How to get belted

[bobby rivers]

But in all fairness, in many cases, you can tell if someones a blue belt by through competition vids alone, no? Im not sayin purple, but blue yeah. Especially with multiple golds. Donyathink?

[Mike Noronowicz]

how about guys that are filming themselves "sparring" but are NOT competing for some reason ??? should they be belted ??

[bobby rivers]

That has to be in person. Thats the feel Zog was referring to i think. But tourney win vids and lots of em is kinda proof pudding.

[Chris Herzog]

That has to be in person. Thats the feel Zog was referring to i think. But tourney win vids and lots of em is kinda proof pudding.

I personally feel video taped tourney wins alone don't share the essence of Jiu Jitsu: economy of motion , pliability over force, etc. Those things have to be "felt".

There is also a huge diffence in skill level in tournaments....entering a beginner division at a Grapplers Quest or a NAGA were there can be over 1000 competitiors is not the same as entering a small grappling tournament run by a TKD school in the middle of a rural area with maybe 200 competitors, most of them from that TKD school.


There is more to Jiu Jitsu than just winning.

[Chris Ludington]

I personally feel video taped tourney wins alone don't share the essence of Jiu Jitsu: economy of motion , pliability over force, etc. Those things have to be "felt".

There is also a huge diffence in skill level in tournaments....entering a beginner division at a Grapplers Quest or a NAGA were there can be over 1000 competitiors is not the same as entering a small grappling tournament run by a TKD school in the middle of a rural area with maybe 200 competitors, most of them from that TKD school.

The local ones are the most fun though

[Chris Herzog]

I didn't say they weren't fun, I'm saying they aren't always the best test/judge of skill

[PJ Sisco]

I personally feel video taped tourney wins alone don't share the essence of Jiu Jitsu: economy of motion , pliability over force, etc. Those things have to be "felt".

There is also a huge diffence in skill level in tournaments....entering a beginner division at a Grapplers Quest or a NAGA were there can be over 1000 competitiors is not the same as entering a small grappling tournament run by a TKD school in the middle of a rural area with maybe 200 competitors, most of them from that TKD school.

Yeah... I agree with that... I don't have any belts in Jiu Jitsu but just from the local mma scene I have recognition enough to be a teacher... But I would also like the personal satisfaction of earning a belt because a bunch of other unbelted people telling me I am good... Is not what I want. I want to roll with black belts and see how well I am doing... In other words... I'm looking for challenges that just aren't located in my area... I just want to constantly get better and constantly improve... And getting belts is a physical representation of my personal progress...

[Chris Herzog]

Yeah... I agree with that... I don't have any belts in Jiu Jitsu but just from the local mma scene I have recognition enough to be a teacher... But I would also like the personal satisfaction of earning a belt because a bunch of other unbelted people telling me I am good... Is not what I want. I want to roll with black belts and see how well I am doing... In other words... I'm looking for challenges that just aren't located in my area... I just want to constantly get better and constantly improve... And getting belts is a physical representation of my personal progress...

Time to save up some loot and fly out or take a road trip to HQ or an affialte.

[bobby rivers]

Not gonna disagree with you, but I can see it on video. If you watch ten vids of a guy winning or even just competing in a comp. You can tell whether or not he's at least at blue belt level. Im not sayin give him the belt, but you can tell. Ive learned close to 80% of the techs I use online. Did the same thing with b-boy'n and I agree there is something else. Its visible. Economy of motion, style, pace, attacking preferences, defensive tendencies are all intangibles that can be seen through analyzing vids. When a dudes good he's good right? Thats when I say, at least a blue belt level. A lot of us do i think. I would of sandbagged some tourneys if I didnt kinda pre-promote myself because of the confidence in my training and training partners. And we set a high bar for blue compared to most gyms skillwise. I wasnt promoted traditionally though.

[Chris Herzog]

Not gonna disagree with you, but I can see it on video. If you watch ten vids of a guy winning or even just competing in a comp. You can tell whether or not he's at least at blue belt level. Im not sayin give him the belt, but you can tell. Ive learned close to 80% of the techs I use online. Did the same thing with b-boy'n and I agree there is something else. Its visible. Economy of motion, style, pace, attacking preferences, defensive tendencies are all intangibles that can be seen through analyzing vids. When a dudes good he's good right? Thats when I say, at least a blue belt level. A lot of us do i think. I would of sandbagged some tourneys if I didnt kinda pre-promote myself because of the confidence in my training and training partners. And we set a high bar for blue compared to most gyms skillwise. I wasnt promoted traditionally though.

Well I disagree with you, all that is not visible. Jiu Jitsu relies heavily on sensitivity and kinesthetic awareness, you don't get that from video. We are not talking about learning from videos we are talking about evaluating someones ability to feel and react. Eyes can deceive your ability to that. Running a preprogrammed attack sequence against someone that defends an attack and you switch attacks because it was preprogrammed to do so, is not the same as flowing through a sequence and reacting and changing attacks because you can feel where your opponent is strong and where he is not. I want to feel my students ability to do that. I have guys that go out there and wreck shop, but there are still white belts, until they can learn to wreck shop and do so with efficiency and application of Jiu Jitsu concepts and principles. I have plenty of white belts cleaning out intermediate divisions, I have no problem bumping them up in experience brackets, the just don’t get promoted until they start understanding the essence of Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu Jitsu is not just about beating that ass, it’s about beating that ass without breaking a sweat.