10 Tips to Thrive as a White Belt in BJJ

In my opinion, the first year of training is by far the most difficult on the the journey of a Brazilian JiuJitsu students.

The hardship of the first year has many roots, the bottom line however is almost always the same: your relationship with the art of Jiu-Jitsu is still too thin for you to endure too much adversity. Before I give you tips to thrive as a white belt, lets take a look at some of typical challenges specific to white belts.

• As a white belt it is hard for you to make sense of everything you are learning. You can only see parts of a great whole. You don’t see the whole and you don’t see the connections between the parts. Nothing like you haven’t been through before though. Back on first grade, you knew what a book was and yet you were still learning how to put letters together to build a word and words together to build a sentence.
• As a white belt, everything is so new and exciting that you forget a lot of what you learned. Don’t worry this is normal. Most of us need to study the same technique at least 5 times before we can assimilate it into our “game”.
• As a white belt, the bonds with other members of the team is still developing. Some of your training partners at Gracie Barra will become lifetime friends and many days your motivation to come to class will come more from seeing your buddies than grappling on the floor. It takes time on the mats, dealing with challenges together to develop those relationships though.
• As a white belt, technique is something you don’t yet have so you will tend to use other things you have to accomplish the desired result: strength, flexibility, speed, weight, etc. That’s why injuries are more common on this phase.
• As a white belt, the inertia of other actives and roles you play in your life is still a threat to your JiuJitsu journey. Yourself and all those who are important to you are still to see the main benefits BJJ will bring to your life. So on the first year, there can be a feeling of frustration from putting too much into it and not getting much back. There are important things that happen in the first year though, you will become self defense smart and get in a much better shape.

Identifying and listing these typical challenges of a JiuJitsu white belt is important to teacher and students. They must work together to make the best out of each one turning them into opportunities to grow.

One thing I love to tell beginners is:

 “My friends! The struggles you are going through is pat of the plan. It is all suppose to happen. Don’t think there is something wrong with you and that you have some kind of disability because you forget the techniques before the class is over. This happens to everyone. I have never seen a person, bog or small, old or young, that showed up for class to become really good in JiuJitsu. “

Here is a list of 10 things you can do to ease your path as a JiuJitsu White Belt. Print this and keep it somewhere you can go back to whenever you feel like quitting:

1. Remind yourself why you joined the school in the first place:
2. Develop and nurture a self defense mindset. JiuJitsu is a self-defense art first and a sport second , so protect your self all the time:
3. Stretch a lot at home:
4. Come to class more than twice a week. Just come to watch is it your resting day
5. Take BarraFIT Classes
6. Take time to come to school to watch the high rank students training
7. Hang out with the team off the mats
8. Never use more than 70% of your strength
9. Put your JiuJitsu classes on your weekly planner and bring  your wife to see what you are doing. Talk to your boss and co-workers about BJJ and the reasons why you decided to do it
10. Develop a personal relationship with your instructor. Tell him about your self and most important about any injuries you may have.

I hope this helps.

– Flavio