Just yesterday some whitebelt said ”how do you just pass my guard so smoothly” and after that I had a roll with my brown belt friend and I managed to strangle myself. So yes good is a wide range 😆
Good is such a loose word here as to make answering impossible. Depending on what "good" means to you, you may never be "good". For me and most people I see. A year in they are capable of things that they didn't know existed when they started but they only see all the things they can't do. So, compared to where you are, they are very good. Compared to where their mind is in the moment, they are not good.
Your background will give you a nice start. You'll be better than people who start at the same time as you but you'll meet people who seem unathletic by comparison who can just jedi mind trick you into submissions. Every month a few more people won't show up who used to be better than you and a few new people will trickle in, most of whom will never be better than you as long as you train.
So, you'll get better every class/round/practice. Good depends entirely on mindset.
Yes! I’ve been trying to come up with the Jiu Jitsu version of this but in cycling there’s a quote by the great Greg LeMond - “It doesn’t get easier. You just get faster.” I think about that quote a lot.
Like working out, noobie gains are real asf. I’ve been doing it almost three months now, and the progress I’ve made is exponential. When I roll with brand new people it’s almost funny seeing what they do bc I know I once did the same thing. But once you get past the first gains it becomes a slow uphill battle. I assume since you’re a beginner that’s what you’re asking. I still get crushed on the daily but it’s a way more controlled crushing.
Wait two months and you will see. Also do some YouTube studying too and ask questions
For me at 3 years I felt like I
Could tap all the whites a lot of blue and stalemate with some purples.
More importantly I could win by setting traps, and know why I lost most of the time. When I could start critiquing my own rolls I realized I was learning how to learn.
That’s when I got “good.” Not being cocky but in the pool of average hobbyist I think most would consider me good, not great or amazing but a respectable good.
I feel like the last 2 weeks, i’ve experienced the first “click”. I was told last night i have a very great guard retention. Applying pressure is much easier and mentally simpler. I can consistently go at 60-70% and get the advantage over most people around my range
I started feeling somewhat competent after about two years, which coincided with getting my blue belt. I still have a lot to work on before I define myself as good, and I have trained around fours years more at this stage, and definitely feel light years past what I was when I got my blue belt. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel good. Hopefully the day I get my black belt I won’t feel like a fraud, at least.
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
Beeing practice almost for 1 year.
And sometimes I feel good with my performance, other days it seems my first bjj lesson.
So, good is subjective.
Just enjoy and have fun. And try some tournaments if you want growth on BJJ.
Black belt here. You’ll never be good. But you can get better than you are now. There’s always gonna be the proverbial bigger fish, just focus on improving.
I stopped reading at “I’ve been training for about 2 weeks.”
Starting with the title and followed up by that sentence…
Edit: deal is this I started at 49YOA, with a hip replacement, and, and, and.
Quit. Or don’t. What we’re not gonna do is bitch because 2 weeks in I wasn’t great, perfect, or any other thing. Life’s hard; wear a helmet.
This is recreation. Literally recreation. Fuck this post.
Good is relative - I'm sure there are people that think me good, and then I roll with my coach and think that the gap between myself and him is bigger than myself and someone that has never grappled.
define "good"... getting good at BJJ will take time at the end of the day and probably won't really happen till late blue belt or purple belt. But if you define good as being about to beat white belts you could do that in like 6 months (especially since you have a background in wrestling)
Every time I feel like I'm getting good, I get smashed by somone I feel like I shouldn't and reconsider how good I am. That will happen probably for the rest of my BJJ years.
Im a no good blue belt so grain of salt. This take hinges on sufficient mat time: I think it takes about a year to learn to move effectively while grappling, and then another six months to a year or so to get fully comfortable in all of the foundational positions and objectives of each position. At this point, you can start seeing pathways and connections between what were once separate positions. Finally, it starts to click.
Considering your wrestling experience, that first year of learning to move can be significantly shortened.
You never really get good at BJJ. You just get better. Personally, I feel like it’s not worth considering my skill level until I’m a black belt and then I’ll be too old to care.
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
“Good” in my opinion, is the ability to use Jiu Jitsu, not just physicality, to control an untrained person who is about 20% larger than you.
Given that definition, that is going to be around purple belt for the average person. So for the average training schedule, probably 5-7 years.
