Changing gyms...and the lineage of your belt?

[JustOnce]

so just out of curiosity, you hear this guy A is a B's brown belt or black belt, and you know they can trace his lineage of his instructors and that instructor's instructors and so on....what happens if you change gyms in the middle of your bjj journey and let's say you get half of the earlier belts like I don't know till purple from the instructor A, but then get your brown and black from the instructor B? Whose black belt are you? Is it A's or B's?

 

[yetanother]

They guy who gave you your black belt.

 

[mattemate]

Are you your mom's kid or your dad's kid?

 

[Peteyandjia]

I keep it simple:

We are all Sensei Seagal's children.

 

[JustOnce]

They guy who gave you your black belt.

do you have to start from the white belt tho?

 

[liuk3]

Yeah, I always thought it was a bit weird and possibly just a matter of marketing. Say you go from white to brown with instructor A,and then get black from instructor B, then your lineage is basically with instructor B despite spending probably 90% of your time with instructor A?

 

[ChickenBrother]

Personally I've always thought BJJ lineage is kind of pointless - it's just marketing. Some of the best instructors I've had come from a BJJ lineage of nobodies but incorporated a lot of techniques from Judo/wrestling/Sambo + were great at teaching and coaching. Many great coaches today have cross-trained other styles anyway.

 

[SandisLL]

BJJ is in modern marketing bubble.
We earlier had Karate bubble.

According to traditions for arts, where Japanesse grading Dan ranks are used ( now some chinesse arts etc also uses dan ranks, despite according to traditions their sensei is called sifu and The Master of Art not a person with dan rank.) order is following;
Writing form; 1. with art name and dan rank.
2. Write panel/ senseis that graded you for Dan rank.
3. Below describe your tutelage biography, for example if you had external grading for coloured belt ( sometimes for coloured belt once/ twice in coloured belts cycle they use not senseis from your dojo but create evaluation panel with guest senseis to motivate students learn more diligently cos strangers senseis will see exam ).
Seminars, cross training with other arts/ senseis.

Until one doesn't said something bad about previous senseis nothing wrong with change.
We might move to another place, change trainer because our new location, schedule etc.

 

[KikoJones]

do you have to start from the white belt tho?

Do you train BJJ? If so, what belt are you??

 

[JustOnce]

BJJ is in modern marketing bubble.
We earlier had Karate bubble.

According to traditions for arts, where Japanesse grading Dan ranks are used ( now some chinesse arts etc also uses dan ranks, despite according to traditions their sensei is called sifu and The Master of Art not a person with dan rank.) order is following;
Writing form; 1. with art name and dan rank.
2. Write panel/ senseis that graded you for Dan rank.
3. Below describe your tutelage biography, for example if you had external grading for coloured belt ( sometimes for coloured belt once/ twice in coloured belts cycle they use not senseis from your dojo but create evaluation panel with guest senseis to motivate students learn more diligently cos strangers senseis will see exam ).
Seminars, cross training with other arts/ senseis.

Until one doesn't said something bad about previous senseis nothing wrong with change.
We might move to another place, change trainer because our new location, schedule etc.

what

 

[JustOnce]

Do you train BJJ? If so, what belt are you??

Well I have Saku belt.

 

[Forceof1]

If you are under black belt, the only question you'll get is "where do you train?". At that point, you simply answer wherever you are training at that time. If you want to throw in "I started at XYZ, but now I'm at ABC" no one will really care.

If you are a black belt, the only question that matters is "who gave you your belt?". And that answer is simple- I got it from XYZ. Where you got your blue belt from doesn't matter.

IMHO - if you are accepting a black belt from someone - they gave you your belt. Yes, you can say I train under XYZ and was promoted to black by ABC- but nothing else matters prior.

 

[ChickenBrother]

do you have to start from the white belt tho?

Usually not but there are some exceptions. Most common attitude I've seen is new gym says, "if you've earned your belt elsewhere it's yours and you can wear it. But you'll have to prove you're good enough for the next belt under our standards to get promoted."

However, there's a guy at my gym who's now purple but came to the school with a gracie online blue. They made him start at white and he didn't contest it given how badly he was getting destroyed. I've heard of other belt demotions when changing gyms but anecdotally I don't think it's that common.

But when you change schools it probably WILL set back your promotion time because it kind of turns the clock back on your current belt. If you're say blue with 2 or 3 stripes, your new gym will probably treat you like you're a fresh blue and make you do 2 years or so before purple, unless you prove yourself clearly superior.

The thing is that belt standards are pretty subjective. Even within the same school there's a wide range of abilities at white, blue and purple with significant overlap. If you're say a white with previous training who can tap majority of blues, instructor might still make you train for a year under him before officially promoting you - both to fix what he sees as holes in your game, and to get to know you well enough to rep you for blue.

In general I think there's probably a +/- 1 year acceptable range on belt promotions before it becomes egregious that promotion was either too late or too early.

 

[mattemate]

But when you change schools it probably WILL set back your promotion time because it kind of turns the clock back on your current belt. If you're say blue with 2 or 3 stripes, your new gym will probably treat you like you're a fresh blue and make you do 2 years or so before purple, unless you prove yourself clearly superior.

On the other hand if a blue comes in smashing purples or a purple comes in smashing browns and blacks, they'll probably go up faster to avoid embarrassing the new academy

Standards vary gym to gym so much

 

[asian-glow]

To save everyone confusion and by convention, I would only say who I got my black belt from - that's what most people care about.

It's complicated because in truth, I truly owe much of my skill to who I got my blue and brown belt from. Purple belt was just a wasteland.

 

[Normot]

The owner of my gym promoted me from white->brown but he took a backseat and rarely teaches class, he brought in a new instructor (World class guy, you would know his name) who gave me my black.
IDK how to feel about it. I wish I had gotten it from the gym owner since his standards are extremely high and he is the one who taught me BJJ. It would be more marketable to use the new instructors name, but I'm not marketing anything.
What I was told after getting my blackbelt by the new instructor, "You think you suck? Don't worry man, a lot of blackbelts suck."

 

[nefti]

the funny thing is when a brown or a black belt comes to a famous guys association and he claims to be the a black belt from the famous guy.

 

[asian-glow]

The owner of my gym promoted me from white->brown but he took a backseat and rarely teaches class, he brought in a new instructor (World class guy, you would know his name) who gave me my black.
IDK how to feel about it. I wish I had gotten it from the gym owner since his standards are extremely high and he is the one who taught me BJJ. It would be more marketable to use the new instructors name, but I'm not marketing anything.
What I was told after getting my blackbelt by the new instructor, "You think you suck? Don't worry man, a lot of blackbelts suck."

I understand the sentiment. My instructor also told me he'd feel more comfortable belting me under his instructor - someone famous whose patch we all wear but who I've never even met.

 

[mattemate]

The owner of my gym promoted me from white->brown but he took a backseat and rarely teaches class, he brought in a new instructor (World class guy, you would know his name) who gave me my black.
IDK how to feel about it. I wish I had gotten it from the gym owner since his standards are extremely high and he is the one who taught me BJJ. It would be more marketable to use the new instructors name, but I'm not marketing anything.
What I was told after getting my blackbelt by the new instructor, "You think you suck? Don't worry man, a lot of blackbelts suck."

Lol dude you're hiding who you train with like it's a state secret

 

[Normot]

Lol dude you're hiding who you train with like it's a state secret

Nah, I don't want to out myself and have a training partner read through all my asshole posts in the heavyweights...