Promoting ones self to the next belt?

[bushido_man96]

The authority of Master Ken!

[Himokiri Karate]

Few years back, I was taking a course on being a personal trainer. When I went in I went in expecting to learn proper grips, positioning and form for proper execution of various free weight exercises. But then, reality kicked in...HARD!

Instead of learning proper form and mechanics of deadlifts and squats. I learned that personal training is about capturing clients who are lonely and insecure. You are there to be their pseudo friend/therapist. Best trainers that make six figures are folks who are charismatic and socially well versed and great at being an extrovert. This was in 2015 and I decided to discontinue the program because at the time I could not be a cheerleader and not know how to teach correct forms in weight lifting. Never the less, it was a reality check that as unfair and unjust as it is, having some certification does and is something that people look as impressive and it carries weight.

A bit off topic, but if you are still interested in pursuing a legitimate certification in strength training, you should check out the Starting Strength Coach Certification. It sounds exactly like what you were looking for. Now, it's not an easy certification to obtain by any stretch, but it would be well worth your time.

I would probably in the future but I really got in to yoga big time when I started re-exploring my kung fu roots since now that I no longer want to teach a belting system. My focus is stance, posture, flexibility and foundation for boxing and kung fu.

Certification for strength training is weird due to covid situation but in the future if I have my own place, I would like to become certified.

[vergil96]

It's also just not understandable for me. He could have gone to another dojo, there are many schools that award kyu degrees easily. Plus he does himself very bad marketing at the same time.

Would it be too far off the mark to state that everyone who has ever promoted themselves to any rank in martial arts did so for profit and because the prospect of gaining fame and fortune to were the main motives? Otherwise, who cares? If one just trains for trainings sake and polishing skills, belts stop being a priority. Especially if one isn’t an instructor or competitor.

Personally the whole idea of self-evaluation and promotion in anything is pointless and just not understandable. The only thing that ever matters is trust and approval from a person who is doing his best to teach skills I believe in and want to learn.

Well said. I agree with that comoletely.

What I also don't understand is that the brown belt isn't great profit, because even if it's an instructor degree, it isn't as appealing for people as a black teaching.

Obviously, this man's pride was hurt. Then again - it's not great if someone has ego issues.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Pride always gets in the way, even when you make every effort to let it go. Somewhere in the back of our mind is that part of ourselves that’s keeps overestimating or overdoing what we do. Either to feel good about a skill we have convinced ourselves cannnot be further sharpened or to impress others who either are interested in others parts of our training or just aren’t impressed because they’ve seen better.

[JazzKicker]

Few years back, I was taking a course on being a personal trainer. When I went in I went in expecting to learn proper grips, positioning and form for proper execution of various free weight exercises. But then, reality kicked in...HARD!

Instead of learning proper form and mechanics of deadlifts and squats. I learned that personal training is about capturing clients who are lonely and insecure. You are there to be their pseudo friend/therapist. Best trainers that make six figures are folks who are charismatic and socially well versed and great at being an extrovert. This was in 2015 and I decided to discontinue the program because at the time I could not be a cheerleader and not know how to teach correct forms in weight lifting. Never the less, it was a reality check that as unfair and unjust as it is, having some certification does and is something that people look as impressive and it carries weight.

A bit off topic, but if you are still interested in pursuing a legitimate certification in strength training, you should check out the Starting Strength Coach Certification. It sounds exactly like what you were looking for. Now, it's not an easy certification to obtain by any stretch, but it would be well worth your time.

I would probably in the future but I really got in to yoga big time when I started re-exploring my kung fu roots since now that I no longer want to teach a belting system. My focus is stance, posture, flexibility and foundation for boxing and kung fu.

Certification for strength training is weird due to covid situation but in the future if I have my own place, I would like to become certified.

Standards and certification in any field, from architecture to yoga, are important for credibility, and even public safety. It's just the privately issued ones can be of dubious value.

I studied for a personal trainer/SMAC cert many years ago, it was basically a correspondence school. At the in-person seminar I realized that many of the other trainees didn't have much background or education to be remotely qualified. I was just as humbled when I tried to get a job at a gym, and the manager flat out told me he'd sooner take on an exercise science major college grad. This, for a low paying job dependent on your ability to attract clients at the gym.

Yoga, I know, has it's 200 hour certifications- which if you think about it, amounts to 2 classes a week for 2 years. That level of instruction wouldn't qualify you as a black belt, let alone instructor, with a credible karate association.

[bushido_man96]

It depends on what you're looking for. A yoga instructor isn't teaching self-defense; and the concern for technical proficiency probably isn't as high, either. 200 hours may very well be plenty for gaining proficiency in yoga to the point of being able to instruct others. In the Martial Arts, we're looking for different things; technical proficiency, knowledge of curriculum, etc.

[tatsujin]

I think you have to quantify it a bit for a better answer.

When Itosu led the charge to change Okinawan martial arts to make them more plateable to the Japanese and got it into the school systems, none of those folks had ranks. Hell, they didn't even have names for their arts at that point or than "te".

To line up with what the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai wanted and with the belt ranking system that Kano Jigoro took from swimming, Funakoshi, Motobu, etc. didn't have rank. Funakoshi himself was a godan for quite some time. So, from that aspect, there was no promotion for these folks and their early students.

From that standpoint today, it could be very different. But, if someone develops a sogo budo art today, who is to say that they cannot assign themselves rank? At the end of the day, it would depend on if what they are doing works or not, right? And do others think they are doing it at the level they say they are with the self appointed rank.

For me personally, I would not go that route. But I have also rolled with some BJJ blue belts that were better fighters than alot of the self-styled grandmasters, soke and sho-dai soke that I have run into.

Just a thought....