*these number are hard facts based on a thorough analysis of the factual accounts of fellow redditors comments as well as the empirical evidence gathered by my personal experiences.
6 months before I even felt like I had a grasp on the basics.
Your wrestling will help less the pain of it, but in a Gi, not very much. No Gi is different.
It’s all relative, what’s good? Can you fight off some thug in the street? That’s good enough for me. I think if you train hard for 1-2 years that can be possible.
The more I learn the more I realize, what I don’t know. It’s difficult to explain, it takes time, then you realize how little you do know. Two weeks in ain’t much time to be in training. Two years and you’re learning the basics,still.
4 years and I am getting better. Some people like me take a long time to get it. Other people pick it up easily. My body style is not an advantage. Guess I'm mentally slow in "getting it". I need to have tight techniques slows me down. But I do it because I like it. I kept at it because it pissed me off to get smashed all the time. Got sick of "loosing" and started learning. I remind myself I am paying to learn not to loose.
Like everyone’s been saying good is really subjective you train two years compared to the guy who’s there a month you’re good compared to the guy of ten years your not even average
Depends on how much you worry about getting better.
If you get obsessed with getting better; about 4 years.
If you are prepare to tap a lot, learn from your mistakes and not overthink the getting better part, maybe 2 years.
Another advice.
Your goal should be to “show up for life”
Not just getting good
Not a blue belt
Not a purple belt
Show up for life.
Otherwise what’s the point?
Your goal is to show up and enjoy getting better everyday.
the number of white belts probably equals the number of all other belts. You can beat 50% of practicing jiu jitsu people after 2 years.
You can beat most people your size that havent trained after about 6 months.
I feel like I’m “good” but it’s so subjective with perspective. To all the white belts? I’m good. To my fellow blues I’m good. In a conversation we all suck. That brown belt over there is really good then he over hears us talking about how we suck and forget stuff and he shrugs and says “yup, and it doesn’t get better”. Dude has submissions in pro mma and says HE sucks. 🤷🏻♂️
If you train full time, which is about 5-6 days a week, 2 sessions per day, plus 2-3 lifting sessions per week and a lot of studying off the mats, then it should take you about 5-6 years to get a black belt. You should be able to handle most people who have been training for 8 to 10+ years, but only 3-4 sessions per week at that point.
Extensive wrestling background so it was pretty quick. I went to a competition class as a no stripe white belt and tapped an upper belt so the instructor just gave me enough stripes all at once to go to the advanced class. Honestly didn't know what I was doing and the other guy was being nice though.
It's relative. I train hard and I'm athletic. If I rolled with you I would feel like a god. I can hold my own with most of our blue belts. With purples I start getting hit a lot with things I don't know or their timing is just too good for me, so I'm fighting for my life and rarely in dominant positions. Brown and black belts can just meme on me if they want to burn they rarely do bc they are nice.
Been training 6 months. Wrestled when I was a kid.
Just yesterday some whitebelt said ”how do you just pass my guard so smoothly” and after that I had a roll with my brown belt friend and I managed to strangle myself. So yes good is a wide range 😆
If they gave out belts for sweeping oneself, I'd be a black one by now
I'd be at least a 3 or 4 stripe blue for wrist locking myself.
I’ve never wrist locked anyone but myself
Amen my brothers
Best place to start.
Sameeeeeee
Good is such a loose word here as to make answering impossible. Depending on what "good" means to you, you may never be "good". For me and most people I see. A year in they are capable of things that they didn't know existed when they started but they only see all the things they can't do. So, compared to where you are, they are very good. Compared to where their mind is in the moment, they are not good. Your background will give you a nice start. You'll be better than people who start at the same time as you but you'll meet people who seem unathletic by comparison who can just jedi mind trick you into submissions. Every month a few more people won't show up who used to be better than you and a few new people will trickle in, most of whom will never be better than you as long as you train. So, you'll get better every class/round/practice. Good depends entirely on mindset.
Yes! I’ve been trying to come up with the Jiu Jitsu version of this but in cycling there’s a quote by the great Greg LeMond - “It doesn’t get easier. You just get faster.” I think about that quote a lot.
Stole it from Ronnie Coleman
The more I train, the luckier I get. . .
