Getting to Know the Belts

Rick Ellis of The Art of Skill provides a general overview in the below video of the belt system. This will be the focus of this post. However, this is just a general outline for each belt that is meant to highlight what students at each level should be focusing on if they want to advance. We’ll explore each belt a bit more in detail over the coming weeks.

White Belt

Being a white belt is tough. In fact, being a white belt is more psychologically taxing than probably any other belt because your ego and your body both have to take a beating. You are going to not be good, and you are going to have to be okay with that for at least a few weeks or months if you want to last in jiu-jitsu.

On the plus side, you will learn more as a white belt than any other belt. As Rick notes, success during the months or even years when you’re a white belt means being a good sponge. You want to ask questions, learn every new technique that you can, and absorb every bit of knowledge that is available to you.

To advance to blue belt, Rick believes that it’s necessary to know a total of 50 techniques that are outlined below. Rick stresses that simply knowing how to escape from a position like mount is not good enough. You should be able to have several different ways to accomplish your goal. Rick’s full list includes:

• 4 mount escapes
• 4 side mount escapes
• 4 headlock escapes
• 1 wrestler’s cradle escape
• 4 closed guard passes
• 4 closed guard sweeps
• 2 open guard sweeps
• 2 throws
• 3 takedowns
• 4 chokes from guard
• 4 chokes from mount
• 4 arm locks from guard
• 2 arm locks from mount
• 2 chokes from back
• 2 back escapes
• 4 leg locks

As Rick stresses, headlocks are important to learn because they are common holds in a street fight. Alternatively, the wrestler’s cradle escape is important to learn because it is something that you will almost certainly encounter if your opponent has a wrestling background. Meanwhile, for back escapes, you should be able to escape from the strong side and the weak side. There is a similar justification for each of the items on the list.

A Note on Leg Locks

Leg locks are not always taught to white belts. Some instructors feel that white belts need to have more experience before attempting a leg lock, as these techniques can cause injury when performed incorrectly. Other instructors will say that white belts should learn leg locks because they are a fundamental aspect of jiu-jitsu. Still others may allow leg locks but put some restrictions on their use.

This is a subject that has not been settled and there continues to be some debate about it. It is best to defer to your instructor.

Blue Belt

According to Rick, the blue belt is “the belt that is going to require the greatest transformation of your game.” When you are a new blue belt, you are an advanced beginner. By the time you become a purple belt, you will be an immature advanced player.

What does this mean? When you’re a new blue belt, you’re still in what Rick calls “technique accumulation mode.” You’re looking for new things. Moreover, new blue belts are still thinking of things in a one-dimensional manner. A new blue is not yet capable of thinking multiple steps ahead of their opponent.

As you become more advanced, this changes. You recognize how to use existing momentum, either your own or your opponent’s, to your advantage. That requires not just knowing the techniques of jiu-jitsu and being able to execute them well. It also requires timing, and that’s something that you only learn through time and repetition.

In addition, blue belts begin to figure out how to be more efficient and more fluid. Rather than performing a single move, and then another single move, they start using thoughtful combinations and paying more attention to transitions.

For Rick, going from a blue belt to a purple belt requires:

• The ability to execute ten combinations that have a variety of components to them. They don’t need to include five or six techniques. They can just have two or three.
• The demonstration of strategic thinking.
• Being able to make movements and transitions that are efficient and fluid.

Purple Belt

New purple belts are immature advanced fighters, meaning they have an understanding of jiu-jitsu that is similar to a black belt—they’re just not nearly as good. Despite lacking the black belt’s skill, purple belts demonstrate a more complex approach to jiu-jitsu than white or blue belts. Simply put: this level of jiu-jitsu is more advanced and requires more thinking.

Once you become a purple belt, your focus becomes refinement and depth. As a purple belt, you will have had an epiphany where you realize that you don’t need to learn new moves. Instead, you’ll recognize that it is far more important to refine and improve upon your favorite techniques. You’re learning how to be more efficient, how to use the principles of jiu-jitsu to be more effective, and how to play with fight dynamics (like tempo) when you’re on the mat.

When you’re a white belt, you have one gear: go. When you’re a purple belt, you should be able to have more variation. You should know how to apply pressure slowly, to open up and play soft, to play explosively, or to be extremely patient.

Brown Belt

Perhaps more than any other belt, the brown belt is defined by transition. By this point in time, you will have an arsenal of techniques at your disposal, but there will still be weak points in your game that you need to improve upon. Rick breaks it down by letter:

• A Game: Your go-to techniques
• B Game: Techniques that you’re comfortable with, but don’t instinctively use
• C Game: Techniques that you know, but rarely use and don’t execute perfectly

When you are a new brown belt, you will likely be an exceptionally good fighter, but you will be unbalanced. Your goal as a brown belt is filling those gaps and shoring up those neglected parts of their game. For example, if you don’t play leglocks as much, this is the time to focus on them.

Rick also points out that you can start teaching as a brown belt. For a lot of students, this is what helps them go back to the fundamentals and round out their game.

Black Belt

Once you achieve black belt, you will have learned to do more with less. Your jiu-jitsu should be almost effortless. You should be maximally effective with minimal exertion. You should recognize windows of opportunity right away, and you should know how to take advantage of them with impeccable timing and little need for athleticism or strength.

New black belts are very different from black belts who achieved that status years or decades beforehand. Like jiu-jitsu itself, there is a lot to explore, and part of the fun of being a black belt is coming to the realization that you can strip away all the things that are non-essential to your game and focus exclusively on refining every element of technique.

At this point, being a black belt is more than about self-dense. This is when you really begin to understand jiu-jitsu as an art form, and your practice becomes what Rick describes as a never-ending quest.