White Belt – How To Survive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Part 3: Build your BJJ from the foundations upwards

White Belt – How To Survive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Part 3: Build your BJJ from the foundations upwards

One of the very unusual things about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is that there is no fixed curriculum for each grade. It’s a very loose and fluid teaching style, and therefore from a very early point in your training you are being exposed to far more advanced techniques than you are ready for. The first class I attended was focused on foot locks that are still too advanced for me to really understand or to safely try to use many months later.

If you study a more traditional style – Japanese Jiu Jitsu for example, of which I have a few years’ experience – you tend to get a more rigid curriculum-based approach. Certain techniques are taught at white belt level, and then just like a video game when you complete a level, every new belt opens up or unlocks new more advanced techniques so that you learn the more complex skills and techniques much later in your training journey. In Karate, you tend to get a particular kata (set movement pattern without an opponent) for each belt level, with the Kata’s generally getting more complex and more advanced as you move through the system.

In BJJ though you generally tend to just get thrown into the middle of a massive array of moves and techniques randomly and are just expected to pick up what you can. Everyone has their own way of handling this overload, but my very considered approach is to focus on the foundations first. In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as in any martial art, for me the start point is always defence. So I focus still on defence and if I manage to get into an offensive situation in sparring will often give up the advantageous position in order to work more on defending at this point in my development.

If we’re doing takedowns I am focused on the following (listed in order of priority): Not being thrown in a way which will injure me. Not being thrown. Not allowing my opponent to get grips on my Gi, arm, neck or elsewhere on my body AND only then trying for a takedown or throw myself.

By starting at the very base foundations, I feel that I am developing the most fundamentally relevant skills to the first stages of my skill development. To not be submitted by someone better than me is a positive result for me. To go from people being able to submit me every ten seconds to physically dominating me for a 5-minute round but with no submission feels like progress from a standing start.

My advice, based on my very simple mind is this - leave the fancy stuff for later, focus on the basics to start with and you will inevitably end up stronger in places where it really matters. 

Author: Jimmy Rose, lifelong martial artist and BJJ enthusiast