How many of you are NOT Black Belts?

[jdinca]

Yes, I do know that many CMA now have belt ranks, at least since they came to the US. But the schools I have been associated with do and did not. Could be where my Sifu’s came from and/or who their teachers are/were or the styles they teach. I have said before here on MT that I am a traditionalist and it is likely I get that from my teachers in CMA. Also, for all intensive purposes, I train Northern styles and those are also Internal CMA styles, except for non-sport Sanda and my sifu does come from the North but still has no ranking system.

However I will say I have been to seminars at YMAA and they have a ranking system but I do not think it is belts.

One thing I have noticed is that internal styles do not use a ranking system. I wonder if it's a philisophical thing between internal and external practitioners and teachers?

One example of the white, brown, black system I think was in China. It was a wushu school in Xi An province. The school kept the groups seperated but only the BBs wore their belts. When we had the Qi Gong seminar, the master who taught it was in street clothes with about 50 keys on a loop attached to his belt. He made a lot of noise.

 

[Xue Sheng]

One thing I have noticed is that internal styles do not use a ranking system. I wonder if it's a philisophical thing between internal and external practitioners and teachers?

I don't know if its philosophical or marketing these days to keep westerners interested to be honest. But I have not researched it either so who knows. But I was unaware that they did any belt ranking at all in China, but I am not surprised to hear it.

But I am basically an internal CMA guy so I am destined to be with out belt rank... :uhyeah:

One example of the white, brown, black system I think was in China. It was a wushu school in Xi An province. The school kept the groups seperated but only the BBs wore their belts. When we had the Qi Gong seminar, the master who taught it was in street clothes with about 50 keys on a loop attached to his belt. He made a lot of noise.

This however is not that different from some ranking systems I have read about from old China but I do not think they wore belts. They just knew who was a beginner who was intermediate and who was advanced. It was a 3 stage ranking system as well but as I said I do not think belts were involved and it was, if memory serves, an external style like Shaolin.

But there was no mention of keys

 

[searcher]

I am not a BB in EPAK and I am not formally ranked in the training I received form my dad as a kid. Though, I do hold Dan rankd sin Chito-ryu, Kobudo, and TKD. Of those ranks that I still claim.

 

[DMartialArtist]

I know what you mean i started when i was 6 with my sisters and i sucked even though i did make it to brown belt before i moved at about 10 and i didn't practice for about 4 years at all until i got back into it and went to sharkey's karate studio then i was forced to quit and later on i decided to head towards the goal of becoming one of the greatest martial artist of all time so i trained hard i used to have bad asmtha that is now completely cured and i became a lot stronger as well i pushed myself past my limits and i also trained my mind i read every martial arts book i could get my hand on i bought ankle weights and weighted vest and wrist weights and i ran in them and punched and kicked in them i used blindfolds and did sets of 1000 jumping jacks and squats and sit ups and tons of stuff basicaly i refused to give up and still do even though my parents think its a stupid goal and dont really understand i practiced on my own even if they don't want me to becasue i refuse to let anyone stop me from proving my way of the martial artist now i go to this united martial arts school and its awesome but my parents don't like it that must they think martial arts is a waste of time and i shoudl be some kind of scholar anway yes i do train on my own but i get help from time to time

 

[Kwiter]

Aaaahh you have Belt from JC Penny like Miyagi ;-)

Mine is from the Coach outlet I think and one from Yves St. Laurent, gotta ask the Mrs ;-)


I hold a full house in Ecky Thump the ancient art using bread pudding as a weapon(Stolen without permission from the BBC show Goodies)

I can crush grapes in my iron mandible!

I need coffee I'm getting loopy here. somebody stop me!

 

[searcher]

I hold a full house in Ecky Thump the ancient art using bread pudding as a weapon(Stolen without permission from the BBC show Goodies)

I can crush grapes in my iron mandible!

I need coffee I'm getting loopy here. somebody stop me!

You are truly gifted, oh great master of the iron mandible.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I hold a full house in Ecky Thump the ancient art using bread pudding as a weapon(Stolen without permission from the BBC show Goodies)

I can crush grapes in my iron mandible!

I need coffee I'm getting loopy here. somebody stop me!

:caffeine:

You are truly gifted, oh great master of the iron mandible.

Yes, yes he is.....

I have ALWAYS wanted to do that iron mandible thing

 

[Drac]

somebody stop me!

NO, Rant on ...