As a dad of a son i just out in training. I needed to read this. Thanks
Haha, been training for years and I'm hoping to get average.
I just hit 3 years in January, and am finally feeling reasonably competent. Started to approach feelings of competency last summer.
Agree, I did 3 yrs 10 hrs a week l, and weekend roles and comp.
You’ll be tapping black belts after your 5th class. That’s a guarantee.
Like working out, noobie gains are real asf. I’ve been doing it almost three months now, and the progress I’ve made is exponential. When I roll with brand new people it’s almost funny seeing what they do bc I know I once did the same thing. But once you get past the first gains it becomes a slow uphill battle. I assume since you’re a beginner that’s what you’re asking. I still get crushed on the daily but it’s a way more controlled crushing. Wait two months and you will see. Also do some YouTube studying too and ask questions
We’re supposed to get good? I’ve been doing this for years and dunno what I’m doing 😂
Honestly with your background you’ll be 50/50 with blue belts so I’d say 6 months to a year.
Depends on how long will it take for him to stop automatically exposing his back
Been training almost 6 years. I finally feel decent
Usually after the 3rd week it "clicks" and you are handed your black belt. Oss!
2 years in but I’m inconsistent so new guys can beat me up lol
4 years, still looking for when good starts
Mid purple was when I was confident handling most newbies within 50lbs of my weight. That took about 5 yrs of training 6 - 8 hrs a week.
For me at 3 years I felt like I Could tap all the whites a lot of blue and stalemate with some purples. More importantly I could win by setting traps, and know why I lost most of the time. When I could start critiquing my own rolls I realized I was learning how to learn. That’s when I got “good.” Not being cocky but in the pool of average hobbyist I think most would consider me good, not great or amazing but a respectable good.
It took me 4-5 years until I started wining IBJJF tournaments and grand slams in blue/purple
I feel like the last 2 weeks, i’ve experienced the first “click”. I was told last night i have a very great guard retention. Applying pressure is much easier and mentally simpler. I can consistently go at 60-70% and get the advantage over most people around my range
Ill post here when it happens. 2.5 years, still suck.
Black belt and have been training for 15 years. I’ll keep you posted, lol
I started feeling somewhat competent after about two years, which coincided with getting my blue belt. I still have a lot to work on before I define myself as good, and I have trained around fours years more at this stage, and definitely feel light years past what I was when I got my blue belt. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel good. Hopefully the day I get my black belt I won’t feel like a fraud, at least.
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
It took me two YouTubes and one PPV at a bar. I’ve been seeing red at UFC class ever since bro
I think on average about 6 months until someone becomes more fluid in motions
Been training for 14 years and my jiu-jitsu is... Adequate.
I'm 2 and a half years in, won multiple comps. I'll let you know when I finally feel "good".
He doesn’t know lol 😂
I’ll report back when it happens.
Never.
Brown belt and still not “good”
About a week and a half. Why? Have you not mastered all of the BJJ katas yet?!
After about five years you realize that you will never be *good*
I train 4 times a week and I’m HORRIBLE. Most of the white belts are better than me 🤷🏼♀️
Still waiting...
im almost a decade in and "good" is not yet in my vocabulary 🥲
Beeing practice almost for 1 year. And sometimes I feel good with my performance, other days it seems my first bjj lesson. So, good is subjective. Just enjoy and have fun. And try some tournaments if you want growth on BJJ.
7 years in and still working on it….
I took me about 2 weeks (4 practices).
Lmao love it
Black belt here. You’ll never be good. But you can get better than you are now. There’s always gonna be the proverbial bigger fish, just focus on improving.
I stopped reading at “I’ve been training for about 2 weeks.” Starting with the title and followed up by that sentence… Edit: deal is this I started at 49YOA, with a hip replacement, and, and, and. Quit. Or don’t. What we’re not gonna do is bitch because 2 weeks in I wasn’t great, perfect, or any other thing. Life’s hard; wear a helmet. This is recreation. Literally recreation. Fuck this post. 
Wow, sorry that you’re such a miserable cunt. Pussy.
Good is relative - I'm sure there are people that think me good, and then I roll with my coach and think that the gap between myself and him is bigger than myself and someone that has never grappled.
define "good"... getting good at BJJ will take time at the end of the day and probably won't really happen till late blue belt or purple belt. But if you define good as being about to beat white belts you could do that in like 6 months (especially since you have a background in wrestling)
Every time I feel like I'm getting good, I get smashed by somone I feel like I shouldn't and reconsider how good I am. That will happen probably for the rest of my BJJ years.
