The Blue Belt Blues: How to Push Through the Most Difficult Belt

Blue belt, widely recognized as the belt that most people quit Jiu-jitsu. The joke about blue belts disappearing has been going on for at least 22 years. Because I can remember someone telling me not to disappear right after I got my blue belt that long ago. How is it that we can get more people to stick it out in Jiu-jitsu and move past blue belt?

One of the biggest barriers for people when getting their blue belt are plateaus. When you are a white belt you are constantly learning new skills and continuously engaging in new scenarios when grappling. However, when you get to blue belt, something changes, the amount of new things decreases, while you are still learning new things all the time, applying those techniques while grappling can become more difficult as they are more complicated and can be harder to execute. The other thing is once you get promoted to blue belt the “tone” people grapple with you often changes. When you are a white belt people often grapple with you a little more for lack of a better term gently. When you get to the blue belt, this often changes, because blue belts that were promoted before you want everyone to know they are better than you and white belts looking to get promoted want to hunt newly promoted blue belts to prove they should be blue belts too. Despite that we often say that you shouldn’t worry about anyone else, it is very human to compare yourself to others. All of this can lead to plateaus in your training and for some possibly the first plateau you might experience.

These plateaus can be difficult and discouraging because you feel like you are stagnating or even backsliding in your skill level. This conflicts with the knowledge that you were good enough to get a blue belt and can be very discouraging. One of the things I try to tell students is that you need to train through the plateau to work your way out of that. Although recently I think that is not accurate. I believe that you need to train, intentionally, to work your way out of the plateau. Focusing on specific skills, working on weak points, or working on a small subset of moves can help push through a plateau quicker and more effectively. The other thing I recommend is that you try to take time to reflect on your training. Either taking a few minutes after class to think about your training or utilizing a Jiu-jitsu journal to work your way through class. I don’t just say this because I happen to sell a Jiu-jitsu Journal, it is a good way to work through a plateau.

The second big barrier I often see with Blue belts is the “shine” of Jiu-jitsu starts to wane. People want to explore hobbies and that is fantastic. After some time the new hobby becomes part of the routine and it is not as exciting for you. Especially if you train super hard in the beginning it can cause your excitement for Jiu-jitsu to fall off. Keith Owen often gave the advice of “if you don’t feel like training, drive to class and peak in the window. Once you are here if you still don’t feel like training, drive home, crack a beer and pick up the remote. But if you change your mind, you are already at class and ready to go.” This is a great way to keep people training. We are all busy. It is difficult to keep up with our hobbies and live our lives, and easy to get drawn into distractions. Soon one day of skipped training becomes two, then three, then a week, then a month, and finally you are paying for a Jiu-jitsu membership you haven’t used in two years. By making the effort to still go to train when you don’t want to, it is a way you can stay involved and push through those blue belt blues. I have used this myself where I have driven to class, looked in, and said nope and drove all the way back home. It's a little harder to do now that I am an instructor but I have done it before.

The third big thing of why people quit are injuries. Many people experience their first “major” Jiu-jitsu injury at blue belt. I put “major” in quotations because that could be different for each person. One person could tear their ACL, and not think it is a big deal and be back to training as soon as possible while another could break a pinky finger and that could be the end of their training. When you are a blue belt as I mentioned above, the “tone” of rolls change and for a lot of people this can be an escalating thing. Unfortunately that often results in some sort of injury, which in turn causes them to quit Jiu-jitsu. Being mindful of your training intensity and partners is a great way to avoid injuries because Jiu-jitsu really is a long haul and longevity of training is really the goal if you want to be a black belt one day.

Finally, I often hear people say “A BJJ Blue Belt is equivalent to a Black Belt in other Martial Arts” I don’t necessarily believe this is true. Yes, as a Jiu-jitsu blue belt you might have spent a similar amount of time on the mats as black belts in other martial arts, but having done a lot of other martial arts, many of them are a lot more narrow in scope than Jiu-jitsu so they are work towards mastery at a higher rate. For example, I can practice probably 10 round house kicks with skill, power and precision, at the same time it takes someone to execute 1 rep of an arm bar from the guard with similar skill. I think many people hear the equivalency of a BJJ blue belt to a black belt in other styles and make it an end point, because if they are better than black belts in other styles why do they need to train any more. I think that adjusting how we talk about this with our students could help people re-frame in their minds and stick it out longer.

Being a blue belt is tough. You are still learning new things almost every day. Your training has changed and you are exploring a “bigger pond” of Jiu-jitsu. It can be difficult to push through and stick with Jiu-jitsu. Remember training for longevity and trying to take small wins every class is a great way to not get discouraged. I hope this helps people push through their blue belt blues and come out the other side.