Buying Belt Before Promotion?

[Lupin1]

I've seen a lot of posts on the internet lately (not necessarily on this forum) where people talk about buying their black belt a few years before they actually get it and keeping it where they can see it (in a training room in their house, for instance) as motivation. What do you guys think of this practice? I'm not even considering buying myself a black belt because I'm a little too far off for that, plus I think our instructor buys us our first black belt as a gift, but I am considering buying myself a brown belt, which is my next belt. I want to get a good quality one since I'll likely be a brown belt for several, or maybe more than several, years, so I was thinking of buying a nice quality eosin belt to display in my practice room in my house as motivation but I'm not sure how proper it is to buy a belt before you earn it. I wouldn't be wearing it around or anything (although I have to admit, I'll probably try it on in front of a mirror just to see how it looks. Even more motivation, right? ), but I'm not sure if some people would consider that presumptuous or anything.

Thoughts?

[Patrick]

I am sure that some people would consider it presumptuous (for them). And then I am sure that some would consider it motivational (for them). I would say that neither person is wrong. It's really about what you're comfortable with and what makes you happy.

If you were to buy it and wear it around without earning the right to wear it... yeah, that'd be improper. But, that is what you are testing for, in the future. You are not testing for the right to buy a black belt. You are testing for the right to wear a black belt for your chosen style.

You might want to ask your instructor what he or she thinks, though, to make sure it won't cause any clashes.

Just my thoughts, as a non-martial artist.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Wastelander]

I think that would be a very personal choice--I have a friend I used to train with (she still trains back in Illinois) who is a very talented seamstress and is making herself a gear bag and wanted to use a black belt for the handle, but couldn't bring herself to buy a belt she doesn't have the right to wear and then cut it up. I told her I thought it a bit silly and she just said "Yeah, but you know me" .

My motivation is not the belt, so I would never buy one and put it on the wall as motivation. My real motivation is my instructor--he knows so much that I don't know and I want to know all of it and more.

[DWx]

Don't think there's anything wrong with displaying the belt for motivation in your practice room; a lot of dojos do this anyway with all the belts lining the walls. As long as you keep in mind its not yours yet and that you have to work for it I think it could be a good idea for motivation.

[sensei8]

There's nothing wrong with you buying a black belt!! Use whatever inspires YOU!! Wear the black belt at home if you want to because what you do in the privacy of your own home is your business.

[quinteros1963]

Why not its only a belt. If it will motivate you try it on and see how it looks. I don't see any harm in it.

[ramymensa]

You can buy anything, if you want it. I don't think I would do this, even if years ago i was certain I'd never stop till that belt is mine. Well, life happened and I stopped after 5 years, at blue belt. Half the way. Took me another 5 years to re-join the dojo, so I think buying that belt would have just made me more miserable. I would buy a belt after I've earned it.

Still, if this does motivate you, buy it. We all handle motivation differently.

[Lupin1]

You can buy anything, if you want it. I don't think I would do this, even if years ago i was certain I'd never stop till that belt is mine. Well, life happened and I stopped after 5 years, at blue belt. Half the way. Took me another 5 years to re-join the dojo, so I think buying that belt would have just made me more miserable. I would buy a belt after I've earned it. .

That's a good point, but I think if I haven't stopped training yet I'm not going to. I moved over 2,000 miles away from my dojo but I'm still training on my own and when I'm home on school breaks. I think it'll take me a little longer to advance this way, but I already have gone up one belt using this method and if I keep training with the intensity I have been, I think I'll definitely make brown within a year. And my instructor told me he did have one other people get all the way up to black belt training the way I am-- it just took awhile. So we'll see.

[GeoGiant]

Hmmmm, I've never of this practice of buying a belt early. I don't think I would do this. At my dojo the instructor issues all belts after a successful test is completed so I've never purchased a belt (directly).

[sensei8]

Visualization HELPS!!

Please check out this link...

http://imt.net/~randolfi/visual.html

Again, if the practitioner of the martial arts can use visualization when learning some said new technique(s), then, if buying a black belt helps/motivates you, then who's anybody to tell you otherwise. It's as harmless as it can be, UNLESS, you wear the black belt outside and/or start telling people that you're a black belt when you're not; that's harmful to yourself and to your fellow martial artists.