4 hrs? I’d be dead in a test like that. I sweat so much that my whole body would be cramped up.
We once had actually a guy who cramped up completly. Since he new if he can´t continue he would´t pass the test he let himself draggin into the middle to continue rolling;-)
But it didn´t help he had to do it again. Anyway it is not 4 hours fighting. Usually it is 90-120 minutes techniques they have to show. Then 60 minutes stand up against strikes, ground against strikes, stuff like that.
Thank position sparring and at the end 15 minutes free rolling with a news fresh opponent every minute.
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I mean, if you can’t do pretty jiu jitsu moves or teach them but you can hang with and tap black belts rolling, you’re a blackbelt.
I will say, having never tested for a belt, I have no idea how they work. Like, do you pick a certain set of subs, sweeps, guard passes, etc and have them demonstrate it all? If this is the case, is your curriculum driven by this? Like, do all blue belts have to demonstrate the same 10 things? And if so, what are they? Then, what happens when you start to test purple, brown, and black belts that have started to build their own game? Like, what if lasso guard never worked for me but I have a killer deep half game? Do I fail because I have spent zero time using lasso guard?
Again, we never tested at my school so curious how this works.
BJJ has become the new TKD. This is exactly what BJJ purist laughed at traditional karate/TKD/Kung Fu for.
BJJ is no different.
If your professor trains and rolls with his students daily he knows there level and no need for test.
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I have a glaring hole in my game, I cannot do triangles. Don’t get me wrong, I can demonstrate how they are done, but the last time I caught one while rolling was probably 5 years ago against some 16 year old who weighed 90 pounds soaking wet. Being a short stocky guy who hates being stacked, in 11 years I have never been able to add it to my game. I would love to, but man, I would fail if it was a requirement. I work a good deep half guard and have good sweeps from guard but my attacks are lacking. Kimura, yes. Armbar, sometimes. Omaplata, usually as a sweep. Triangle? Literally never. How is this addressed in a test?
Good points. I agree in that I have a certain game. Not that I can’t do or demonstrate a certain position but my body type is great in certain positions and not so great in others.
I think it’s completely unnecessary and takes away from the surprise of getting promoted when maybe you didn’t expect to.
If you’re training consistently your team and your coaches are going to know exactly how much you’ve improved and how well you’re able to implement techniques on others, so a test wouldn’t really tell you much. I’ve seen people at certain gyms skip training entirely just to practice for an upcoming test and I don’t think that should be the point of focus for students.
For instance Roger Gracie says he only does a handful of techniques but does them better than anyone in the world. Would Roger Gracie be denied a purple belt because he doesn’t do a berimbolo up to the professors standards?
I personally don’t like them at all. But to each there own.
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My feelings exactly.
Exactly. When did you ever see Garcia hit a triangle off of his back? Buchecha?
It’s not a good move for a lot of people’s games.
Exactly. This is why I don’t mind shark-tank type testing if you’re going to do it at all. It’s a test of proficiency and endurance, and not being able to parrot moves exactly like your instructor showed you.
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The whole week before I got my brown belt my coach paired me up with all the brown and black belts each round and then rolled with me at the end of the class for that week. I knew something was up because he never paired me up with people, and to pair me with the stronger dudes and watch.
No real “test” given but he did test me by throwing me into the mix to gauge how far I had come. Our gym is pretty big and he doesn’t have the time to watch everyone roll every class since he’s on the mat training himself so I was ok with this “test”
The only time a student should be tested for a belt is when the person who might promote them does not know them and needs to test them to see if the belt fits.
Do you think it would be easier just to roll with them?
Of course, but sometimes you just see “their game” when they roll, and a belt should be indicative of breadth of knowledge as well. A real “test” would be to roll with them, or watch them roll against high belts and also have them demonstrate the moves that everyone should know by the time they get the next belt they are testing for.
The whole “belt test / no test thing” is such a clusterf@ck, that --at the Shendokan-- we did away with it…
In it’s place, we got a mechanical Claw Machine game where the student puts in some money and --IF they have the skill-- use the giant claw hand to grab and claim their next belt. --It’s tricky!
Obviously, the higher the belt, the more it costs to play.
So far, VERY popular!
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Coming for my brown belt
Bring a LOT of quarters.
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my machine only takes $20 gold saint gaudens double eagles. You need to get with the times. This is the roaring 20’s.
First off, I think the whole idea of belts in Bjj is dumb (for lack of a better word).
Who are the promotion/belts for? The students? Students don’t need an instructor or a belt to tell them they have progressed or are progressing… Students should know for themselves if they are learning, improving and progressing.
Belts are pointless except to “resprent” progress, knowledge and ability.
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