Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - General Thread

darced

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RoboRat

darced wrote: »

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I used to think the same but the more I looked into it, the more I can see the reasoning behind it.

People nowadays live in a society where everything is instant and they want to see progress... the only way they progress is by attending classes. If you reward those who attend, they will naturally progress and there is less chance of drop outs as they have a reward structure in place.

Obviously this deviates from traditional grading but time has changed and clubs need to adapt to keep a healthy stream of new members.

Personally I have never attended a club with this structure but I have seen a lot of drop outs due to what they perceive as a lack of progression... unfortunately they cannot see their progression as new members are not as frequent, so they can't gauge their progress against newbies.

darced

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Mellor

darced wrote: »

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They wear white in comp until they get a full blue.
It's the same as an adult green belt that some schools use.

Clive

We use white/blue belt and indeed a blue/white belt between the two "official" belts white and blue.

Some places use a green belt in the same place. They are in-house grades - for competition you're a white belt until you're awarded a blue belt.

They have two benefits:
1. As a coach I can clearly see what someone's experience level is. They may not be regularly in my class, but go to another. If I know they have no experience, or six months experience I can teach them more effectively, match them for drills more effectively, and ensure safety.

2. It gives people a feeling of accomplishment and progression.

For someone starting out, it can take a huge amount of courage to even attend their first class. To keep training twice a week for a whole month is a massive accomplishment for somebody coming from a completely sedentary lifestyle. Would anyone really begrudge them a bit of masking tape to mark that? Or a belt with a stripe down the middle after six months? To some, maybe a blue belt is all that matters, but for others a simple acknowledgment that "hey,you've been putting in the hours, fair play!" can give them the motivation to keep training.
Oh and nobody gets charged, so it's not a money making exercise.

People can complain about it, say it's watering fown the art, belts are about performance, if you can't wait for two years to get a blue belt you shouldn't be in the gym in the first place, but my answer is very simple: there never used to be coloured belts at all, now there are. There never used to be stripes on belts now there are. We can go back to the old days of BJJ being a self-selecting group, where all blue belts are pro MMA fighters, and we spend ten minutes of every class moving mats because the scouts are using the hall next or we can accept that BJJ can be for everybody.

agent graves

So I think iv asked about this before but im still slightly confused.. regarding weight classes.. medium heavy is from 83 to 88 and heavy is from 88 to 94.. so if I weigh any weight between 88 to 94 I compete at heavy?

Tazzimus

darced wrote: »

Makes sense I suppose if you are running a business trying to get numbers in. What would a white/blue belt wear in a white belt comp? I cant remember ever seeing a white/blue belt outside of traditional martial arts.

Fcuk the instant gratification by the way. The reward in BJJ is the absolute hours of grind that goes into every belt not showing up to get an attendance stripe.

My understanding, and what Clive's mentioned, is they are more for coaches to see experience levels at a glance so they know who to partner up for the foundation classes and who has the experience to handle the more advanced ones etc.

White belt, white blue or blue white make no difference to me personally, I'm still a white belt regardless

Mellor

Clive wrote: »

People can complain about it, say it's watering fown the art, belts are about performance...

I find those attitude very weird tbh. I've seen high level coaches rant about those kinda of systems. People who should really understand BJJ better.
The kids coloured and striped belt system was a recent add-on by the IBJJF, I'd guess for the same reasons you listed above. So that's perfectly acceptable break from tradition, but recognizing that a similar system might benefit adults is sacrilegious


I think people that insist that the IBJJF way is the only way, focus too much on rules instead of the reason behind of the rules.
I remember reading a story where a white belt asked Rilion Gracie (coral belt) when was he getting his blue belt. Rilion too off his coral belt, handed it to the white belt and told him to put it on. Then asked him, "Do you feel any different now"

Mellor

agent graves wrote: »

So I think iv asked about this before but im still slightly confused.. regarding weight classes.. medium heavy is from 83 to 88 and heavy is from 88 to 94.. so if I weigh any weight between 88 to 94 I compete at heavy?

Yeah, that's correct.

Medium Heavy is under 88.3kg
Heavyweight is under 94.3kg

Those are the weights with the Gi on. In No-Gi the limits are 85.5kg and 91.5kg respectively. It's possible fall into different weight divisions in Gi and NoGi. I sometime move up in NoGi, but almost never in Gi.

RoboRat

Fcuk the instant gratification by the way. The reward in BJJ is the absolute hours of grind that goes into every belt not showing up to get an attendance stripe.

Unfortunately this is the world we live in... how many times has someone asked you something or even posted a question on boards and you think to yourself... there is a thing called google! Waiting is so 80's, everything is instant and there is no changing that. People expect quick results and are not willing to wait.