 

[sankaku-jime]

I have no black belt, I am unlikely ever to get one if I carry on training in the systems I train in now, because there are no belts or ranking.

I got a green belt in Jujutsu took me 3 years to get that, but no black belts not unless I buy one.

 

[IWishToLearn]

I have a Black belt in two styles, but I prefer to look at it as I have so much more to learn and I'd rather count the systems I haven't studied, and haven't earned any rank in.

 

[Drac]

I hold a full house in Ecky Thump the ancient art using bread pudding as a weapon(Stolen without permission from the BBC show Goodies)

I can crush grapes in my iron mandible!

You are not alone..Do a search for the Thread Who're you? Some funny stuff...

 

[Kwiter]

Ahhh the infamous Iron Mandible, first bite thru 100 coconuts then you must chin butt down 100 Palm trees then you shall be ready my friend.

Sounds like the show my kids watch, Fairly odd parents Jay Leno voices a character with a huge chin and comes from Chincinati, Catch phase "By my mothers Mandible..."

O:nen ki' wahi' Bye for now

 

[Xue Sheng]

Ahhh the infamous Iron Mandible, first bite thru 100 coconuts then you must chin butt down 100 Palm trees then you shall be ready my friend.

Sounds like the show my kids watch, Fairly odd parents Jay Leno voices a character with a huge chin and comes from Chincinati, Catch phase "By my mothers Mandible..."

O:nen ki' wahi' Bye for now

Not that I have any idea of what you are talking about but are you talking about the…… CRIMSON CHIN

 

[L Canyon]

I have not earned a black belt - I was a purple belt in Aikido, and now I have a brown belt in Kung Fu San Soo - of which I am very proud - but I have to admit that much of the time I feel like an absolute beginner....................

 

[Xue Sheng]

but I have to admit that much of the time I feel like an absolute beginner

That is a good thing. :asian:

 

[karatekid1975]

Aaaahh you have Belt from JC Penny like Miyagi ;-)

Mine is from the Coach outlet I think and one from Yves St. Laurent, gotta ask the Mrs ;-)


I hold a full house in Ecky Thump the ancient art using bread pudding as a weapon(Stolen without permission from the BBC show Goodies)

I can crush grapes in my iron mandible!

I need coffee I'm getting loopy here. somebody stop me!

hehehehehehe. I am the great grandmaster in typos. I also hold a BB in "Give-me-coffee!-do. Good enough for me And don't forget my Master Black belt ranking on MT I can post like "you know what" hehehehehehe

 

[Kwiter]

Yeah dats da guy, dat Crimson Chin feller, tho I'm ascared of the Bronze Kneecap and H2Olga ;-)

I'm stopping this sketch it's far too silly ;-)

Coffee-do eh? I think I need to study this one ;-)

Wahs skoha kawhe - Go and get me the coffee ;-)

And now for something completely different. I actually found a MA store in my neighborhood, been living here 10+ years and never noticed it, looks like it's been there FOREVER!

I miss Treasure Island on 57th and 5th ave in Brooklyn, bought many a book there as well as Bokken, Sai and other goodies.


To get back onto topic to some extent, just realized I have a semi famous teacher in the neighborhood, Sifu Peter Berman teaches a few blocks away at Yee's Hung Ga

Skennen Peace.

 

[tradrockrat]

Well lets see - I do have two black belts, butI've studied a few other systems virtually one one one with the teacher, but by the time I did formal rank just didn't matter to me - at all. So I would say I have a good bit of knowledge about a few systems out there with no official rank at all.

What I really want is Iron Mandibles...

 

[Ceicei]

Not a black belt yet, but that time for the test will eventually come. Hopefully in a year or two...

- Ceicei

 

[Xue Sheng]

This is very likely a its just me thing.

But I was thinking about this last night and when I was in Jujitsu I was very young and I liked my training very much but I was focused on one day becoming a black belt. When the school closed I was nowhere near it, that and since I was not close to 18 yet and you could only get your black belt at 18 or older, assuming you had done the training and passed the tests.

I then went to TKD and I was again making my goal the black belt, again due to school moving and not being able to be there for the test days I did not attain it.

Later I got into CMA and there were no belts and I found that I focused a lot more on the actual forms and applications and my goal became to do those things correctly. Not that it was not required to do the same to get to a black belt it just was one less thing to worry about and gave me more focus on the actual arts I now train.

Although I will admit I still would have liked to get a Black Belt in Jujitsu, but I am very happy in CMA without rank