ow long will it take to get a black belt?
^ A long time: commonly, it takes between 8-10 years to get to black belt. There are some famous examples of people who have got it much quicker, most notably BJ Penn, who took only three years. However, in every case I’ve heard, they’ve had lots of natural talent and trained pretty much all the time. There is no shortcut to grappling skill, but if you have oodles of free time and money, plus you’re sufficiently fit to train every day, it will be quicker. Be aware that it’s definitely possible to overtrain if you do that, as even if you have the time and money, your body may not be able to handle the intensity of BJJ every day. Gracie Barra has minimum periods before promotion (though of course that is just one organisation: others have their own systems). Some people have wrongly misinterpreted the below schedule as somehow guaranteeing that you’ll get your belt upon reaching that minimum. This is a misunderstanding: the table details the fastest you could possibly get your belt (e.g.
