Guide
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt system, explained
What are the belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and how is each one awarded?
The adult Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt order is white, blue, purple, brown, then black, with up to four stripes marking progress within each belt. There is no fixed schedule from one to the next: promotion is the coach's judgement, formed by watching you train against resisting partners, rather than time served or a syllabus test. The adult belts are generally measured in years rather than months, and how many varies widely between students and between academies.
The adult belt order
White, blue, purple, brown, black. After black there are further degrees, and eventually the red and black coral belt and the red belt, which are awarded for decades of contribution rather than for competitive ability.
Stripes are small marks of tape on the sleeve of a belt. Academies may use up to four to mark progress within the coloured belts, but practices vary and stripes do not promise a promotion date.
The adult belt order, in sequence
- 1. White beltThe first colour in the adult sequence
- 2. Blue beltThe first promotion, and the one most people train toward
- 3. Purple beltThe colour between blue and brown
- 4. Brown beltThe belt before black
- 5. Black beltFurther degrees are awarded after it
Read top to bottom: white, blue, purple, brown, black. The outline on every bar is there so the white and the black belt are both visible on the page, not part of the belt. The divider near the right-hand end marks the sleeve of the belt, which is where stripes are taped. How long any of it takes is not shown, because there is no fixed schedule to show.
The children's colours are a different system
If you have seen belt colours that are not in the list above, you were probably looking at the youth system. The IBJJF publishes a separate graduation system for the under-16 age categories, and it uses colours that do not appear in the adult order at all. The two do not map onto each other, so a youth colour is not an adult rank and cannot be read as one.
The adult order is the one that applies here, because the timetable at this academy carries adult classes only. We have linked the governing body's own graduation page below rather than reproducing the youth table, since the age categories and the colours that belong to them are exactly the sort of detail worth reading at source.
One thing the graduation system is not is a schedule. It sets out which colours exist and which age category each belongs to. It does not tell you when anyone will be promoted, and neither does this page.
A belt is not a prerequisite for anything on the timetable: the dedicated beginner hours exist for people with no rank at all. See how the class formats differ, or book the $30 trial and start at white like everybody else.
Sources: IBJJF graduation system. Checked 3 November 2026.
How long each belt takes, honestly
There is no single promotion timetable for every student. Governing bodies publish eligibility and grading requirements, and academies assess students within their own teaching context. A minimum requirement is not a prediction of when you will be promoted.
What the time depends on is how often you train, how much of that is live practice, whether you compete, what injuries interrupt you, and how much time you spend on the parts you are bad at rather than the parts you enjoy. Training more often generally helps. How much faster it will make you specifically is not something anyone can quote in advance.
If the question behind this one is when your next promotion is coming, the useful version to ask your coach is what they want to see from you next.
Why BJJ promotion is slow
In many martial arts a grading is a scheduled test against a syllabus. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, promotion is usually the coach's judgement, based on watching you handle resisting partners over months. There is often no test at all: the belt is handed to you at the end of a class.
This makes the ranks unusually meaningful: a belt here reflects what a coach has watched you do against people who were trying to stop you. It does not come with a guarantee about anything outside the gym, where size, surface, surprise and whether you can simply leave all matter. It also makes the white belt period long, which is the part most beginners underestimate.
What the white belt period is actually for
Defending positions, attempting escapes and understanding when to tap are useful topics to ask about in an introductory class. The balance between these and submissions depends on the class and coach; this is not a fixed first-year curriculum.
Ask your coach which fundamentals to work on next rather than comparing your promotion date with another student's. Students bring different experience and training patterns.
Stripes and what they mean
A stripe is not a formal rank. It signals that the coach has seen consistent improvement, and it exists mainly to give a long belt some visible waypoints. Some academies award them on a rough schedule and some only when earned; neither approach is wrong.
Do not read too much into another person's stripes. Standards vary between academies, and a four stripe white belt at a demanding gym may be stronger than a fresh blue belt elsewhere.
Related questions
There is no promised timetable. Ask your coach which skills and training habits they want to see before promotion. Competition eligibility and governing-body requirements are separate from an academy's assessment of a student.
This page does not offer a training-duration estimate. Promotion depends on the academy's assessment and any applicable grading requirements; attendance alone is not a promise of rank.
Stripes mark progress within a belt, up to four before the next promotion. They are an informal signal from the coach rather than a formal rank, and standards for awarding them vary between academies.