How to build a BJJ curriculum for white belts
· Co-founder of Matpass.
A BJJ curriculum for white belts is a set order of positions and techniques that every beginner learns in their first months, taught in fundamentals classes on a fixed cycle. Start with safety and escapes, teach the main positions one at a time and use positional sparring so beginners try each one against a resisting partner.
This guide covers what to teach first, how to choose between a beginner course and a rolling cycle, a 12-week example plan, how to run each class, when white belts should start rolling and how to keep every coach teaching the same thing.
What is a BJJ curriculum?
A BJJ curriculum is the written plan of what your gym teaches, in what order and in which classes. For white belts, it usually covers the first three to six months: the positions, escapes and submissions a beginner needs before they can roll safely and enjoy it.
A written curriculum helps everyone at the gym:
- Beginners know what's coming next week, so missing a class doesn't leave them lost.
- Coaches teach the same basics in the same order, whoever is on the schedule.
- Head instructors can see what a student has covered when they think about stripes.
A clear plan also helps you keep beginners. The guide on why BJJ white belts quit covers the reasons beginners leave and what the gym can do about them.
Should white belts start with a beginner course or a rolling curriculum?
Choose a beginner course if you can fill a group that starts together, and a rolling curriculum if new people join every week. Both work, and many gyms run a course for complete beginners and a rolling fundamentals class for everyone else:
| Model | How it works | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner course | A fixed group starts on one date and follows the plan to the end | Gyms with steady sign-ups and a clear start each month |
| Rolling fundamentals | The plan repeats every 8 to 12 weeks, and anyone can join any week | Gyms where new members arrive at any time |
Art of Ground Games in Helsinki runs a six-week beginner course of twelve sessions, and the course is no-gi so nobody needs a uniform to start. Its founder explains how the classes after the course are set up:
We have a lot of white belts, so the classes are built to be useful for them, not just survivable. They start together on the beginner course, which is No-Gi, so nobody has to buy a uniform to find out if they like it. After that they join All Levels classes, where the experienced members help them along.
Vann "Jungi" Nikkan, founder of Art of Ground Games (full interview)
In Matpass, a beginner course is its own kind of event, with a public page where people sign up and pay for their place, and attendance marked for each session. Rolling fundamentals classes sit on the normal schedule with the level set to Beginner, so new members can find them.
What should a BJJ white belt curriculum cover?
A BJJ white belt curriculum should cover safety first, then escapes, then each main position with one or two techniques from it. Teach a small number of techniques well, because a beginner who can escape mount and hold closed guard will enjoy rolling more than one who has seen thirty submissions once.
| Block | What to teach |
|---|---|
| Safety and movement | Tapping, breakfalls, the shrimp, the bridge and standing up in base |
| Escapes | Escaping mount, side control and back control |
| Closed guard | Posture control, one sweep and one submission, such as the armbar |
| Guard passing | Posture in the guard, opening it and one simple pass |
| Top positions | Holding side control and mount, and moving between them |
| Back control | Taking the back, holding it with hooks and the rear naked choke |
| Starting from standing | One simple takedown and how to pull guard safely |
I'd teach escapes before submissions. White belts spend most of their first rolls underneath, and knowing how to get out makes those rounds feel like training.
What does a 12-week white belt curriculum look like?
A 12-week white belt curriculum teaches one position a week, in two classes, then starts again. Here's an example. Change the techniques to match how your gym plays.
| Week | Topic | Example techniques |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safety and movement | Tapping, breakfalls, shrimp, bridge, standing up |
| 2 | Mount | Holding mount, the bridge and roll escape |
| 3 | Side control | Holding side control, escaping to guard |
| 4 | Closed guard | Posture control, the scissor sweep |
| 5 | Closed guard submissions | Armbar, cross collar choke or guillotine |
| 6 | Guard passing | Posture, opening the guard, a knee slice pass |
| 7 | Back control | Taking the back, hooks, the rear naked choke |
| 8 | Back escapes | Escaping the back, defending the choke |
| 9 | Half guard | Bottom half guard, getting back to guard |
| 10 | Open guard basics | Butterfly guard, one sweep |
| 11 | Standing | A double leg or single leg, pulling guard safely |
| 12 | Review | Positional rounds from every position in the cycle |
A member who trains twice a week sees every position in three months, and a member who joins in week 7 has seen the whole cycle by week 6 of the next one. This BJJ fundamentals curriculum works the same in the gi and in no-gi, with grips changed for the uniform.
