Eleven Elevation Jiu Jitsu Road Map to Black Belt

Every Jiu Jitsu school and teacher has a different system, expectation, or requirement for promoting their students. At Eleven Elevation we expect our students to be proficient in their practice (sparring). Ultimately, memorizing techniques and being able to demonstrate them in a ceremony will never earn you rank at this academy. You must be able to preform techniques and demonstrate a comprehension of principles while in sparring or competition to signify you are a capable practitioner. However, we believe the student should have a road map of goals for each belt that they can reflect on and study. This roadmap for black belt should give the student fundamental blocks to work on while striving to become the best they can be at each individual belt. Remember, Jiu Jitsu is about so much more then earning belts and while we understand how important each step is, remember to always have fun practicing your martial art.

 White Belt

“The Escape Artist Belt”
Your mission at the white belt is to develop the escapes and defense necessary to play Jiu-Jitsu at an engaging level. Focus on your guard and guard retention. Your goal is to become difficult to submit and have a guard that is challenging to pass. This phase is also about developing a strong bottom game that will serve as your foundation.

A proficient white belt should be able to demonstrate:
-3 escapes from mount
-3 escapes from side-mount
-3 escapes from Back Control
-2 ankle, heel, toe lock defenses/escapes
-2 kneebar defenses/escapes
-3 takedowns
-Standing guard pull

Guard Retention Skills:
Developed knowledge, tricks, and skills to keep your guard while your partner is passing.

-Guard Submissions:
Armbar, Triangle, Kimura, Cross Collar Choke, Guillotine Choke

-Guard Sweeps:
Flower Sweep, Pendulum Sweep, Tsunami Sweep

Open Guard:
Dela Riva Guard, Collar and Sleeve Guard, Tomoe Nagi Sweep, Tripod Sweep

Principles:
Developed understanding of push-pull, rhythm, flow, timing, and balance

Energy Conservation:
Developed understanding of individual pace, muscle use, speed, and explosiveness

Blue Belt

“The Sniper with a shotgun”
Blue belt is your first major achievement in Jiu Jitsu, but so much work is still in front of you. They say most people quit at blue belt, this isn’t true. Most people quit at white belt, but no one cares enough about them. Now that you have made yourself hard to submit, it’s time to start practicing your offense. You need to begin to play the top game more, learn guard passing, and start playing side, top, and back mount. While white belts see and learn all the positions of Jiu Jitsu, the blue belt will start to gain time and experience in these positions while sparring. Blue belt is all about learning the positions, and offense of Jiu Jitsu.

A proficient blue belt should be able to demonstrate:
-3 escapes from mount
-3 escapes from side-mount
-3 escapes from Back Control
-2 ankle lock defenses/escapes
-2 kneebar defenses/escapes
-3 ways to open the closed guard
-5 guard passes
-3 passes from half-guard
-5 takedown
-Standing guard pull, sitting guard

Guard Retention Skills:
Further developed knowledge, tricks, and skills to keep your guard while your partner is passing.

Guard Submissions:
Armbar, Triangle, Kimura, Cross Collar Choke, Guillotine Choke, Omoplata

Side Mount Submissions:
Arm Bar, Swivel Arm Bar, Lawn-Mower Choke, Kimura, Americana, Mike Hayes Choke, Darce Choke

Mount Submissions:
Arm Bar, Cross Gi Choke, Guillotine Choke, Americana

Back Mount Submissions:
Rear Naked Choke, Cross Gi Choke, Bow and Arrow, Arm Bar, Reverse Triangle

Attacking the Turtle Submissions:
Anaconda Choke, Darce Choke, Guillotine Choke, Spin, and Back Take, Rolling Back Take

Ankle, Toe, Heel, and Knee Attacks:
Straight Ankle Lock, Knee Bar, Toe Hold, Heel Hook from various entries

Guard Sweeps:
Flower Sweep, Pendulum Sweep, Tsunami Sweep, Dela Riva Sweep, Crab Ride, Berimbolos, Kiss the Dragon, Spider Guard Sweeps,

Open Guard:
Dela Riva Guard, Collar and Sleeve Guard, Tomoe Nagi Sweep, Tripod Sweep, Reverse Dela Riva Guard, Spider Guard

Principles:
Further developed understanding of push-pull, rhythm, flow, timing, and balance
-Hand Placement Principle for Guard Passing

Set-Up:
The setup is becoming increasingly more important to you. These are the hardest concepts to articulate and teach in our martial art and yet you are starting to use setups to increase the probability of your techniques being successful. You discover ways to pull your partner into your game and funnel them into the techniques you love the most.

Timing:
As a blue belt, you will become more aware of proper timing and instinct. You can’t just select a random technique and use it. You discover that each technique is performed based on ‘what your partner is doing and is a reaction rather than a forced movement. When your techniques meet your timing you become increasingly dangerous.

