How many hours working toward your current rank?

[Potential]

How many hours would you estimate you put in to go from white to blue? How many of those hours were spent training at the school and how many at some other location (please list the other location).

How many hours blue to purple? etc

My school has minimum of 100 hours (25 per stripe) in at the school to test for blue and 100 hours per stripe from blue to purple. They are very strict on keeping track of your time.

I put in about 200 hours at my school before testing for BJJ blue and about 250 hours at home (and my training partners home) working on the Gracie Combatives to earn my GJJ blue belt (yes..for you haters out there, I have an "online" blue belt as well as a "regular" blue belt). My hours cannot really be separated very easily because I was working on both at the same time, although the techniques required for each test were completely different (there were only a few that overlapped, but the execution of the techniques were very different). So I would have to say for me white to blue was 450 hours.

The reason I am asking the question this way rather than months/years, is that I believe that it is much more specific to how much training you have actually had. Months or years spent training mean nothing if you only attend class (or roll at all) one hour each month.

Please share your experiences. Thanks.

 

[KaosX]

I didn't keep track of the hours after about 4-5 months of classes.

It took me around 3 months to be given a stripe (we don't test or have set numbers for stripes etc). I remember this one because it was at my first seminar and my instructor's instructor was there - it was the first time I trained with a black belt.

It was about 4 months to the next one. This one was cool because my daughter got her yellow belt the same day.

That was about 4 months ago...give or take a couple weeks.

Some people in our dojo have gone from two stripes right to blue. or 3 etc.

That, however, won't be me. I've got a long way to go.

 

[Kokoroboy]

Im a white belt training from 1 year... my blue-friend needed about 2 years to take their... we train 4 times/week... so 2(hours)*4(days)*4(weeks)*10(about months)*2(years) = 640 hours (more or less)

PS. I hope in my math

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Took me 3 yrs to get blue. 3 years to get purple.

No idea how many hrs I put in. Life in the last 6-7 yrs gave me wildly varying amounts of free time due to grad school and then med school. White belt I was maybe averaging about 3 nights a week but I was so on and off. Blue belt I was 4-5 nights a week. Purple unfortunately only been about 2-3 nights a week, sometimes 4 if i lucky.

 

[RAWilliams]

Hmm. My promotion timing really isn't up to me and we don't have formalized testing as such. Everyone's promotion is based on their potential and their progress toward their own goals. I happen to be a tournament freak so I suspect my promotion timing may be related to my performance at the Las Vegas Open in a few weeks, and the Chicago Open after that, and... well there are other tournaments. :icon_chee

In my case there might also be a slight civilizing process associated with my eligibility for promotion.

I don't really keep track of the hours I spend because we only get training time recorded once per day and some days I've trained as much as 4.5 hours. Although I usually train daily, I go to more than one location and the training is like an all-you-can-eat buffet but with sweat. So not all my time gets recorded. At this point, my seat of the pants guess would be:

- at least 350 hours in class, but probably more for the reasons listed above
- at least 30 hours of taking notes while sitting out with an injury or kibbitzing on a class I'm not qualified to take yet
- about 20 hours of supervised rolling
- a good 15 to 20 hours of Fundamentals DVD review
- 8 tournaments including Worlds and the Pan (but I've only brought back a bronze at the IBJJF regionals and I only got to the quarter-finals at the Pan)
- 7 private lessons
- 4 seminars
... and a paaart-ridge in a pear tree!

So really I'm just a wee baby in this style.

