Is Claiming to Hold a Black Belt, Essentially Pointless?

Sensei Ryan Nicholls here, owner of, and head instructor at RKD Martial Arts, welcome to my Blog, Martial Arts Perth.

In this, our third topic, I wanted to look at why claiming to be a 'black belt' is essentially pointless.

When people first enter a dojo, one of the goals or dreams they have is of one day obtaining and wearing their black belt. The yudansha (those who hold a dan rank) are often looked at by new comers to any art as being experts and a member of the elite – someone to respect and often, be in awe of. A black belt often confers upon its wearer a status that is; more often than not; greater than the reality. Why then, is claiming to hold a 'black belt' ultimately pointless?

First, let us look at what it generally means to hold a black belt in a certain style. Contrary to the misguided belief that a black belt is an expert, under most styles, obtaining a black belt means that you have completed your basic training, that you are competent in the system's basic techniques. It is essentially, the final step before your advanced training begins. Compared to the lay person, is a black belt an expert? Yes, but it is always a matter of relativity. When compared to a lay person, a blue belt is an expert as they know and understand a whole lot more than the average person off the street. Is a black belt an expert when compared to a lay person or a blue belt? Yes.

Looking at it another way, is a black belt in one system comparable to a black belt in another system? In a word, no. Why not? The simple answer is time and experience. Your skill as a martial artist is usually based on two things - the quality of your instructor and your experience. Generally, the better your instructor and the more experience you have, the better you will be as a martial artist. Removing natural ability, quality of instruction and your training experience will be the dominant factors in determining your skill level. So why aren't black belts across systems comparable? Mainly for the two reasons above – not all instructors are equal, and not all experience is equal.

There is often a big misconception within the martial arts that skill translates into teaching ability. In other words, the better you are as a martial artist, the better instructor you'll make. In some systems it is almost expected that once you reach a certain belt (often black belt) that you will be instructing others. The reality is, teaching and training are two very different concepts and someone who may be good at one is not guaranteed to be good at the other. I have at various times in my training had experience with numerous instructors – some were very good martial artists but terrible instructors, and some were average martial artists but excellent instructors. There were various reasons for the former – some just had a high degree of natural ability so they were good at the physical aspects, but lacked understanding or the ability to impart understanding to others. Some just had no idea of the various types of learning methodologies (to be covered in a later blog) and got exasperated when you didn't understand their approach to teaching. There were a number of people who had a good understanding of the martial arts and were very good at imparting that to other people, despite themselves being of only average ability. Of course, unfortunately, there is also the case of average or less than average martial artists also being average (or worse) instructors – I am fortunate to have had very little experience being instructed by this category, as being taught by someone of this ilk for one lesson was enough!

For students of the same style having a different instructor can mean a vast difference in knowledge at a particular level. This is mitigated somewhat in some styles by having grading panels – trying to ensure a minimum standard is obtained before passing from one belt rank to the next. However, standards are subjective and grading panels are not always comprised of the same people. Also, this is usually an assessment of technique, not understanding.

Myself (right) with BJJ world champ Andre Galvao

Recently I had the fortunate experience of doing a two day workshop with Andre Galvao, multiple times BJJ world champ and an all round nice guy. Andre is an example of the perfect instructor – exceptionally gifted at what he does and able to impart that knowledge to others in a multitude of ways. I can't remember exactly how many people were in attendance (definitely more than 50, possibly around 80) on both days, but everyone left that workshop knowing how to do the techniques being taught, why you would use those techniques, and why they work. Despite a large group, he was able to teach the same thing in multiple ways so that everyone was able to understand.

If we were able to remove the variability in instructor ability (both as a martial artist and a teacher), could we then compare black belts across systems? Again, the answer is no. Different systems have different grading requirements - even different schools within the same systems have different grading requirements! As such, a belt rank from one system to the next is never going to be equivalent. A good indication of this is the experience that the student has at that rank, or put another way, the average time it takes to achieve that rank.

