Got my blue belt!

[Heavy Bag]

Yeah yeah, old news for some, but I'm pretty excited. Just like most everyone says, I don't feel like I'm very good, but I trust my instructor and will work harder so the belt fits. I'm going to do my fourth tournament next weekend, but first as a blue belt, should be interesting, lol. I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a whoopin', but that'll make me work even harder.

Anyway, I got my blue belt from Maucio Zingano, a black belt under Caique. Mauricio is a great instructor and my progression is a tribute to his technical training. He really cares about his students teaching the vast majority of his beginner and advanced classes. He very very rarely misses a class. Even better, we get the opportunity to work with David Ruiz, a black belt under Rigan Machado, on a consistent basis as Mauricio and David are good friends and have gyms pretty close to each other. Luiz Claudio, a two time world champion from Brazil, also visits our academy on a frequent basis for classes, seminars and privates. If you're in the Denver area and are interested in learning true Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you really should do yourself a service and check out Zingano's. It's a great place with great people and a great atmosphere.

Overall, it was a great day for our academy with 7 guys getting their blues and 3 moving on to purple. I can't wait to get back to class on Monday, target on my back and all!

 

[Rush_18]

good job dude how long have you been training?

 

[ShogunOOORAH]

Grats

 

[Heavy Bag]

10 months. A lot of guys poo poo on schools that don't let your roll for a set amount of time, but at my school you can't roll until you have 30 - 40 beginner classes under your belt which consist of only drilling basic BJJ positions. I did this for the first 2+ months of my training, and I can honestly say this really helped my progression.

I did not have any wrestling or grappling experience when I started, and did only drilling for a little over 2 months. Roughly 3 months in I did my first tournament and won, so I really feel drilling and not getting thrown to the wolves with live rolling when you're brand new is extremely beneficial.

 

[Chris H]

congrats man!

 

[Slithers]

congrats

 

[PSJJJJ]

Seems like your priorities are not in order if your sensei has to tie your belt up for you lol

Congrats.

 

[Heavy Bag]

Seems like your priorities are not in order if your sensei has to tie your belt up for you lol

Congrats.

Hmmm, he does that for everyone. He takes off your old belt and gives you/ties on your new belt.

Thanks for the congrats guys, I've got a long road ahead of me now. It's funny, when you start, you think the blue belts are invincible, then once you have one you realize how little you truly know.

 

[damit2hell]

10 months. A lot of guys poo poo on schools that don't let your roll for a set amount of time, but at my school you can't roll until you have 30 - 40 beginner classes under your belt which consist of only drilling basic BJJ positions. I did this for the first 2+ months of my training, and I can honestly say this really helped my progression.

I did not have any wrestling or grappling experience when I started, and did only drilling for a little over 2 months. Roughly 3 months in I did my first tournament and won, so I really feel drilling and not getting thrown to the wolves with live rolling when you're brand new is extremely beneficial.

huh, exact opposite for me, when i first joined my school, first thing they did was throw me in with a newly promoted brown, then another brown, then a very good purple... i think they were testing me to see if i was gonna be tough enough... almost didn't make it and 9 months later, i was a blue

 

[Heavy Bag]

huh, exact opposite for me, when i first joined my school, first thing they did was throw me in with a newly promoted brown, then another brown, then a very good purple... i think they were testing me to see if i was gonna be tough enough... almost didn't make it and 9 months later, i was a blue

Yeah, I'm sure only the tough survive in those instances and the ones that do have great potential. However, as a school, you are losing a lot of students like that. My instructor told us about the old days at Rickson's school when he was young, it was an environment much like the one you're describing. The new white belts would come in and get destroyed by the black belts with little to no help coming from them. It seemed like difficult environment to survive/thrive in. He said many white belts would quit before they even gave it a chance.

I'm sure both ways have their benefits, but over the long haul and for the benefit of the majority instead of the minority, the way our's is run makes much more sense in my opinion. When you are catering to both the non-talented newbies and the athletic guys with potential, your school will grow leaps and bounds. Under both methods the talented will thrive, it's in their nature, but when you're keeping and helping students that are a little weaker in mind and body they have a chance to grow into a great grappler whereas if they were just thrown to the wolves they may just quit and give up grappling forever. That of course is just my opinion and I'm sure many people disagree.

 

[Xapakent]

Hmmm, he does that for everyone. He takes off your old belt and gives you/ties on your new belt.

Thanks for the congrats guys, I've got a long road ahead of me now. It's funny, when you start, you think the blue belts are invincible, then once you have one you realize how little you truly know.

Congrats,bro.

 

[damit2hell]

after the destruction, the building began tho, i believe they did it to see if i was tough enough, and also to make me realize that bjj is no BS... they changed up their methods once we moved into a new location where they cater a bit more to the total newbies...but man... they are f'ing lucky they didn't get the crash course...

 

[JudokaBJJ]

Congrats. keep striving to be good and don't give up

 

[Matt Majorz]

after the destruction, the building began tho, i believe they did it to see if i was tough enough, and also to make me realize that bjj is no BS... they changed up their methods once we moved into a new location where they cater a bit more to the total newbies...but man... they are f'ing lucky they didn't get the crash course...

Haha, that is the same way I had it. First night, live roll with another newb, second night...got the browns and other experienced guys. I am not going to lie, I didn't know if I wanted to do this after the first month or so, but I stuck with it, and after a while I started to really enjoy it, even if the upper belt level guys were just toying with me. But you're right we lost a lot of guys within their first month because I think they liked the idea of being a grappler more than actually grappling, haha. Once they got choked for the first time, they started to rethink things, :icon_chee

And to the TS, good job! *thumbs up*

 

[Heavy Bag]

after the destruction, the building began tho, i believe they did it to see if i was tough enough, and also to make me realize that bjj is no BS... they changed up their methods once we moved into a new location where they cater a bit more to the total newbies...but man... they are f'ing lucky they didn't get the crash course...

You're right man, there's no doubt about why it's done. It's just debatable if it's necessary.

 

[DirectDrive]

Hmmm, he does that for everyone. He takes off your old belt and gives you/ties on your new belt.

Thanks for the congrats guys, I've got a long road ahead of me now. It's funny, when you start, you think the blue belts are invincible, then once you have one you realize how little you truly know.

wait unitl you get your purple.... the feeling of realizing how little you know gets worse

 

[Mikey Triangles]

congrats!

 

[Jimmy Cerra]

Congrats! That sounds like a great place to train at!

 

[mmyers]

Congradulations. Must feel amazing.

 

[monkey roll]

congrats man, enjoy the new belt!