Brown Belt Instructor?

[r1kee]

My bro goes to a gym where a brown belt is the BJJ instructor. I haven't been doing BJJ for very long but I know a good instructor when I see one. I went for a free class and he was showing white belts armbar transition to triangle to omoplata to foot lock. Most of the white belts were A) doing the subs incorrectly and B) and the instructor had a student practicing with him so he had no time to correct any of the students; myself included. Is this too much for white belts to be learning?

Second of all, he awarded a blue belt that day to a kid with a wrestling background. (It was the guys 2nd month practicing BJJ, mind you.) We all rolled with the new blue belt and he just mounted all the white belts but could not finish them. One white belt actually controlled him during the 4 min. spar. because he was just as strong as this wrestler kid.

My question is:

Can a brown belt award belts? And is he just giving belts away? Should brown belts not be instructors for the reason that they haven't really taken any instructor courses? (Or do BJJ instructors not do instructor courses)

Thanks all.

 

[r1kee]

ttt

 

[yovan]

Well, any type of foot locks should be off-limits to white belts. Same with omoplata. White belts need to work on positioning and escapes/sweeps. Over and over again.

Also, I have an extensive judo background and have been doing BJJ for a year and a half. Still a white belt and not complaining one bit. 2 months for a blue is irresponsible.

 

[armbarking]

Nothing wrong with a brown belt instructor. I train under one. It sounds like this guy probably wouldn't be a good instructor though regardless of rank. Some people are good at teaching and some aren't. I've always said I'd rather learn from an ok grappler who is a great teacher rather than a great grappler who is only an ok teacher.

To answer your questions, most browns can give out belts, but it depends on the affiliation and their instructors practices. He's probably not just "giving away" belts, but I agree there is a stark contrast between being a good wrestler and a good bjj guy. I look to the guard the most when determining the differences because wrestlers, judoka, etc. usually have great control, but no guard and limited submissions. Usually BJJ doesn't have instructor courses. Again, it depends on what system/affiliation they are with. It varies.

 

[r1kee]

Well, any type of foot locks should be off-limits to white belts. Same with omoplata. White belts need to work on positioning and escapes/sweeps. Over and over again.

Also, I have an extensive judo background and have been doing BJJ for a year and a half. Still a white belt and not complaining one bit. 2 months for a blue is irresponsible.

Thats the problem i see. They learn omplata's and footlocks but can't understand sweeps and position. They just want to hit a HL submission and end up getting swept.

 

[AnOddParadigm]

Technically, brown belts aren't supposed to promote, but it isn't that uncommon for them to do so. Nothing wrong with brown belts teaching, but from the little I know he just doesn't sound like a great teacher regardless of that. But I shouldn't say that without seeing him myself.

 

[akharon]

I know my post count is low (read: 1), but I train under a purple, I've been doing BJJ for a few weeks now, and we were doing something similar, guard > triangle > omaplata, most people picked it up quickly. We have a blue belt in class, and I believe a few whites with some stripes.

I can't speak for his giving out of belts, perhaps the blue was seeing if the whites would get out of his mount. Given that I've only had a few weeks, the first time I went is still pretty fresh in my mind, but I remember the first time I was rolling, getting mount, and thinking it was easy. The next time I was there, they turned it up a bit, getting my back at will, tapping me, etc. Put it this way, in most circumstances, when a lower belt is getting dominant position on a higher belt, or is fending off their submissions, the higher belt is allowing that to happen. In my class, they're frequently slowing themselves down so you look for the submissions, the escapes, etc.

To answer your questions, yes browns can award belts, up to purple, iirc. Whether or not he's giving those belts away depends on how that guy who got his blue stacks up to other schools' blues.

That said, take it with a grain of salt, I'm new to this, but these are the way things have worked at my class.

 

[r1kee]

Nothing wrong with a brown belt instructor. I train under one. It sounds like this guy probably wouldn't be a good instructor though regardless of rank. Some people are good at teaching and some aren't. I've always said I'd rather learn from an ok grappler who is a great teacher rather than a great grappler who is only an ok teacher.

To answer your questions, most browns can give out belts, but it depends on the affiliation and their instructors practices. He's probably not just "giving away" belts, but I agree there is a stark contrast between being a good wrestler and a good bjj guy. I look to the guard the most when determining the differences because wrestlers, judoka, etc. usually have great control, but no guard and limited submissions. Usually BJJ doesn't have instructor courses. Again, it depends on what system/affiliation they are with. It varies.

i don't want to put this guy on blast, but he is affiliated and has a brown under a very respected BJJ family; not the Gracies. I respect his rank and skill but I guess you are right about instruction. You can either teach or you can't.

 

[armbarking]

Well, any type of foot locks should be off-limits to white belts. Same with omoplata. White belts need to work on positioning and escapes/sweeps. Over and over again.

