![GU.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNLyj3QYQ2YvVRSRFGw2zotveLhyTBxsn53KbmrK2emg2/GU.JPG)

So, to re-cap from my previous blog post; after my initial 3-4 years training in a more traditional BJJ academy around 2000-2004, which taught a mix of sportive and self defence BJJ, I then had a 10 year training hiatus following the close of that academy. From late 2014 until January 2018, my training resumed with friends and family on jigsaw mats in my garage, following the online curriculums set out on the Gracie University website. 

In the same fashion as my previous photo post; the attached photo in this post is a summary of the last 3 years (2015-2017) of my post-decade long hiatus, now-resumed BJJ training. You'll see my newer black Fuji gi jacket, and to lean on the wise words of Jocko Willink and Echo Charles, discussing gis on the Jocko Podcast: “…when you’re a little kid, and you think about martial arts, what do you wanna be? A ninja. You wanna be a ninja. So now you’ve got a 36 year old or 28 year old guy, and he’s feeling kinda ninja-ish, because he’s doing Jiu Jitsu. And he takes that one extra step and now he's got the black gi, boom; ninja”. (Jocko Podcast, ep. 112 w/Jordan Peterson – Life Is Hard. 12 Rules for Life). The Gracie Academy 16oz boxing gloves and mouth guard are in there too, which were used during the fight simulation and reflex development drills, involving trying to punch each other in the face from various positions to kind of pressure test your understanding of the position or move, and also to help develop your reflexes. The mouth guards were just a necessary accident precaution though, as we were only punching at about 10-15% power, just providing something to watch out for and block. And of course there’s the Gracie University technical blue belt, which has since been superseded by the Gracie Combatives belt, which visually, is a white belt with a blue stripe all the way down the length of it. You now receive the rank of Combatives belt upon successful completion of the Gracie Combatives program grading tests.
As you can see, the old technical blue belt looks virtually identical to a full official blue belt, except that it has Gracie University on the label at the tip of the belt, where as a full official blue belt has the Gracie Academy G triangle logo on the tip. Unless I’m mistaken, I believe that is at least one of the reasons why they redesigned and renamed this belt; so that it won’t be so easily mistaken for a full blue belt rank, either visually or by name. 

I think Gracie University has been online since around 2009, and I believe that there was a time initially when if you completed the Gracie Combatives curriculum, and successfully passed the 5 grading tests (via video), you were then eligible to be graded straight up to full blue belt. This apparently caused some friction within the BJJ community at the time, and after some eventual conferencing with Rickson Gracie, it was deemed soon after that it would be more appropriate for students to be eligible to receive the rank of technical blue belt if you pass the Gracie Combatives curriculum via video testing. In order to be graded up to a full blue belt though, you needed to be tested in-person at a certified academy by a certified instructor. 

So, myself and my training partner submitted and passed our Combatives tests via video and received our technical blue belts and certificates at the end of 2015. Sometime in early 2016, there was a unification announcement made between the Torrance Gracie Academy affiliates, and the Pedro Sauer academy affiliates, and it was also around this time that the technical blue belt was renamed the Combatives belt, and redesigned from being the solid dark blue colour in my photo, to a white belt with a dark blue stripe all the way down the length of it. 

From late 2015 up to January 2018, myself and my Combatives training partner continued our Gracie Garage training, but now following the blue belt stripe 1 course; the first course curriculum of the Master Cycle on Gracie University. The Master Cycle curriculum will eventually cover everything from blue belt stripe 1, through to brown belt stripe 4. Currently (February 2018), they have the curriculum up to blue belt stripe 4 available on Gracie University. You can complete the curriculum and test for any stripe via video testing on Gracie University, but each new belt rank/colour grading must be done in-person at an academy by a certified instructor. 

As of January 2018, the Gracie Garage training between my Combatives/Master Cycle partner and I is on indefinite hiatus, until perhaps someday in the future if one of us owns a garage within close-ish geographic proximity to the other, in which case the jigsaw mats will be thrown down, and we’ll Get After It accordingly. In the meantime, I’ll be continuing my training in the near future at a Gracie CTC which offers the same Combatives, Master Cycle etc curriculums as Gracie University. I’ll go into more detail about that in part 2 of these two Gracie University-related blog posts, as well as some thoughts and observations related to training via that curriculum. 
Cheers guys,
- David.