According to Rener Gracie, flag bearer of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and grandson of the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:
“90% of white belts will never become blue belts. Only 1% of blue belts will one day reach the black belt. ”
One might think that these statistics are exaggerated. Yet people who have been practicing for a long time can attest to this:
There is a very large proportion of beginner practitioners who arrest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the early years.
I will always remember this sentence from a friend who has been practicing JJB for a good ten years today:
“You know, after a while we don’t bother too much with remembering the names of new ones. Because we don’t know how long they will stay. “
Knowing him, I knew there was nothing nasty in this sentence. Just a way to protect yourself from the disappointment of a lost friendship.
How is this frightening statistic explained ?
Getting to the black belt, the ultimate recognition for a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, is a very long and fraught journey:
- at least 10 years of assiduous practice for the best
- the vagaries of life, responsibilities and injuries are there to call us to order and keep gradually deviating from the Jiu-Jitsu path.
Jiu-Jitsu is hard at first!
Most importantly, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a trying and extremely complex martial art. We discover parts of his body, joints that we never thought we needed before !
The first days are pure suffering, the first 2 years are difficult and sometimes you have to do violence to go and train.
I remember my first lessons like yesterday, the smell of tatami, the fog on the windows. All of these practitioners seemed to know exactly what to do. And I had a hard time deciding which corner of the big tatami to hide in, while waiting for the course to start !
I loved (and I still love it) doing the technique, but the more the hour progressed, the more my stomach was …
After a snap of dry hands, the teacher finally announced the time of the hikers. Something everyone seemed to expect … except me !
When you weigh 20 pounds less than everyone else, that you only know the Kimura, the closed guard, and the scissor overturning, you have the impression of being thrown into a lion’s den armed with a penknife !
The “fights” always looked the same way: I took the closed guard and I pulled with all my might on my opponent’s collar to keep him from moving. From time to time, I risked doing this kimura which seemed to work so well a few minutes before in technical rehearsal.
And when I was above, I never knew what to do, what to take, in what position to put myself …
30 seconds break (a minute in real life) during which I swallowed the air of the dojo with a big bite … then it was gone.
I finished all my heart fights at 100 an hour, with the feeling of being at the end of my life. Like this I had sprinted non-stop for 5 minutes. My forearms were so paralyzed that it looked like glass bottles.
My partners told me that if I was so breathless, it was because I constantly forced …
But I had to defend myself ! And they too used force. I felt it when I was knocked down and when they were on me in 100 kilos !!!
I felt like I couldn’t do anything and it was so frustrating !
A few years later, the truth struck me …
In reality, it was only years later that I understood what they meant. Today, I understand much better the “levers” and the “timing” which allow me to fight with much less effort and strength.
I was completely out of breath because I was trying to respond to the experience of my partners with the only tool I had at the time: strength .
Today, my strength comes to support my technique, whereas before, it simply filled the lack.
And clearly, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has become all the more fun. We start from training with a light heart, with the clear feeling of having moved mountains. The progress is palpable and regular, we await the next training with fierce impatience !
We understand better how techniques work between them. It then becomes a great game of chess where we try to play a more effective game every day, to respond to the obstacles posed by the opponent, in order to dominate it.
I will have time to tell you my frustrations next time if you are interested; -). But I just wanted to illustrate the difficulty of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when we started and that it was a difficult course to pass.
We all go there for the majority. Those who persevere are rewarded with the passion for a martial art rich in learning and pleasure … as well as a beautiful colored belt: -).
Unfortunately, only a small proportion will succeed. It is a fact…
The system is not simple:
- JJB is complex: working on the ground and on the back is unnatural. You have to relearn a whole displacement system in the 3 dimensions.
- The fact that you have to take the bandwagon doesn’t help. We are in total blur. We don’t know where to start. And that, the teacher can’t do much, because he has to teach several students of different grades.
- It is one of the few sports where you can fight 100% without getting hurt. It gives hard-to-reverse fights for a beginner.
How to put the odds on his side and avoid the massacre ?
When you get hit over it over and over again. When you hurt yourself and come home too often from all-broken training with the impression that nothing has changed, this is where doubt takes hold.
This is where frustration points to the tip of his nose and blows up a workout, then 2, then 3.
Where to start to get better, training after training ?
JJB is a complex sport where you find yourself during combat in one of the following phases:
- below to defend submissions or exit a control position
- on the back in the guard position ;
- above, to pass the guard ;
- above to attempt a submission.
(In reality, when we start, we often find ourselves in a defense position, with our adversary in 100 kilos on us!)
After having a long time struggled to do a little bit of everything, it was when I concentrated all my efforts on the guard passage that I started to progress constantly !
Why learn to stand guard first to progress quickly?
A so-called “Pareto law” statistical law says that 80% of the effects result from 20% of the causes.
This can be translated in several different ways:
- 20% of your kimonos will be worn 80% of the time ;
- 20% of the techniques you know will be responsible for 80% of your victories
These proportions are not exact to the number, but simply illustrate a strong imbalance relationship between cause and effect.
In my case, I realized that this 20% was the guardhouse.
But why so ?
Nice to hear you ask !
Defending should be the number one thing to know-how. This is totally true, because it is undoubtedly the situation in which we find ourselves most often when we start.
Unfortunately, spending your life defending the repeated attacks of your opponents and trying to get out of a cross control of a big beefy … is the perfect recipe for frustration and demotivation.
