2006 to Present: BJJ

Once I recovered from the shoulder injury in 2006, I endeavoured to finally join up at a BJJ club - my first option was the Gracie Barra gym in Birmingham, but their beginner classes were at times I couldn't make. So, that left the Roger Gracie Academy in London, which I began in November 2006 (unless you count the intro in October), having watched a class the week before. Reading on the internet, especially at Bullshido, provided an excellent set of principles that would serve me well as I started BJJ. This thread in particular has become something of a touchstone, and I'd urge anyone interested in training martial arts to give it a read.

I trained as regularly as I could in those first few months, in order to get my third stripe and move on to the advanced class (due to the greater choice of classes that would entail, as third and fourth stripes can train in both the beginners and advanced). Normally I managed two or three classes a week, which was all my convoluted travel schedule would allow.

Eventually getting that third stripe in June 2007 was probably the impetus for concentrating fully on BJJ, as it considerably expanded the amount of classes I could attend. Before that, I had intermittently gone back to my old ZSK class, but since the promotion and an increase in PhD workload, its been all grappling. My last ZSK class was April 2007, but there's a chance I might get back into training if my gf gets the funding for her MA (although I'd be more keen on attempting to get her into judo).

My first BJJ competition took place August 2007: first fight, first loss, though amusingly I still got a bronze, because the guy who beat me went on to win the division (there were only four of us competing at super featherweight). Shortly after that, I popped over to the Belfast Throwdown: video below is me rolling with Waqi, and is the most recent footage I've got of my sparring. He's a very experienced blue belt who could very easily have smashed me, but mercifully went light - I'm the white belt.



On 14th February 2008, I got my blue belt from Jude Samuel, a black belt instructor at RGA. I was especially pleased to get the belt from Jude, as he's the only black belt to have rolled with me, and also the person who has taught the majority of the classes I've attended. So, out of the people capable of promoting me, he's definitely best placed to judge my current level.

That means that I've now accomplished one of the goals of this blog, which is to track somebody's progress from white to blue. I've noted each grading along the way, and this spreadsheet goes into exact detail on how many classes, hours etc (if, like me, you're geeky enough to care about that sort of thing).

Of course, what qualifies a person for a blue belt is a subjective decision by a particular instructor, and therefore varies from academy to academy. A good measure is competition, and by that score, I've certainly got a long way to go, as the Bristol Open back in August 2007 marked my sole fight so far. I'm not likely to compete as a blue for a while, as I'll need to feel a whole lot more comfortable with the weight of this new rank first.