Short answer…No.
Why? Jiu Jitsu is a marathon not a sprint. Comparing your journey to someone else’s is like comparing apples to oranges. A black belt can be beaten by a lower rank on any given day. Some days you may be the hammer, catching everyone. Some days you may be the nail, getting caught left and right.
Rank does not matter in Jiu Jitsu..it’s about mindset and attitude. This may not make sense given how much emphasis is placed on belts and promotion, but your rank does not indicate how good you are at the sport. Jiu Jitsu does not have any formal ranking system like in other martial arts such as Judo, where the ranking system is based on the ability to perform certain moves or takedowns. Jiu Jitsu promotions are based on time, commitment, and personal improvement which makes belt color only a loose representation of one’s progression. There are promotion guidelines with an emphasis on “guidelines”.
As a white belt, it is common to look at other white belts with more stripes or colored belts as threats who will inevitably be better than them or targets who they should beat to demonstrate their skill or deserving of a promotion. This is not and will never be the case. Factors like size and strength are huge factors that play into one’s ability to beat an opponent. A large 250-pound person who comes in on their first day and smothers a small 100-pound blue belt to tap does not deserve a blue belt. This may seem obvious, but when we take it to the logical extreme of, for example, a blue belt winning a tournament in a purple belt division the conversation about rank becomes less clear.
Your rank is determined only by internal factors. Your coaches and professors determine what they believe you are capable of achieving as well as the amount of time and effort necessary for you to reach that capability. You will be promoted when they believe you are ready and that looks very different for every student. To our example of the blue belt in the purple belt tournament, that student is a blue belt because their coaches and professors believe that they have the capability (given their commitment, physical ability, and mental ability) to progress further as a blue belt before being awarded their purple belt. The purple belts who lost in this hypothetical tournament got their purple belt already because they reached that potential at blue belt. But because rank is only determined by personal, internal factors, their Jiu Jitsu ability at a given belt will not be the same as all other equivalent belts.
Consider a person who joined Jiu Jitsu at 60 years old and one who joined at 20. If they were to both train for the same amount of time at the same gym, who is likely to win after two years of training? It would almost certainly be the younger, stronger, faster 20 year old, but that does not mean that the 60 year old person is not just as deserving of a blue belt as a result of their commitment and progress.
The point of this blog is to change your perspective on what your rank and others rank means to you. You should not consider higher belts to be targets and there should be no shame in losing to lower belts. Promotions are meaningful because they demonstrate recognition of a personal achievement and progress rather than success against others. There will be times when your peers will be promoted faster or slower than you but that is the beauty of Jiu Jitsu as everyone gets to move at their own pace regardless of skill. It allows everyone, regardless of size, strength, or background to share and enjoy the sport that we all love.
You worry about showing up to train consistently with a good attitude, ready to learn and help your teammates learn. We’ll worry about the promotion.