IT’S GUARANTEE !
In addition, you are not going to get on your back and ask your opponent to take you on the cross or submit!
And then what else !
To defend, you just have to remember 2 things at the start.
1. Stay as airtight as possible :
- By having the elbows close to the body ;
- By protecting your neck with your hands ;
2. Be patient and work carefully to get out of the disadvantageous position.
Regarding the 100 kg exit, I will give you a tip soon that will change your life (just that!).
The game on guard (that is to say on the back), is an aspect specific to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Unlike many martial arts, JJB custody can both defend and attack.
This is what makes this art rich. But at the same time, it’s the most complex thing when you start.
We can start with the simplest: play in closed guard or in half-garde. But here is the problem when you start: you freeze in this position, hold your seizures firmly … and you stay stuck like that with your partner for 5 minutes.
Nothing is happening, and it is extremely frustrating. It’s like being stuck in the movies in front of a rotten movie … in the middle of a row of people!
If your opponent is better, he will not hesitate to open your guard and pass you by … once you have exhausted all your energy to repel it.
In open custody, understanding back-to-ground movements, depending on the position of the opponent and their movements, is very difficult.
It’s a perilous balance to master, because if your guard is wobbly, you know what awaits you behind …
A big guy who crushes you in 100 pounds for the rest of the fight and who has no more imagination than you!
Learning submission techniques is great … but to apply them, you must already succeed in passing the guard of the opponent, or know how to control your opponent from the guard.
It is not worth spending your time storing submission techniques at the start, as you will rarely be in a position to submit.
In my opinion, the only ones that must be mastered at the start are the triad: Juji-Triangle-Omoplata from the closed guard.
You will be able to take advantage of the few opportunities presented by too reckless and not very vigilant adversaries!
These are the 3 submission techniques that I have been repeating for years thanks to my teacher. When you know how to do them from the closed guard, you will have no problem placing them from other guards.
Learn to take care when you start: the 5 advantages
1. Passing guard allows you to work above, in a more dominant position
It’s more reassuring to start over the opponent when you’re in need of tools to apprehend the JJB
2. Passing guard allows you to work in a more natural position
When you work above, you move more easily than on your back. Mobility is much better.
You will find it easier to overflow your opponent and take over.
Faced with an adversary of an equivalent level, you will have a definite advantage, both in combat and in progression.
3. Starting above allows you to spend less time under your opponent
When you start on guard, below, the opponent just has to pass you by to crush you on the cross.
Working above is less oppressive when you start. Certainly, you may also find yourself in 100 kilos. But to get there, your opponent must knock you down first.
You then have the opportunity to take over a guard, which your opponent must then pass.
In random, it would mean that you would spend 2 times less time being compressed by your opponent if you systematically started by passing guard.
4. By passing the guard, you learn gently the mechanisms of the JJB
To pass the guard, you have to understand what your opponent is trying to do when he is on his back.
Learning to take care is therefore learning from the different guards … but smoothly! (that is to say without the risk of being run over by your opponent at the slightest error!)
When you decide to play on your back, you will be a little more comfortable.
And then, if you start on your back right away, chances are you will never find yourself on guard.
5. By playing the passage, you are only one step away from submission
When you are on your back, it is more difficult to submit than from a higher position. Your opponent is often vigilant and if he is caught in difficulty: he will immediately try to settle you !
When you work above, you are only one step away from submission.
You just have to pass the guard and there are many options for submissions available to you: from the cross, the climb, the knee on the stomach or the back. It’s Christmas !
During my first 2 years of practice, I focused my attention on the guardhouse. It allowed me to progress enormously and even to do good results in competitions.
It was only from the 2nd year that I turned my attention to open care work by concentrating 80% of my efforts there.
Be careful, passing the guard is not all rosy either!
If it were so easy, the dropout rate in JJB would not be 90% in the first years !
- It is difficult to keep a stable position and you risk being knocked down (often in force if you are solid on your support!)
- When we start, we quickly ran out, forced to pass …. to be taken into custody again. It’s frustrating because it destroys all of our efforts.
- We sometimes find ourselves fighting heavier and stronger opponents, or with long-siloted bodies. Not easy to pass!
- Sometimes we pass a passing technique. But because of the lack of fluidity, our adversary has time to react and take back a guard. We must then start all over again …
“Okay … but how do I do it then ? “
After all that, we come to ask the big question:
This is where the big project I have been working on for months with my friend Jean-Michel Lanternier, JJB black belt and professor at the Levallois Sporting Club in Paris will be useful to you!
We have created an online JJB academy whose first program has the theme of on-call passage. We are very proud of the work accomplished and the returns of the members are very positive.
We then thought it would be nice to make a mini series of free videos from this program to help you improve your understanding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and take care (even those of the heavier opponents than you!).
In a few days, I will broadcast these videos on a private platform.
To be informed of their online, I invite you to register here:
While waiting for the first video, here are 2 things you can do:
1. Share this page
If you know someone who deserves to progress in JJB and improve their guard passages, tell them about this free series of videos to come.
Share this page with him and tell him to register. It will help me a lot (and so will he!)
2. Tell us about yourself
Do the problems I mentioned speak to you ? Are you going to join us in this adventure to become a better guard smuggler ?
Tell us a little bit about yourself in the comments and tell us where you are !
Keywords that allowed internet users to find the article :
- how long to become a black belt of Brazilian jujitsu
- jean michel lantern
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