The National Grappling Research Institute (NGRI) confirmed Tuesday that an estimated 94,000 blue belts across the country have formally adopted a new training philosophy called Minimum Viable Training (MVT): a systematized approach to attending just enough class to technically remain a student without experiencing any measurable skill growth.
The framework, which researchers describe as "remarkable in both its consistency and its ambition," was first articulated by Derek Hollandale, 29, a product manager at a Columbus-based SaaS company who trains at Eastgate Combat Sports and has held his blue belt for three years and four months.
"The idea came to me during a retrospective," Hollandale said, referring to the Agile software development ceremony. "I realized I had already identified my MVP — my minimum viable participation threshold — and I had been operating within it for about 22 months without even knowing it. Once I named it, I could optimize it."
Hollandale's MVT framework, shared in a 47-slide deck presented to his training partners in early April, defines the threshold as two classes per week concentrated on Thursdays and occasional Saturdays, limited live drilling, and zero competition registrations. The objective, as articulated in Slide 9, is to "maintain current skill level indefinitely while allocating bandwidth for other core competencies."
Slide 47, titled "Plateau as Feature, Not Bug," has since been screenshot and forwarded by 3,400 blue belts across 41 states, making it the most widely distributed BJJ training document of Q1 2026.
"I'm not not training," Hollandale clarified. "I'm training at a sustainable cadence."
Coach Marcus Tillman at Eastgate Combat Sports has watched Hollandale's framework spread through his gym like a mat rash nobody wants to acknowledge. Three other blue belts immediately began citing MVT to explain attendance patterns Tillman had previously attributed to work conflicts, summer travel, or what he had generously interpreted as a rough stretch.
"I had one guy, Jason, miss six weeks in a row and I genuinely thought something happened to his family," Tillman said. "Then he came back and showed me a Notion page. He had categorized his six-week absence as an 'MVT recalibration sprint.' He seemed proud."
Tillman stared at the wall for approximately twelve seconds before continuing.
"He's been a blue belt since 2022."
NGRI's formal recognition came after analysts noticed it had been practiced de facto for years without a name. The Institute's April report, "Blue Belt Behavioral Plateaus: Nomenclature as Validation," found that 78% of blue belts surveyed had maintained their exact current skill level for 12 to 36 months, a figure the report describes as "statistically indistinguishable from stopping."
The difference, researchers noted, is that MVT practitioners have not stopped. They have achieved what the framework calls "sustainable stasis."
"There's an important difference between quitting and entering maintenance mode," said Dr. Patricia Olubunmi, the report's lead researcher and a blue belt since 2019 at a gym she asked not be identified. "Quitters don't renew their memberships. MVT practitioners absolutely renew their memberships. Often on autopay. Sometimes they even buy new gear."
The gear numbers are telling. Among 400 MVT practitioners surveyed, NGRI found that average annual spending on equipment ($847/year) held steady or climbed even as mat hours fell. Hollandale owns six gis, two rashguards he ordered before deciding rashguards were "a competition mentality," and a foam roller he has used once.
"Gear purchasing is a form of engagement," he said.
Not everyone bought in. Professor Elena Vasquez, a black belt who runs Ironclad Jiu-Jitsu in Phoenix, tried to explain to three blue belts last month that "minimum viable" in product development means launching something designed to grow, not something designed to stay exactly where it is forever.
The blue belts nodded, thanked her for the feedback, and labeled her concern a "blocker" in a shared Trello board.
"They said they would take it to the next retrospective," Vasquez said. "I don't know what that means."
Hollandale responded with a follow-up document, "MVT v1.2 — Response to Objections," distributed via Slack to 14 training partners. MVT is not about regression, the document explains. Regression is the enemy of sustainable stasis. MVT practitioners are obligated to maintain exact current skill level.
"You can't let yourself get worse," Hollandale said. "That would violate the framework."
When asked how he measures whether his skill level is actually being maintained, Hollandale said he does not tap to the same person twice in a row, which he counts as a data point.
The interviewer noted that he had tapped to his coach's teenage daughter three consecutive times the previous Thursday.
"Those were controlled tests," Hollandale said.
Practitioners are excited about what they call the stackability of MVT: how easily additional philosophies can be layered on top.
Ryan Castellano, 33, a data analyst at Ironhaven BJJ in Tampa, has developed an extension called Minimum Viable Rolling (MVR), in which he attends class but selects training partners exclusively from a pool he has already established he can submit. His system, maintained in a Google Sheet with 14 columns and a conditional formatting scheme, ensures that each session "produces a net positive outcome for core confidence metrics."
"It's about protecting your data," Castellano said.
His coach, Professor Dario Mendes, was reached for comment and requested the interview be conducted by email. His response: "I have been teaching jiu-jitsu for seventeen years. Ryan is the first person I have coached who requires a spreadsheet to decide who to roll with. I do not know what to do with this information."
A third extension, from Gina Nakamura, 27, a UX designer at Bridgeport Grappling in Seattle, applies the MVT model to technique retention. Her system, Minimum Viable Repetition (MVR-T), calculates exactly how many times a technique must be drilled to avoid forgetting it, then stops drilling at that number.
"I'm not learning anything new," Nakamura said. "I'm preserving what I have."
When asked what she has, Nakamura said: "A functioning armbar from mount. It works about 60% of the time on white belts."
She has been a blue belt for two and a half years.
Hollandale is currently developing MVT v2.0, which will introduce a points-based engagement multiplier allowing practitioners to count watching instructional videos as 0.3 training equivalents. He estimates the update will be ready by Q3, pending bandwidth.
Asked what belt he expects to hold when the update is released, Hollandale thought for a moment.
"Blue, obviously," he said. "I'm in maintenance mode."
At Eastgate Combat Sports, Coach Marcus Tillman is currently accepting applications for purple belt candidates. Six white belts are eligible. His blue belts are in a retrospective.