This is a question asked by many a newcomer. Unlike other martial arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can feel like an eternity to learn and understand. For instance, BJJ takes roughly 10 years to achieve black belt which means you’ve mastered the craft. However, in other martial arts such as Judo and Karate you can achieve this belt in roughly 3-4 years. This would be the equivalent of being a blue belt whilst training BJJ. This is an indicator that BJJ takes years to develop, but why?
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BJJ has unnatural movements
Going back to primitive times, fighting would involve striking and maybe a bit of basic grappling. Even in the early days of UFC which wasn’t that long ago, grappling was very new in this sense. Because of this, disciplines like boxing and muay thai can feel much more natural and therefore easier to learn. Visually for instance, everyone knows how to throw a punch. This means if they see an advanced method of punching, they’re more likely to understand the basics behind the method.
BJJ is completely different. For example, trying an armbar from guard as a beginner is an incredibly alien movement. However, this is also a fundamental and basic part of BJJ. Equally snaking on the spot may take a bit of practice to do with the correct co-ordination. Then you have even more complex movements such as inverting and rolling around. Because these moves aren’t naturally wired into our DNA like striking is, it can look and feel very difficult to pull off.
For instance, a boxer of 3 years of experience could always lose to an inexperienced opponent of equal strength and weight. Although the experienced boxer would win 9/10 times, they may get hit with a lucky sucker punch. This can’t really happen in BJJ, and a BJJ practitioner of 3 years could beat an inexperienced opponent of equal strength and weight 10/10 times. This isn’t because BJJ is particularly superior, it’s because the practitioner understands the key bodily movements and why they work.
There’s a lot to understand in BJJ
Again, we aren’t bashing striking martial arts here but if you look at stand up it usually has a clinch position and then distance. BJJ has the stand up clinching too, but it also has the ground position. From here there are literally hundreds of moves that can be done with even more variations. For example, you could literally spend 5 years mastering closed guard. However, you could still be a relative novice at escaping side control in that time due to lack of practice.
In short, BJJ is incredibly deep and detailed. You can’t just master one part of it and you’re done. It needs years of understanding the various positions and what they involve. There is an argument that Judo or Sambo aren’t striking martial arts too. However, similar can be said for these combat sports as again it may take a practitioner years to master the grappling positions. As said, with Judo it can take considerably less time to get to black belt, but that is as much a formality as anything else.
Muscle memory takes time
Muscle memory is a real thing, which is why drilling is so important in BJJ. As mentioned, you may have some form of natural instinct with striking as it’s inbuilt into your muscle memory. However, with BJJ everything is unusual. Whilst your brain may see and understand how to pull off a Triangle choke, actually getting your body to do the movement is completely different altogether.
This is often what separates blue belts to purple belts. The blue belts may have a vague understanding of how to do a move, but it’s usually more rigid and clunky. However, a purple belt will have drilled the move more so it becomes a habit. This habit is formed from the muscles connecting with your brain and naturally chaining movements together.
A good example of this is whilst at white belt. As a white belt you may understand you’re under attack. However, actually knowing how to escape is a completely different thing entirely. In short, your body has to catch up with your mind when starting out in BJJ. Usually, this process takes several years to happen as it’s not easy to simply see and then do a technique.
Being new against bigger opponents
BJJ isn’t a silver bullet. Whilst it will improve your grappling technique, as seen above this takes time. One way in which new students get particularly dismayed whilst training is when they face newer, bigger opponents. For instance, you may have trained for 3 months and one day a new guy comes in and taps you whilst sparring. This is discouraging as it may feel your progress isn’t visible.
However, a good way of this isn’t comparing yourself to your opponent, but instead comparing yourself to your previous self when you began. Whilst you may lose in sparring, perhaps it would have been a bigger loss 3 months prior. Further, in 3 months’ time, you may win in sparring.
This is a good mentality to have and will keep you on track. As looked at previously, BJJ is great against people of the same athleticism and strength. However, it can take years to successfully beat someone much bigger and stronger than you, even if they’re significantly less experienced.
In some ways, BJJ actually doesn’t take long to learn
One of the off-putting things whilst learning BJJ is that it can feel that your plateau constantly. For instance, some people claim they’re in a rut for years in some cases. When brand new, you may have the joys of hitting your first choke or Americana submission. However, months or even years into training, everything slows down. After a few years, your progress becomes less visible. By now, you’ve probably hit most submissions and sweeps at this point and have a basic game. This means you don’t really get the thrill of hitting a new move for the first time.
Not only this but if you train with the same partners you may all get better together. This means your progress is relative to theirs which means you may feel no better or worse. Whilst you’re all improving together – it may not feel like it. The reality is, most people don’t plateau and it’s more of a mental block rather than anything else. However, it can feel like your BJJ is taking forever to progress.
This may be a reason to why so many people quit at blue belt as the novelty has worn thin at this point and you’re no longer able to see such big leaps in your game. Having said this, it’s important to stay patient and focused as plateau’s don’t last forever.
Summary
Undoubtedly BJJ does take long to learn. It can be trickier for your brain to process compared with striking and it isn’t an easy path. Not only this but the moves are alien to most newcomers and patience is required for your body to subconsciously process how stuff works. However, with patience and resilience, BJJ can be learnt and is a great tool to improve your body and mind with. It may take years to get competent at BJJ but once that process is complete it’s an incredibly fun and rewarding martial art which is also one of the most effective against other opponents.
