Each BJJ academy has their own set of specific rules.
Some schools require students to face the wall while tying their belts, or to ask permission to go to the toilet or to have a sip of water.
A more old school rule is that lower belts are not allowed to ask higher belts to roll. This rule might surprise the newbie but it is a reflection of BJJ’s clearly defined hierarchy according to belt rank…
BJJ Academy Etiquette & Unwritten Rules
This is an old and closed minded mindset in BJJ. How are lower belts going to challenge themselves if they can’t roll with a black belt?
The black belt should welcome all challenges. Of course they don’t have to accept every time but some black belts will look at you as if you spat in their face when all you did was ask them if you could roll….
Older black belts should protect (avoiding injuries) themselves by not rolling with much heavier and spazy lower belts.
5x BJJ world champion Bernardo Faria is known as one of the most easy going and nicest guys in Jiu-Jitsu, and he doesn’t enforce this rule. In this video, he does talk about the respectful way and dis-respectful way to invite a higher belt or black belt to roll…
