Top 10 BJJ White Belt Techniques You Should Learn

Every expert was once a beginner. To reach the peak, you have to grasp the basics. Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioners start from the white belt, with a goal to reach the black belt one day. 

Many BJJ practitioners think the journey from white to blue belt is harder than from blue to eventually getting black belt. The reason is to grasp the basic techniques and tips for a BJJ beginner, which they find difficult.

Every BJJ white belt should learn some basic techniques to help him lay a solid foundation in his BJJ journey. There is no specific period for moving from white to black belt. It depends entirely on the BJJ practitioner’s journey.

Are you curious about what techniques you should learn as a BJJ beginner? Then you are at the right place. In this article, we will discover what BJJ white belt techniques you should learn at the start.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu belt system includes five belts. It starts with white and ends with black. You have to start with a white belt with no degrees. It is the first step all BJJ practitioners take for jumping into the BJJ journey.

It is the most crucial step because you get familiar with BJJ and all its techniques and basics. BJJ practitioner is awarded higher belts depending on the achievements in his BJJ journey. Following is the BJJ belt system with rank increasing from top to bottom:

• White belt

• Blue belt

• Purple belt

• Brown belt

• Black belt

You cannot start a BJJ career without difficulties. Every BJJ white belt practitioner has different opinions on the most challenging thing. Some things that are difficult for many BJJ practitioners are training and improving every day. It becomes difficult for them to be consistent.

Some get injuries, while some get demotivated by comparing themselves to others. Many BJJ white belts quit because they find it challenging to be consistent for a long time before getting promoted to blue belt. Once they reach the blue belt, the rest of the journey becomes easy for them.

There is no universal BJJ white belt syllabus. Getting a higher rank in BJJ is not a cup of tea. It requires much training, effort, and time for promotion within the BJJ belt ranks. You are given a white belt with no degrees at the start of your BJJ career. Degrees are stripes that are placed on a belt. These denote how much a practitioner is progressing under his belt.

One stripe white belt BJJ means you can finally get into sparring training. Sparring is the training given in many combat sports before a practitioner can fight. BJJ beginners need to grasp some fundamentals before they can join the sparring class. 

There are also no BJJ universal white belt Stripe requirements. Promotion depends on academies that train the BJJ practitioners. Some have specified a period after which a BJJ practitioner is promoted to the following degree or belt, whereas some are promoted based on merit, training, and achievements.

They receive a first degree in the belt after learning white belt BJJ fundamentals. After some training, you are promoted to two-stripe white belt BJJ. Each belt from white to brown has four degrees. He is promoted to the next belt after getting a fourth degree in the belt.

To became an expert in any field you have to grasp the basics of that field strongly. Same is the case with Brazilian jiu-jitsu. If you are just starting your BJJ journey, you must learn some BJJ white belt techniques.

These BJJ techniques will help you get degrees in a belt and promotion to a blue belt. The following are the best BJJ white belt techniques you should learn:

Many BJJ coaches focus on learning effective gripping. BJJ Effective gripping depends on many things. Your hands should be strong enough to grip effectively. It does not mean you can never grip effectively if your hands are not strong. 

You should train to increase the strength of your hands. After training to increase the strength of your hands, you should learn how to grip. No matter how strong your hands are, you can't grip effectively if you don’t know the correct gripping technique.

Felipe Sousa, a BJJ coach, used to say:

You can see how effective gripping is done using the following video:

BJJ Mount is the most common position a fighter tries in a BJJ match. In mount, a figure dominates his opponent by being on his opponent’s torso with the face towards the opponent’s head. This is a ground-dominant position. Roughly, a bjj fighter spends 80-85% of his time in guard and mounts. 

Mounts can be of many types, such as side mount, back mount, and high mount. Therefore, learning how to escape the mount is crucial for a BJJ white belt. The key to escaping the mounts is getting your neck protected from grabbing or striking and bridging and shrimping. By learning these two things, you can escape the mount.

Learn how to escape the mount visually from the video below:

BJJ Guard is also a common BJJ technique fighters use in BJJ matches. It can be of many types, such as full guard, half guard, etc. Passing the guard is the most challenging thing in BJJ, particularly while standing. The basic thing you can do to pass the guard is to try to break his guard where your opponent has crossed his legs over your back. 