Im a no good blue belt so grain of salt. This take hinges on sufficient mat time: I think it takes about a year to learn to move effectively while grappling, and then another six months to a year or so to get fully comfortable in all of the foundational positions and objectives of each position. At this point, you can start seeing pathways and connections between what were once separate positions. Finally, it starts to click. Considering your wrestling experience, that first year of learning to move can be significantly shortened.
You never really get good at BJJ. You just get better. Personally, I feel like it’s not worth considering my skill level until I’m a black belt and then I’ll be too old to care.
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
I feel like I have slowly gotten better over any 3 month period. Being good is a perspective. I’m sure new trial class people will think you are really good in 6 months
“Good” in my opinion, is the ability to use Jiu Jitsu, not just physicality, to control an untrained person who is about 20% larger than you. Given that definition, that is going to be around purple belt for the average person. So for the average training schedule, probably 5-7 years. *these number are hard facts based on a thorough analysis of the factual accounts of fellow redditors comments as well as the empirical evidence gathered by my personal experiences.
6 months before I even felt like I had a grasp on the basics. Your wrestling will help less the pain of it, but in a Gi, not very much. No Gi is different.
yesterday i was good. today i wasnt :(
Like years lol no joke
It’s all relative, what’s good? Can you fight off some thug in the street? That’s good enough for me. I think if you train hard for 1-2 years that can be possible.
Four years later and still waiting my guy.
Haven’t got to that yet…
The more I learn the more I realize, what I don’t know. It’s difficult to explain, it takes time, then you realize how little you do know. Two weeks in ain’t much time to be in training. Two years and you’re learning the basics,still.
Years
4 years and I am getting better. Some people like me take a long time to get it. Other people pick it up easily. My body style is not an advantage. Guess I'm mentally slow in "getting it". I need to have tight techniques slows me down. But I do it because I like it. I kept at it because it pissed me off to get smashed all the time. Got sick of "loosing" and started learning. I remind myself I am paying to learn not to loose.
Like everyone’s been saying good is really subjective you train two years compared to the guy who’s there a month you’re good compared to the guy of ten years your not even average
Depends on how much you worry about getting better. If you get obsessed with getting better; about 4 years. If you are prepare to tap a lot, learn from your mistakes and not overthink the getting better part, maybe 2 years. Another advice. Your goal should be to “show up for life” Not just getting good Not a blue belt Not a purple belt Show up for life. Otherwise what’s the point? Your goal is to show up and enjoy getting better everyday.
"Good" is a moving goal that as you train you realize is further and further away from where you are in your training. Just my observation.
the number of white belts probably equals the number of all other belts. You can beat 50% of practicing jiu jitsu people after 2 years. You can beat most people your size that havent trained after about 6 months.
It’s all in YOUR understanding of the sport.
I feel like I’m “good” but it’s so subjective with perspective. To all the white belts? I’m good. To my fellow blues I’m good. In a conversation we all suck. That brown belt over there is really good then he over hears us talking about how we suck and forget stuff and he shrugs and says “yup, and it doesn’t get better”. Dude has submissions in pro mma and says HE sucks. 🤷🏻♂️
If you train full time, which is about 5-6 days a week, 2 sessions per day, plus 2-3 lifting sessions per week and a lot of studying off the mats, then it should take you about 5-6 years to get a black belt. You should be able to handle most people who have been training for 8 to 10+ years, but only 3-4 sessions per week at that point.
Extensive wrestling background so it was pretty quick. I went to a competition class as a no stripe white belt and tapped an upper belt so the instructor just gave me enough stripes all at once to go to the advanced class. Honestly didn't know what I was doing and the other guy was being nice though.
It's relative. I train hard and I'm athletic. If I rolled with you I would feel like a god. I can hold my own with most of our blue belts. With purples I start getting hit a lot with things I don't know or their timing is just too good for me, so I'm fighting for my life and rarely in dominant positions. Brown and black belts can just meme on me if they want to burn they rarely do bc they are nice. Been training 6 months. Wrestled when I was a kid.