Online training programs in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have grown quite a bit in recent months, top black belts such as Cobrinha, Andre Galvao and the Mendes Brothers all have websites supplying subscribers with the same content these top level black belts are teaching in their own academies. However, one school, the Gracie Academy in Torrance takes it a step further, by including online belt testing for students using their Gracie University online training program from home. This allows students to send the Gracie Academy footage of themselves performing certain techniques on a training partner at home that they are learning from the website. If the evaluators over at the Gracie Academy are happy, they will mail you a belt! Their program allows students to progress from white belt all the way to brown belt 4 stripes all from the comfort of their home.
Does this sound like a quick way for the Gracie Academy to make quick cash with very little effort, or is it something with
a bigger goal? The idea sounds very appealing to people who might not have an opportunity to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu where they live. Saying you are a blue belt under Ryron and Rener Gracie is something many BJJ practitioners might like saying. However, if you are a blue, purple or even a brown belt under the Gracie Academy but you have never taken a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class in your life and only used GracieUniversity.com, does this take legitimacy away from your rank and your knowledge of the martial art? The answer is yes. If you have never taken a class and trained with different training partners you will never know your own skill and you will never be tested by those around you. Sure you might be practicing the techniques you learn from these videos with a friend or two or even a sibling, but the experiences and the learning that goes on inside a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school cannot be replicated through videos and practicing moves in your garage. I truly do believe that if you want to be a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that you have to learn directly from the source, at an academy. If you do not have an academy anywhere near you (yes, some people still do not get this luxury), than online training could be a good solution for you. However, I do not believe that people should be belted through these systems, if they want a promotion they should be training with an instructor who is qualified to give someone a belt.
I do believe that online training videos and other resources are great for the martial art, because they give people opportunities to expand their knowledge of the art when they are not physically training. However I do not feel that they should be used as primary sources for learning; rather they should be used as reinforcement to what you are already learning in an academy with a live instructor. It really does help to be training in a setting where there is an instructor to answer any questions students may have and to correct them, showing them the little details that might not be presented in a video or in a book. If you are able to apply certain moves to a training partner in a filmed video does that mean you can use them on someone who is fighting back against you? Against someone trying to mug you or in a street fight? If you never test your technique against someone who is trying to beat you just as much as you are trying to beat them, then are you able to say that online training equates to training at a school?
I know that this is considered a controversial topic in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world and that everyone will have their own opinions about the subject. Let me know what you think about online training and belt testing online!
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