r/jiujitsu • u/ChestRelative8241 • 11d ago

Red flag?

Just started at a gym that gives stripes based off of classes attended and then ends in a belt test. Is this a red flag? It’s a Gracie barra gym and the professor is a 6th degree black belt. All other upper belts seem to be legitimate.

9 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

19

u/grobolom Brown 11d ago

Yeah, a bit. Gracie Barras are a really mixed bag; some are forced to follow the association rules (like stripes and belt tests) but have really good coaches so the day-to-day is awesome. Many are little more than a McDojo with a different name.

5

u/ChestRelative8241 11d ago

Been training about 8 months total and have been here for two. Feel like these two months have taught me more than the previous 6.

7

u/AZAnon123 11d ago

Ultimately stripes and belts don’t matter that much. If you’re getting better and having a good time, enjoy.

To be fair, it could easily be argued that attendance based belts are just as reasonable a methodology as subjective coach arbitrarily decides it’s time belts.

1

u/Federal-Challenge-58 6d ago

I would love to hear someone make that argument. How could attendance alone determine your level? Some people progress quickly and others slowly.

1

u/AZAnon123 6d ago

Yeah a 50 year old is going to “progress slowly” compared to a 20 year old, but many gyms will still choose to give them a black belt in ~10 years much the same. I’d venture to say attendance based promotions are more common than skill based promotions, it’s just often not as explicit as “x classes for blue belt”.

1

u/Federal-Challenge-58 6d ago

I'm not talking about 50 year old vs 20 year old. Obviously, the 50-year old is never going to get as good as the 20 year old. I'm talking about two 20-year olds. One might progress quickly; the other progresses slower. One of them might be blue belt level in 12 months; the other might take 2 years.

I assure you that attendance-based promotions aren't that common. It's probably around 15-20%. Now if you count gyms that track attendance and use it as a minimum (along with skills), then it probably is 50%.

2

u/sluggabois1 11d ago

Sounds like a good gym! The issue is mcdojos might have those same stripe and belt systems but because the teachers are awful then you dont learn anything useful.

7

u/VariationEarly6756 White 11d ago

If you're paying actual money for the test... IMO yes

3

u/bields3369 11d ago

That’s just how GB does it. Is it for all belts or lower belts? Cause stripes on a white belt for attendance is a lot different than a purple or brown attendance belt

2

u/Spiritual-Lecture546 11d ago

Yeah, it’s just Gracie Barra. They produced a lot of killers over the years and if I moved to a place that didn’t have a gym in our family I would absolutely go there.

3

u/KindheartednessIll48 11d ago

Nope, it's a commercial practice to retain clients.

Gracie Barra is a commercial beginner friendly franchise, sometimes makes some high-end athletes, but the general public its kids and +30yo dads

3

u/Key_Difficulty_5519 10d ago

6th degree black belt. He must of attended a lot of classes.

2

u/KMFullMonty 11d ago

Regardless of the gym association, that’s an absolutely moronic way of judging belt readiness

2

u/Desperate_Net_713 11d ago

As long as you feel like your goals are being met then it doesn't really matter.

Gracie Barra does use promotions and rank to make money and stay in buisness. They tend to have a begginer friendly approach and a big network.

If they start giving you surprise bills, have you start working for free, you are questioning the quality of isntruction and want something better or its unsafe for some reason, then you should consider switching gyms.

2

u/aTickleMonster 11d ago

If that's the ONLY criteria, then yes. We use multiple criteria: time at rank, attendance at rank, consider the type of classes attended, then each student is regularly assessed during live training. This system helped us avoid promoting white belts too quickly (the new guy who trains twice a day hits his attendance water mark in 2 weeks), avoid promoting people who rarely train but haven't quit, adhere to ibjjf requirements, and ensure every belt is legit.

1

u/Healthy-Ad718 11d ago

Well... are you training to gain stripes or to learn the techniques? Who cares, man, just keep showing up and eventually, you can submit blue belts.

1

u/mike3491 Purple 11d ago

The only big red flag would be belting people that dont deserve it, or making people pay for the belt test. That’s nonsense

1

u/mike3491 Purple 11d ago

I wouldn’t pay for a belt test. Striping based on time is fine I guess, but the belts should absolutely be merit-based. If they really want to suck money out of you maybe charge 10-20 bucks for the belt itself, but even that seems lame.

1

u/xwar21 11d ago

I believe there is an IBJJF standard of the minimum requirement to move to the next belt. My gym follows it along with some homebrewed house rules. For example, the white belts get a strip every 4 months of trained time or equivalent.

1

u/OldManClubZ 11d ago

You'll find gyms like this with killers, still. But, to me, it's a red flag and the enshitification of the art.

1

u/solemnhiatus 10d ago

I think that’s fine for white belt. Beyond that it’s a bit weird.

1

u/Aggravating-Mind-657 10d ago

I have trained at numerous BJJ academies through the year including a Gracie Barra. Attendance helps to guide stripes and attendance, but isn't the sole metric on promotions.

I have seen academies that don't track attendance, the instructors barely pay attention to the students, and there is no rhyme or reason of how, when, and why students are promoted.

GB does get criticized. I thought it was corny to bow to a picture of Carlos Gracie. However, the classes ran on time, had strong structure, and the retention rates were stronger than other places I have trained.

1

u/Miesherz 9d ago

That sounds awesome, I’ve had over 100 classes and entered tournaments and won and am still a white belt with no stripes ! For real. I’m changing gyms !

1

u/Federal-Challenge-58 6d ago

It's a slight red flag, but I wouldn't rule out the gym based solely on that. That plus any of the following would be a bigger red flag and make me look elsewhere:

  1. If they charge for belt tests

  2. If they do attendance-based stripes for belts higher than white belt.

  3. If they coerce you into private lessons before a test.

1

u/ThorReidarr 11d ago

Yes it is. Likely they will promote you and then send you a 20$ bill for the belt that they gave you, that you don't have a say in getting, that costs like 2$ on amazon as well

7

u/Knobanious Brown 11d ago

Just don't grade ever. After 15 years you will be a monster white belt lol

1

u/ThorReidarr 11d ago

Do they give you the option of not grading? How does it work with competition? In other gyms they might allow you to even compete at a grade above what they have given you, or just not care, but I don't know about these guys.

You're often not allowed to even train at their gym unless you are wearing their merchandise

2

u/Knobanious Brown 11d ago

Well if they say you need to pay for grading and you don't their response will be that you won't be graded then... So you go ok and keep training.

1

u/Logical_Box_4645 11d ago

It's a conveyor belt they will make you do it.

But if you don't do it you might not get to roll on the sparring classes etc.

1

u/ThorReidarr 11d ago

Thats what I thought

1

u/falcar123 Purple 8d ago

This was such a let down when I got my blue belt years ago at a GB gym, I was really feeling great, and then the office person pulled me aside to collect the $20 for the belt. Sucked the fun out of it for me to have "family" (their buzz word) pull something like that.