I think I am over ranked

V

varick

Guest
I think I am over ranked. I have been a blue belt since September, but I think I should be a four stripe white belt. My reason for this is because I have a weak closed guard game. My triangles and arm bars from my back are garbage. My sweeps and guard passes aren't so great either.

Other than that I feel like I am on the blue level. When I compete I always go with higher competetion (blue belt div, no gi, absolute). I would never sandbag, I love the competetion. I seem to do well against other blues in tourneys, even though I struggle with smaller guys more than big guys... I am about 5'10" 215lb.

I don't want to be a weak blue. Honestly, I'll be glad if I'm one of those guys who spends 4-5 years at blue.
 
you have to trust your instructors opinion a bit more than your own. If he thinks you're blue, you're blue, there are weak blues and phenom blues, same with every belt color.
 
Makes since, I would just rather be a phemon blue. I guess that's where this 'hard work' thing comes from...:D
 
yeah thats because your a new blue - you got a basic grasp on what to do from each position. Blue belt is where you develop YOUR game.

Every one who gets the belt feels that way - takes time to fill it in.. by the time you do.. you get upped. and the process continues to black.. then the pressure is on forever because newer younger blackbelts come to the table.. and you feel like an old beat up man.
 
I have the same feeling, and from what I've heard, it's the same for many others. That feeling just motivates me to keep training and learning.
 
train and get better. then you will get purple belt and you will feel the same. again. LOL
 
I know exactly how you feel.

I received my Blue last year and felt I was promoted in a reasonable amount of time. As a white belt I always went to war with blues and was dominating/tapping out other whites.

But as soon as I had my first session as a Blue I felt a great deal of pressure. It was as if I had to increase my performance even more, the whites belts wanted to scalp a blue belt, the other blue belts no longer took me lightly and I really had to look at my training and start to develop a game.

For a good few months I actually felt I was stagnating and didn't feel I improved at all, I then questioned if I was really at the right level for a blue belt.

Then it started to click and I now realise that sometimes you have to go through plateaus to get to a peak. The added responsibility of being a blue might make you feel inadequate for a while but its really just a period of analysing your current skill level, raising your expectations and trying to develop a game. I am not there yet but I know feel I am improving with every class, and yep I want to be one of those 'phenom' blues, it just might take a while to get there.
 
Don't worry, blue belt does not really mean much anyway.
 
For me, one of the best things about any promotion is the feeling that I had to improve. Every time I get promoted, I think my game improves most in that next month because I feel like I've got to live up to it. That underqualified feeling can be a very good thing. Good Luck!
 
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