Its about the journey not the destination

[Gnarlie]

On the contrary, there've been some people who have said its disrespectful to ask questions about rank. You obviously don't take that position based on the answers you've given before including this one but not everybody is like that. So with the point that as you say I keep rehashing over and over again, its addressed to those who say you shouldn't ask about rank or why you're not being graded and Im not trying to get them to change their answers rather Im asking them based on their philosophy, how would they know if they can test if they don't ask?

They keep training hard and wait until they are invited to test.

 

[Dirty Dog]

On the contrary, there've been some people who have said its disrespectful to ask questions about rank. You obviously don't take that position based on the answers you've given before including this one but not everybody is like that.

It's been said countless times, and you still don't get it. The problem is the focus on RANK, as opposed to focus on SKILL. There's is a vast difference between someone asking me about RANK, vs asking me about TRAINING.

So with the point that as you say I keep rehashing over and over again, its addressed to those who say you shouldn't ask about rank or why you're not being graded and Im not trying to get them to change their answers rather Im asking them based on their philosophy, how would they know if they can test if they don't ask?

Again, you confuse rank and skill.

 

[Transk53]

Just out of curiosity PG, you have any evidence of you're ranking?

 

[Tez3]

Actually, there have been some significantly different opinions expressed in the various threads PG has started on the subject, some of them contradicting the ideas you just listed. Some of PG's postings seem to be in reaction to those opinions.

The problem is he never addresses his comments to the people he wants to answer, he uses a scattergun comment which is applied to us all even when we agree with him. His comments are often so random they can't be connected to anything posted then he tells us it's in answer to something else. He contradicts himself so many times it makes reading posts a dizzying experience.
If he's stated what he trains in many of us have missed that post, I know his posts aren't made with any ill will otherwise no one would bother answering, but really with all the good will in the world it's hard to follow his points even though we do try.

 

[Xue Sheng]

PG has detailed his training background more than once and I've never noticed him refusing to do so.

Just out of curiosity, where? I believe i missed that post

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Just out of curiosity, where? I believe i missed that post

He mentions some of it in the recent When did you all start martial arts? thread. (Also in post # 212 above). He covered it more in his original thread about the miscommunication with his instructor way back when, but I don't feel like digging through old posts to track it down.

If I remember correctly, he's around 30 or so and has been training Shito Ryu since age 12, which would give him about 18 years in that art plus some exposure to some other arts as well. Certainly respectable, but not anything to make him a senior practitioner around this forum.

 

[PhotonGuy]

My kids used to know everything and refused to take anything I said seriously when they were teenagers also. It's amazing how much smarter I became once they got a bit older though.

I can't say I've had the same experience.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Wow you've been training for over 62 years, how very cool!

I might've misread it but I thought you said somewhere in an earlier post that you're in your 20s. My main style of Shito Ryu Karate I've been training in for about 25 years. If you're 62 than I stand corrected but as I said I thought you were in your 20s. If you aren't than its my bad.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Actually, PG got the black belt promotion he was concerned about years ago. (Although the promotion was delayed because of a misunderstanding about the need to sign up for the test.) What he seems to keep obsessing about is the proper process for communicating expectations.

Well you know there's something wrong when a promotion is delayed for almost ten years. As it was, I had plans that involved getting a black belt by a certain age and my plans depended on that.

Actually, there have been some significantly different opinions expressed in the various threads PG has started on the subject, some of them contradicting the ideas you just listed. Some of PG's postings seem to be in reaction to those opinions.

Thank you for pointing that out.

PG has detailed his training background more than once and I've never noticed him refusing to do so.

That I have although if people keep asking about it I have no objection to that although I do have a reputation here for repeating stuff.

PhotonGuy, you definitely pulled out the " training in for possibly longer than you've been alive" card on the wrong person.

Actually, this is a hazardous forum to make that claim in general, unless you know exactly who you are talking to. I've been training for 34 years now and there are still a number of people here who can consider me to be a young whippersnapper.

If you're talking about Tez than as I posted previously, I was wrong about her age.

 

[PhotonGuy]

He mentions some of it in the recent When did you all start martial arts? thread. (Also in post # 212 above). He covered it more in his original thread about the miscommunication with his instructor way back when, but I don't feel like digging through old posts to track it down.