I have been asked to provide career paths and progression and development charts for employees... what happened to working your ass off and working towards a promotion... it doesn't happen like that anymore, people need to have a schedule. BJJ is just following suit and it seems that a lot of clubs that use this model, seem to do well.

Personally, it's not for me and I was happy to wear my white until I got my blue but then again I am a bit older.

cletus

I think that the main issue people may have with it are those who came to bjj from other martial arts, where you got a belt every three to six months till you were a blackbelt.

For a lot of people who moved over to bjj, there was a sense that the belt you wore really meant something, and if you went to any other gym, you knew what to expect from a blue, purple etc.

However, that was also in the days of 6 guys training in a local hall, under a blue belt, or if you were lucky a purple belt, and the people who stuck to training were the ones who appreciated the grind, and the results gained.

In these days of full time gyms, multiple classes a day, juice bars out front (well, you know what I mean ��) I understand a gym owners need to keep students motivated and coming back. If in house stripes, tags or stripy belts are the way to do this, I see no issue, allowing, of course, that the quality of each belt is not affected

darced

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Mellor

I've never seen an interim blue to purple belt. I suppose strips are the progression there.

I heard somebody say blue was the most frustrating belt. Feels like it at times.

darced

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agent graves

darced wrote:

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Im still a white belt but for defence I like to switch between butterfly and half guard.. im intrigued by deep half but I find it hard to get into while rolling.. to pass its usually over under or double unders..

Tazzimus

darced wrote: »

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Surviving mainly. I'm building good armbar and triangle defense though apparently.

TitianGerm

Asling Daly promoted to Black Belt by Matt Thornton.

First Irish female Black Belt.

Congrats Aisling!!

Dtp1979

emmetkenny wrote: »

Asking Daly promoted to Black Belt by Matt Thornton.

First Irish female Black Belt.

Congrats Asking!!

Would that not have been John Kavanaghs job to promote her??

TitianGerm

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Would that not have been John Kavanaghs job to promote her??

She was at some SBG ironman team event and Matt the head of SBG (not just Ireland) seems to have awarded her her BB.

I'm sure John was there as well.

Mellor

Matts post on FB

Matt Thornton wrote:

What a day. After an almost 3 hour ironman, I'm proud to announce SBG has two new black belts.

Aisling Daly is one. I wish I could take credit for this young women's skill. But the real credit belongs to her team, her training partners, and her main coach for all these years, my second ever black belt, John Kavanagh.

Aisling is now my 17th black belt, SBG's 4th female black belt, and the first female Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in Ireland. An honor well earned.

Congratulations, Ais. We are all proud of you.

TheSegal

Anyone here use vinegar to clean their BJJ Gi from time to time? Fairly religious about washing my Gi straight after training and drying on the line in the shed but i've been thinking that after a few months maybe washing it with some vinegar might be worthwhile, just not sure where to pick up a few liters of it

TitianGerm

TheSegal wrote: »

Anyone here use vinegar to clean their BJJ Gi from time to time? Fairly religious about washing my Gi straight after training and drying on the line in the shed but i've been thinking that after a few months maybe washing it with some vinegar might be worthwhile, just not sure where to pick up a few liters of it

Cash and carry. Your Gi would stink though even after washing.

I used to work in a restaurant and spilt vinegar on my trousers and thought they had a weird pong off them for a while.

dashoonage

Why vinegar?

I just lob in some washing liquid stuff and cold wash it.

Subcomandante Marcos

I use Detol Laundry Cleanser. Kills everything vinegar and bicarb do but doesn't make your **** stink. Throw a few caps full in with your normal detergant and fabric softener and jobs a goodun.

Subcomandante Marcos

dashoonage wrote: »

Why vinegar?

I just lob in some washing liquid stuff and cold wash it.

To kill bacteria, to stop it getting smelly.

MaeveD

TheSegal wrote: »

Anyone here use vinegar to clean their BJJ Gi from time to time? Fairly religious about washing my Gi straight after training and drying on the line in the shed but i've been thinking that after a few months maybe washing it with some vinegar might be worthwhile, just not sure where to pick up a few liters of it

Musgraves do a 5 litre thingie of it for a 3 or 4 euro

Mellor

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I use Detol Laundry Cleanser. .

This is what I use aswell.
Most times I just wash it normal. But every so often, I do a load with the sanitizer and throw in my gi's and a few rashies

dashoonage

every day is a school day....

TheSegal

Picked up the Dettol laundry cleaner, seems to have really done a great job and spares me of having a Gi with a faint smell of vinegar! Thanks for the recommendation

arybvtcw0eolkf

All news to me, who has never had a smelly gi in over 15 years.

The Detol sounds good once there's no fabric softener in it?.