Our Black Belts have profiles on the site, you can read them on our RANKS page.

Contained in then is some of the best advice on Joining, training and improving your BJJ. So I've grabbed that info here so its easier to get a good overview on what it took to get these guys to the coveted BJJ Black Belt.

Enjoy.

TL;DR ChatGPT summarises it for you >> 

Black Belt advice

---

Darren Brown

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

Accept you're gonna get beaten because this shit works. Don't be disgruntled that people who have put in the years are better, otherwise we'd all do one lesson. The quickest way to improve is to relax. It's counter-intuitive. Strength, spazzing and munting will result in injuries, and they'll probably be yours.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

It takes time. Challenge your ego whenever you find it's preventing you. Don't opinion shop for hundreds of techniques. Stick with a recurring thing in your game that often doesn't work. Find someone who does it well and ask them to show you the first, second, and third response. Drill it. Pressure test it in rolling. Someone figures the counter. Rinse and repeat.

Also, for me, rolling is like a conversation and the back and forth is the cool part. The better you get, the more ways you can converse. If you're a dick, no one will talk to you. So let go of your ego.

---

Phillip Stenhouse

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

When you are new, BJJ is daunting. But Chris Haueter has that great quote "It's not whos best, it's whos left" It's gonna be difficult sometimes but keep showing up even when you don't really want to. You'll get there eventually.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Figure out your learning style. Turn up, get on the mats and practice. Do some strength and conditioning work, your body will thank you later

---

Shane Marshall

What advice would I give to someone new to BJJ: 

The only advice I would give is to keep coming back even when you don’t feel like it. Be consistent and look for the small gains not the big ones otherwise you will get disappointed.

What advice would I give someone wanting to improve their BJJ.

GSW has so many talented black belts now, so don’t be afraid to ask their advice as they have been where you want to go.

---

Caglan Bagci

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

The advice I would give is to tap early and often. tapping keeps you safe. Always lessons in tapping. Why did you have to tap? What mistakes did you make to end up in that position?

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Same advice to someone wanting to improve. If you are not tapping you are probably not trying new moves.

---

Duncan Hewer

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

Appreciate learning the “Art of the Tap” While under pressure, to make a critical assessment and avoid harm. Free from emotion and negative feelings only you place on yourself. Potentially is one of the more useful things I could have applied sooner to my life outside BJJ.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Just show up and be present. Don’t quit. Don’t be afraid to ask what you think are stupid questions. (Another useful skill outside class).

---

Tony

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

Have fun. Have an open mind and embrace being a beginner. This way it will be an enjoyable experience and will continue to be. BJJ is difficult. That’s why a lot of people don’t stick with it, but it is incredibly rewarding.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Firstly, go to class regularly. You won’t get the same experience from watching you tube! Then learn the basics and build your foundation from there. Once you’ve been around for awhile then focus your attention on a game plan. Practice/drill it, modify it and seek advice.

---

Romulo Mendes De Araujo

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

If you're new to BJJ, take it easy and focus on learning the basics first. It's recommended that you wait about three months before you start rolling.

If you've been training consistently for six months, you can roll as much as you want. However, it's important to understand the nature of the battles you'll face in BJJ. When rolling with someone better than you, focus on honing your defensive skills and surviving. When rolling with someone with less experience, concentrate on sharpening your offensive or defensive skills, depending on whether you're on top or bottom. It's crucial to keep this in mind to avoid frustration.

If you fall outside this range, befriend a Black Belt for extra tips.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

If you want to improve your BJJ, here are some tips that can help you:

1. Focus on the basics: the basics are the foundation of everything you will learn. So ensure you have a solid understanding of the fundamental techniques and positions.
2. Drill, drill, drill: Repetition is the key to mastering techniques. The best people I know drill every single day...
3. Consistency is key: To improve at BJJ, you must train consistently. Try to train at least three times a week, and prioritise it in your schedule.
4. Roll with different people: Rolling with a variety of training partners will expose you to different skill levels, styles and techniques. (remember: understand the battle you are fighting)
5. Be patient: BJJ is a long journey, and progress can sometimes be slow. Don't get discouraged if you feel like you're not improving as quickly as you'd like. Keep training, and the progress will come.
6. Watch and study BJJ matches: Watching high-level BJJ matches can be a great way to learn new techniques and improve your understanding of the game.
7. Take care of your body: BJJ is physically demanding, so make sure you take care of your body by eating well, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, and stretching before and after training.

Remember, improving at BJJ is a gradual process that requires dedication, hard work, and patience. But with consistent training and a willingness to learn, you can progress and achieve your goals.

---

James Toaolamai

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

Your new gi will shrink, always. Unless you want it to, then it won’t.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Always be able to answer the question – ‘What are you working on?’ and know winning has nothing to do with tapping. Little dopamine fixes come from upgrading, learning more, discovering what works and what doesn’t.
The sea of information you’re drowning in calms and useful instruction is in focus. You can roll with any level and if someone crushes me – good I know what to work on.

