Black belt status is more about commitment than mystique….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"article":"Earlier in the week I already decided on this topic, then had to chuckle as a friend of mine, David Fox from Metro BJJ, showed a podcast he did this week on this exact subject.\u00a0 While it's not exactly a unique topic, it is good to discuss occassionally.\u00a0 I think there is a little bit too much of a mistique surrounding BJJ black belts, primarily because of how long it normally takes to earn one compared to other martial arts.\u00a0 So I would like to share my thoughts on it, which are pretty similar to Dave's.\r\n\r\nI would like to start off by saying what a black belt is NOT.\u00a0 Black belts are not guru's on every subject under the sun.\u00a0 If a blackbelt is trying to give you financial advice and they are barely breaking even on their own finances, you probably shouldn't listen to that advice.\u00a0 Black belts are not indestructible human beings.\u00a0 We break just like everyone else when an arm bar is applied correctly.\u00a0 Blackbelts are not all good people.\u00a0\u00a0 There are unfortunately plenty of blackbelts that don't embrace the honor and respect of martial arts.\u00a0\u00a0 Black belts are not the greatest competitors\u00a0 or possibly even the best competitor in their own gym.\r\n\r\nSo, what is a black belt?\u00a0 The heart of it, to me, is simply that a black belt is a person that has devoted much of their life to studying a martial art to the point they : 1) Understand the concepts of the art,\u00a0 2)\u00a0 Can execute techniques with a high degree of efficiency\u00a0 and effectiveness against most resisting opponents, and 3) Are able to convey those lessons to new students and develop them into black belts as well.\u00a0\u00a0 When we look at any endeavor, be it physical or mental, I believe those 3 traits define what it means to become an expert.\u00a0 If you are learning chess, you need to understand the concepts, execute the techniques, and be able to explain it to people to be an expert.\u00a0 In either case, it doesn't mean you will never lose in competition to someone less experienced, but most of the time you will beat people with less experience.\r\n\r\nWith Jiu-Jitsu, in particular, there is a higher level of expectation as a black belt, I feel.\u00a0 However, a very high quality wrestler who has been training for 10 years is going to have significantly high grappling ability as well.\u00a0 Often times there is a mystique that a black belt should always beat a wrestler, which is not the case.\u00a0 I really think the expectation is largely set by the fact that in wrestling, there are no belts.\u00a0 You just train, you get better, and you let your performance on the mat be the judge.\r\n\r\nAsk yourself this: What if there were no belt systems in Jiu-Jitsu?\u00a0 Now, instead of looking at people and making an assumption of their ability based on their belt, it would only be based on their performance on the mat.\u00a0 Maybe you have a guy who trained 3 years and is better than a guy who has trained 20.\u00a0 Maybe the guy with 3 years experience is formally at a blue belt level and the guy with 20 years is formally a black belt level.\u00a0 With belts, if the blue belt beats the black belt, it seems like a crazy upset.\u00a0 But without belts, it simply becomes a fact that the guy with 3 years experience is just superlatively good.\u00a0\u00a0 Belts are simply a way to track your own progress, while understanding that our own physical assets or limitations are going to greatly impact how we compare to other people we train with.","featured_image":"","featured_image_id":"","featured_article":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-304","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n