Jiu Jitsu Update

Martial Arts is an interesting sport activity. While their are tournaments, they are the rare exception for most participants and their is no league or playoff "games". There is no season. Instead their is progress from white to black and beyond, and the progress is not a steady climb but rather a jumpy increase with spikes and plateaus.

The first six months of training when you begin any martial art is the deer-in-the-headlights time when everything is new and strange. How to move, how to take down, how to be taken down, every class is an eye-opener to things you never considered about fighting and self defense. The first three months you work every class and its a steep climb to your white belt as your confidence grows and you start to feel a little more comfortable. The next three months as yellow you have a bit of confidence but you are still working on the basics from white while getting the next set of basics for yellow.

All of this training in the first six months comes to a head in your test for your orange belt and when you succeed in that test you hit the first plateau. You can step back, relax, and enjoy being an orange belt student, an indication that you are familiar with the martial art and got the basics at least familiarized if not memorized. Eventually you get to the first stripe review and the plateau comes to an end as you begin really working on the next belt level. Steady progress is made as you learn new techniques that seem familiar as they build on the basics learned in white and yellow. After a while you do your next two reviews and then you are back in intense training for your belt test just like your first six months when you started. You review all the material, doing everything several times over a few weeks (or months for higher belts) and then doing it again. Finally you go for your test and achieve the next belt colour and enter a new rest period, a new plateau.

Last night my plateau for achieving the green belt came to an end as I had my first stripe review. It went very well with the exception of me deciding against trying breakfall 14 which involves doing a handstand and then curling and falling on your feet and across your shoulders. My back was twinging and I opted not to aggravate it. Now I start to work harder on green belt material and get ready for that Blue belt test in the late summer.