---

Spencer Cameron

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

My advice for people who are new to Bjj is to try to be consistent with your training find out how much time you have to devote to training and then set a schedule and keep to it.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ? 

My advice to people wanting to improve is to ask questions, there is a huge amount of knowledge and different styles on the GSW mat it's a huge resource and the people there are always willing to help.

---

Kerian Upton

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?
Don’t quit because you’re not winning.
Success isn’t always ‘winning’, success can be getting 10% further into a technique than you did last time, it could be holding a top position for 2 seconds, it could be holding someone in your guard for a bit longer than you did last time.

Look around the room and all the people in their started where you are knowing absolutely nothing. Enjoy the process of learning – I definitely miss the dopamine hit you get as a white belt when you are discovering something new every training.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?
“Once you understand the way broadly, you can see it in all things” Miyamoto Musashi.
Look for patterns and concepts in the techniques as there is lots of overlap. Technique A might be 50% of technique Z. The ability to see this means you only need to learn 50% of the new move and then throw in the 50% you already know.

For me I look at all head-arm type chokes as the same thing (my opponent is being strangled by their own shoulder and some part of me) this applies to arm triangles, leg triangles, anaconda, brabo etc. There are small differences in each choke but I can apply a significant amount of the learnings of one to the others. I’m not burdening myself with trying to learn a brand new choke each time.

GSW has a lot of experienced black and brown belts and all of them love teaching so ask lots of questions! One of them will definitely have a style that speaks to your Jiu Jitsu journey.

---

Gareth Lewis

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?
Relax, don't go in with the attitude you are going to win. Rather go to learn ask questions of the people who beat you (which will be everyone for starters). A lot of people spend their first 6 months just learning to relax, save time and do it at the start.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?
Look at a higher level belt who has a game that is similar to yours. Ask questions, copy what they do. Look at concepts over techniques and ASK QUESTIONS. There is so much knowledge on the mat, roll with best people and ask questions (just in case you didn't get that the first two times).

---

Bruno Bailly

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to our school?

Relax. Embrace the challenge. Trust that we’ve all been where you are now and everybody is genuinely here to help, not to “get a tap” at the expense of the newbie. The sooner you can think of rolling as a form of “puzzle solving” and not as a fight for your life, the faster you will progress.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

There is a lot of advice to give, but this is my top 5:

1) Have a goal when you’re rolling. It might be that you’re trying to get to a specific position, get a specific pass, get a specific submission… You may want to consider different goals for different rolls.

2) Slow down. I noticed a big improvement in my game when I decided to not sit out rounds. In order to be able to do that I had to lower the pace so I would last the whole hour. I quickly noticed that my jiu-jitsu was not getting less effective. It just got more efficient. Slowing down will also give you time to think about what you’re doing.

3) Roll with everyone. One of the mistakes I made was to roll only with people at my level, quickly followed by another one which was to roll with only better people. You need a bit of everything. Rolls where you’re the better player and you can experiment, rolls where you’re the weaker player and you test your skills under high pressure. Have a goal for every roll.

4) Get fit. Geoff’s view is that GSW is to learn BJJ, not to do push ups and stretches. This optimises your time on the mat, and you will get fit by just doing BJJ. But if you want to hit a smooth berimbolo, you might want to work on your range of motion. And as you get a bit older, you will improve your chances of not getting injured if you are doing what it takes outside of GSW. Top two things I recommend are: strength training and stretching.

5) Keep turning up. It is cliché for a reason: it is true. You can only get better by spending time on the mat. Any training is better than no training but I would say that if you’re looking at making visible improvements, you probably want to train 3 or more times per week (at least that’s what I found but I might be a bit slow at picking stuff up). Don’t let small setbacks discourage you. There is only one way to eat an elephant!

---

Glen Tarrant

What advice would you give to someone new to BJJ or to your school?

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, ask lots of questions – people love helping.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to improve their BJJ?

Constant review and tweaking of what you know, sure chase the shiny stuff, but you can never be too good at the basics.

---

ChatGPT Summarises it for you

This advice comes from various people and their experience in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Here are the key points:

• Accept that you will get beaten because BJJ works. Relaxation is the quickest way to improve.
• Figure out your learning style, turn up, get on the mats, and practice. Do some strength and conditioning work.
• Keep coming back even when you don’t feel like it. Be consistent and look for small gains, not the big ones.
• Tap early and often to keep safe. Ask for advice from black belts, and don't be afraid to ask questions.
• Have fun, embrace being a beginner, and learn the basics before building your foundation.
• When rolling with someone better than you, focus on honing your defensive skills and surviving. When rolling with someone with less experience, concentrate on sharpening your offensive or defensive skills.
• Focus on the basics, drill them daily, be consistent in training, and roll with different people to improve.