What good are BJJ belts?...

[BOUNCER]

I found this one on an Irish forum and thought I'd post it over here. Makes good reading IMO.

"One of my athleticley gifted newer blue-belts was asking me the other night "what is the difference between a brown and a black belt, is it just time? and what about those really good brown belts? who beat black belts?"
I first asked him to remember when he was a brand new white belt. Can you remember rolling with a solid purple belt, how it didn't feel any different from a brown or black belt? You could feel the technical difference between a blue belt and white, but not really the other belts. When you are a blue-belt, the "eager belt" you can feel the difference between purple-belts from brown and black, but brown and black still feel much the same. When you get to puple belt, thats when you see the technical differance between the brown and black-belts. Timing is refined, there is less reliance on attributes that you could'nt feel as a blue belt. Purple belt tends to be the "cockey belt" On a good day your hanging well with browns and blacks, But if you elimated attributes you would check-mated most of the time, although you you know exactly how it is being done to you. Brown belt is the "confident belt" your slowing your game down and refining the signatures of your game. Your much more able to detach from what "your doing" thus allowing you to really read your opponent. Black-belt is the "mature belt" your watching the "roll" almost from outside of your body, you clearly see and feel the differance between technique and attributes in both yourself and those you roll with. You observe the roll while your rolling.

To use the swimming analogy.........Brand new white-belts can't swim, they panic and lack techniques to survive in water, they dog paddle to exhaustion. Then they learn the basic strokes, they still relie heavily upon muscle based rapid, jerky body movement to keep afloat. Mentally they still panic. The new blue-belt has become comfortable in the water, he knows the strokes and can swim, although there is still that fear of drowning going on mentally. Movements are often forced. Purple is when you become extremely comfortable in the water "

[billy_ba]

mr miagi says "belt only good keep pant up"

[BOUNCER]

mr miagi says "belt only good keep pant up"

Gwasshopper he say "Mr Miagi doesn't twain with Gi, Bwecause Dwarw stwing hold pants up, belt hold Gi closed"

[MMA]

"your belt covers two inches of your ass, you have to cover the rest" - royce

thanks bouncer, good read

[GQ-Bouncer]

cool Bouncer

Society it seems is sorta phasing out the importance of the belt system now that sport mentatlity it taking over

[MMA]

cool Bouncer

Society it seems is sorta phasing out the importance of the belt system now that sport mentatlity it taking over

and i have no problem with that. a ranking system doesn't give you the abilities described above, it simply labels them. respecting someone for their ability to acually perform (championshps) is fine by me.

[yannick32]

MMA training has no belts, there is a sparring gym near my house which has Jeet Kun Do, Muay Thai, MMA course, there are no belts but the course are quit amazing teaching you everything you need to know either for competition in MMA or just to defend yourself.

There are no belts at that gym, you train in either i sweat pants or Muay Thai shorts, and a t-shirt.

THere are tones of punching bag, boxing equipement, hand held pads, kicking targets and more.

Guess its a question of choice and BTW belts don't mean nothing i was blue belt in tae kwon do when i was younger and kick some third degree black belts A$$ lol.

Its all in the fighter and how you approach a fight. I rather do lots of sparring, kicking and punching on punching bags and other appareils then always perform katas and other useless training.

A guy at my job is training in shotokan karate, i couldnt beleive it when he showed me the 2 point system in competition how much more wussy can you get.... sorry i add to write that...

[chicamahomico]

Whether or not there is a grading system in place would never be a part of my decision to train at a particular dojo or not. Bottom line, I am there for me and the development of self and to keep my current skillset current and learn as many new techniques as possible and meet good training partners. After a reasonable level of skill is obtained the attitude of the dojo much more important than rank of any of the instructors.

[GQ-Bouncer]

Whether or not there is a grading system in place would never be a part of my decision to train at a particular dojo or not. Bottom line, I am there for me and the development of self and to keep my current skillset current and learn as many new techniques as possible and meet good training partners. After a reasonable level of skill is obtained the attitude of the dojo much more important than rank of any of the instructors.

well put chicamahomico (btw, what the heck does your name mean?)

allthough Pankration is what i train in, i cant bring myself to knock Shotokan Karate (right at this very second)

Check out this guy named Ronnie Christopher - The man was so good Japan formed a special team just to beat him, and he still won! crazy.

[billy_ba]

I dont believe in the belt thing myself. Without a gi on, I have tapped a couple bjj black belts one of them took the mundials in 2002 (pm for name) and several browns, but I have also came across several tough purple belts like my boy KC. This is why I dont think that belts really mean that much. I think that people just want something to show everyone that they are tough. For me, all I have is may cauliflower ear and people who know whats up with fighting can usually look at me and know im a fighter, I would say that knowing some gi stuff is crucial for self defense because you can really choke the shit out of someone with their collar but if you want to be a cage fighter, save your time for training things that you will run into in the cage.

[bigpimpnyc]

Billy, did you break that guy's arm with that arm bar? WOHH!

[fast_eddie]

bjj has been one of the few to keep there belts semi legit but as it grows thats starting to change...it all depends on which school you go to etc but belts dont mean much to me tho