How Long Does It Take to Get to Black Belt?

This is actually a question I’ve never been asked in all the years I’ve been teaching BJJ. Overall I think this is a good thing, as it takes the focus off of belt ranks and centers the focus more on the experience/journey that is BJJ. On the other hand, people hear various numbers being thrown around so perhaps they have some unrealistic expectations regarding advancing in competency in BJJ, so here’s my take on it…

If we are talking about an average person, with an average athletic background, average age, average intelligence, average average average everything… then it’s possible for this person to train an average/minimal amount of time (at least 3x/wk) with no breaks and receive their black belt in 8 years.

Easier said than done! The average practitioner is also very likely to have injuries, layoffs, illnesses or other life events that will take time away from training, and therefore reaching that 8-year goal of black belt will be impacted. There will be a LOT of missed sessions along the way, so in reality it takes most of us mere mortals way longer to earn our black belts in BJJ.

I received my black belt just a few months shy of having trained for 18 years. While I would say that this is not typical, I can also say that I was not training 3/wk for that full amount of time. I probably took a total of about 3 years off of the mats, whether it was to pursue other sports, moving, injuries, surgeries or just plain being lazy, I would say I missed 3 years of mat time. This brings my 17.75 years to black belt down to 14.75, give or take.

Furthermore, I have somewhat of an atypical BJJ journey: I started my first club as a white belt, running the program by myself with no guidance, I have a personal policy of not paying for testing/promotions, and I’ve moved around the globe so much it will make your head spin. On top of all of this, there are some politics in BJJ which can, and have, delayed my promotions when you compare my experience to the average practitioner who has just trained in one gym with one instructor the entire time.

While there’s not a ton of hard data out there on how long you can expect to be at each belt level, the site beltchecker.com offers a glimpse into what is average for their 38,508 users (at time of writing). The average time at…

…white belt is 2yrs, 3mo

…blue belt is 3yrs, 9mo

…purple belt is 3yrs, 2mo

…brown belt is 3yrs flat

So, probably the “realest” time one can expect to get from white belt to black belt, is 12 years, 4 months and 9 days. Of course there are quite a few limitations in this data. For one, they’re only taking users of their site into account, and since “only” 13,033 verified users on their site (i.e. BJJ practitioners who have been vetted and vouched for by other users, according to their criteria) the reality is bound to be a little different. But I would bet that it’s not off by that much.

Of course it’s POSSIBLE to receive your black belt much earlier than expected. BJ Penn, as well as the highly controversial Derek Moneyberg received their black belts in 3.5 years. Caio Terra got his in 3 years, and Travis Stevens got his BJJ black belt in 18 months! Of course, these guys are some freak shows, but I suppose anything is possible!

The IBJJF, BJJ’s defacto governing body in a “Wild WIld West” world of martial arts normlessness, gives us guidance as to when and how to promote our practitioners to the next belt level. They have set a minimum time limit (time in grade) for each belt promotion, and I would say in my experience that at least 95% of BJJ promotions fall within their minimum limits. For what it’s worth, they stipulate that the minimum time for…

…white belt is up to the instructor.

….blue belt is 2 years.

…purple belt is 1.5 years.

…brown belt is 1 year.

Furthermore, you cannot earn your black belt if you are under the age of 19, and I think this is a good rule in our current environment. I am SO GLAD that we don’t give black belts to children.

The last thing I’ll say is that most people will never become a black belt, and that’s OK! I think that belt should be reserved for the rare savages that just keep coming back time and time again, and who will otherwise always be joined at the hip to BJJ. Personally, if you just want to make a goal to earn your blue belt and then drop out, that’s totally fine, especially if your primary goal is to supplement your self defense training. And if you do decide to drop out at blue belt you will be in good company for sure!

Whatever you decide to do, however you decide to set your goals (or not) for this journey, I wish you the absolute best and hopefully I’ll see you on the mats sometime soon, so we can keep chipping away at that impossible goal of being experts in this beautiful art/sport!