Also, I have an extensive judo background and have been doing BJJ for a year and a half. Still a white belt and not complaining one bit. 2 months for a blue is irresponsible.

leg/foot locks i get, but why the omoplata hate? An omoplata is a very common move that is presented in many different positions and is one of the major transitional moves for sweeps, failed armbars, triangles, etc. I don't think anyone should be getting to blue belt that doesn't know the omoplata. Plus, you need good omoplata defense as it is a relatively easy submission to attack with from closed guard.

 

[ThinkGreen]

A legit brown belt in Bjj is more than qualified to teach

 

[r1kee]

I know my post count is low (read: 1), but I train under a purple, I've been doing BJJ for a few weeks now, and we were doing something similar, guard > triangle > omaplata, most people picked it up quickly. We have a blue belt in class, and I believe a few whites with some stripes.

I can't speak for his giving out of belts, perhaps the blue was seeing if the whites would get out of his mount. Given that I've only had a few weeks, the first time I went is still pretty fresh in my mind, but I remember the first time I was rolling, getting mount, and thinking it was easy. The next time I was there, they turned it up a bit, getting my back at will, tapping me, etc. Put it this way, in most circumstances, when a lower belt is getting dominant position on a higher belt, or is fending off their submissions, the higher belt is allowing that to happen. In my class, they're frequently slowing themselves down so you look for the submissions, the escapes, etc.

To answer your questions, yes browns can award belts, up to purple, iirc. Whether or not he's giving those belts away depends on how that guy who got his blue stacks up to other schools' blues.

That said, take it with a grain of salt, I'm new to this, but these are the way things have worked at my class.

Yeah, Ive never done BJJ with a gi, until I rolled with this blue, but I know may way around the mat. He obviously kept gaining position cause he was an all-american wrestler in HS, but I kept sweeping him and I almost caught him a couple subs but he was a strong kid. Ive rolled with other blues and the skill level is Different.

 

[El Ninja]

I train under two instructors. Both are brown belts under Dean Lister. And they have been granted permission to give away belts from Dean himself.

Well, any type of foot locks should be off-limits to white belts. Same with omoplata.

Interesting :icon_conf

During my first few months of training BJJ, we were learing all types of foot locks.

 

[r1kee]

I guess footlocks aren't a HUGE part of BJJ, but I guess my concern was with the instruction. So I advised my bro to go to a full-time BJJ gym and he's signing up at BTT.

 

[yovan]

leg/foot locks i get, but why the omoplata hate? An omoplata is a very common move that is presented in many different positions and is one of the major transitional moves for sweeps, failed armbars, triangles, etc. I don't think anyone should be getting to blue belt that doesn't know the omoplata. Plus, you need good omoplata defense as it is a relatively easy submission to attack with from closed guard.

Yeah - I guess you're right. I always equate the omoplata as a "more" technical submission to pull off, but yes, you should know the fluidity of the movement and transition/defense from other positions.

 

[mowrown]

My guess is the omoplata hate comes from the idea that these white belts are learning omoplatas INSTEAD of posture, guard passing, upa, the basics.

I agree 100% on the foot/leglocks though. Inexperienced white belts won't even realize that they're in danger and should tap before it's too late. They also won't understand that the kind of pressure you can exert on a choke or an armbar is far greater than the pressure you can exert on a leglock.

Back to TS's initial question - One of the classes I would attend regularly was taught by a pair of brown belts. They taught to white belts (0-4 stripes) and focused on the basics. They were attentive and approachable. I can't speak to their ability to teach higher belts, but they both had good qualities to look for in instructors. They both earned their black belts recently.

So really, for teaching white belts, it's not about the color of the instructor's belt.

 

[green_machine]

I started training under a brown belt. I feel that the ability to teach doesn't necessarily relate to your BJJ ability. The brown that ran those classes I found was a better teacher than some black belts I've attended classes of.

 

[Thalion]

The problem with sport that haven't a recognized Federation (like the Olympic one) is that everyone can open a gym and teach. Brown belt is not a problem, but you see even white or blue belt teaching (or people that put on themself a blackbelt and pretend to teach)

 

[Throatpoker]

As mentioned, it's not about his rank, it's just that he sucks at teaching.

 

[son_goku]

A Brown Belt instructor is fine. It sounds like he just needs more experience teaching... I'm sure after a few years of teaching he'll come into his own.

I wouldn't worry about how he awards belts to the other students either. If his Blue Belt enters a competition against any solid Blue Belt and doesn't have the skills to back up his rank he will get tooled. This will make both the student and the teacher look suspect.

 

[stlnl2]

Blue after 2 months is odd. But the average for blue is a year, its not like some huge hurdle to cross.

Are you sure the kid that got a blue has only trained 2 months and never trained anywhere else or before he went to that school?