How common is it to get to blue belt in a year?

[The Natural]

Not sure how to answer that. I guess the simple answer is purple belts tend be very good from almost all positions and should be literally an expert in their "go to" A game moves and to develop your skills to that level takes alot of mat time. Therefore I think people can be come quite disheartened with the journey from blue to purple.

Nice insight - thanks.

[The Natural]

Its such a big jump because you have three categories of blue belts;

a) The new blue belt - who has found his game - but is now fighting against b and c
b) The Seasoned blue belt - been a blue belt for a while now, does ok at tournaments - gets to a few finals at smaller tournaments and can hold his own - normally beats "a" but struggles against "c"
c) The almost purple belt - defeats "a" with ease and beats "b" with a bit more effort. This guy is waiting for his teacher to give him his purple belt and is a favourite to win every tournament until then.

That is why its such a big ocean.

Ok that makes sense. when u say beat does that mean under a bjj rules set or by sub when in competition? im very aware that some people develop their game to suit their attributes eg guard game, top game, passing game tec..so does the blue who is nearly a purple need to be finishing blue belts when they roll?

[1inchPonch]

God, this thread makes me think I'm a BJJ retard or something. I've been a white belt for over 3 years. Not about to give up willingly any time soon though.

[manofearth]

This is a nonsense question - 9 months, 2 years means nothing - 2 years of what? Training once a week? Training everyday?

Its about the number of mat hours, and I bet everyone is broadly similar in the number of HOURS (absolute phenoms excluded) they put in before they got thier blue - 9 months in or 2 years in.

[jonj]

Ok that makes sense. when u say beat does that mean under a bjj rules set or by sub when in competition? im very aware that some people develop their game to suit their attributes eg guard game, top game, passing game tec..so does the blue who is nearly a purple need to be finishing blue belts when they roll?

I assess everything by competition personally - you cant compare yourself with guys you roll with everyday.

[gingejitsu]

I'm a 34 year old white belt 4 stripe have been training around 18 months but have had 3-4 months of due to MCL injury. I only train once a week 2 hours at a time, I had little no gi grappling experience before starting bjj and have only entered 1 bjj competition.
Where as we have a 2nd dan Judoka that got his blue in 4 months.

I hope this helps a little in your quest

[david5]

under a year is the norm now as oli said.

i remember back when a blue belt meant a lot and a purple belt was a monster belt

[Rob T]

Under a year defo isn't the norm with us.

What's the reason if it is normal now... drop in standards required? More higher level sparring partners helping people get better quicker? More lessons available at academies?

[Rob T]

Nice rob - thanks.
What about purple belt?

-tap most blue belts?
-rarely get tapped by blues?
-Give purple hard fights and on occassion catch them?
-Be able to fight well from every position with a game plan in mind.

Or does this become slightly negated as you progress through the belts as it becomes more difficult to sub upper belts? Eg people who can control positions and pass the guard of a purple belt, well are they entitled to there belt? As purples should be harder to sub than say a white or blue.

Im interested in peoples opinions..hope that jiberish makes sense.

We still haven't got many purples because we're pretty tough with promotions, but basically it would be the same thing just looking for more refined technique, starting to see people 'flowing' more than trying to hit specific techniques and stuff like this. I think it would still be expected to see them being able to sub the majority of blue belts though... if they can just beat them (based on comp points/control) then they're probably just a good blue belt.

[david5]

i personally believe it's mostly due to a drop in standards due to a belief that quick promotion to blue will result in greater student retention and therefore more cashflow.

of course some academies will always be stricter than others