- Current rank: 4-stripe white.
- Time in current stripe: about 3 months (but thanks to some nasty Tai-Otoshi a few weeks ago I'm injured again, and that may affect timing)
- Estimated promotion date: unknown (information about promotions is on a need-to-know basis, and often your first sign is that you're called out of the line at the end of class)
- Total time training BJJ: will be one year on Labor Day
- Total time in other martial arts: well over 18 years if you add them up separately, which one of my friends did once and she gleefully announced that if my non-BJJ martial arts experience was a human being, it would be eligible to vote. :redface:
- Total time in other grappling arts: only 3 years of judo in the more distant past, which is very little, and a few months of aikido, which is a drop in the bucket compared to what you need to understand what aikido is
- Fundamentals curriculum: memorized, understood, and encoded into muscle memory (I finished proving the ground portion of this statement earlier this week but not with the blindfold)
- School: Gracie Barra New Mexico
- Head instructor: Professor Roberto Camargo de Alencar
- My long-suffering trainer: Professor Rafael de Freitas

 

[ILikeDogging]

Hmm. My promotion timing really isn't up to me and we don't have formalized testing as such. Everyone's promotion is based on their potential and their progress toward their own goals. I happen to be a tournament freak so I suspect my promotion timing may be related to my performance at the Las Vegas Open in a few weeks, and the Chicago Open after that, and... well there are other tournaments. :icon_chee

In my case there might also be a slight civilizing process associated with my eligibility for promotion.

I don't really keep track of the hours I spend because we only get training time recorded once per day and some days I've trained as much as 4.5 hours. Although I usually train daily, I go to more than one location and the training is like an all-you-can-eat buffet but with sweat. So not all my time gets recorded. At this point, my seat of the pants guess would be:

- at least 350 hours in class, but probably more for the reasons listed above
- at least 30 hours of taking notes while sitting out with an injury or kibbitzing on a class I'm not qualified to take yet
- about 20 hours of supervised rolling
- a good 15 to 20 hours of Fundamentals DVD review
- 8 tournaments including Worlds and the Pan (but I've only brought back a bronze at the IBJJF regionals and I only got to the quarter-finals at the Pan)
- 7 private lessons
- 4 seminars
... and a paaart-ridge in a pear tree!

So really I'm just a wee baby in this style.

- Current rank: 4-stripe white.
- Time in current stripe: about 3 months (but thanks to some nasty Tai-Otoshi a few weeks ago I'm injured again, and that may affect timing)
- Estimated promotion date: unknown (information about promotions is on a need-to-know basis, and often your first sign is that you're called out of the line at the end of class)
- Total time training BJJ: will be one year on Labor Day
- Total time in other martial arts: well over 18 years if you add them up separately, which one of my friends did once and she gleefully announced that if my non-BJJ martial arts experience was a human being, it would be eligible to vote. :redface:
- Total time in other grappling arts: only 3 years of judo in the more distant past, which is very little, and a few months of aikido, which is a drop in the bucket compared to what you need to understand what aikido is
- Fundamentals curriculum: memorized, understood, and encoded into muscle memory (I finished proving the ground portion of this statement earlier this week but not with the blindfold)
- School: Gracie Barra New Mexico
- Head instructor: Professor Roberto Camargo de Alencar
- My long-suffering trainer: Professor Rafael de Freitas

Hi,

You were a bit vague in some parts of your post. Do you think you could PM me some more details of EXACTLY what training you've had.

 

[Irenaeus]

I'm on the long way to blue, and I'm guesstimating no more than 400 hours of mat time.

 

[lechien]

the hours requirements make me cringe

 

[BryanS]

its kinda when he thinks you are ready, ive heard him say that so and so was about to get promoted and then they were , and ive also seen him stash a belt somewhere and surprise someone with it randomly during class when he feels they have earned it, i dont like the hours thing its like the old black belt clubs they used to have in TKD when u first sign up

 

[slideyfoot]

How many hours would you estimate you put in to go from white to blue? How many of those hours were spent training at the school and how many at some other location (please list the other location).

How many hours blue to purple? etc

I'm sufficiently geeky to have a spreadsheet. White to blue was 131.5 hours, blue to purple was a further 371.5 hours.

 

[350 lbs fist]

8 years with approximately 2 hours/classes a week ( since I have to account for 1,5 years of injury time and I don't count warmups as class time ) would make 832 hours for brown?

Probably more since I tend to overdo it some times.

 

[Carter86]

18 months for my blue belt. I got it on Feb.22.2011

I've been a blue belt for 5 months now. I started bjj on August.13.2009. So I've been training for almost 2 yrs.

