Lining up in Jiu Jitsu

Every gym is different and have different rules. But if your gym gets you to line up in before and/or after class I'm pretty sure it'll be by belt ranking order.

The reason for this is to respect the order of your seniors. It doesn't matter what gender you are or how old you are. You could be 50 years old but if you're a white belt you stand behind the 16 year old blue belt.

In this case the blue belt is the senior and will be respected on the mat. This 16 year old have been training for 4 to 5 years already to be a blue belt. A 50 year old white belt has only been training for a few months.

The ego of what your life experience off the mats means very little on the mats.

I like to let people stand in front of me because I respect everyone on the mat. As a martial artist, I'm not here to smash everyone. I am here to do my best and if I happen to beat some people great, if not even better because I have plenty to work on.

If someone is the same rank as me I'll let them stand in front of the line. Because I don't want to stuff myself to the front and be annoying.

All in all, you don't lose anything from showing respect to others on the mat. People who spent more time on the mats will need to be respected regardless of anything out side of jiu jitsu.