You can pass the guard by kneeling or standing once you break his guard and open his legs. For some guards like Jiu-Jiteiro, you must stand up to pass the guard. Therefore, every BJJ white belt should learn how to pass the guard. He must be able to learn to pass the guard both by standing and sitting. For visual instruction on how to pass a guard, see the following video:

BJJ white belt practitioners should learn to develop a fighter’s mindset. They should avoid negative thoughts and overthinking. They should focus on developing a winning mindset. They should believe that they can win the fight. One of the most important ways to develop a fighter's mindset is controlling your breath.

Breath control is the most important technique to create a mindset. You can't make good moves by panting and gasping throughout the fight. You can avoid negative thoughts by focusing on inhalation and exhalation. In that way, you can develop a fighter’s mindset, which will undoubtedly help you to win the match.

For more information, see this video to develop a fighter’s mindset for discipline and winning the games.

Some white-belt BJJ practitioners take the training too seriously. They leave all other things that they enjoy just for training. In BJJ, mindset is more important for a successful career than training. You can't win If you are training all day without relaxing and having fun.

You must add some fun things to your day. You should relax after some training. This will help your mind focus more on BJJ. Take it as a game. Don’t take it seriously. Our minds can't focus on one thing all the time. After having some fun and rest, you can focus more on BJJ. Otherwise, you will feel exhausted very soon and become injured.

For more, see the following video, in which relaxing and having fun are linked to becoming a better BJJ practitioner.

Often, BJJ sweep is not considered a submission technique, but it is necessary to learn to apply many submission techniques to get yourself in a dominant position. You should learn some sweeps, such as scissor sweep, hip bump sweep, and flower sweep. Scissor sweep is the most common. It is a fundamental sweep from the guard position. White belt BJJ should learn that sweep. You can move to a more dominant position by destroying your opponent’s balance and posture by applying this move. 

This technique is of great importance in submission techniques as you can turn yourself from a submissive position to a dominant position. But this technique requires perfect timing. You should know clearly when to apply this technique. Most BJ white belts learn scissor sweeps. It is easy and simple to use if you have learned it. It is a versatile technique, enabling you to apply it in various ways.

You can see the following video for visual instruction on doing the correct sweep:

BJJ Armbar is a very versatile submission. To do it effectively, grab your opponent’s neck to break down their posture and step on their hip on the same side. Push your knee against their shoulder to keep them from pulling their arms.

Next, bring your body perpendicular to theirs. Clamp down on their shoulders to keep them from slipping out. Think about kicking them in the back. Bring your other leg over their head and curl down to keep everything tight. To finish, just grab the waist and bridge your hips. Extend your hips for an extended armbar. You can also transition to the triangle.

BJJ Triangle is an excellent submission for both beginners and advanced grapplers. 

Step on your opponent’s hip and grab their wrists. Shove to their chest and throw your leg over the back of their neck. Bring your shoulders out so you will have enough room to triangle. Triangle is also very versatile. You can also hit it from the side control as well as from the mount.

A lot of times, people are trying to go to Mount. You should always look for the BJJ reverse Kesa-Gatame. 

Put your arm over your opponent’s head and sit on his hip, controlling his arm, and now throw your leg over the top. He can’t move you if he tries to push you backward or forward. You can come on top, put your chest on his head, and post your arm for a good mount.

The last submission technique every BJJ white belt must know is the cross-collar choke. 

As the name suggests, this technique can only be used against a fighter who is wearing a collar. This technique is dangerous and should only be learned under proper supervision. 

There are some things a Brazilian jiu-jitsu white belt should avoid.

The first you should avoid as a BJJ white belt is the ego. You can't learn and progress in your BJJ journey by carrying your ego all the time. You must be humble enough to learn new techniques daily to be a better BJJ fighter.

Sometimes, tapping out or escaping is the only option for BJJ practitioners during submission. In that case, you should keep your ego aside and try to escape or tap out. Otherwise, you can get injured. Tap out is the basic technique, and every white belt BJJ should learn at the start of the journey.