Some martial arts schools advertise that you will be black belt in a year – ps, if you see a school that does this, avoid it like the plague! In some styles it may take you an average of three years to get your first dan, some five years, and some around ten years to get a black belt! Does this make them equivalent? No. Does it mean the one that took longer is 'better' than the others? Probably, but not necessarily. What it does mean however, is that the black belts of the style which takes ten years to attain are going to have experienced a great deal more training than those in the style that takes three years to achieve. Given that a martial artist's ability is generally a product of instruction received and experience, it would stand to reason that the longer it takes to get a black belt, the better that black belt would be. Put another way, assuming that both were receiving decent instruction, it would be expected that a martial artist with ten years experience would be better than a martial artist with three, four, or five years of experience (remembering we are talking average times here – some people will experience in five years what others take ten years to experience).

Looking at my own experience within the martial arts is a good illustration of this point. I hold black belts in a number of styles (one 4^th dan, one 2^nd dan, and three 1^st dans) but I don't consider them at all equivalent. It is actually one of the 1^st dans that I value the most of my martial arts achievements. The 1^st dan is in a taijutsu style, and it took me about ten years to achieve it. My 4^th dan is in a freestyle martial art and it took me about the same amount of time to achieve. However, I felt I learned more and experienced more achieving my 1^st dan in the taijutsu style than I did in achieving my 4^th dan in the freestyle. It should be noted however, that unlike most martial arts, in the taijutsu style I did, the basics ended with purple belt, not on attainment of black belt. It stands to reason therefore that achieving a black belt in the taijutsu system is a number of stages into your advanced training, not the beginning of it, as was the case with the freestyle.

The issue of quality of experience became clear to me following a particular incident. When I started training in the freestyle system I was already a red belt in the taijutsu system, and the experience and quality of training I had received meant that my skill level was above many of the people who outranked me. This was made abundantly clear to me when I was a green belt sparring a black belt who was getting angry and frustrated because he couldn't land a strike or kick on me, and his efforts to close distance and grapple were thwarted by my superior movement and counter striking ability. As his anger rose and frustration increased, he tried using more and more power to bully through me but was still unable to land a blow. After I had put him on his butt a few times (he had started trying to crash through my kicks) our Sensei abruptly ended the sparring session then chastised the black belt for his anger and lack of control. The issue was, the black belt knew I had been training martial arts as long as he had but assumed because I didn't yet hold a black belt in any styles that he must be better because he did – he didn't see me as his equivalent and certainly didn't entertain the notion that I could be better than he was. He made the mistake of assuming that his black belt in the freestyle was better than my red belt in taijutsu, despite the fact they took a similar amount of time to achieve. This always reminded me of a quote by Royce Gracie:

“A black belt only covers two inches of your ass – you have to cover the rest.”

So does saying “I'm a black belt” really hold any meaning? Despite how I opened this blog article, and what I've said above, it does. A black belt; regardless of the style in which it is achieved; has internal relevance. First, it holds some meaning within your system – for example, you'd expect that two recently graded black belts, both studying Zen Do Kai but from different schools would know similar things. Second, it holds a great deal of meaning within your school. Regardless of comparisons to other styles or schools, you have achieved a hallmark within your school, amongst your peers. Third, and probably more importantly, it speaks of your character – it has shown a degree of dedication, persistence, and mental strength that the average person does not have. In China, the term kung fu is applied to any individual skill that is the result of a great deal of effort and work, and in light of the achievement of a black belt in (almost) any style, it is highly appropriate when used to describe the martial arts.

I'd like to end this article by sharing a paragraph from an essay I was required to write for black belt in one of my martial arts:

“...I realised that a goal is only a moment in time, a brief and short lived emotion that ultimately fades. It becomes a memory of a time and a place; a marker or sign post on a longer journey. And this is where the martial arts mirrors life; life is a journey marked by events - some good, some bad - but all contribute to the experience that is Life. For when looking at Life what is the goal? Life always ends at some point and all we have is the memories and experiences of the journey, so why focus on the endpoint? The martial arts are no different - it is my realisation within the martial arts that a black belt or 2nd or 3rd Dan is just a marker, a single moment in a larger journey. The important thing to me is that I have enjoyed the journey so far, that I have experienced so much and learnt a great deal about myself in the process.”

Be proud of achieving your black belt, but remember that it only marks a certain moment in your journey, nothing more. And never make the assumption that being a black belt in your school makes you better than anyone in any other school, regardless of their rank!

Thanks for reading – until next week make sure you subscribe to the blog, and if you have any subjects you would like to see covered, post them in the comments section below.