A BJJ blue belt is someone who can defeat a larger, untrained opponent in jiu-jitsu.

For example, when I got my blue belt, I was about 180 pounds. I could pin and submit newcomers in the gym who were 25 to 70 lbs heavier than me.

At the heart of Brazilian jiu-jitsu is the ability to use skill and technique to beat a larger, stronger opponent.

The achievement of blue belt personifies that: where you know enough jiu-jitsu moves to…

1. survive,
2. escape,
3. sweep,
4. pin,
5. and submit

…a larger, untrained opponent.

Getting your blue belt in BJJ is a remarkable achievement — only an estimated 1 in 10 white belts get their blue belt.

In this article, I’ll share my experience getting my blue belt so you can get your blue belt.

And then, once you get your blue belt, help you refine your game so you can get your purple belt.

BJJ Blue Belt: Table Of Contents

• How Dangerous Is A BJJ Blue Belt?
• How Long Does It Take To Get A Blue Belt In BJJ?
• BJJ Blue Belt Requirements (White Belt To Blue Belt)
• What To Focus On As A BJJ Blue Belt (Blue Belt To Purple Belt)
• BJJ Blue Belt Gear: Leveling Up Your Equipment
• Takeaway Thoughts

How Dangerous Is A BJJ Blue Belt?

If you’re untrained in jiu-jitsu, you don’t want to mess around with a blue belt.

With 1-3 years of experience, they know enough to easily defend your attacks, get on top of you, and submit you — even if you significantly outweigh them.

When I was a blue belt, I could easily win against opponents who had 25-75 pounds on me.

I can tell when someone is ready to be promoted from white to blue once they can easily handle a new student who is bigger than them.

Blue belt is when you start to feel that jiu-jitsu actually works.

However, even though a blue belt is dangerous against untrained opponents, a blue belt is still considered a beginner jiu-jitsu belt.

In general, they are not dangerous to purple belts, brown belts, and black belts.

They know enough to survive and escape, but their sweeps, guard passing, pins, and submissions are not very sophisticated yet.

But from a self-defense perspective, blue belts are very dangerous to an untrained person. 

How Long Does It Take To Get A Blue Belt In BJJ?

I started training BJJ in July 2019 and got my blue belt in October 2021.

So it took me 2 years and 3 months of training 2-4 times a week to get my blue belt.

The average time spent as a white belt to get your blue belt is 2 years, 5 months, and 18 days.

So I was 2 months quicker than average to get my blue belt.

However, I broke my leg and injured my knee in July of 2021, which kept me out for several weeks. So I could have gotten it a few weeks faster if that never happened.

I also didn’t compete as a white belt. Generally, if you compete, you’ll get promoted to the next belt more quickly.

In general, I’ve seen people get their blue belts in 1 year to 3 years.

• You can get your blue belt in 1 year (quickly) if you train 4-5 times a week and compete a few times.
• You can get your blue belt in 2 years (the average) if you train 3 times a week without large breaks, and focus on the right things.
• And you’ll get your blue belt in 3+ years (slower than average) if you train 2 times a week or train inconsistently.

Bottom Line: Train 3 times a week consistently, and you’ll get your blue belt in 2 years (slightly quicker than average).

Different gyms have different requirements, but generally, you can expect to get your blue belt with 2 to 2.5 years of consistent training.

BJJ Blue Belt Requirements (White Belt To Blue Belt)

So, what should you focus on as a white belt to get your blue belt?

As a purple belt instructor, I tell my white belts to focus on 2 things:

1. Survival: staying safe in bad positions.
2. Escapes: getting out of bad positions.

I base this on what I learned from John Danaher and the book Jiu-Jitsu University.

John Danaher, regarded as the best BJJ coach in the history of the sport, believes that you should master survival and escapes first.

Why?

Because you’ll develop confidence in bad positions, which enables you to perform well under pressure.

If you know you can escape from a bad position (like bottom mount), you won’t fear those bad positions. And that makes you a more dangerous grappler.

Saulo Ribeiro, author of Jiu-Jitsu University, has a similar approach.

He claims that the goal of the white belt is survival.

Survival is fundamental to the inception of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Helio Gracie, the founder of the art, was a small man. He was forced to learn to survive against larger opponents.

His goal wasn’t always to win — it was to survive.

Helio used leverage to survive, thus establishing BJJ as a sport where the smaller person can defend themselves against a larger opponent.

The principles of survival are as follows:

• Always keep your elbows tucked close to your body.
• Always prevent your opponent from controlling your head.
• Never lie flat on the ground.
• Don’t push against your opponent.
• Use your hips to generate power, not your upper body.

Before you learn any other aspect of Jiu-Jitsu (sweeps, guard passing, submissions, etc), your defense must be solid.

What To Focus On As A BJJ Blue Belt (Blue Belt To Purple Belt)

Now that you’ve gotten your blue belt, what should you focus on to get promoted to purple belt?

My coach told me I was ready for my purple belt once I had accomplished two things:

1. Escapes: I had good escapes from every bottom position.
2. Guard: I had a good guard game with the ability to off-balance my opponent and sweep them.

