Blue Belt Blues

[Wild_Cat]

Nice article

[GTF]

i've only just started and my martial art dosent have blue belts but whenever i feel like i've stoped learning i will think of your advive, thanks

[mikaveli]

Good article mate.

I think I've hit the 'Black Belt Blues' where you get depressed at the thought of all the students who started young enough to be able to do the splits. Also, realising that because you work full-time you don't simply have enough time to train in your style to maintain or improve your techniques much. Or that being a big heavy 'ard geezer is a better asset than years of training.

... and all the injuries that have been acquired over the years after trying to train hard enough to make up for the aforementioned failings now prevent you from training without a large degree of pain in certain exercises

(I haven't quit yet though! )

[Fish]

Nice article. I'm stuck in a blue belt rut right at the moment, where I can't seem to get my kicks right no matter how hard I try. But your article encourages me to be patient and stick it out - I'll get there in the end. Plus, lots of other little things are getting better while I remain a blue belt.

[tarheeljujitsu]

I agree with Ghostly....

[GrrrArg]

Well, two years on since I wrote the article and how things have changed!

Belts have all gone out the window and the Gi is neatly folded away under a bed somewhere I believe. As for the training itself, well the focus has gone from "Sports Karate" to something altogether more fulfilling (for me, at least).

I have found that without the belts, the plateus still come along, but they are much less noticeable and they now just seem to be an opportunity, a glimpse in how much there still is "out-there" for me to learn.

C'est la vie!

[Sensei Tom OBrien]

Wow! What a great article. I wish I had seen this when I was around green belt. Just think though how close you are to brown or red belt. The brown belt (red belt in some, especially Korean, systems) is the 'work horse' of the dojo/dojang.

Thanks,

Sensei Tom