How many hours did I put in training? Im not sure but I went to class 3 times a week at minimum. I trained on sundays, I stretch and do solo drills at home. I destroyed 4 gis and 2 rashguards. I still dont know how many hrs I spent on the mat

 

[AaronWindy]

I don't know about the hours because I honestly haven't kept track over the years but I know that it took me 1 year 2 months to get my blue belt averaging at least 3 times a week for about 1.5 to 2 hours a class depending.

I have been a blue belt for about 3 years now give or take a month or two (Our black belt has been stuck in Rio for a year and a half with Visa issues so no promotions). My time as a blue belt has varied greatly from 2 times a week to 5 times a week all for about 1.5 to 2 hours as well.

Roughly 800 plus hours altogether.

 

[BCNASH]

Just got my second stripe on my White Belt a few days ago and I have about 150 hours of mat time in, 5 months at six days a week with two a days sometimes. I also have competed four times in 5 months.

I train seperately NOGI with my units team on base for a league that started up on base (Im a Marine at Camp Pendleton) and I train about 10 hours a week there as well.

 

[andrewdabeast]

so people get promoted for time on the mat? shit I would have a freaking purple belt!

 

[el duderino]

if you're counting hours to how long it takes to get to your next "level" in BJJ then you miss the point entirely...go play WoW if that's your thing.

 

[redaxe]

the hours requirements make me cringe

Better than years requirements!

I've been training between 6-8 hours a week on average for three and a half years, so allowing for a couple weeks off every year that's probably at least 1,200 hours of mat time. Got my blue belt after 15 months, and I have four stripes on it now.

 

[Potential]

if you're counting hours to how long it takes to get to your next "level" in BJJ then you miss the point entirely...go play WoW if that's your thing.

It sounds like that WoW thing is exactly what I am looking for. I will have to check it out.

Honestly for me it is all about the belt. I could care less about skills or growth. I want to get the highest rank the fastest way possible. To be completely truthful I am not calculating the hours to my next belt I am really calculating the minutes. Besides, I want at least two of every belt. I wear one with my Gi and one with my blue jeans. I even put stripes on them to show my incremental level when I am chillin' around town.

The guy in this picture looks exactly like me except instead of that sissy looking tattoo around his arm I have a barbed wire tattoo (of course I am better looking as well).

Vulkan BJJ Street Belt - Shop Jiu Jitsu Gear and MMA Gear: Jiu Jitsu Gi, BJJ Gi, BJJ Belt, MMA Shorts, Fight Shorts, Muay Thai Gear, Rash Guards, MMA Gloves and MMA Clothing

 

[andrewdabeast]

It sounds like that WoW thing is exactly what I am looking for. I will have to check it out.

Honestly for me it is all about the belt. I could care less about skills or growth. I want to get the highest rank the fastest way possible. To be completely truthful I am not calculating the hours to my next belt I am really calculating the minutes. Besides, I want at least two of every belt. I wear one with my Gi and one with my blue jeans. I even put stripes on them to show my incremental level when I am chillin' around town.

The guy in this picture looks exactly like me except instead of that sissy looking tattoo around his arm I have a barbed wire tattoo (of course I am better looking as well).

Vulkan BJJ Street Belt - Shop Jiu Jitsu Gear and MMA Gear: Jiu Jitsu Gi, BJJ Gi, BJJ Belt, MMA Shorts, Fight Shorts, Muay Thai Gear, Rash Guards, MMA Gloves and MMA Clothing

awesome post if you are being sarcastic. but if you are trolling you need to be more subtle

 

[kupop18]

I'm sufficiently geeky to have a spreadsheet. White to blue was 131.5 hours, blue to purple was a further 371.5 hours.

I just started a few months ago but I'm keeping track of my hours in a similar way. But I'm also taking notes on all the techniques we're doing as well. I need a better way to format this stuff. Spreadsheet is already getting big.

I'm curious, does anyone else do this?