Black Belt Grading: Prof Alex Vasilovski

The one question beginners always seem to ask me is “how long does it take an average person to attain the level of black belt?”

In order to slowly introduce them to our type of training I lead with, “the most important thing is that you experience a class and see what the training is like”. This is because in Jiu Jitsu, the first hurdle a student needs to overcome is physically stepping onto the mats and training.

However, the truth is that the average person will never get a black belt.

It takes as much time to reach the rank of blue belt in Jiu Jitsu as it takes to reach a black belt in many other martial arts: approximately three years, depending on the amount you train and other factors. This is one reason why there is such a high dropout rate after a person gets a blue belt, because after all that time and effort, a black belt isn’t even visible on the horizon.

One person who trained consistently and sparred with people over 20kg more than his body weight for the last 11 years, is Alex Vasilovski. Alex embodies what it is to be a martial artist both in skill and character, with a witty personality.

I have trained this guy from the time he was a very young man, watching him steamroll through his competitions and hunt down nearly every giant in the gym for a roll. Off the mats he has excelled in his corporate career, and has married a lovely woman that can both challenge and keep this monster in line. They are expecting their second child together who will also be destined to train Jiu Jitsu, like their daughter in a couple of years’ time.

Congrats again Alex and as it’s been said before, our journey has just begun.