It’s no secret: most people that start doing BJJ quit. It’s why the BJJ black belt is the hardest black belt to get. In this post I give the most common reasons why so many people quit BJJ and I explain why white belts quit BJJ and why blue belts quit BJJ.
1. Injuries
It’s sad but some people just get injured and cannot get back into training.
This happens the most with catastrophic injuries to the knees.
And other people just get fed up with all the small little injuries they have to endure for doing jiu-jitsu.
After having been out for several months there’s a big hump to getting back into BJJ, and many people never do it.
2. Life gets in the way
I’ve seen a lot of people quit because they got a new girlfriend that didn’t tolerate them being out of the house most evenings of the week.
A similar thing can happen when people get a newborn child or a new job.
It’s sad to see that some people have to quit jiu-jitsu because they cannot marry it with their private life.
But what I actually see more is that people break up with a new girlfriend because she’s getting in the way of training.
3. Ego
Some people just cannot get over their ego.
Most of these people quit Jiu-Jitsu fairly quickly at white belt.
This happens the most to bigger or athletic people that are not used to being the worst in the room at sports.
But even at the higher levels a lot of people because of their ego.
For example, a lot of colored belts that come back from a long break (because of an injury or something else) cannot get over the fact that they are getting beat by people who they used to beat.
This is so demoralizing to them that they quit.
4. They’re not having good enough results
Some people quit Jiu-Jitsu because they feel like they’re not improving as they shoot.
Maybe they have been a white belt for 3 years and at the Promotion ceremony again didn’t get promoted.
This can be demotivating.
I think this is one of the main reasons that white belts quit jiu-jitsu.
5. They stop having fun
Some people stop having fun while rolling. This is often tied to them stopping improving.
Of course it can happen that you just stop liking jujitsu and in those cases it’s smart to quit.
But a lot of the time I think it’s preventable.
The people that I see that stop having fun are usually the people that don’t try out a lot of new things.
They just play their game every night again and again and they get bored with it.
And they also stop seeing improvement which further demotivates them.
Therefore if you think about quitting Jiu-Jitsu because you’re not having fun I would advise you to first start trying some new positions and submissions that you’ve never played with before.
There’s so much to discover in Jiu-Jitsu that it can be an endless source of fun.
6. The training is too hard
Jiu-Jitsu isn’t for everybody.
It’s a full contact sport and it hurts a lot of the time.
Some people are just not into that.
So a lot of people quit Jiu-Jitsu right away because they find the training too hard or they quit after they get their first small injury.
7. They quit BJJ for Judo
There’s also a lot of people that quit Brazilian jiu-jitsu to pursue another martial art.
I have a friend that quit BJJ for judo, a few for MMA, and another that quit BJJ for muay thai.
This is perfectly natural and I’m always happy to see people pursuing other martial arts when they quit BJJ.
Why do white belts quit BJJ?
There’s many different reasons why white belts quit Brazilian jiu-jitsu:
White belts are too hard on themselves. They are very self critical and tend to have unrealistic expectations of themselves. They expect to be able to do techniques right away, and are disappointed when they aren’t able to. They quit because they don’t feel they are making progress.
White belts quit because they are intimidated. They feel they are in over their head. They have been told that the blue belt is the toughest belt to achieve, and there’s a lot of pressure. They are intimidated by the belt system and fear they will never be able to achieve it.
White belts quit because they don’t see benefits in the short term. They need to see results now. They don’t want to work hard for long-term benefits. They want to get in shape, feel good, and be able to defend themselves now. But it isn’t happening quick enough.
White belts quit because they don’t have a plan. They don’t have a set schedule or a plan for what they are going to do. They want to learn the basics, but don’t know how to get there. They need more tips and advice.
Why do blue belts quit BJJ? Blue belt blues?
There are many different reasons why blue belts quit Brazilian jiu-jitsu:
Blue belts quit because of the ‘blue belt blues’.The blue belt blues is kind of a myth but it’s definitely real for some people. Imagine having trained for very long and having finally achieved your blue belt. But now you need the train equally long again before your next achievement. It’s kind of daunting and it’s a reason why many blue belt BJJ.
Blue belts quit because they achieved their goal. They set out a goal to learn the basics and their blue belt in BJJ, and they did it. Now they’re ready to move on to their next challenge, outside of Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Blue belts quit for the same reason that everybody else quits. Life gets in the way, they get injured, they stop having fun.
Should I quit BJJ?
No. Unless you have a really good reason to, you probably shouldn’t quit BJJ.
It’s very normal to get demotivated at times or to feel like you’re hitting a plateau.
Instead try to focus on some new techniques that you haven’t been focusing on.
This will fuel improvement and respart joy during training.
Final thoughts on white people with BJJ
Everyone’s reason for quitting BJJ is personal. But I hope that I shared some of the main reasons why people quit BJJ, to help you decide if you should quit Brazilian jiu jitsu or stick with it.