Energy Conservation:
Further developed understanding of individual pace, muscle use, speed, and explosiveness while now being able to sense your partners pace, speed, and explosiveness.

Purple Belt

“Paper Airplane with Atomic Bombs”

A purple belt in Jiu Jitsu is no joke and finally at a level that can not be taken lightly. A purple belt is considered an advanced player in Jiu Jitsu and should be a solid reflection of the gym they train under. Carrying the third belt in Jiu Jitsu is a heavy responsibility. White belts and blue belts would love nothing more than to submit a lazy purple belt. At the same time, purple belts are supposed to be competitive against brown and black belts. It’s at this belt that you will really refine your game. You have two belts below you to practice moves and concepts and two belts above you to keep the pressure strong. At this point, you must begin to understand the scramble and advanced pathways that lead you to successful positions and outcomes. You have a solid understanding of the fundamentals and begin to experiment with overly complicated techniques to see if they are possible in sparring. You have been in most positions and situations in Jiu Jitsu and begin to see how all techniques connect and string together. Drilling and open mat become more and more important to you as you understand that practice and repetition are the only truths that have served you this long.

A proficient purple belt should be able to demonstrate:

-3 escapes from mount 

-3 escapes from side-mount 

-3 escapes from Back Control

-3 ways to open the closed guard

-7 guard passes (should be able to demonstrate and show knowledge on why they use each guard pass and how they all string together circumstantially)

-3 passes from half-guard
-9 takedowns
-Standing, sitting, and jumping guard pull

Guard Retention Skills:

Further developed knowledge, tricks, and skills to keep your guard while your partner is passing.

Note on Purple Belt Submission Attacks:
At purple belt, you will begin to set up submissions with various hand fighting and gripping techniques. You will have a style that will annoy your partner’s attempts to escape or defend your pressure, thus leading to submissions and sweeps. The submission list growing isn’t important, the setups and angles are!

Guard Submissions: 

Armbar, Triangle, Kimura, Cross Collar Choke, Guillotine Choke, Omoplata, Gogo-plata, Loop Chokes, Ezekiel Choke

Side Mount Submissions:

Arm Bar, Swivel Arm Bar, Lawn-Mower Choke, Kimura, Americana, Mike Hayes Choke, Darce Choke, Baseball Choke, Paper Cutter Choke, Ezekiel Choke, Bow and Arrow Choke

North-South Submissions:
Arm Bar, Darce Choke, Baseball Choke, Paper Cutter Choke, Cross Collar Choke, Ezekiel Choke, Bow and Arrow Choke

Mount Submissions:

Arm Bar, Cross Gi Choke, Guillotine Choke, Americana, mono-plata, Ezekiel Choke, Bow and Arrow Choke

Back Mount Submissions: 

Rear Naked Choke, Cross Gi Choke, Bow and Arrow, Arm Bar, Reverse Triangle, Ezekiel Choke,

Attacking the Turtle Submissions:

Anaconda Choke, Darce Choke, Peruvian Neck Tie, Guillotine Choke, Spin, and Back Take, Rolling Back Take

Ankle, Toe, Heel, and Knee Attacks:

Straight Ankle Lock, Knee Bar, Toe Hold, Heel Hook from various entries

Guard Sweeps:

Flower Sweep, Pendulum Sweep, Tsunami Sweep, Dela Riva Sweeps, Crab Ride, Berimbolos, Kiss the Dragon, Spider Guard Sweeps, Spider-Lasso Guard Sweeps, K-Guard Sweeps, Waiter Sweeps, Reverse Dela Riva Sweeps, Single X Sweeps, Deep Half Guard Sweeps

Open Guard:

Dela Riva Guard, Collar and Sleeve Guard, Tomoe Nagi Sweep, Tripod Sweep, Reverse Dela Riva Guard, Spider-Dela Riva Guard, Spider Guard, Spider-Lasso Guard, Waiter Guard, K-Guard, Single X Guard, Deep Half Guard

Principles:

Further developed understanding of push-pull, rhythm, flow, timing, and balance 
-Hand Placement Principle for Guard Passing
-Never Overextend legs from bottom playing open guard
-Center-line concepts
-Controlling partners posture and having correct posture while sparring

Set-Up:

The setup is becoming increasingly more important to you. These are the hardest concepts to articulate and teach in our martial art and yet you are starting to use setups to increase the probability of your techniques being successful. You discover ways to pull your partner into your game and funnel them into the techniques you love the most.

Timing:

As a purple belt, you will become more aware of proper timing and instinct. You can’t just select a random technique and use it. You discover that each technique is performed based on ‘what your partner is doing and is a reaction rather than a forced movement. When your techniques meet your timing you become increasingly dangerous.

Energy Conservation:

Further developed understanding of individual pace, muscle use, speed, and explosiveness while now being able to sense your partners pace, speed, and explosiveness.