Blue belt second stripe....Online?

msmitht

2nd Black Belt
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
838
Reaction score
69
Location
san diego
I would only use their videos as a guide while training at an academy with someone, preferably a black belt or higher, who knows the whole system. Otherwise you are getting bits and pieces. The trained eye sees all. Untrained eyes as only what is in front of them.
 

kohamy32

White Belt
Joined
Jun 15, 2015
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
I dont like the idea of learning a martial art online, there is no feedback or correction. Especially for a art like bjj where feedback from a live partner is one of the most important points! Definately real life lessons for the win
 

jezr74

Master of Arts
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Messages
1,643
Reaction score
217
Location
Australia
I thought the whole point was to have training partners? In other threads with BJJ topic, some have talked about the fact it's live rolling is an advantage since it works or it doesn't.
 

Tony Dismukes

MT Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
7,577
Reaction score
7,611
Location
Lexington, KY
Yes, as previously stated, the online GU program requires that you have at least one training partner (and preferably more) to practice the moves and drills with. Rener and Ryron spend a lot of time explaining how to be a good training partner and how to help each other learn.
 

msmitht

2nd Black Belt
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
838
Reaction score
69
Location
san diego
Omg! We had an online blue belt come in today for his first class. He understands hip escape, breakfall, rolling and the basic positions. He had no concept of free training with resistance. He did know how to replace very well. After class He asked for a white belt and we have him one with one stripe.
 

Brian R. VanCise

MT Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
27,758
Reaction score
1,520
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
I am afraid you will see continuous videos in the future showing a white belt beating an online blue belt easily.

Just like this one:

 

Chrisoro

Blue Belt
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
239
Reaction score
99
I don't think the issue here is that the person recieved his instruction online, as the Gracie University instruction is easily the most detailed and pedagogically correct instruction I have ever recieved. And I have trained with several of the original dirty dozen in person, and also one world champion, so this isn't about lack of experience with other forms of instruction.

What this proves, once again, is the importance of regular sparring/rolling, and how a blue belt(or any martial arts rank, really) recieved on the basis of technical demonstrations alone will not be able to beat a blue belt (or even a semi-experienced white belt) in BJJ sparring/competition without any experience of actually, you know, sparring. I think you would get the exact same result if you had a brick and mortar BJJ school that didn't have any sparring before blue belt, and only relied on a formal, technical belt grading instead of grading based on performance.
 
Last edited:

RowdyAz

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
69
Reaction score
17
The building blocks are already in place really. There is the Les Mills Bodypump and I imagine others too. Would be quite exciting with many possibilities.
Can I get fries and a coke with that.
 

jezr74

Master of Arts
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Messages
1,643
Reaction score
217
Location
Australia
I don't think the issue here is that the person recieved his instruction online, as the Gracie University instruction is easily the most detailed and pedagogically correct instruction I have ever recieved. And I have trained with several of the original dirty dozen in person, and also one world champion, so this isn't about lack of experience with other forms of instruction.

So you can learn bjj online, just may not be at the same speed and accuracy as school based?


What this proves, once again, is the importance of regular sparring/rolling, and how a blue belt(or any martial arts rank, really) recieved on the basis of technical demonstrations alone will not be able to beat a blue belt (or even a semi-experienced white belt) in BJJ sparring/competition without any experience of actually, you know, sparring. I think you would get the exact same result if you had a brick and mortar BJJ school that didn't have any sparring before blue belt, and only relied on a formal, technical belt grading instead of grading based on performance.

I don't think anyone was disputing that more sparring is paramount.

But if we keep to the basis that not all people are equal or skill\learning levels, we could say that the person in Brian's video, while not up to scratch in live rolling with a high white belt, he does posses some skill from an online source, potentially some will be superior to others of the same rank. I believe there are accounts of online belts winning comps as well, and no doubt plenty of records of higher belts being beaten by lower belts of brick and mortars schools as well.

So the quality of the curriculum\teaching and the tenacity\athleticism\understanding of the student will produce the end result, regardless if online or school taught? I guess I don't see it so black and white.
 
