You’ve got your blue belt! The best thing that happened to you since you started BJJ. No more standing in the back of the line. You’re now a color belt and nobody can take it away from you. Some even might think that it’s a straight way to black belt now on, but the truth is you’re still far away from your dream. The question is: how to make the next step and not quit?

Get your moves on

When you start bjj everything you do seems new and lethal. While time flies you start to develop your game. You fight the way it suits you best. After a while you begin to realise that you like some techniques more than the others and you use them more often. Those moves are the ones you should sharpen, besides improving your moves you have still a lot to learn . However the most important thing according to training is to be systematic.

Am I becoming better?…

Sparring sessions become a little lighter because you’re not the bottom of the food chain anymore, yet some higher belts can try to show you where your place is. You can use lower belts to upgrade your moves and make your game better. Remember that it’s great to try the technique that you were doing on training while sparring, because it’s the best way to adopt new moves.

…or worse?

The most painful thing for a blue belt can be the tournaments. The reason for it is that some of us might spend a lot of time as a blue belt (it depends on the school how fast you will get your promotion). You can fight a guy that just like you made it to the blue belts a month or two ago, or you can pop into a dude that works his ass off in the gym, and trains even four times longer than you. It doesn’t always happen this way, but for some of you the change from white to blue might be the toughest of them all.  

Blue belt gear

The first most important thing you need to get is your new blue belt. Many people after the promotion want to celebrate it and make themselves a gift. It is good because after you buy yourself some gear you feel the need to train, in other case it’s like throwing away your money. Some of you might find it really motivating to get promoted, and will start training much more from now on. That will require more than one Gi in your closet, because if you’ll train everyday they won’t have the time to dry up.

Why people quit?

The blue belt is the moment that most of the people quit BJJ.You might have thought many times after a tough day and losing most of your fights it’s not for you:’cause it’s hurting me so much I’m going to stop BJJ’. When you love something, you love it when it’s better and you love it when it’s worse, so stop feeling sorry about yourself, because you will be smiling in the future when you’ll receive your next belts and think about how difficult it was to survive. Tada Gan Iarracht is an old Irish saying which means “nothing comes without effort”. Then keep rolling cause before you know it you will be halfway there.

Learn The Best Ways To Add the Kimura to Your Game Using Legendary Strategies from BJJ Pioneer and Champion MMA Fighter Rafael Lovato Jr.!

• Rafael Lovato Jr. has been competing in BJJ for over 20 years and is one of the most decorated American Back Belts in BJJ history claiming IBJJF world titles in gi and no gi, Brazilian Nationals Gold (first American to do so), and he boasts a 10-0 MMA record .
• Lovato Jr. has been using the kimura since he was 15 years old and the submission remains his most trusted method of finishing his opponents.