Been a white belt for 5 years

[JMR]

The title pretty much says it all. Been training collectively for about five years (with a few summers off in between) and I'm still a white belt.

I'm paying attention in class and giving it everything I have. But it's gotten the point where the thing I love is depressing the hell out of me. I leave the gym feeling like I don't belong there. My attitude was great the first few years but now the frustration is seeping through.

I guess I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with something like this or knows of someone who was in a similar situation who stuck with it and eventually became like a purple belt or something. I'd quit but I know if hate myself for it.

 

[drop bear]

I was a white belt for almost ten years. It depends. If you are getting stuffed around in training because of it. Then Mabye you need to fix it. If not. White belt is a no pressure rank.

If you want to rank up. Do competitions and attend seminars.

And the die your gi so you get noticed.

 

[Hanzou]

The title pretty much says it all. Been training collectively for about five years (with a few summers off in between) and I'm still a white belt.

I'm paying attention in class and giving it everything I have. But it's gotten the point where the thing I love is depressing the hell out of me. I leave the gym feeling like I don't belong there. My attitude was great the first few years but now the frustration is seeping through.

I guess I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with something like this or knows of someone who was in a similar situation who stuck with it and eventually became like a purple belt or something. I'd quit but I know if hate myself for it.

If you feel like you don't belong, find a new gym. It's your money and your time. If you're going off on on, then try training consistently for a few months and see if things get better. Again, don't stay out of obligation, stay only if you're enjoying your time there.

 

[Hanzou]

I was a white belt for almost ten years. It depends. If you are getting stuffed around in training because of it. Then Mabye you need to fix it. If not. White belt is a no pressure rank.

If you want to rank up. Do competitions and attend seminars.

And the die your gi so you get noticed.

View attachment 23667

If I wore that my old gym would force me to be shark bait for a week straight.

 

[JowGaWolf]

The title pretty much says it all. Been training collectively for about five years (with a few summers off in between) and I'm still a white belt.

I'm paying attention in class and giving it everything I have. But it's gotten the point where the thing I love is depressing the hell out of me. I leave the gym feeling like I don't belong there. My attitude was great the first few years but now the frustration is seeping through.

I guess I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with something like this or knows of someone who was in a similar situation who stuck with it and eventually became like a purple belt or something. I'd quit but I know if hate myself for it.

Are you depressed because your skill level isn't improving or are you depressed because you are still a white belt?

The reason I asked is because they are not the same thing. A person can have solid skills and be a white belt just like a person can have horrible skills and be a black belt. If your skill level is improving and you are getting better, then I wouldn't worry about being a white belt. If your skill level isn't improving, then it becomes a question of:
1. Is my instructor not good at teaching someone like me
2. Do I show up enough at class

A school may keep you at a white belt for various reasons. Have you done any testing to get to the next belt level? If so, what were the things you didn't score high on?

 

[drop bear]

If I wore that my old gym would force me to be shark bait for a week straight.

Yeah. But how good would you get doing it?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Are you depressed because your skill level isn't improving or are you depressed because you are still a white belt?

The reason I asked is because they are not the same thing. A person can have solid skills and be a white belt just like a person can have horrible skills and be a black belt. If your skill level is improving and you are getting better, then I wouldn't worry about being a white belt. If your skill level isn't improving, then it becomes a question of:
1. Is my instructor not good at teaching someone like me
2. Do I show up enough at class

A school may keep you at a white belt for various reasons. Have you done any testing to get to the next belt level? If so, what were the things you didn't score high on?

@JMR I agree mostly with what jowga said here, with one exception. Does your belt level prevent growth in learning new skills? What I mean is that certain schools will limit, for instance, teaching ankle locks until blue belt, or stick with the curriculum and only teach what is meant for your belt. If your skill has increased beyond 'white belt level', but they aren't advancing what they're teaching you, that's something you should discuss with your instructor.

In general though, it doesn't hurt to talk with your instructor, maybe schedule some privates, to figure out why either you're not improving, or why he's not advancing you. Communication is key.

 

[Buka]

Welcome to Martial Talk, JMR. Hope you enjoy it here.

I think all the above advice is very sound.

Think about the advice everyone has offered. Give each piece some thought, maybe give it all a shot.
Just don't get down on yourself.

I've been a white belt in BJJ for twenty-nine years now. I don't actively train in BJJ anymore, except for helping some folks with very basic grappling skills. Probably won't be anytime soon, what with the pandemic going on, and availability to me where I am. But that's okay.

Please keep us posted.

 

[JMR]

Are you depressed because your skill level isn't improving or are you depressed because you are still a white belt?

