Your thoughts on my grading situation

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Sax MMA

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I have been seriously training BJJ for about 6 months now. I have been going back and forth between 2 clubs. I obviously a white belt since i have yet to be graded.

I have only been at my 1 specific club for a little over a month. The blue belt I train with there says I am about a yellow to Orabge belt as far as my skills and understanding of the great sport.

Now here is my question. Is it disrespectful of me to ask to be graded or do I wait to be asked?? The reason I ask this is because this is pretty new to me and I think Im ready to take the leap to a different belt rather than this whitey Im rockin right now.

This is a serious question and I would hope to get some intelligent answers. I really appreciate it guys
 
Orange?? Is that a childrens belt or something??

...And no you propably shouldnt ask no....
 
I didnt know that there were orange and yellow belts in bjj. But i wouldnt ask to be graded. Unless you have to compete for a grading as it sometimes is the case in judo. Then you can ask "do you think im ready to go to a grading". But under normal circumstances i wouldnt ask to be promoted. Kinda like a wouldnt ask my boss for a promotion.
 
Don't ask - this happens all the time and it happens to everyone. You improve so much between when you start and six months into it, but there is reason why you haven't been tested yet.

My best advice (an its hard I know) don't worry about it, just enjoy training. Enter some comps and test yourself there...
 
Ya I guess here at the club its a mixture of Bjj and other styles. not my fav place but nonethe less somewhere to roll.

I appreciate the info as again I come from a wrestling and kickboxing background. I guess Im just antsy to move foreward, yet I understand the time it takes to move foreward.

As far as the belt grading at the club......I have to look into it as Im not sure what belts they promote to after white. The reason I said yellow is b/c a few of the guys had yellow there as well as orange??? Not sure but im sure ill find out soon.

Thanks again
 
I think the grading is ancillary to your over-arching goals. However, I would find it disrespectful to ask or make any kind of innuendo about being promoted. I have a similar predicament where I train at 2 Judo Clubs. At 1 Club i was promoted while the other one I was not. Since the 1 club has yet to promote me, i wear one belt at one club and the other belt at the other.

I think the question to ask yourself is..what does that belt represent to you...the belt does not give you new skills....however, the belt might give you special privledges like the ability to train no-gi etc...if that is the case then I would suggest that you are ready for the privledges not the new belt....
 
Can someone help with me with belts then as I seem to not understand the grades. My 1 club which is straight BJJ ( I dont train there often as its 2 hours away).....they have weird belts like camo etc. In my eyes I would never think there are camo belts out there but perhaps a stepping stone or Money grab????

Again Im new so please explain
 
hmm the camo belts ive seen are striped on the inside with a specific color for example a thin brown stripe would be in the middle of the belt and on the opposite sides of the brown would be camo. From my understanding traditional BJJ gradations are white blue purple brown and black....Judo is generally white yellow orange green (Blue sometimes) brown and black....some schools that might not be strict bjj might adhere to the latter of the two belt systems...it really depends
 
Thanks Don Vito that clears it up. Ill pick the guys brains tonite at class.
 
You got to answer yourself. Personally I feel it is disrespectful to ask to be promoted and I try to avoid the question. Instead I often ask for advice to improve, which you should be doing no matter your rank.
 
Agreed frodo. I beleive I am capable of moving to another level but i will keep quiet untill further notice from the master
 
i would ask, what's the worst that can happen, just approad your sensei respectfully and ask when he will do the next testing and that you are interested, your are not really asking directly here but are showing interest in being tested, that is what I would do personally
 
I dont think you should ask..i think its better to be a lower belt and be able to hang with the higher belts then a higher belt struggling to hang with the guys that have that belt..but thats just me. im sure your instructor is qualified with years of experience so he probobly knows and has his reasons for not promoting you as quick as you may think you need to be
 
dude... seriously you are just going up one belt from the lowest to the second lowest. Having a different color belt does not mean you "moved to another lvl". Heck i was told last year that i could have moved up a belt lvl and still rock my white.
 
I'm surprised by the number of people that say not to ask. What's so bad about asking your teacher if you're ready to move up to the next rank? I don't think it's disrespectful at all. It shows you're eager to develop. After six months, I would have definitely asked politely when the next grading will be and whether or not I can participate in it. If the teacher says no, then it's no. But what's so bad about asking?
 
My suggestion would be not to ask to be tested, but to ask your instructor what you should work on and what you need to be tested. That way the instructor begins to think about the idea of testing you, while not taking the comment as an insult but rather curiousity on your part.
 
because in general BJJ is different than other martial arts. In bjj when your coach/instructor says you can take the test it basically means that you are at the lvl and the "test" (alot of times there is no test at all) is just a formality. It's the grappling culture.
 
Blanko. I respect your answer but i am looking foreword to moving up in rank to participate in moe than beginner tournaments. i think the reason would be is that I have not been at this specific club long enough.

I really could care less about belt rank in most cases. I enjoy the sport so much i guess it would be nice to have it for confidence etc.

Ill keep you guys posted as far as what happens. I might "inquire" about testing but not ask tonight when we roll.

And dont get me wrong I appreciate all the feedback
 
well i have two questions

1) where do you live (i.e compeition lvl of your peers. and yes there are places where a blue belt is really good compared to blue belts of other areas)

2) how do you do in comeption. Do you finish top 3~5 in a consistant basis

3) what is your weight catagory and how many people usually participate in your weight catagory? I.e are you extremely light/heave that if you beat one person you win the tourney?
ok that was three hahaha
 
I've recently started training at Rickson's, where they make you pay to take belt tests before you can wear colored belt. So even though I'm already a Machado blue belt, and can put up a decent fight against purples, I would have to get tested to wear a colored belt.

Fvck that. I won't pay to be tested. Eva. I hate that money grubbing stuff. Machado just handed me my blue belt when he thought I was ready, no test, no having to pay for the belt. That's the way it should be.

I'd rather just wear a white belt forever. I'd be delighted to be a superpowerful white belt. It just holds your gi closed, that's all.
 
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