Another thing you should avoid as a BJJ white belt is training after injury. You should get rest and allow your injuries to heal; otherwise, the injuries will become severe. You can't continue your BJJ journey anymore. Injuries are common in combat support. But you can avoid these injuries if you learn to escape and tap out effectively. 

Another thing that BJJ white belts do is try to learn all the BJJ techniques. You can't learn all the techniques immediately. You must start with the basics and learn a few techniques initially. After learning basic techniques, move to advanced BJJ techniques step by step. Trying to learn all BJJ techniques will be the same as having no BJJ technique because it takes years to master BJJ. 

You should not focus on other’s belts. Many BJJ white belts compare themselves with others. While doing that, they either get demotivated or try to move in BJJ belt ranks quickly. You should keep in mind that every BJJ practitioner’s journey is different.

The journey of all BJJ practitioners can never be the same. So, it is a mistake to compare yourself to others. You must focus on your training and try to improve every day. With that mindset, you will eventually get the black belt. 

• No hands on the mat when you are passing the guard. The hand on the mat allows your opponent to attack Kimora’s.

• Two hands in or two hands out will get you triangled.

• Don’t grab the head from inside the guard.

• Don’t try to choke the opponent when you are in the guard. They can attack arm bars on you.

• Don’t hug your opponent tightly. He needs to create space. The more you hug him, the more you are helping him and gravity to hold you down.

• Don’t push on the person. Extended arms become tapping arms.

• Don’t let both arms pass to one side. In the mount, this will turn into back exposure. Whereas in side mount, this will turn into darts, chokes, or head and arm chokes.

• If your guard has been passed, the guillotine, for the most part, is over. Insisting on holding onto the person’s head is only going to keep them on top of you and also possibly get you choked.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu white belt should try to do the following things:

The first and foremost important thing for BJJ practitioners is to learn the BJJ white belt fundamentals. BJJ practitioners must start their BJJ journey by understanding the basics of the game. This will help them better learn BJJ techniques.

The next thing a BJJ belt should do is always focus on trying a new technique after mastering the previous one. He should not stick to a few techniques. Instead, he should continue learning more BJJ white belt techniques for submission or taking down the opponent. You should always try to improve yourself. 

The last thing you should do as a white belt is to save yourself from injuries. This is the most important thing. Many BJJ practitioners ignore this at the start of their careers. They get severely injured, so they have to take a break or even quit their BJJ career. 

These were some of the top ten BJJ white belt techniques everyone must know at the start. White belt is the start of the BJJ journey. BJJ beginners should develop a strong mindset and understand the fundamentals. After this, they should go on to learn basic techniques and moves. It is necessary to have a solid foundation at the beginning to excel in the BJJ journey.

Guard is the first move every BJJ white belt should learn. Full or closed guard is the most used guard type. BJJ fighters spend 85% of their time in only two moves: mount and guard. So, every BJJ beginner should know how to pull the guard and escape or pass the guard. 

Following are some things that you should avoid while practicing as a white belt BJJ.

• Being egoistic while training.

• Not take a rest and continue training after injury.

• Attacking when the only option left is escape pr tap out.

• Trying to learn all the techniques.

Well, there are some easy moves and techniques for white belt BJJ. But the easiest is the triangle choke. It’s the submission technique. You should learn it as a BJJ beginner. It is very effective and versatile.

Other easy moves are the arm bar and rear naked choke.

You should learn the following techniques as a BJJ white belt:

• Passing the guard

• Escaping the mounts

• Fighter mindset

• Relax and have some fun

• Grip Fighting Secret

• Armbar

• Triangle

• Mount

Gogoplata is often considered the toughest learning technique for a white belt BJJ. It is a chokehold and submission technique. In this technique, legs are kept higher than the opponent’s upper back, and the opponent’s hands are locked. The fighter chokes the opponent by pressing the shinbone. It is hard to execute because it requires accurate timing and position. 

Right Gripping depends on two things. First is the strength of your hands, which you can increase with training. The second is effective gripping. You should learn the correct way to have dominant, effective gripping.