluation by one of the Gracie's themselves.

My advice to anyone who is proud about how long it has taken to earn a promotion; stop it. Choose your own pace, and be happy with it, but if you want to get as good as possible then get on the mat. Doing so is not only the most efficient way to improve, but higher rank will appear. Rank need not be a goal, but that's not allthat it is.

It is also a reflection of effort expended and proficiency gained.

19 days in

So I've been a Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt for all of 19 days.

In that time, I've attended a single class at the Phoenix Certified Training Center, and nothing else. Back home I would have attended 4 beginner classes, 2 Reflex Development sessions, 6 Master Cycles classes, and 5 open mat times. That type of pace will have to wait until after our month in Arizona is over.

I like winter in the desert. We have pool time every day, and it's warm. Back home it's the season of dark skies and rain.

In any case, out little Canadian Jiu-Jitsu group has changed a lot in the last year. Back then we only had a single Purple Belt; our instructor. Now we have 4.

I, personally, have no evaluations upcoming anytime soon. With nothing in particular to prepare for, I can focus more on my own journey through Jiu-Jitsu.

Our class is working through the material included in two levels of curriculum. I will be part of all that, but we also have access to the third level. Next year some time that will be incorporated as well, but I will be working on it in the meantime.

I quite enjoy working on the first two levels, but doing so definitely has a review feel to it. All of level three is new to me, and I enjoy the air of discovery.

So that's what I've figured out so far, 19 days in.

New Belt

I am pleased as punch, having been recently awarded a Purple Belt from Rener Gracie after a two-week evaluation at the main Gracie Academy in Los Angeles.

I started training in 2011, and received my Blue Belt in 2012. My road to Purple therefore has taken 4 years.

There is no way I can keep up my current pace of training as my body ages. Even if I could, a Brown Belt would not arrive until age 63, and Black at 67. Those promotions may or may not ever happen.

My current long-term goal is to remain on-the-mat as long as I can. That means I have to keep healthy. I don't heal as fast as the 20-year-olds, and have to play smart. No ego games for me. I have to be willing to tap quickly, and often.

A big issue for a few weeks will be getting my new belt to tie properly until it softens up some from use.

That's always a giveaway in identifying a rookie in a new rank.