Are BJJ Belt Rankings subjective? Yes. They are...

This article is a good read regarding ranking in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it could be interesting for those who are unfamiliar with BJJ and don't have a lot of understanding of the process or those who train in BJJ, but have questions.

I certainly remember having thoughts about my rank and its legitimacy when I was awarded my purple belt and shortly afterwards I rolled Clancy Roberts, one of my first coaches, who was still a purple at the time (although he was awarded his brown belt the next day).

I remember saying to Clancy that I didn't feel comfortable wearing the same rank as him as he had been a purple when I was a white and had also had a huge impact on my development in BJJ. Clancy just laughed and said "if your coach thought you deserved the rank then you deserve it, no one can take that away from you." That comment was typically accurate and succinct and I know agree with it wholly. My feeling is that a promotion is subjective, but that is appropriate as the measure of progress varies from individual to individual.

Anyway instead of me writing about it, I will just post this article as it was written better than anything I would be likely to write.

Check the article out here.

http://eliknight.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/who-deserves-a-belt/

Thinking & Jiu Jitsu

One of the things I love about Jiu Jitsu and specifically coaching Jiu Jitsu is the thought process. Jiu Jitsu lends itself to all kinds of ponderings and reflection when training, developing technique or analysing your game, but I particularly like the process of thinking about technique in order to best deliver training. I like to start by thinking of a concept that will be both rewarding and pertinent at the same time and then to join the dots between the movements themselves and the desired outcomes of the class. I believe a good class should cover at least a few of the following; improve the skills of practitioners, develop new skills in practitioners, improve understanding of practitioners and improve the thought process of the practitioners. I think that if you can cover at least two of those in a class then you are on the right track when coaching and planning a good lesson is key to that.

Recently I have enjoyed the challenge I set myself of planning 3 sessions based on the parrallels between Gi and No-Gi training (as opposed to the differences which some people tend to focus on). I have always been of the opinion that the differences between the 2 are slight, they are usually more about preference than principle, at least that is the ideal situation. In fact I watched a video on youtube recently that was of an interview with Jean Jacques Machado, in it when discussing his entry and success in the early ADCC events he said that competing without the gi wasn't particularly new to him because in Brazil the hotter summer months meant no gi training. At the time they didn't specify a difference between Gi and No-Gi, they just called it Jiu Jitsu and made the call based on the weather (I have inserted the video below, the comments on No Gi are from about 6:28, but it is all worth a watch).



So when planning my lessons on the similarities between Gi and No-Gi training and technique I wanted to be sure that what I taught would be techniques and concepts that would be applicable in both worlds. Over the course of 3 lessons I intended to show that:

1. In some cases the same strategic concept, but with slight technical variation could apply,
2. In other cases that different techniques, but based on the same physical movements could be used
3. And in other cases virtually identical techniques could be used.

For point 1, I for both gi and no gi I taught a version of a butterfly hooks sweep with an overhook, where instead of taking away the opponents post you threaten a choke. This gave the opponent the choice of defending the choke or posting to defend the sweep, but not both. With the Gi the choke was an overhook cross lapel choke and in No-Gi it was an arm in guilotine. So slightly different movements, but the same strategic concept.

In Point 2 I dealt with both countering an underhook escape from sidecontrol and attacking from a sprawl. For theescape counter with the gi I used the gi tail to set up a cross lapel with the overhook and with no gi setup a Brabo/Darce choke. From the sprawl I rolled under for a loop choke with the gi and in the no gi I rolled under for a Brabo/Darce.

Point 3 I taught both the arm bar from the guard and a pendulum sweep from the arm drag both of which had subtley different grips, but these were preference and the techniques were still the same.

The fun part of planning these classes was thinking about techniques to show these three points, but also that are practical for everyday grappling. The idea was that students would be exposed to ideas they didn't know but were fundamental (or for the more experienced have the chance to drill and refine these important movements) all while still being exposed to the ideas on Gi and No-Gi technique and strategy.

Jiu Jitsu is fun, whether you are training, competing, coaching or all three, and the fun doesn't stop when you are off the mat, if you let yourself get creative.

Have fun on the mat.