White belt

[Brian S]

I think if you are going to a different school you should start as a white belt. The techniques will be different but similar. You will pick them up very fast and probably move to Black Belt in alot less time then a new student to any Martial Art.

In Enshin Karate if you have a Black Belt in another style you come is as Orange(A belt we dont use) and then we know you have experience but not in Enshin. Most of them move up fast too!

That's a neat idea!

 

[Josh Oakley]

You might be a master of one martial art and have no knowledge of another. Why not wear the white? I did when I changed systems. I have students that are doing the same. Some will skip ranks because of equivalent knowledge. One 2nd degree black belt in TKD will not because not enough of the knowledge is equivalent. But everyone starts at white untill we see where they are at in regards to THIS martial art.

 

[TheArtofDave]

The instructor I have who teaches Korean Martial Arts will ask for experience. He told me I could wear a blue belt while catching up from the beginning based on my previous experience.

That is fine with me even though I wouldn't mind wearing a white belt, and would much rather prefer to wear the white belt and then move up in rank.

but it's preference. If you're wearing a colored belt but catching up from white to blue so you're official I guess it doesn't really matter.

Which is better than some guy claiming he knows something they do not.

My main problem has been confidence. Every time I wanted to go far I was torn down. So I'm getting my life together, and using the marital arts to build back up my self confidence. Found something I loved and let it slip away but I'm going to get back in and get a bb in shotokan and the korean martial art pasaryu.

Maybe I can reach 8th but if I take all that time I might as well go 9th in the korean mixed art, and whatever the highest is in shotokan as well.

 

[Deaf Smith]

No big deal with starting out at white belt. Hey, every time you learn a new skill, don't you start out as a 'white belt'?

Different arts have different forms, punches, kicks, blocks, one step sparring, self defense moves, etc...

And what is more, no matter how much you know about the martial arts, you actually know just a little. No one knows it all. No one.

Deaf

 

[TheOriginalName]

Just a couple of quick stories i'd like to share......

One student at the school i attend was given a higher belt when he joined - mainly because he had done a very similar form of training previously. I also believe he was the first one in our school to have this done.
It back fired though - it took him an entire year to progress through to the next rank when it should have only taken 3 months. The reason was simple - he had to learn all the basics again in our style, and surprisingly it takes a year for a beginner to get to where he started.
So it was a first and a last...........

On a similar topic i was in a sparring class the other day and i was standing with a white belt. It was obvious that he had done some training before because of the way he threw his kicks but when i enquired he denied he'd done anything.......so i trusted him. Then we started to incorperate takedowns and grappling. So because i was under the impression he had done nothing before i told him how to get in a takedown using what a white belt in our style would know - and then allowed him to get it in. Basically i wanted to allow him to have some fun with the grappling even though he hadn't gotten to that part of the corriculum.
What happened next was disturbing - he did the takedown, got into side control and put on a shoulder lock........and distroyed my shoulder.
Naturally i cracked it - not becuase he submitted me (i'm not the greatest grappler ever so i get use to it) but because he told me he knew "nothing" yet put on a shoulder lock............

So in my opinion - you start a new style then approach it totally humble and wear the white belt with pride.

However be totally honest with everyone about your previous experience - as it is something to be proud of and allows them to guage what they can and can't do with you.

But again, just my opinion.....

 

[Cirdan]

I love my white belt, it is the only belt I have used in all arts I have studied. I will use any excuse to wear it. Must confess I was not so fond of the yellow one tho.

 

[tshadowchaser]

When changing systems the question is are you going to the new system to impress people with your knowledge and the strips on your belt or are you going to learn. If your going to learn put on the white belt unless the other instructor insists you wear your black belt . Even then ask if you can stand in the position of least knowledge in that system.

 

[tko4u]

Me personally, while I enjoy wearing my black belt, would want to wear a white belt just because I would be afraid of someone on the sidelines looking and saying "look, that black belt sucks, he doesnt know anything!"

I have seen within the school though, people come in from another art and throw a FIT about not upholding their black belts. I believe my instructor let him start as a green belt.

 

[wrc619]

If I ever changed to a new art, I would gladly wear a white belt. Our art stresses humility and constant learning. As others have said, it is a matter of emptying your cup. I see rank from a military perspective. While a Petty Officer Second Class in the Navy and a Sergeant in the Marine Corps are equal in grade, they have mastered two different skill sets to get to where they are. One would probably get lost trying to do the other's job. I think that illustration best sums it up, especially for martial arts.:soapbox:

 

[Guardian]

After reading and responding to the thread "stop trying to pull the wool over my eyes" I thought this deserved more discussion.
It discussed a student of one art wanting to transfer into another art as the rank s/he was in the previous style.
What is so bad about a white belt? It is a starting point. Just like an associates degree. Everyone has to start here to progress and rise in rank. So why do so many have a bad view of it. If we are to have a beginners mind then what is wrong with actually being a beginner?
Is it ego? Do we think we will be thought less of for wearing the dreaded symbol of a beginner.
So I pose this question to all of you. Does the belt make the man, or does the man make the belt? Is the belt truely a symbol of a mans skill and knowledge, or is he?

There is nothing with starting as a White Belt, when I took up Kempo after being a BB in my previous style, I started out as a WB and it didn't bother me one bit, it was a new art to me, I knew very little about it, so I should start at the bottom, I guess my military training taught me to be humble though, a seemingly lost or declining art in todays society.

The belt didn't even hold up my pants, it was for show and tell as far as I was concerned, I had tie strings. It was nice to have when I gained the different colors, but it didn't make me, I made me. It symbolized my advancement in the art that I knew the material, but that's it, how I made it was all me, not the belt.

 

[Mimir]

Just a couple of quick stories i'd like to share......

One student at the school i attend was given a higher belt when he joined - mainly because he had done a very similar form of training previously. I also believe he was the first one in our school to have this done.
It back fired though - it took him an entire year to progress through to the next rank when it should have only taken 3 months. The reason was simple - he had to learn all the basics again in our style, and surprisingly it takes a year for a beginner to get to where he started.
So it was a first and a last...........

On a similar topic i was in a sparring class the other day and i was standing with a white belt. It was obvious that he had done some training before because of the way he threw his kicks but when i enquired he denied he'd done anything.......so i trusted him. Then we started to incorperate takedowns and grappling. So because i was under the impression he had done nothing before i told him how to get in a takedown using what a white belt in our style would know - and then allowed him to get it in. Basically i wanted to allow him to have some fun with the grappling even though he hadn't gotten to that part of the corriculum.
What happened next was disturbing - he did the takedown, got into side control and put on a shoulder lock........and distroyed my shoulder.
Naturally i cracked it - not becuase he submitted me (i'm not the greatest grappler ever so i get use to it) but because he told me he knew "nothing" yet put on a shoulder lock............

So in my opinion - you start a new style then approach it totally humble and wear the white belt with pride.

However be totally honest with everyone about your previous experience - as it is something to be proud of and allows them to guage what they can and can't do with you.

But again, just my opinion.....

I agree, there is no reason to hide that you have had previous experience. I just don't think that there is anything wrong with starting out again as a white belt if you change to a different MA.

 

[stone_dragone]

Whenever I go to a new school, which I get to do every few years due to moving, I have my handy White belt. It's a little older and broken in, just like its wearer. It's tied properly and looks right. Just a few tell-tale signs that this ain't my first rodeo. When asked, I answer about my experience. When told what to wear, I oblige. Training is training and pajamas are pajamas, don't get too wrapped up in it or you'll miss the point entirely.

Its like the saying many have heard before..."Everyone knows who can dance."