If I remember correctly, he's around 30 or so and has been training Shito Ryu since age 12, which would give him about 18 years in that art plus some exposure to some other arts as well. Certainly respectable, but not anything to make him a senior practitioner around this forum.

Actually Im pushing 40 and yes, I did start training in my main style at the age of 12, although I've had to take some time off in between.

 

[PhotonGuy]

They keep training hard and wait until they are invited to test.

Well how about if you haven't been invited to test and significantly more than the average length of time it should take for you to test has passed? Obviously you're doing something wrong. It could be as simple as not knowing that you're supposed to take the initiative to test instead of being invited to do so, but you wont know that without asking.

 

[PhotonGuy]

It's been said countless times, and you still don't get it. The problem is the focus on RANK, as opposed to focus on SKILL. There's is a vast difference between someone asking me about RANK, vs asking me about TRAINING.



Again, you confuse rank and skill.

There is a relationship in that skill is required for rank. So somebody with a high rank is not going to get the high rank without high skills, as I've said countless times.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Just out of curiosity PG, you have any evidence of you're ranking?

Well I do have the certificates but aside from that you can choose to believe me or not. Either way doesn't matter to me.

 

[Gnarlie]

Well how about if you haven't been invited to test and significantly more than the average length of time it should take for you to test has passed? Obviously you're doing something wrong. It could be as simple as not knowing that you're supposed to take the initiative to test instead of being invited to do so, but you wont know that without asking.

That is highly unlikely to happen if one trains hard as per their instructor's guidance.

Working out your own problems is part of the process of maturing as a martial artist.

 

[Danny T]

Well how about if you haven't been invited to test and significantly more than the average length of time it should take for you to test has passed? Obviously you're doing something wrong. It could be as simple as not knowing that you're supposed to take the initiative to test instead of being invited to do so, but you wont know that without asking.

So did you ask? When you got the answer did you embrace it and do what you were told?
If so, there you go.
If not, there you go.

 

[Zero]

I might've misread it but I thought you said somewhere in an earlier post that you're in your 20s. My main style of Shito Ryu Karate I've been training in for about 25 years. If you're 62 than I stand corrected but as I said I thought you were in your 20s. If you aren't than its my bad.

Smooth, very smooth moves! The ladies always dig it when you say you thought the were younger

 

[Zero]

Well you know there's something wrong when a promotion is delayed for almost ten years. As it was, I had plans that involved getting a black belt by a certain age and my plans depended on that.

I don't follow this, is TonyD just joking or did you really not get your belt because you failed to sign a form??! No way!

Are you saying you got to brown belt and then it took you another ten or twelve years to get the black? Or that it took you ten years in total, which is a long hard grind but not unusual at all for getting a black belt at some clubs, particularly if you are throwing travel and/or work disruptions into the mix.

What were your "plans"? Did you want to get the bb or dan belt relatively quickly/early so you could get on with opening up your own school/classes at an early age (all fine if you got the skills and understand the content)?

 

[Zero]

There is a relationship in that skill is required for rank. So somebody with a high rank is not going to get the high rank without high skills, as I've said countless times.

That is the ideal but...

...this unfortunately is simply not the case. You can come across reasonably high ranked - into the dans - practitioners that are not well rounded at all in the application of their given style.

I wish what you were saying was true but there are just too many examples out there going against this. I've come across quite a few myself and, while I don't agree with the concept of "if it ain't on Youtube, it ain't real", there are many examples on youtube of "high ranked" persons or persons holding themselves out there to be of high rank that look terrible, both with their fighting application and also with their kata "displays".

I've seen some pretty shocking examples in TKD and across numerous karate styles.

 

[Tez3]

I might've misread it but I thought you said somewhere in an earlier post that you're in your 20s. My main style of Shito Ryu Karate I've been training in for about 25 years. If you're 62 than I stand corrected but as I said I thought you were in your 20s. If you aren't than its my bad.

I've never mentioned my age anywhere on here before, I have joked with K man about who is older though. Please do carry on thinking I'm in my twenties though! With my son and daughter in their thirties and forties it cheers me up.

 

[PhotonGuy]

I would like to point out I've never heard of a college advisor telling a student to shut up and study. Students should and usually do feel comfortable about asking their advisor anything they feel they need to ask about getting a college degree and if its a good advisor, they will do a good job to make sure the student is comfortable asking such questions. An advisor who tells a student to shut up and study probably wouldn't keep their job.