When are you ready to promote?

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71Fish

Orange Belt
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I kind of look like it as I did my time going up the ranks in the military. You've mastered/honed your skills at your current rank. Now you get promoted and are at the bottom of your new rank. You have to work hard for the higher expectations at the new higher rank. Same in the military, same in BJJ, Judo, Karate, etc.

Saw some guys get promoted recently. All deserving, but one felt he didn't deserve it. I feel he did deserve it because, as I mentioned above, he has mastered his previous rank, now it's time to raise to the expectations of the new rank.

Or maybe he gets stuck in the self defeating line of thinking I find myself in sometimes. I feel that I have mastered my current rank, but I also feel like I am undeserving of promotion. I think to myself "I have so much trouble with that guy / that guy always taps me / He is less experienced, why can't I tap him easily, etc, etc, et-fucking-cetera".

So where am I going right or wrong in my thinking?
 
You are assuming belt promotions are both fair and equal, which they are far from.
 
You get promoted when you get promoted. It is just a colored belt you wrap around your waist. My instructor has different expectations for everyone based upon them individually. Is it really fair to hold some 20 year old kid who has strength, agility, and endurance to the same standard as a 60 year old with bad knees, a family, and their own business to run? Do we look at the older man and say, "You're never going to get a black belt?"

Some guys compete much, much more and have much more dynamic games, versus some others who rarely, if ever, compete and use very basic jiu-jitsu. You can't hold both to same standard. I have seen my instructor promote guys and sometimes my thoughts were, "Really? He promoted so-and-so? I smash him regularly." But who am I to question his choices? In the end a belt is just a piece of dyed cloth. What matters is simply training and your instructor's belief in you as a representative of his school.
 
i personally would feel ready when i've put in the work to deserve a promotion and that's defined by my own goals and standards, may it be total mat time, tournament placement, mastery of techniques, etc.
 
Ideally, the belt matters a lot.
Ideally, what and how you are taught changes as your belt changes. The approach to teaching should change.
Ideally, who you help teach, and what expectations the lower belts have from you, depends on your belt.
Ideally, they only give black belts (brown belts, etc.) to people of unimpeachable moral character. The belt should be the instructor putting his reputation on line to vouch for you as a decent person.

The belt color isn't for you - it is for everyone else. It doesn't matter what your belt is, if you only ever roll with the same small group of people.

An analogy would be driving at twilight in the rain. Some jerk drivers don't bother turning on their headlights, because they don't need them yet to see other cars. But the point of turning on your headlights in the rain is so that other cars can see you better. The benefit to you turning on your lights is only indirect (avoiding accidents). Likewise, most of the benefit to wearing the correct belt is to help other people.
 
promotions are for people who need gold stars and reassurance. skill is skill. rank and pecking order is for making people feel better about their $120/month
 
loyalyolayal said:
When you don't really care about belts anymore.
Click to expand...
once you start submitting people of higher belts and its not surprising anymore..
and
when you learn its not about the belts but about the skill..
and
When you forget to grab it when you get your gear for the gym/ drive 20-30mins to class to get there earlier to only notice right before you start that you belt is still home and you gotta wear a loaner...
 
If he likes you. lol

I've seen some weird shit, guys that don't even spar getting upper belts. Maybe the guy just figures, he'll never compete so...
 
A student that gets promoted and still feel that he did not deserve it is most probably the worst feeling ever.

Now belt and stripes are the carrot of martial arts.

It keep encouraging people to attend days after months and years of training.

If at the end, he feels like he did not deserve it is weird but not uncommon.

Many people train martial arts due to a lack of self confidence and it is normal that they still question them self after years of training.

That is why if I think that a student will feel the pressure of a new belt, I would delay it.

No one needs the burden of a new belt on his hips. Jiu jitsu is supposed to be fun. It is the escape from a hard day of work and not another cause of stress.

Ego is terrible. Even if you create an environment that it is OK to tap to lower belts. Which would happen if you do not avoid anyone and keep training hard. You still feel down if you get caught.

We promoted a few blue belts earlier than expected but I am glad that they transition quickly and smoothly into the new belt.

I think it is about self confidence.

Some people just need to push to get into the new belt and start training harder.

Do I want that on everyone? Hell no. But at the end, you need to keep improving and if it means wearing a new belt. So be it.

It is just a tool to motivate people, not a punishment.
 
focus on getting better everyday. The belt or stripes will sort itself out don't worry about it. just strive to be better then before. When I received my blue belt I felt like i didn't deserve it at all and was kind of surprised that I got it.
 
I love training in the gi but I hate the belt controversy that comes with it.


Just train dude, who cares about anything else. As Dirty Holt said, ranks aren't fair or equal across the board. I've seen white belt rough up purple belts and blue belts tap legit brown belts.


Belts are nothing more than an "atta' boy".
 
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