DutchLaw,
I understand why people need "extrinsic" motivator to continue progressing. Incidently it has less to do with age and more to do with mindset.
My point more or less is those have "instrinsic" motivation or more likely to continue in a sport or activity with any outside motivators such as belt or competition medals.
Progression in and of itself is their motivation and reason for continual participation. This isn' the case with those who are "extrinsically motivated". Belts and medals are the reasons for their continual participation.
Difference bteween purple and brown are the same differences between blue and purple, and the rest of the belts for that matter.
A higher belt is able to impose his will on the other guy. This is usually because the higher belt is a move or 2 or three moves ahead of the lower belt.
Example:
A higher belt will be going for a omo plata by initiating a sweep, to a triangle, back to a sweep, then the actual omo plata. The lower belt is thinking, "got to defend this sweep", then he ends up wondering how he got in an omo plata, which leads to another series of attacks. The lower belt is always steps behind.
Also, cardio is a technique, no different than the guard. So higher belts must be in good enough shape to handle the strong, athletic white or blue belts.
"Also, cardio is a technique"
Uh...
m.g. is correct and what the hell is 007 going on about "...cardio is a technique"?
Cardio is a technique. Yes, it's true. It's an very important technique.
You have to develop it and maintain it just like you would develop your triangle or arm attacks.
w/o cardio, you won't have the stamina to hang with someone in good shape. You won't have the wind to pull off the double and triple attacks that higher belts do.
As a higher belt, you must have decent cardio, just as you must have a decent guard. How many out of shape brown or black belts do you know? Don't say Rigan.
Mmm... Cardio is an "Attribute", that can be improved and trained like many other attributes e.g., strength. Techniques relate to tactics, something that implies a correct way of doing something. There is no correct way of doing "Cardio", nor does one train cardio in the same manner as technical/tactical training.
What I suspect 007 is eluding to is that one's cardio ability is one of the many determinates when it comes to a players overall "Skill". Skill can be defined in many different ways however my preference is:
"Skill consists in the ability to bring about some end result with maximum certainty and minimum outlay of energy, or time and energy (Guthrie, 1972)"
This certainly implies a good cardio base would be an asset if not an important component of a skillful players bag-of-tricks.
I agree with Dutch Law saying that cardio would be more of an attribute to your game rather than an actuall bjj technique. Obviously in no way would it be a hinderance.
"So higher belts must be in good enough shape to handle the strong, athletic white or blue belts".
How high we talking here? I think a brown belt should be able to handle even an athletic blue belt. His technique should be superior enough to where his cardio shouldnt be a factor.
How many out of shape brown or black belts do you know? Don't say Rigan.
I would think a lot of these guys are in shape because of what they do. Obviously there not the average 35 yr old blue belt who trains 2 or 3x a week just for a little workout. I would bet a lot of guys are really into fitness as a lifetstyle not just for their bjj, but im sure thats also a big part. And consider now that they do train bjj a few times a week if not daily.
makutapwitbjj,
You would think a brown belt should be able to handle a athletic blue belt but that isn't always the case.
First off belts in and of themselves never represent skill. Secondly since the actual skill level of a so-called belt level varies from school to school your general comment may not hold water in reality.
A brown belt in one school may actually be not much better than the athletic blue belt of another school.
The problem with belt ranks in regards to true skill level is it sounds good and is very idealistic to say a blue should beat or handle a white belt, a purple should dominate a blue, a brown should best a purple and a black should beat them all, BUT somewhere along the scheme of things this idealistic picture falls apart when some athletic blues and purples with a strong work-ethic, are giving hell and handling browns and blacks.
While people feel skill development and true skill level should follow the neatly laid out ranking system it doesn't.