Outside of personal accomplishments, belts are kinda bullshit. Once you’re a good blue-early purple you can handle yourself against most (untrained) people. Some purples at certain gyms can smash blacks at others.
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Yeah. I actually don’t like the belts & think it takes away something from it imo. I know it’s motivating to some, but I don’t like it & think it causes more problems than anything.
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People upset about not getting promoted, uneven standards for promotion, worrying about getting caught by lower belts, being out for years then trying to backup your rank when you come back lol.
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Not sure how long you have been training, but at 41, 3 major joint surgeries, and more cortisone shots than should be allowed by law on my resume, I could care less if I get tapped by a lower belt.
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Im at just shy of 10 years. Lots of breaks. But idc about my belt. But that’s also because Im older so its no gi for me
Not saying me personally.
Belts are bullsh!t. They’re restrictive and look stupid on the street. That’s why the Shendokan switched to a colored scarf ranking system.
You can tie it around your neck all sorts of fun ways, wear it like a sash or headscarf --it’s up to you!
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I think the belts have a place.
They aren’t abstract meaningless things though. To me they are like degrees certifying a level of knowledge and competency.
Blue means you aren’t seeing any fundamentals you’ve never seen. You have a solid attack from each top position, a sold escape from each bad position. You know and can defend every common sub if it’s applied by someone the same belt level your size or smaller. Most importantly you aren’t doing dumb shit. And you better never get tapped by a spazzy athletic wrestled-in-high-school new guy unless there’s a 20kg difference. You can roll with strikes with another blue belt and still not do dumb shit.
Purple you better know modern guards and understand the leg entanglements. You better be able to toy with the athletic new guy. You should have an a game you can catch browns and blacks in occasionally if they’re letting you work
Brown you should understand your a game and have it polished sharp. You don’t need to be good at every style, but you better be able to identify every style.
Black, you should know how to teach every style and the types of situations it’s useful. Don’t pressure pass? I don’t care, you better be able to teach it to the new stocky guy. Don’t standing pass? Better be able to teach it to the new fast small wrestler. Don’t bolo? Better know how to teach it to a small flexible nerd. You don’t have to know all of the intricacies of everything, but you should be able to get students a base they can build a great style off of using independent study
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Belts signify achievement and keep people engaged. As a wrestler growing up I didn’t think I cared but they did mean something to me as I got older.
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There are three phases to anything
1 - don’t know what you’re doing
2 - kind of know what you’re doing
3 - you know what you’re doing
For jiu jitsu, while belt is 1 and blue & purple is 2 and brown and black is 3.
I have seen some people in 2 who beat people in 3 due to age and athleticism
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I like the sound of that. Where can I sign up to become a student of Shendokan?
Why not just rolling at a black belt level? Not everyone wants to teach or share.
I see how that could be criteria if it’s someone who sucks and isn’t athletic but understands the game well enough to deserve a black belt.
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And to me, that’s the problem with the belt system. You have guys who might know what they’re doing but physically are not that good. Are they a black belt or not?
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If they’re not competing, maybe.
You don’t have to teach, but you have to have that level of knowledge, in my opinion.
Nicky Rod is a brown belt. Belts aren’t about who’s level you can roll at, for me. They’re about how much knowledge you have
Ehh I don’t look at it that way. To me its like a surgeon, guy can have all the knowledge in the world on how to do something, but if he doesn’t have steady hands, I don’t want homie operating on me.
Out of curiosity, what is your current rank?
I don’t think it matters how many techniques you know but rather how competent you are with the arsenal you do have and how you handle yourself in different situations. Wallid Ismail is the perfect example. Wallid is an elite black belt but I doubt he shows many people how to berimbolo. Same with Mario Sperry. Maybe they do but I doubt it.
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Yeah, that’s why wrestlers are a bunch of pussies. We don’t have a belt system. How can we ever tell if somebody is good without a belt system…
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BJJ belts are like weather forecasts. “Feels like a blue belt”.
“He managed to get an arm bar on me, must be a black belt”.