Ive been training for a little over a year now, I roll about 5 times a week on average, my instructor also only promotes if he feels you can win in the next division. I got my 4th stripe on my white after I won the Western Canadians, that was my first tourny and I have a record now on 3-0...Promotions are coming up again in the next couple weeks, so fingers crossed.
Ive been training 2-3 times a week for around 3 years. I got my blue about a year ago and had to show a few techniques from different positions and spar alot!!
just wondering if competing in tourneys 'mandatory' ? As most likely i will not be entering any tourneys (for some reason the wife thinks they are dangerous... yet live sparring seems no different to me). And to the above poster... i wish i had started a training log/blog too... it would be interesting to see how i progress thru the years... and years...
nah man, if you don't want to compete you dont have to, but its a good experience and a good feeling to be able to see your techniques that you learned being put to use. you dont have to, but it helps instructors on their decision of promoting you. its not too different than sparring, except i feel its a little more fast paced and a bit more aggressive. Try it once, never hurts, its fun.Originally Posted by drx604
Yeah, I think in most cases, competition will simply speed up the promotion process, rather than being a prerequisite.
Personally I'm wary of competition due to injury concerns. In class, its just rolling, people aren't (normally) going to crank things, they don't 'win' anything. The ones who are unreasonably aggressive can simply be avoided.
In competition, on the other hand, people are pumped with adrenaline and looking for a medal. You're an obstacle in their way, not a valued training partner, so if they think they've got that armbar, much more likely they might push it too far to make certain they get a step closer to the winner's podium. Ego also comes into it, and you'll most likely be affected by adrenaline and visions of glory too, so less willing to tap.
Of course, I say that having competed a whole once, so thats only based on a teeny amount of personal experience.
1)What motivated you to do this?
2) This is going to eventually be an amazing resource for you and others. I'm really impressed. Also, nerd.
For my coach, if you're below 50, yes. And even then, our 57 year old Judo coach just competed in his first BJJ tournament.
It took me 2.5 years and winning two tournaments before my coach was willing to give me a blue belt. I just got it a little over a week ago. His coach actually told him to promote me four months ago. He told me afterwards if I hadn't won my last competition the earliest I would have been promoted was January. I'm really glad to see it took others here the same amount of time. I don't feel as down on myself about it.
"Yes, these are bruises from fighting. Yes, I'm comfortable with that. I am enlightened."
I've been bouncing around on martial arts forums for a while (about six years now), and also checking out blogs. None of them seemed to trace the process right from the start, so I wanted to record absolutely everything, meaning a beginner could know exactly what its like to go up the belts with nothing left out.
Makes it very easy to answer questions like "how long have you been training", "what's it like at the Roger Gracie Academy", "how often does Roger teach" and especially "how do I get my blue belt", which pops up all the time. More specifically, that's why I wrote a FAQ, so I can c&p whenever I see one of the typical questions, the other big one being "Where can I find BJJ in [insert place]" (hence map).
Motivates me as well: I can see how many classes I attend, and then try to keep to an average, training more the following week if it drops. Techniques are more easily remembered, and I've got an action plan for my next spar, as I know what I want to work on in advance.
Also, yeah: I'm a huge geek.
Latest geekey is going to be this, though that's still a work in progress. Massively enjoying the Black Belt archive on Google.
just wondering if you also have a hand written training log.. my friend keeps one and draws diagrams and such.... having a blog would make it a bit hard to draw and such on a computer....i wonder which is more useful...blogging or a training logbook. i would love to look back years from now and see how my training mindset was when i was a lowly white belt .... who knows .. maybe ill still be white in a few years..
Normally I type up the lesson on a laptop as I take the train home. Otherwise, I'll scribble up notes in shorthand so I can type them up in full later.
Personally I find that the blog is probably most useful to me rather than anyone else. It helps me remember technique, not only because I can look back on it later, but due to way in which when I watch the instructor demonstrating, I'm thinking more carefully as I know I'll be trying to put it into words later.
Pictures are certainly a more immediate memory aid, if you're able to draw. I've always sucked at drawing, so stick to writing. In an ideal world, I'd be able to tape every lesson, and put that up as a blog. Should I ever teach my own class, I'd love to have a camera set up in the corner for when I demonstrate technique.
Whichever, I would recommend to any new student that they get into the habit of some form of note-taking. Definitely helps (though I can't speak for higher belts, as I'm only a blue).
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