Contradictions In The Martial Arts

[Hot Lunch]

Black belt certainly wasn't a motivator for me when I started BJJ, because it was so far off that it didn't seem real.

It did end up as a motivator 15 years later when I was eventually awarded my black belt. The reason was that I didn't feel at all deserving. I thought I was at least another 2-3 years away from being able to properly back it up. So I spent the next year after I was given the belt training extra hard just so that I wouldn't be an embarrassment to the rank and my instructor.

I've said this before, but at the school where I train, the judo there appears to be intended to supplement the BJJ training there. I walked in there solely intending to sign up for judo, but walked out signed up for both, since the cost to do both (versus judo only) was too good of a deal.

I read a stat yesterday that said that only 10% of those who start BJJ make blue belt. And of those blue belts, only 1% make it to black belt.

Translated to raw numbers, that means out of 1000 who sign up for BJJ, only 100 make blue belt. From there, only one person will make black belt.

So while black belt is, at minimum, a decade a way; I've been given an opportunity to do something that 999 people of 1000 fail to accomplish - or, to literally become the 1% of the 1%. I suppose that when the day comes that I start second-guessing myself, that will be an important thing to keep in mind.

 

[PhotonGuy]

You rebrand and repeat threads and questions over and over again, you miss obvious points and ask to be spoon fed what it actually means.

What somebody interprets as a point of a post the only way for me to know why that particular person draws that conclusion is for that person to tell me. We all draw our own conclusions and we all have our own considerations because we're all different. So for me to know why somebody else has a certain conclusion or consideration they would have to tell me. Call it spoon-feeding or whatever you want but it's the only way for me to know. After all, I can't read other people's minds.

 

[Xue Sheng]

What somebody interprets as a point of a post the only way for me to know why that particular person draws that conclusion is for that person to tell me. We all draw our own conclusions and we all have our own considerations because we're all different. So for me to know why somebody else has a certain conclusion or consideration they would have to tell me. Call it spoon-feeding or whatever you want but it's the only way for me to know. After all, I can't read other people's minds.

and then you wait 5 months to respond.... I've wasted enough time with this thread of yours and I will not feed into your thread bump any longer...

 

[PhotonGuy]

and then you wait 5 months to respond....

I know. I can sometimes take even longer to respond. Years in some cases.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Actually, Unel was not trying to make the guy look stupid at all. After removing the belt from the display case and naming the price, he went on to explain the real point of Karate was the training. The color of the belts are irrelevant, it is the development of skills by continued training and dedication which matters most. I assumed you guys would understand the point without having to explain all of this, but it appears I was wrong - never in a million years would I have thought somebody would misunderstand the recollection of this story and take it literally

Well yes the training and the development of skills is what matters most, but to wear a belt of a particular color at a particular dojo means you've developed the skill required to wear said belt at said dojo.

So, what the potential student was asking was how long on the average does it take to develop the skill to wear a black belt at Unel's dojo. It is not uncommon for such a question to be asked.

 

[Steve]

I know. I can sometimes take even longer to respond. Years in some cases.

It’s true.

 

[PhotonGuy]

It’s true.

I know, but, better late than never.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I know. I can sometimes take even longer to respond. Years in some cases.

Do you think people remember what their thought process was years earlier? To figuee it out, they'd have to reread a minimum of 10 pages of posts on each of your threads to remember the context of their post. It gets very tiresome.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Do you think people remember what their thought process was years earlier? To figuee it out, they'd have to reread a minimum of 10 pages of posts on each of your threads to remember the context of their post. It gets very tiresome.

Just think of @PhotonGuy tonite when you look at the stars. That light you see has been traveling since before you were born just so you could see it tonight.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Do you think people remember what their thought process was years earlier? To figuee it out, they'd have to reread a minimum of 10 pages of posts on each of your threads to remember the context of their post. It gets very tiresome.

I know. I can procrastinate which Im working on.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Just think of @PhotonGuy tonite when you look at the stars. That light you see has been traveling since before you were born just so you could see it tonight.

Yes the light from most of the stars has been traveling since before all of us were born although its not just so that I can see it, it's so that everybody can see it.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yes the light from most of the stars has been traveling since before all of us were born although its not just so that I can see it, it's so that everybody can see it.

No, it's specifically so I can see it. You're not supposed to look.

 

[Steve]

Do you think people remember what their thought process was years earlier? To figuee it out, they'd have to reread a minimum of 10 pages of posts on each of your threads to remember the context of their post. It gets very tiresome.

You guys don’t do that? I reread threads all the time around here. How do you keep up with what has been said? It helps a lot, particularly when folks get a little emotional.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

You guys don’t do that? I reread threads all the time around here. How do you keep up with what has been said? It helps a lot, particularly when folks get a little emotional.

I do. But mostly when I'm bored, not in a time to respond to people on the current discussion. There's a reason I tend to stop responding to threads once they hit page 5 or so.

 

[Steve]

I do. But mostly when I'm bored, not in a time to respond to people on the current discussion. There's a reason I tend to stop responding to threads once they hit page 5 or so.

Fair enough. I usually go back and read some or all of it when things get squirrelly or when it gets necro’d like this.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Fair enough. I usually go back and read some or all of it when things get squirrelly or when it gets necro’d like this.

When I see that I make a choice. If I'm interested/have the time I'll do that. If not, then I just don't respond, or only respond on the new stuff.

 

[Mider]

I sometimes notice that there are big contradictions in the martial arts. For instance, and I've discussed this before, how they will say that being a first degree black belt doesn't mean you're a master or even an expert it just means you're a serious beginner, but then they make it so hard to get that you practically have to be a master to get it. Sounds very contradictory to me.

Different schools with different views. Black belts generally teach classes, even lower belts so obviously they’ve reached a level of mastery.

 

[PhotonGuy]

No, it's specifically so I can see it. You're not supposed to look.

I can't help it.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Different schools with different views. Black belts generally teach classes, even lower belts so obviously they’ve reached a level of mastery.

Yes that is true, I was sometimes expected to help teach when I was a brown belt.

 

[HighKick]

Different schools with different views. Black belts generally teach classes, even lower belts so obviously they’ve reached a level of mastery.

I would say they have reached a level of proficiency where they can teach a skill to someone else. But that is a Long way from mastery.