First off I do not practice bjj.The other night before my kenpo class I was looking at a book a fellow student had brought in that was written by Rickson and Royler Gracie.The book was set up by belt rank.And most of the techniques in this book I know some of not well but I know it,and to my surprise BJJ doesn't have a mass of technquie as some say.And there has been few to no new technquie since the Kodokan Judo,same moves diffrent names.My question is how difficult is it to acell in BJJ?In my opinion I think with the proper time and teacher I could recieve a bb in a couple years max.I'm not trying to be arogant I just comprihend grapping moves very well. I would like to hear from some experinced bjjers out there.From what was in rickson and royler's book the teaching of techinquie (IMO) must be fairly slow. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Uhhh...you're really, really wrong. But I think I understand how you came to that conclusion. At least, I hope I know what you were thinking. I have a book by Renzo and Royler, Theory and Technique, and it too has the techniques labeled by belt rank. It's just that that doesn't mean anything. In bjj, there's no such thing as a white belt technique, or a blue belt technique, or a black belt technique. The only place you'll see that sort of label is in a book, and I guess they write it that way because it gives the idea to a non-bjj'er of what techniques are more complicated then others. So you weren't reading the syllabus for bjj. You don't become a blue belt by learning the "white belt techniques" and "blue belt techniques" for two reasons: first, as I was saying, there are no white belt techniques or blue belt techniques, and second, bjj grading is based on performance. By performance I don't mean demonstrating knowledge of specific techniques, I mean making other people tap out on the mat, choking or armbarring them when they're doing their best to stop you and do the same to you. So you move up from white belt to blue belt when you start beating white belts consistently, and giving as good as you get with most of the blues. When it comes to performance, to actually making people tap out using techniques like the ones you saw in that book, experience and mat time are what matter. 2 years is a fairly normal amount of time to gain the ability to fight at a blue belt's level. I think 4 or 5 is fairly normal to become a purple belt, 7 or so to become a brown belt, and perhaps 10 to become a black belt. It's a ranking system that means something, because black belts consistently beat brown who beat purple and so on. So, no, it doesn't take a few years to get a black belt. It takes quite a few. And as to what you called the few number of techniques in bjj...well, there are probably at least three or four possible variations of each technique you saw in that book, plus three or four different set ups for each technqiue, plus a decent amount of techniques not included at all, plus those being created and refined as we speak.
It says right in the book that it is meant solely as examples of what sort of techniques a person of the belt level might be using. And yes, there are hundreds more. You could also learn every one of them and still get clobbered by white belts. You can also take any one of those techniques and add a ton of more details, setups and combinations. Submission fighting is not about learning single techniques, it is about tactics, timing, combinations, and experience. That book is also VERY simple and basic, and it is meant as an intro book.
In BJJ the grades are given for technical ability and for fighting competance. To get a Blue belt you generally have to be able to beat up all the other white belts you meet and have 'roughly' six techniques you can do REALLY well i.e 2 sweeps, 2 locks and 2 chokes but be able to enter them from several different positions. Col
So BJJ promotes you on consistant preformance right? This done by beating people same rank and higher than you?Along with being able to adapt to chaning situations. So promotion will be more compition based than your Teacher saying hey show me moves a,b,c and j Please keep the info coming you've done a great job so far
The moves the student 'owns' as their own would be entirely up to themselves. To be promoted from White to Blue (or Blue to Purple, Purple to Brown etc) you'd be expected to beat most white belts you cam across and be giving some of the newer Blue belts a hard time. I find its a nice balance. Col
ok I can probably say there are at least 30 to 40 submissions in BJJ and probably 20 sweeps. however, the entries and setups to the techniques are endless and each technique has a counter that is why BJJ takes so long to master
I think the unique flavour of BJJ is the lack of syllabus. Most styles give you very specific goals for each grade i.e. prescribed techniques. BJJ grades are given depending on how good your general game is. I tend to learn and remember techniques for specific reasons i.e. I need them. Basicaly through grappling with others I find 'holes' in my game and I therefore look for techniques and strategies to fix those holes. So a novice is kind of like a very leaky ship, you just cant bail the water out fast enough to stay afloat when someone with experience starts beating on you Actually I remember hearing an interview by Helio Gracie when he said he could teach someone everything he knows in two years. But they would not be even nearly good enough to be an instructor as they would not 'understand' the techniques and general philosophy of the art.
