I just got my blue belt (31) and I was tapped by a 20 year old white belt yesterday. The journey continues.

No gi = no belt
Problem solved 😂😂

Enjoy the journey. There is no hurry. Keep training. Make jiu jitsu a life long pursuit.

Biggest mistake I made my first 3 years was trying to learn a little of everything. I focused on half a dozen foundational moves last year and my Jiu Jitsu got 10x better.

Honestly, I do better when I’m just trying to have fun, rather than trying to be good.

Appreciate your content!  Trained 2-4 times a week, in my 40’s, busy schedule with work and kids. Didn’t get a stripe on my white belt for 17 months, while others did. Competed a couple times and won three silvers, but no gold. Recently was awarded three stripes and am testing for blue belt in June while others that got earlier stripes are not (20 months total). I’m sure the professor was pushing me and I enjoyed it.

The journey isn’t linear, stay consistent, stay healthy, and learn!  What a life-changer jiu jitsu has been for me.

I started 15 years ago. Got injured, life got busy, had a family. Got back in last October and now I’m a blue belt as of yesterday. Train hard, Take care of your teammates. Don’t give up!

The challenge with learning BJJ is the vast amount you need to learn, and that largely people don't teach in a way that helps you progress quickly. You need to understand systems and sequences. Systems are a collection of sequences. Sequences can span multiple systems. For example, use torando to pass guard to side control --> details to mount --> details to head and arm choke. This could be considered a sequence and could be part of the passing system, side control system, and mount system, and finally the head and arm details to finish. Once you understand systems and sequences you can progress faster if you can find instructors that teach this way.

This is golden.

When you train this way working to blue you have more tools to continue training and learn faster.

You will understand better why your go to game works, what failed when it doesn't,  and how to apply this knowledge to whatever you struggle with.

I am 15 months in training- 3 days a week and still a white belt.. lol
No stripes either..
but I don’t care, I just enjoy the whole process at 53

One thing I notice as a white belt of 7 months, is that I don't get many opportunities to roll with people who are less experienced than me. I don't want to "win" but I want to be able to reinforce the techniques that I know.

When I roll with upper belts, they all have counters to everything I know already, so it feels like my Jiu Jitsu just doesn't work. I know it does, because I've wrestled with friends who never trained and it's like playing with a toddler, but I wish my coaches would pair me up to roll with other white belts too, not just throwing me to the wolves.

Grateful either way, of course.

I'm a returning white belt at my 40s after a 15 year hiatus. Basically at ground zero again. I'm a very methodical thinker/learner and I'm currently experiencing a lack of fundamentals training at my current school.

I just get a lesson on a random submission every class, then straight to rolling. I roll aimlessly (basically just defending), not knowing how to start or how to chain  movements/positions. After my prepaid 3 months are up, I think I'll be scouting schools again.

For about a month or two after I got my blue belt I was getting demolished by everyone including white belt. Made me rethink if I actually deserved it. But I was patient and have finally put a flow together to submit lower belts and keep up with higher belts. Consistency is key and your coaches see something you may not. Don’t stop believing in yourself

I trained wrestling for 4 years, also boxing ( amateur) competition, when I was young, every time I was going to a bjj academy,  they tell me you're not a white belt,
bjj is great sport, way more friendly than boxing , people for some reason focus too much on belts.

You sound like a great teacher ! 💪

Been training for a year now snd everything josh is saying is dead on, I’ve come to this conclusion two months ago, i took it upon myself to build my game up from watching foundational instructionals

I didn't have this experience.  We have promotion waves where there is an opportunity to promote and it’s based on general knowledge.  Our white belts promote from about 9 months to 3 years depending on general knowledge and application of technique in live rolls.

Brother, i've been a white belt for 1/5 years now. Here in brazil, home of bjj, WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM! Gracie Barra Teachers hitting on girls on the mats, not really paying attention to whats happening on the mats. TODAY i went to training no-gi and, one more time, our teacher was not giving a damn for white belts, harassing two girl students, with no shadow of guilty or shame. They talk about bars, drugs, partys on the fkng mats. Things got so desrespected to a level that me and other students are feeling awkward on the mats. So, you go, pay your fees, train hard, but the gyms keep you stuck, and normalize this kind of behavior. Thats the example that a Black Belt teacher gives? These guys are destroying the sport here. its a shame. Other than that, i keep my head down, "yes coach, no coach", train and go home. Belts mean nothing over here anymore.

Like the 1 week on a move focus.  I also think it helps to cement it in.

Building tangable skills is something really good that GB do to be fair, they spend full weeks on specific positions and the things you can do from there, then the next week leads on from that