How should you structure a fundamentals class?
Structure every fundamentals class the same way, so beginners know what to expect. A simple BJJ lesson plan for a 60-minute class:
- Warm-up with movement drills (10 minutes): shrimps, bridges and breakfalls instead of running laps.
- Technique (20 minutes): one or two techniques from the week's position, shown in small steps.
- Drilling with resistance (10 minutes): partners add a little resistance each round.
- Positional sparring (15 minutes): short rounds that start in the week's position, such as "top tries to hold side control for a minute, bottom tries to escape".
- Questions (5 minutes): what worked, and what to try next time.
Positional sparring lets beginners test a technique against real resistance without the chaos of a full roll. In a 2026 randomised study of 60 BJJ practitioners, from advanced white belts to brown belts, eight weeks of training built on constrained sparring games lowered how stressful participants found training, while the group taught with technique demonstrations and repetition saw no clear change. The study didn't include complete beginners, and it measured stress with the authors' own questionnaire, so treat it as a promising sign.
When should white belts start live rolling?
White belts should start live rolling once they can tap, breakfall and escape the main pins, which takes most beginners a few weeks of positional sparring. Sparring is where most training injuries happen, so the first rolls need the most care.
In a 2025 study of 881 BJJ practitioners, 79% of training injuries happened during sparring, and white and blue belts were injured more often than brown and black belts.
Make the first rolls safe:
- Start white belts against higher belts who roll with control.
- Set clear rules, such as no slams and no heel hooks.
- Keep the first live rounds short, and give a break between them.
- Watch the room, and step in early when a roll gets too hard.
How do you keep every coach teaching the same curriculum?
Write the curriculum down and share it with every coach, so the class follows the plan whoever teaches it. One page per week is enough: the position, the techniques, the drills and the positional sparring rounds.
- Keep the plan in one shared place, such as a shared document or a folder of short videos.
- Have the head instructor teach the first cycle, and the other coaches teach the next one.
- Ask coaches to note anything they changed, so the plan gets better each cycle.
Tell members the week's topic too. In Matpass, you can give a fundamentals class a title such as "Week 4: closed guard" and add a note that members see on the class page, so beginners can prepare or catch up.
How does the curriculum connect to stripes and promotions?
Connect the curriculum to stripes by reviewing white belts after each full cycle. A beginner who has trained through the whole 12-week plan and can show the escapes and positions in rolling is a natural candidate for a stripe.
In Matpass, you set requirements for each belt in Settings → Graduation, such as a number of classes or months at the current belt, and members see how many classes they've done since their last promotion in the member app. The guide on how to promote students in BJJ covers stripes, criteria and promotion days.
What comes after the white belt curriculum?
After the white belt curriculum, students move into your regular classes, where they build on the same positions in more depth. A BJJ blue belt curriculum usually adds more guards, chains of attacks, combinations between positions and more time in live rolling.
Keep fundamentals classes open to blue belts too. Teaching the basics again helps experienced members fix their own gaps, and beginners get partners who know the techniques.
Key takeaways
- Write down what your gym teaches beginners, in what order and in which classes.
- Run a beginner course if new members start together, and a rolling cycle if they join any week.
- Teach safety and escapes first, then one or two techniques from each main position.
- Repeat the plan every 8 to 12 weeks, so every member sees each position.
- Use positional sparring in every class, and start live rolling once beginners can tap and escape.
- Put the week's topic on each fundamentals class, such as a class title and note in Matpass.
- Review white belts for a stripe after each full cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a standard BJJ curriculum?
No. The IBJJF sets belt ranks and minimum times, and leaves what to teach to each academy. Some affiliations share a curriculum between their gyms, and most independent gyms write their own.
Should beginners learn gi or no-gi first?
Either works. No-gi lets people try BJJ without buying a uniform, and the gi adds grips that slow the game down. Pick the one most of your classes use, so beginners move straight into them afterwards.
Does a small gym need a written curriculum?
Yes, even with one coach. A one-page plan per week takes an evening to write, and it means beginners get the same basics when someone else covers your class.