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10 votes
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What Level Of Expertise Did Theodore Roosevelt Have In Judo?

Roosevelt's Judo experience Roosevelt trained judo under two instructors (John O'Brien, and Yoshiaki Yamashita) for a period of around a few months each in 1902 and 1904. He maintained an interest in ...
brazofuerte's user avatar
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9 votes

Black Belt - 2 Schools

Special thanks to @JohnP and @Fuzzyboots for an interesting discussion in the chat (Link to the Open Roda discussion). The answer is, for me anyway, is IF there is any doubt that your child is not ...
IAmSpartacus's user avatar
8 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

Any of your proposed actions could be appropriate, depending upon circumstances. As a student, you need to understand what you need to improve, exactly what you need to get there, and practice. It's ...
mattm's user avatar
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8 votes

How to test teacher's ability?

At my kyokushin karate dojo, one of the instructors is nearly 80. He's physically incapable of performing most of the techniques he teaches. Like, one of his knees doesn't really bend anymore, so he ...
Dungarth's user avatar
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7 votes
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How to deal with pressure in a grading

Git gud 😁 To paraphrase the "train like you fight, fight like you train" mantra, you need to train in conditions worst (or better, depending on your point of view) than those in your gradings: So ...
Sardathrion - against SE abuse's user avatar
7 votes

If I'm 12 and a white belt, what belt will I be when I turn 18?

I talk about this in more detail in my answer here: What Brazilian Jiu Jitsu belt ranking at age 16 after 11 yrs experience? The answer is that most BJJ schools will automatically convert (without ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
7 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

If you love martial arts and are bored with your current school, it may be because it's designed in a predictable way - belts, ranks, etc. You can see where it's leading and it can make you feel boxed ...
Ben S's user avatar
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6 votes
Accepted

Is there any maximum time for staying in a belt in BJJ?

No, there is no maximum or minimum time limit. There are several organizations that claim to be the governing body of BJJ, but none of them are official. (One overbearing organization, the IBJJF, ...
coinbird's user avatar
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6 votes

Sparring against two opponents test

When there are two or more opponents to fight, they will easily win if they can gang up on you and take you on all at the same time. They want to overwhelm you by striking you from all directions, ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

Founder of a martial arts system passed away. How can current Black Belts move up in the system?

This actually happens quite a bit. I don't have statistics on how often it happens, but there are a ton of martial arts schools headed by people who essentially started their own school and declared ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
4 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

I love testing-- the prep period leading up to it is fun to me, so not sure how to motivate you there, but now I have almost 2 years before I can go again, so I understand how you feel about getting ...
ksp08's user avatar
  • 352
4 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

In my experience burn out or boredom happens to most people at some point in their training. First thing to always be encouraged is talk to your instructor, odds are they have felt the same way at ...
Joelhutchinson's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Is there a realistic way to prepare yourself for the Bujinkan Ninjutsu Godan Test?

To a certain degree, yes you can prepare yourself for the godan test in Bujinkan. Although you'll hear a lot of talk within Bujinkan about supernatural abilities to sense "killer intent" (...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
4 votes

Founder of a martial arts system passed away. How can current Black Belts move up in the system?

Honestly, you can do whatever you want. Your system attaches meaning to a rank. Outside your system, this rank is meaningless. Systems commonly assign rank by dictator or committee. You could do it by ...
mattm's user avatar
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3 votes

How to train for 1st Dan Blackbelt testing in Taekwondo

I'll relate my experience testing for black belt in Taekwondo. This was ages ago when I was just 17 years old, but I think the lessons I learned apply universally. When I was a brown belt one stripe ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
3 votes

Is there any maximum time for staying in a belt in BJJ?

We train Royce Gracie style BJJ (non-competitive, self-defense oriented, with a mix of MMA), and out of respect to him the organization heads decided to only hold promotions when he comes to the ...
BIU's user avatar
  • 161
3 votes

Why do kids have different belts in BJJ?

Judo also has a different system for kids. I think it's because kids lose interest if they aren't getting promotions frequently.
tye649's user avatar
  • 309
3 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

If you already have your established base, love martial arts and are tired, maybe it's time to: Start teaching; Try new styles as long as you can continue to use your internalized base. Some styles ...
gpupo's user avatar
  • 131
3 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

What our club does, is have senior students try new things out together. This can be a new form, or advanced techniques that can be just fun without being practical, or just generally letting them ...
Raf's user avatar
  • 796
2 votes

What do I need to promote someone to Taekwondo dan rank under the Kukkiwon?

No, you cannot typically test an applicant alone. At a minimum, three to ten people must promote. Read on: They must be: A Kukkiwon-certified instructor 6th dan or higher There must be: The 3-...
Andrew Jay's user avatar
  • 4,057
2 votes

What do I need to promote someone to Taekwondo dan rank under the Kukkiwon?

In tae kwon do, the rules are simple. You must be at least an instructor, and you must be at least 1 degree above the rank you are testing your student to. For example. I am a 5th Dan, therefore I can ...
Christian's user avatar
2 votes

How to deal with pressure in a grading

I agree with Sardathrion's answer for the most part. I have a different take though. Don't try to escape the stress. The point [partly] of a grading is to simulate "combat stress" to test how you ...
user2818782's user avatar
2 votes

Burnout or boredom in martial arts class

Heresy, but... take a break and do something else. I used to do TKD during the winter months and bicycle 2000+ miles in the warmer half of the year. If your instructor/master takes exception to breaks,...
Amorphous Blob's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Why do kids have different belts in BJJ?

There are actually a few reasons that kids get different belts. Here are a few: You are supposed to have the body of an adult before you are able to get your blue belt or anything higher. Kids ...
LemmyX's user avatar
  • 1,533
2 votes

Black Belt - 2 Schools

As per my input in the chat, I think the answer really depends on your goals and whether you feel it's worth the cost. If your concern is competence and a "legitimate" belt, then you may want to look ...
Macaco Branco's user avatar
2 votes

Why is the first dan called shodan, as opposed to ichidan?

初 can also be pronounced "hatsu", which is used interchangeably to mean "start", "beginning" or "first". For example, hatsutanjō is a baby's "first birthday" and hatsuyuki is the winter's first snow. ...
Dungarth's user avatar
  • 2,225
2 votes

Is there a martial art where exams can be taken at will?

DISCLAIMER - This answer comes almost entirely from an ITF TKD perspective and my own personal experience. For the first few grades then maybe >> or perhaps it is more acceptable. This is because we ...
Collett89's user avatar
  • 2,944
1 vote

Why is the first dan called shodan, as opposed to ichidan?

I have no explicit evidence to back this up, but I suspect this was to avoid: ambiguity with the homonymous superlative adverb 一段 (いちだん) analogy with the highest kyū grade, 1st kyū (一級, ikkyū) ...
brazofuerte's user avatar
  • 8,152
1 vote

Sparring against two opponents test

There can be many purposes, it depends on the instructor's plan at the moment. Generally, your goal is to position yourself so that you spar/fight only one person at a time. That is the most ...
Andrew Jay's user avatar
  • 4,057
1 vote

Black Belt - 2 Schools

Be very careful, I would not take him to two WTF schools at the same time. Here's why: Most "WTF" schools are actually Kukkiwon schools - Kukkiwon is the authority which issues dan certificates. In ...
Andrew Jay's user avatar
  • 4,057

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