The reason I asked is because they are not the same thing. A person can have solid skills and be a white belt just like a person can have horrible skills and be a black belt. If your skill level is improving and you are getting better, then I wouldn't worry about being a white belt. If your skill level isn't improving, then it becomes a question of:
1. Is my instructor not good at teaching someone like me
2. Do I show up enough at class

A school may keep you at a white belt for various reasons. Have you done any testing to get to the next belt level? If so, what were the things you didn't score high on?

I don't really know. I think it's that I feel my skill level isn't improving. I'm getting crushed by people who have only been training for like 2 months. I'm about 40 lbs under weight and I'm sure that plays a part but it doesn't feel like a valid excuse to me.

I'm probably not training enough, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Still, I feel like I should be improving.

We don't really do testing. Professor just promotes based on what he sees I guess.

Thank you for your input!

 

[JMR]

@JMR I agree mostly with what jowga said here, with one exception. Does your belt level prevent growth in learning new skills? What I mean is that certain schools will limit, for instance, teaching ankle locks until blue belt, or stick with the curriculum and only teach what is meant for your belt. If your skill has increased beyond 'white belt level', but they aren't advancing what they're teaching you, that's something you should discuss with your instructor.

In general though, it doesn't hurt to talk with your instructor, maybe schedule some privates, to figure out why either you're not improving, or why he's not advancing you. Communication is key.

The only thing we can't do is leg and wrist stuff. Which sucks because a previous gym I went to was all about teaching everyone how to heel-hook and whatnot. I definitely don't feel like I deserve a blue belt. I belong at white. I'm just irritated I'm not getting any better. My professor is great but his only advice is to keep coming. Maybe I'm not asking him the right questions though.

 

[JMR]

If you feel like you don't belong, find a new gym. It's your money and your time. If you're going off on on, then try training consistently for a few months and see if things get better. Again, don't stay out of obligation, stay only if you're enjoying your time there.

It's not the gym. I love everyone there. I feel I'm just out of place I think. Like maybe jiu jitsu isn't for me.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I'm probably not training enough, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Still, I feel like I should be improving.

From my experience with how I learned Kung Fu and how I had practice Piano when I was a kid. 2 or 3 times a week is not enough training time to be good at anything. 2 or 3 times a week won't make you good in Martial Arts and it won't make you good in learning how to play the Piano.

Remember this rule: When you think of your training, don't think of it as How many days your train. Think of it as how many hours you put in.


I below I break down my training vs the training of some of my classmates.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you only go to class 3 times a week and you are my student, I would tell you that you need to either train longer sessions for the 2 or 3 days, or you need to train more days. Here's why.

1 hour class for 3 days a week = a total of 3 hours of training a week (probably less if part of that hour is spent on conditioning and stretching). This is not enough to get good in martial arts or to be good in playing the piano. It's probably not enough to be good in anything. Especially if 15 - 30 minutes is used specifically for conditioning. High school athletes train almost every day for more than 1 hour. Then they train more when they are at home either conditioning or practicing skills drills.

My Jow Ga classmates trained 2 to 3 times a week for a total of 3 hours week.. I trained 5 to 6 times a week for 2 or 3 hours a day. Some of my weekends were 3 to four hour sessions. So I'm I'm training 18 hours a week. Guess who became good enough to use Kung Fu..

3 hrs /week compared to 18 hrs /week.
12 hrs/ month compared to 72 hr/ month
72 hrs in 6 months compared to 432 hrs in 6 months
144 hrs /year compared to 864 hrs/year. I kept this up for 2 years. They were lucky to max out at 288 hours in 2 years.
I easily maxed out at 1728 hours in 2 years, because I didn't include total hours from my 4 hour sections nor the time that I spent training at home.

In the case of my classmates who trained 2 or 3 days, they got less than 144 hrs of training hours a year. I put in more training in 2 months than they did in 1 year. If I trained as if I was doing competition then I would be training at least 4 hours a day. I think competitive high school track was 3 hours of training after school. So I know if I'm not doing that much then I'm not doing enough to be competitive.

Just something to think about.

 

[JowGaWolf]

It's not the gym. I love everyone there. I feel I'm just out of place I think. Like maybe jiu jitsu isn't for me.

This may actually be the case for you. If you are not passionate enough about it to train more than 2 or 3 days a week then you may enjoy the environment more than the martial art. And that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. You just have to remember that you get what you put in. Keep that in mind and it won't depress you.

You mention that you feel out of place because your are not advancing, so you probably feel like you are being left behind. There's only one answer for that. Put more hours into your training.

My guess is that your teacher is counting your training hours as well. He may actually have his belt promotions based on the number hours students train.

 

[drop bear]

It's not the gym. I love everyone there. I feel I'm just out of place I think. Like maybe jiu jitsu isn't for me.

You need to roll more. Or do situational drills. Basically your timing will be out of wack.

