Passing My BJJ Blue Belt Test

It's been a while since I blogged, incidentally about returning to Jiu-Jitsu in January, but I have good news -- today I passed the test for my blue belt.

I began studying at Professor Pedro Sauer's headquarters school in January 2017. I began mostly with the Gracie Combatives system, then switched to the Pedro Sauer fundamentals classes by the end of the year. In May of 2018 I essentially stopped training BJJ to focus on my Krav Maga studies, finishing with my G1 grading in December 2018.

With G1 accomplished, I switched attention back to BJJ and resumed training in January 2019.

Not all BJJ schools require testing to advance in rank. Prof Pedro Sauer believes that tests are an opportunity to demonstrate required skills. The core of the blue belt test is a set of over 80 techniques that must be successfully demonstrated on your training partner, one after the other as the instructor calls them out. The test also includes positioning rolling (i.e., start with your partner in your guard, and sweep or submit), followed by free rolling.

I trained almost 300 hours of jiu-jitsu before taking the test. This is probably three times the amount of hours one usually needs to pass this rank. I am a slow learner! Only this year did I feel like I was making decent progress and could try to test before the end of 2019. I knew that there would be an association-wide test during the November world conference, so that was my goal.

I started preparing for the test a month ago, in late September. One of my classmates, Emma, asked if I planned to test at some point, and we decided to work together to prepare. Over the course of about 7 sessions we spent a total of 12 hours working by ourselves to review all of the required material. When we first started, it took us 2 hours to cover half of the material. By yesterday, our last practice, we could perform all of the material in an hour.

Emma grabs me from behind prior to me doing a hip throw.

Along the way we attended some normal classes, and also benefited from a few high belts who watched us and provided feedback and instruction. One of these kind souls, Art, spent several sessions watching us and offering suggestions, which was very helpful.

The test itself went pretty smoothly. I was nervous on the drive to the school but I felt better on the mat. Our two primary instructors, Mike Horihan and Kristen DeBrucyker, administered the test. We started at 11 am, and as the 11:30 day class time approached, more students started watching us. By the mid-point of the test we felt like a million people were watching, but we kept executing techniques as best as we could!

After the test, Mike and Kristen presented Emma and me with our new blue belts. They are incredibly blue, almost purple. This makes me nervous as I am barely a brand new blue belt! I might see if I can find a less purplish Pedro Sauer belt to wear.

Following the belt presentation, Mike asked if we would roll with the class, as they had patiently watched our test. I rolled for a half hour with 5 or 6 people. I was pretty tired at that point, but the class was kind and didn't crush me.

Mike administers a cross choke with my old white belt after tying on my new blue belt.

Overall this was a very positive experience. A year ago I knew I was not ready to test that fall, so I decided to take a break until I could devote my full attention to jiu-jitsu. Almost a year of training paid off -- nearly 100 hours so far in 2019 -- and I was happy to pass the test.

Thank you to Professors Mike and Kristen for teaching me and administering the test. Thank you also to my other instructors -- Professor Sauer, Jake, Art, and Tommy. Thank you to all my training partners and to Emma for all the hard work to prepare for the test. Finally, thank you to my family for supporting this somewhat unusual hobby.

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