OP
Hanzou

Hanzou

Grandmaster
Joined
Sep 29, 2013
Messages
6,770
Reaction score
1,330
Hmmm. Surprisingly I agree with most of that. I think the structured curriculum you find in many Gracie academies is a step up from the random technique of the day, and the hard rolling of the past. I don't agree with waiting until blue belt to start rolling, but I do agree that many guys do go off and look for techniques to stop Bjj in a roll, and not to stop a SD situation. That's exactly what I did when I first started to avoid feeling embarrassed for getting tapped out during practice.

I like the fact that my academy does drills where guys are getting punched while grappling, and not just letting two white belts smash each other with Bjj.
 

Buka

Sr. Grandmaster
Staff member
MT Mentor
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
10,444
Location
Maui

I almost didn't watch this vid, I had spent way too much time on the computer yesterday and had no desire to watch another forty five minutes of any damn thing. I'm really glad I watched it.

I watched it because I was curious about the online jits program, at least as it pertains to blue belt. Even though one of my guys does it with students at his school and has been for a while, I've never actually seen it as I only go there to teach striking. (I know, I'm a damn chump, what can I say?)

But what I got out of it was one hell of a surprise that had nothing to do with the online program. If you told me the Gracies were going to radically (IMO) change anything I would have told you "you don't know the Gracies". The whole "not rolling from the git go" thing blew my mind. While done for business/marketing purposes, (again, IMO) it really does improve their art. And I mean dramatically.

Makes me rethink everything I do in teaching striking. Sometimes I hate this damn forum.
 

Chester Wright

Yellow Belt
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
58
Reaction score
36
Location
Suffolk, VA

Okay, I grew to accept Gjj Torrance giving blue belts online. No biggie. You get your blue belt, and then you come in and go the rest of the way to purple and beyond. However, now they're saying you can get your second stripe online as well. This really bothers me, because its an indication that they may take this beyond blue and to higher belt rankings.

I just can't get behind this. Looking at the Blue Belts I train with, there's no way they could be as proficient as they are if their training was online. Maybe I'm too old school, and just feel that in arts like Bjj (and most MA in general) you need that direct feedback from your instructor while you're training. Watching a video, mimicking movements, and sending in a tape for evaluation just seems wrong to me.

What do you think?
It cheapens Jiu Jitsu. Rorion's kids are just trying to make money.
 

BamBamx8

Yellow Belt
Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
22
Reaction score
2
Wave of the future man. He said right in the clip he can't wait for the purple belt test. So I assume at some point soon you can get a purple belt online. I don't know anything about the actual classes I've never taken then but I think online training is the future. Agree with it or not it just is you can do anything on line now. Banking, doctor visits, college classes, etc. If they do a good job keeping the standards up and have a check and balance system like live feedback from actual instructors then it could work. Is it the best method probably not but is it better then not training at all? I don't know if it's quality material then some is better then none. If it's crap well there are crap brick and mortar schools to so...
I seriously consider online classes when they learn to grapple online.
 

Andrew Green

Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
Joined
Aug 1, 2004
Messages
8,627
Reaction score
452
Location
Winnipeg MB
Like Brian said, it waters down the art. It matters to us because we care about Bjj and don't want it to become a mcdojo with 10 year old black belts, and chumps wearing higher ranking belts who can't grapple their way out of a paper bag.


The art is going to survive and get stronger regardless of what happens with rank. Todays champions are far more skilled then those of 15 years ago. You could award everyone a black belt the first time they step on the mat and the art isn't going to get watered down when it comes to competition.

Rank is just one of those things that people are always going to have different opinions on. You'll have groups that award rank pretty quickly based on one set of criteria, and other groups that award it really slow based on completely different criteria. Maybe the online ranking is one side of the bell curve, but on the other side is guys who put off promotions for the purpose of winning divisions.

In the end I don't think it matters. Just train, forget about the colour of everyones belt and pay attention to what they actually know, there might be correlation, but the bigger the picture you look at the fuzzier that correlation is going to get. If BJJ continues to grow I suspect we will see even more spread in the criteria used for belts.
 

Latest Discussions

Top