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The road to Blue Belt is paved with good intentions, bad cardio, and a lot of tapping. But for many, that road ends abruptly. The "Blue Belt Blues" are famous, but the "White Belt Washout" is far more common.
Why do so many quit? Often, it’s not because Jiu-Jitsu is too hard—it’s because they unknowingly commit one of the 7 Deadly Sins of Grappling. These aren’t just technical errors; they are mindset traps that stall progress, annoy training partners, and lead to injury.
If you want to survive the mat, you must purge these sins from your game.
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1. WRATH: The Spazz!
The Sin: Treating every Tuesday night roll like the ADCC finals.
The "Spazz" is the most feared creature on the mats—not because they are good, but because they are dangerous. This sin involves using 100% explosive strength, flailing limbs, and accidental elbows to compensate for a lack of technique.
The Penalty:
Injury: You will eventually hurt your partner or yourself.
Ostracization: Upper belts will avoid rolling with you, or worse, they will "enforce" technique on you to keep you still.
The Redemption: Slow down. If you don't know what you're doing, doing it harder won't help. Focus on controlled movements. If you find yourself holding your breath and straining every muscle, you are sinning. Relax.
2. GREED: The Submission Hunter!
The Sin: Coveting the tap before earning the position.
This white belt ignores the hierarchy of BJJ (Position > Control > Submission). They try to choke someone from inside their closed guard or grab a sloppy guillotine while being mounted. They want the glory of the finish without paying the tax of passing the guard.
The Penalty:
Loss of Position: Lunging for a limb usually leaves your base exposed, allowing your opponent to sweep or pass you instantly.
False Confidence: Catching other white belts with sloppy moves builds bad habits that will fail completely against blue belts.
The Redemption: Position over Submission. Make it your rule: "I am not allowed to attempt a submission until I have held a dominant position (Mount, Side Control, Back) for 3 seconds."
3. PRIDE: The Ego Tapper!
The Sin: Refusing to tap out because you "think you can escape."
Pride is the deadliest sin because it breaks bones. This white belt views tapping as "losing" rather than "learning." They grunt, groan, and let their arm pop before admitting defeat.
The Penalty:
Catastrophic Injury: A popped elbow or torn rotator cuff can take you off the mats for 6 months.
Stunted Growth: If you fight a choke for 2 minutes instead of tapping and restarting, you waste 2 minutes of training time where you could have been practicing escapes.
The Redemption: Tap early, tap often. Tapping is the reset button. It is a transaction: you pay a tap, you buy another chance to learn.
4. GLUTTONY: The Death Grip
The Sin: Consuming all your energy in the first 30 seconds.
This white belt grabs the gi collar with the force of a hydraulic press and never lets go. They hold on for dear life, stiff-arming and squeezing until their forearms burn like fire.
The Penalty:
The "Gas Out": You will be exhausted by minute 2 of a 5-minute round.
Burnout: Your fingers will be perpetually taped and painful.
The Redemption: Let go. If a grip isn't serving a specific purpose (like a choke or a sweep), release it. Learn to use "hooks" and "frames" (using your skeletal structure) rather than squeezing with your muscles.
5. LUST: The YouTube Warrior
The Sin: Desiring flashy techniques over fundamental basics.
Instead of learning the scissor sweep or the bridge-and-roll, this white belt is watching "Flying Berimbolo" tutorials on YouTube at 2 AM. They try to hit complex moves they saw on Instagram while having zero ability to retain guard.
The Penalty:
The "Swiss Cheese" Game: You might have one cool trick, but your game has massive holes. Anyone who survives your one trick will smash you.
The Redemption: Master the boring stuff. Shrimp, bridge, frame, and posture. The "boring" moves are the ones black belts use to beat everyone.
6. SLOTH: The Lazy Guard (Or "The Corpse")
The Sin: Accepting bad positions and lying flat on your back.
When this white belt gets passed or tired, they accept their fate. They lay flat on their back like a corpse, waiting for the round to end. They don't fight for grips; they don't get on their side; they just... exist.
The Penalty:
Smash City: Laying flat makes you the perfect target for heavy pressure. You are doing 0% of the work to escape, making it 100% easier for your opponent to crush you.
The Redemption: Get on your side. Never be flat. If you are on the bottom, you should be fighting to get on a hip, creating frames, or recovering guard. Active rest is a myth at white belt; if you stop moving, you start dying.
7. ENVY: The Comparison Trap
The Sin: Measuring your progress against others.
"He started two months after me; why does he have two stripes?"
"Why am I getting smashed by the new guy?"
This mental sin kills motivation faster than any injury.
The Penalty:
Quitting: This is the primary cause of the "White Belt Washout." You convince yourself you aren't talented, and you quit.
The Redemption:
Compare yourself to yesterday. BJJ is an individual journey. Some people are athletic wrestlers; some are 40-year-old accountants. Your only metric for success is: Am I harder to kill today than I was last month?
Summary Table: The Sins vs. The Fix
The Sin | The Bad Habit | The Fix |
|---|---|---|
Wrath | Using 100% Strength/Spazzing | Slow down, use 50% power |
Greed | Rushing for submissions | Position > Submission |
Pride | Refusing to tap | Tap early to train longer |
Gluttony | Death-gripping the Gi | Use frames, not squeezes |
Lust | Chasing "fancy" moves | Master the fundamentals |
Sloth | Laying flat on bottom | Get on your hip immediately |
Envy | Comparing stripes/belts | Focus on your own 1% growth |
Final Thoughts for the White Belt
You are expected to make mistakes. You are expected to be tapped out. You are expected to be confused.
You are NOT expected to injure your partners, quit because of your ego, or teach the class (yes, the "White Belt Professor" is an unspoken 8th sin).
Avoid these 7 sins, keep showing up, and eventually, you’ll trade that white belt for a blue one—and a whole new set of problems.
Talk soon,
Ben—The Grappler's Toolkit