Got promoted to Blue Belt, feeling more self-conscious than excited

Gdash

Gdash

Yellow Belt
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So I got promoted to blue recently after about 10 months of training 2-3 times per week. I didn't come in a total novice, I did no gi for about 2 yrs then took a 7 yr hiatus before coming back and doing mostly gi. Many of the students had said from my first class that I didn't move like a white belt. Maybe other people can relate but I don't really feel like a blue belt. I mean I understand its still a beginner belt but I don't feel I'm ready. There are white belts who can run through me and blue belts that are on another planet. I'm in the academy like, "how am I the same belt as these dudes?" It's already effecting my mental approach. I like to try new things rolling, take risk, have an open game but now the fear of not living up to the belt is making me much more defensive and tight. Having a white belt tap me or not putting up a reputable fight with fellow blue belts would be a kick in the nuts to my ego. Did anyone else feel this way when they got their blue or am I just bugging?' Maybe im making waaaaay to big a deal of it? It was so easy to fall back on, "hey I'm just a white belt."
 
I'd try to relax and just train. Know who you can let your ego go and take risks, and what new guy is going to try to get you just because you're the new blue belt. Otherwise, don't worry, just train and have fun.
 
Congrats. and here's some peace of mind: Blue belt is still a beginner rank.

A white belt might legitimately tap you out. it's no big deal. it's just training. keep training and you'll keep getting better. you'll learn more and progress faster if you stop worrying about who's tapping who.
 
Congrats. Just don't worry about gyms tap. You would be fine. If your instructor thought you are ready, then you are ready.
If you worry about tapping to white belt, then put your a game when you roll with them. Get the sub. Then slow down after the reset.
 
Gdash said:
I did no gi for about 2 yrs then took a 7 yr hiatus before coming back and doing mostly gi.
Click to expand...

Just outta curiosity, were you tapping out blue belts that have been training for 2 years or less in no-gi grappling?
 
Most fresh blue belts dont feel they're ready, is normal.
 
Blue is such a VAST belt. The difference between a guy who just gets his blue and a guy who is about to exist his blue is enormous. Don't sweat it.
 
I've been blue for almost two yers now, still making mistakes, leaving elbows behind and feeling like I should've been white forever...
 
Just remember, if you get tapped by a white belt then you have to give him your belt and suffer as a white belt for at least 2 more years

Seriously though - don't be self-conscious. Training is training, continue to look at it as a learning experience. You will get tapped by people you feel like you shouldn't, just like you catch good guys from time to time.
 
Congrats man!

I've recently gotten my blue, which makes me pretty glad to have stopped by this post because it's exactly how I feel. I'm a pretty small dude at my gym, and the other blues have like two or three stripes ahead. I don't feel too bad if they tap me, because I put up a good roll and even tap them on occasion.

But there are a couple massive white belt guys that still make me feel inadequate. Not too much technique with them and yet they still have position advantage. But I'm definitely driven to prove to myself (and with trust that my instructor knows that he's doing) that I deserve blue. Good luck and congrats again!
 
Got my blue belt just over 2 weeks ago, i know exactly how you feel. Making matters worse, my first roll i got tapped by a white belt. Later i found out he was a 4 stripe, and outweighed me by 20lbs and was 12 years younger..AND he won a regional NAGA in amateur. but still, he was a white belt!
Definately more pressure now when i roll with white belts.
 
Two things will probably change:

1. Some of the white belts will go after you harder.
2. Some of the higher belts won't take it easy on you any more.

Just keep trying to improve.
 
Completely normal man. I had the same thing. I even caught myself glancing at my coach as I rolled when a white belt was giving me hell, thinking like "Oh man, does he regret giving it to me? Does he daydream of demoting me back to white belt"!!

Then I learned, he was more than likely assessing the white belt, and proud that one of his white belt was giving a blue belt hell. OR, he may have been saying "Hes a blue belt, shouldn't be letting that happen". Either way, the point was, it WAS happening, and nothing I or him or the white belt thought could change it. I just had to get better.

Belts mean something; But not everything. Brock Lesnar is a white belt!

I've found that the belts should mean 90% relating to YOU, and only 10% to others. Have your own goals and standards you expect of yourself- IGNORE other people's belts.

As a fresh blue belt, I made a list of common errors as a white belt that my goal as a blue belt was to no longer make. And a list of good things I wanted to do better or more.

So when I left training, tap or not, if I accomplished most of those lists, I succeeded as a blue belt by my own standards. Helped me so much! One was to recover from failed triangles with a better post/shrimp escape, where before I'd just get stacked and they would pass. So, if I did that 2-3 times in a session, tap or not, I won by my own goals.
 
I have those same bipolar days. Some days I'm passing black belts guards and controlling them in side control, and just feeling like I'm getting so much better. And then...I'll come in and just cant do a darn thing, and have white belts sweeping me and former wrestlers crushing me.

Im addicted though!
 
BrainBar said:
I have those same bipolar days. Some days I'm passing black belts guards and controlling them in side control, and just feeling like I'm getting so much better. And then...I'll come in and just cant do a darn thing, and have white belts sweeping me and former wrestlers crushing me.

Im addicted though!
Click to expand...

that's because the bb are letting you pass their guard :)
 
Don't worry about it. There are pretty much zero expectations from you as a blue belt. Just train.
 
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