According to Jiu-Jitsu University, escapes are the blue belt’s secret weapon.

As an early-stage blue belt who wants to solidify your belt, you want to move from pure survival to the ability to escape bad positions.

For example, if you’re in bottom mount, you want to know how to do the elbow-knee escape, kipping escape, and trap and roll escape.

You’ll start to chain these escapes together and get them to work consistently.

There are four positions you must learn to survive and escape:

1. the mount,
2. the back,
3. side control,
4. and knee on belly.

Learn to rely on technique to escape, not strength. With proper technique, most escapes require little strength.

And remember this: the best way to “escape” is to prevent yourself from getting into bad positions in the first place.

As a late-stage blue belt who is getting ready for purple belt, you start to develop combinations: you’ll make your opponent think you’re going for one move, while setting them up for another.

For example, you’re in bottom closed guard. You lift your hips up for the hip-bump sweep, and you expect your opponent to defend. Then, you drop back into a triangle choke.

Purple belt is where you start to get a true feel for the guard — BJJ’s defining position.

So by the time you are ready for your purple belt, you’ll have one go-to guard as your safety net for when things go wrong.

And you’ll know how to use that guard to not just play defense — but attack the top player with kuzushi, sweeps, and submissions.

BJJ Blue Belt Gear: Leveling Up Your Equipment

They say your BJJ gear should never look nicer than your jiu-jitsu.

So, as a blue belt, you can finally get some moderately nice gear!

Here are a couple of pieces of BJJ equipment I bought as a blue belt to level up my style and feel more confident on the mats:

1. Black BJJ Gi

As a blue belt, you don’t have to wear a boring white or blue gi anymore.

A black gi with a blue belt is a nice combination.

Here are a few black gis that I like:

• Gold Aeroweave Gi
• Origin Nano Pearl Gi
• Fuji All Around GI

2. Rash Guard

Instead of wearing random T-shirts or gym shirts for no-gi class, it’s time to invest in some BJJ rash guards.

Here are a few rash guards that I wear and recommend:

• XMartial Rash Guard
• Origin Rash Guard
• Sanabul Rash Guards

You can even get a ranked rash guard to demonstrate your blue belt ranking in no-gi class.

3. Knee Brace

If you’ve gotten to blue belt without any knee injuries, then consider yourself lucky.

Having broken my leg at white belt and torn my meniscus as a blue belt, I’m not a stranger to injuries at this stage.

To help manage my injury and recover with confidence, I invest in the Baurfiend Genutrain S to continue training.

4. Finger Tape

As a blue belt, chances are your fingers have started to get beat up — especially if you’re training frequently in the gi.

Invest in some finger tape to keep your fingers safe.

Finger tape helped me play more grip-heavy guards as a blue belt, like the spider guard.

5. BJJ Journal

One of the reasons so many white belts and blue belts quit BJJ is that they don’t structure their training properly.

As a blue belt, I started keeping a BJJ journal to track what I’m working on, my progress, and questions for my instructor.

By using a BJJ journal and training specific techniques, you can make systematic improvements to your game — and make steady, consistent progress toward your next belt.

6. BJJ Instructionals

BJJ instructionals are BJJ video courses that teach you about certain positions or submissions in a comprehensive, systematic way.

They enable you to learn from the best coaches and grapplers in the world — like Gordon Ryan and John Danaher — without you having to be there in person.

When I was a blue belt, I started watching instructionals seriously, starting with John Danaher’s New Wave Jiu Jitsu: A New Philosophy Of Positional Escapes instructional.

I started using the kipping escape that John teaches, and I escaped a black belt’s top mount.

Watching instructionals is a great way to make consistent progress from blue belt to purple.

7. Grappling SMARTY 2.0

As a blue belt, I invested in my first BJJ dummy: the Grappling SMARTY 2.0.

This was an excellent purchase that helped me drill and familiarize submissions and positions outside of class.

It’s not cheap, but if you want to take your training seriously, it will give you that extra edge over your training partners.

This equipment is optional, but it’s a nice reward for the remarkable achievement of getting your blue belt.

If you’ve made it to blue belt, treat yourself!

Takeaway Thoughts

So there you have it: everything I know about BJJ blue belts.

It takes about 2.5 years to get a blue belt.

To get your blue belt, you must get good at survival and escapes.

To go from blue to purple, you must learn combinations from the guard.

And once you get your blue belt, you can buy some awesome BJJ gear and not get clowned for it.

I’ll close with a quote from the great Joe Rogan:

“The best way to get better at jiu-jitsu is to submit blue belts.”

If you’re a white belt, what are you going to focus on to get your blue belt?

And if you’re a blue belt, what’s the biggest thing you want to learn before you get your purple belt?

And I missed anything in the article that you’d like me to cover relating to BJJ blue belts, let me know.

Hit me up with your questions and comments in the section below.

I know what it’s like to be both a white belt and a blue belt — so I’m curious to know what you think!

Happy rolling. 🤙

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Tsavo Neal

Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.