Ranking curriculum.

[Mario Lopez Alvarez]

There aren't any tests or exacts requirements for a blue belt in 10th Planet. It varies between instructors and the journey can be pretty ambitious at times. What I would recommend to you is: master the warm ups, have a decent understanding of all of the 10th planet specific techniques (rubber guard, lockdown, the twister series and all of that) along with a strong foundation of basic jiu jitsu, be able to communicate using all of the 10P terminology, and obviously winning some matches in competition using 10P techniques would certainly help.

+1

I make my blue belts test when they are ready, and by ready i mean consistently going to class, being an ambassador to the school and to 10p, loyal, competing if possible, they help out other students, etc.

The test takes up most of the class. They show me all of the warm ups, 10p specific techs and jj basics in front of everyone (i call the moves out). That usually takes about 40 minutes.

Then i put then in a shark tank for about 30 - 40 minutes, give or take. White belt is about learning to survive, so i put my guys in bad positions, making them escape. When they do they get a fresh guy, and on and on it goes. Back, mount, side control, full RNC, spiderweb, etc. It's a bitch.

I want my guys to feel that they earned it. Havent given out too many, but the quality control is there. Also everyone is cheering the guy on so it really brings us together and makes the newer guys really want to train harder.

My two cents

[Ken Lowery]

+1

I make my blue belts test when they are ready, and by ready i mean consistently going to class, being an ambassador to the school and to 10p, loyal, competing if possible, they help out other students, etc.

The test takes up most of the class. They show me all of the warm ups, 10p specific techs and jj basics in front of everyone (i call the moves out). That usually takes about 40 minutes.

Then i put then in a shark tank for about 30 - 40 minutes, give or take. White belt is about learning to survive, so i put my guys in bad positions, making them escape. When they do they get a fresh guy, and on and on it goes. Back, mount, side control, full RNC, spiderweb, etc. It's a bitch.

I want my guys to feel that they earned it. Havent given out too many, but the quality control is there. Also everyone is cheering the guy on so it really brings us together and makes the newer guys really want to train harder.

My two cents

As odd as this sounds, I would love to go through this just to see what I could do. I (as sad as it is to admit) don't know the warm ups by heart. This is something I am currently working on. Things tend to slip and you forget things if you don't train at a moon or with fellow 10P players often enought to have that muscle memory down. So I know I would fail that part for now.

[Kyle Spalla]

I would say hard work and sacrifice are the best kind of curriculum for anything that you want to be good at. An old story from Aikido is when a man approached O Sensei asking him how long it would take him to master the art. O Sensei replied to him, "10 years." The man felt determined and asked O Sensei, "What if I train really hard and learn really quickly?" O Sensei replied, "20 years." The man was frustrated and again asked, " What if I practice everyday and put all my heart and soul into the martial arts and then how long will it take to become a master?" O Sensei replied, "30 years." The idea is not about structure or what you need to learn to become a master but enjoy the journey and accept that you are always learning and therefore are a master of nothing. Not sure how relevant this story is, but it is a really great story to share.

[Craig Murray]

What if I practice everyday and put all my heart and soul into the martial arts and then how long will it take to become a master?" O Sensei replied, "30 years."

To which the smart-ass student should have said "Ok thanks Sensei, I'll slack off and half-ass it and be a master in 5"

[Kyle Spalla]

To which the smart-ass student should have said "Ok thanks Sensei, I'll slack off and half-ass it and be a master in 5"

Aikido is clearly for slackers, look at Steven Segal.

[Apperz]

If you want to see the heritage then I'd say get Eddie's Three Books and Two DVDs to begin with. Work through them.

At the same time, begin work on the Warmups. Learn them, make them fluid. Eddie has tried to cover all bases with these - i.e. give students a little experience with everything (useful both when attacking and defending).

Watch Mastering The System - for fun. You will get a feel for Eddie's teaching style, believes and the 10th Planet culture. The biggest lesson I ever learned was from, what I imagine, was a throw away comment by Eddie 'Do not be the triangle guy'. I'd won many competitions relying on my triangle, Eddie's words and the explanation that followed showed me there was so much more to Jiu Jitsu than the triangle and I was holding myself back by clinging to my safety blanket.

If you do all this you will begin to see that Eddie's System has lots of patterns (the clinch style, for example), but also lots of tangents that you can - and are encouraged - to follow too. Orchard is a very different competitor to Denny, Denny very different to Geo, Geo very different to Ben Eddy, etc, etc.

I think what is so great with 10th Planet is that there is no curriculum - Eddie is all about evolution and as soon as you say 'you need to know this, this, this and this' you begin to narrow that or at least stunt experimentation. Again, using Orchard as an example, Eddie said he was never big on footlocker: Orchard went away and mastered them, came back to Eddie and blew his mind with a system he'd put together. The result of Eddie not enforcing a curriculum on his students was that he and they evolved and grew and continue to do so whilst other gyms - stemmed in tradition, and refusing to acknowledge techniques outside of their curriculums - are being left behind.

That's coming at ya purely as an observation from a white belt ronin, so take it with a pinch of salt

[eoin ahern]

yeah man. your not too far from london.

[Jackienystrom]

Curriculum would be interesting

[Ernest]

You need some kind of ranking system to make fair match ups for tournaments. It's not about the belt, it's what the belt represents... Time on the mat, dedication, sacrifice.

[Paul Williams]

Thanks for all the comments. Some good points/advice in there. Cheers