Does 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Have A Belt System?
Whether you are brand new to BJJ or have only practiced traditional BJJ in the gi you might wonder about 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu is a style of jiu-jitsu that focuses only on no-gi BJJ. Since they do not have Gi’s you might be wondering if there is still a belt system at 10th Planet.
10th Planet does give out belts. Like other BJJ schools, you start as a 10th planet white belt and follow the same belt system as traditional BJJ. However, since 10th Planet is no-gi only you do not wear the belt in class.
That said, many people at 10th Planet wear colored rash guards that signify their rank. I went to a 10th Planet school for a while and can attest that many students chose to wear a rashguard that was the same color as their belt rank.
This is not however something that a student was required to do. 10th Planet is much more relaxed about these kinds of things than some more traditional BJJ academies are.
Does 10th Planet Give Out Belts?
When someone at 10th Planet is promoted to a higher belt they will receive a real jiu-jitsu belt to take home. The only reason that they do not wear a jiu-jitsu belt is that they do not wear gis.
Since the point of a belt is to tie the jacket of the gi, there simply is no logical reason to wear it. That said, you do get a real belt at 10th Planet that you can take home.
Though it is not practical that you will ever use a belt, it is more of an honorary symbol of the dedication you put in to progress in the 10th Planet Belt System.
The 10th Planet Belt System
10th Planet follows the same belt system as traditional BJJ does. First, you would start off as a white belt, followed by blue, purple, brown, and black. Ranking up in belts usually takes about the same amount of time as it would in traditional BJJ.
10th Planet Blue Belt Timeline
To reach blue belt you can expect to train 10th planet jiu-jitsu for roughly 1-3 years. This is the same amount of time it would take to get a blue belt in traditional BJJ.
Like in traditional BJJ schools, to get you 10th Planet blue belt you will be required to have learned the fundamentals of their system.
How Long To Get A 10th Planet Purple Belt?
After reaching blue belt it will likely take another 2-3 years to reach purple belt in the 10th Planet system. So from the time starting 10th Planet, you will likely get your purple belt in 4-6 years if you train constantly.
This again is the same time frame it would take to get a purple belt in traditional BJJ. Becoming a 10th Planet purple belt is the first belt that moves you into your advanced belt levels.
10th Planet Brown Belt Timeline
It will take yet another 1-3 years to reach brown belt from purple belt. So all in all you are looking at about 6-9 years of training to become a 10th Planet brown belt.
The Brown belt is the last belt before black in the 10th Planet belt system. Getting to brown belt in the 10th planet system is an accomplishment very few every make it to.
How Long Does It Take To Get A 10th Planet Black Belt?
After brown it takes another 1-3 years to reach black belt. All in all, it would take 8-12 years of consistent training on average to reach the black belt in the 10th Planet system.
So basically, 10th planet has the same belt system as other BJJ schools. You will just be mastering their system instead of the Gi system.
A black belt in BJJ or 10th Planet Jiujitsu is an accomplishment very few every make it to. After all, it will likely require at least 10 years to accomplish if you are consistently training.
For someone who does not train constantly or takes breaks in their jiujitsu, it will likely take much longer than 10 years to become a black belt.
Is A 10th Planet Black Belt A Real BJJ Black Belt?
A 10th Planet black belt is a legitimate black belt in no-gi jiujitsu. That said, 10th Planet system is different enough from traditional BJJ that many would say that a 10th Planet black belt is not a BJJ gi black belt.
I am not arguing that these people would not consider a 10th Planet black belt an amazing world-class grappler. But what they would argue is that to be a BJJ black belt you have to learn the gi techniques as it is a very foundational part of their art.
So where would a BJJ instructor put a 10th Planet black belt if they came to their academy? Well, it seems when a handful of BJJ instructors were asked this question they had many very different answers. Some simply said that they would start them off with a black belt.
It seems like a popular opinion would be that they would start them at brown belt until they learned how to use the gi. Then they would be quickly promoted to black belt. I think this might be true if a Gi black belt went to a 10th Planet school as well.
Most likely they would be a 10th Planet brown belt until they learned the truck, the rubber guard, and many other fundamental 10th planet techniques.
Either way, even if some would not consider a 10th planet black belt a Gi BJJ black belt, most would agree that they are legit black belts in the sport of submission grappling.
In Conclusion
Yes, 10th Planet jiu-jitsu does give belts. However, since they do not wear gis they do not wear belts during class. They might instead choose to wear a ranked rashguard to signify their rank.
10th Planet is a great place to learn no-gi jiu-jitsu but it is a little different than gi jiu-jitsu. The 10th Planet belt system is the same as the BJJ belt system.
That said, the 10th Planet Jiujitsu system is different than the BJJ system. 10th Planet has its unique No-GI system. So though it follows the same color progression as BJJ the techniques you learn will be different.