Getting manhandled by noobs isn't uncommon in jits. It is just the risk you take when you do an art that doesn't lie to to.

So look at a doing a competition. Train realistically for it. So you spend 12weeks generally improving fitness and basics and getting a bit of moungrel in you, rolling with real intent. And see where you are against other white belts your size.

Take those lessons back to training and repeat the process until you are at a stage where you feel comfortable with your development.

Otherwise you could do a class of wrestling or MMA where Mabye the culture is a bit more competitive. So that the jumps of intensity isn't as big a hurdle as they might be at the moment.

 

[hoshin1600]

im going to throw this out there for the more knowledgeable to answer. is it common place for a BJJ teacher to be called Professor? the only time i have ever heard anyone use Professor is in kenpo karate. it makes me think maybe this is not a legit school and thus why he is not getting better. which of course is totally separate from the belt progression. 5 years seems like enough time to be fairly competent even at 2 times a week. maybe not on par with the rest of the school especially if its really geared toward competition, but still should see progress.
my other thought is that the instructor has a very defined expectation for the next rank up and its just not getting met. which could be something as simple as attitude or how you approach the training. i know i am guilty of doing this. i see the student and i think until he gets xxx or stops doing xxx he is going to stay where he is.

 

[drop bear]

im going to throw this out there for the more knowledgeable to answer. is it common place for a BJJ teacher to be called Professor? the only time i have ever heard anyone use Professor is in kenpo karate. it makes me think maybe this is not a legit school and thus why he is not getting better. which of course is totally separate from the belt progression. 5 years seems like enough time to be fairly competent even at 2 times a week. maybe not on par with the rest of the school especially if its really geared toward competition, but still should see progress.
my other thought is that the instructor has a very defined expectation for the next rank up and its just not getting met. which could be something as simple as attitude or how you approach the training. i know i am guilty of doing this. i see the student and i think until he gets xxx or stops doing xxx he is going to stay where he is.

Professor is common. (Sort of) in BJJ.

Professor Title

 

[Buka]

im going to throw this out there for the more knowledgeable to answer. is it common place for a BJJ teacher to be called Professor? the only time i have ever heard anyone use Professor is in kenpo karate. it makes me think maybe this is not a legit school and thus why he is not getting better. which of course is totally separate from the belt progression. 5 years seems like enough time to be fairly competent even at 2 times a week. maybe not on par with the rest of the school especially if its really geared toward competition, but still should see progress.
my other thought is that the instructor has a very defined expectation for the next rank up and its just not getting met. which could be something as simple as attitude or how you approach the training. i know i am guilty of doing this. i see the student and i think until he gets xxx or stops doing xxx he is going to stay where he is.

Here on Maui Professor Luis Heredia is a 6th Degree Black Belt under Rickson Gracie.

The school is as legit as it gets.

 

[PhotonGuy]

The title pretty much says it all. Been training collectively for about five years (with a few summers off in between) and I'm still a white belt.

I'm paying attention in class and giving it everything I have. But it's gotten the point where the thing I love is depressing the hell out of me. I leave the gym feeling like I don't belong there. My attitude was great the first few years but now the frustration is seeping through.

I guess I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with something like this or knows of someone who was in a similar situation who stuck with it and eventually became like a purple belt or something. I'd quit but I know if hate myself for it.

In BJJ you usually progress slower through the belts than in other martial arts. I myself was a white belt for two years when I started BJJ. You start with a white belt and each time you get promoted you get a stripe on your belt or if you already got the maximum number of stripes which for the white belt is four then the next time you get promoted you get your next belt. It took me about four months to get my first stripe, do you have any stripes on your belt?

 

[PhotonGuy]

I was a white belt for almost ten years. It depends. If you are getting stuffed around in training because of it. Then Mabye you need to fix it. If not. White belt is a no pressure rank.

If you want to rank up. Do competitions and attend seminars.

And the die your gi so you get noticed.

View attachment 23667

Ten years is a bit long to be a white belt even for BJJ, were you training consistently for those 10 years?

 

[PhotonGuy]

Are you depressed because your skill level isn't improving or are you depressed because you are still a white belt?

The reason I asked is because they are not the same thing. A person can have solid skills and be a white belt just like a person can have horrible skills and be a black belt. If your skill level is improving and you are getting better, then I wouldn't worry about being a white belt. If your skill level isn't improving, then it becomes a question of:
1. Is my instructor not good at teaching someone like me
2. Do I show up enough at class

A school may keep you at a white belt for various reasons. Have you done any testing to get to the next belt level? If so, what were the things you didn't score high on?

You're not going to be a black belt if you have horrible skills, not in BJJ, at least I've never heard of any BJJ school that just hands out belts, BJJ schools are different from most other schools in that they take their belts very seriously.