personal_thoughts

I thought I'd take this opportunity and give you my thoughts in regard to martial arts in general, and some contemporary trends specifically. Let me first say that I think most will benefit physically and to some extent also mentally from their martial arts training, and hopefully most will also have fun doing it. I, for the most part, have pretty fun doing it, and have also been fortunate enough to be able to keep martial arts as a hobby rather than an occupation. I simply think it is too easy to lose something of the joy when you transform your hobby into your job. It would be for me.

The belt ranking system.
The use of different colored belts as an indicator of the rank within a martial art began with Judo in 1886. Back then there were only two colors, black and white. The use of the rainbow of colors was started as Judo trickled into Europe some years later. Almost everyone who is not a newlyborn has heard of a black belt or seen one in a movie at some point, and assumed that this was the mark of a true master of the martial arts.

To put it very briefly, there is more to the story. For starters, there are levels of black belt, a first degree black belt being, within the context of the specific martial art, a lower rank than a third degree black belt. That in it self says nothing of the technical skill of either martial artist, a blue belt in brazilian jiujitsu would probably not have any big difficlulties in bringing down a third or fourth degree black belt in Karate. Please note the "probably", I'm NOT saying that that would always be the case, but I do believe that is what would happen at least nine times out of ten. So rank and belt-color is not a universal method to measure true skill, only putting your technique against someone else will accomplish that.

However, it has long been held, especially in the western countries, that someone who has a black belt in a martial art is considered something of a killing machine technically, and a eastern philosopher mentally, and thus worthy of the respect of others. That in turn has spawned a multitude of made up masters (you cannot really call them anything else) that has bestowed themselves (or has had someone likeminded do it) black belts of very high ranks. And since we don't know any better, we assume that the rank has been handed out by an oriental whose skill is truly staggering, and that said skill has been transferred onto the person with many stripes on their belt. Since these guys also claim to have lived in Japan, fought in bareknuckle matches and never lost and have an entire wall of official looking papers, we tend to believe them.

At first at least, because the claims are truly impressive. But once you start scraping the outer layer of paint, you will often find that beneath there is very little or nothing to hold the rest of the house of cards up, other than the word of the "Master". Who, by the way, says it is disrespectful to question their claims or teachings, and that is never how it's done in Japan. In it self an interesting statement considering the guy never has been there himself, so how would he know how things are normally handled there? He just demands your devotion.
At best, these self-proclaimed masters will gather a small following that will not bother anyone but themselves, and live happily in the illusion of their self-deception. At worst, someone will get seriously hurt because they took a chance at the wrong time with poor tools.

No, don't put too much stock in rank. And be VERY wary of someone who insist that you respect them, never question them and use special titles like soke, grandmaster or even sensei for that matter, solely on the basis of their rank or belt-color. Respect is earned over time, and that goes for anyone and everyone. And if you want to get a black belt that bad, just go down to the nearest martial arts store, they'll gladly sell you one, no questions asked. You won't need to show a certificate, but if you want one of those too, that's just as easy, there are numerous organisations on the internet that can ship you a certificate of any rank you choose for $25 or thereabouts. So does a rank in martial arts make you a better person than the next guy? Hell no!

The McDojo.
There has been much written, most of it negative, concerning the so called "McDojo's", referring to schools often set up in malls or in some manner offering a modified program and/or a members club where you pay a fixed amount of money that will last as fee until you reach the rank of black belt. The school will usually teach some form of moderized karate, Taekwondo probably being the most usual. The students are often mostly kids that got enrolled into class by unsuspecting and unknowledgeable parents, that are full to the brim of pride at their offsprings abilities and brags to their friends of how early little Lisa got her black belt, "...and at only six years old, can you imagine?".

Is this wrong? Are the students getting their moneys worth? Are they taught proper and correct technique? Well, yes and no. As long as the instructor is up front of exactly what is he or she is teaching and where it comes from, I cannot say that there is something wrong with it. I might not agree with him in questions such as technique and curriculum though. If people want to pay for that, it's their right. You get what you pay for.
It's when the instructor starts making up all sorts of claims like affiliation with ancient samurai schools or insists on behaviour you'd more expect to find in a cult-type setting I strongly object. For starters, then you DON'T get what you pay for.

If someone makes up their own style and gets himself a snappy looking belt with many stripes, and buys a bunch of great looking trophys with his name on it, that's ok by me. As long as he up front about it. And if the student body quickly reaches black belt levels, that's up to him too, it is only a piece of cloth after all. He's doing what he's taking your money for, it's just good business to do it as fast as possible. And if he hosts an in-club tournament where little Lisa fights the only other kid in her group and receives an enormous trophy that says "European Champion, ages 5-8", you might think he's fooling the kid, but then again Lisa has just won her group, WITHIN THAT SPECIFIC ORGANISATION! So the trophy isn't false really. It isn't very truthful, but it's not really lying either.

What is a belt rank really? As I wrote above, you should not use belts as an indicator of true skill, and neither should you compare your belt to anyone else. After all, if I were to fight the newly appointed black belt little Lisa of 6 years, well, you see my point. But doesn't MY glorious black belt diminish somewhat in strenght when compared to such an inflation of ranks? Sure, you do see a lot more black belts these days and it may be "easier" to get one, but who do you wear your belt for anyway? You already know you worked hard.

The only way I think you should interpret ranks and belts is personal development. Any club has their "hopeless case", someone without an inch of natural athletic skill and is as flexible as a fridge. But this guy doesn't quit! He keeps at it, and eventually, be it slowly, he learns. The movements maybe not are as flowing and the kicks never reach higher than the waist, but since when he first came to train he couldn't kick anything above a knee, he's learned. Everyone will run circles around him in sparring, but he keeps at that too. So he's fought the toughest opponent, himself, and for that he deserves the belt.

Going back to the McDojo instructor, if someone says he's trained with so and so, and had this rank in that and cannot live up to their claim under scrutiny, then I say that that is a con-man, plain and simple. People are paying someone to get quality merchandise, and if they get something that someone has put together from years and years of training under a good teacher, then that's ok by me. Regardless of the fancy uniform. But when someone teaches a personal interpretation with a years training or so under their belt, with a couple of flashy techniques thrown in for good measure, that's just plain conning people.
In short, if you want traditional training, find and stick to something like Shotokan or Daito Ryu Aikijujitsu. If you want a workout, any gym will probably do just as good as a McDojo, but that's up to you and how you want to spend your time. Don't let anyone tell you different.