Hi there, I've been doing BJJ for about 2.5 years and am white belt four stripes. I'm not very good at it due to: - A range of permanent injuries, and - Weight differences - I'm 67+ pounds lighter than everyone else. In karate I'm a Brown Belt third Kyu, been doing this for a bit over 2.5 years. I have a few things to say/ask other members, but for today just itnroducing myself and checking out the threads. Look forward to chatting with you all.
Good grief - the kids have actually left me alone and I can get back to this! So I'm a Brown Belt, not very good, I think they keep grading me just because I keep turning up. I try my best, but there's a lot of things I'll never be able to do right. That in itself is OK, I'm happy with what I can do. My main problem is sparring - as you would expect, I'm only allowed to spar the Black Belts (BB). That's fine, we have four in our dojo, and they're all fine. They completely dominate all sparring and leave me bruised, but they hold back and show some respect. By "respect" I mean (for example) if I land something they kind of pause for a second to illustrate "Yeah, you got me, if this was real I'd be in pain right now". But there's the one (new) Black Belt who just beats the snot out of me. When I started training he was Brown, and he's been beating the crap out of me since I was a Yellow Belt. He doesn't hold back in technique or force, and routinely bashes me up every time we spar. Whereas I (and everyone else) does light contact, and expect that "respect" I mentioned earlier, he takes the view that if I didn't actually break one of his ribs then he's not pausing for anything. So a couple of weeks ago I got jack of this and gave him a few pearlers back. He got cranky and started wailing the living crap out of me. I pushed him back and give him a few choice words... Since then our Head Instructor had a word with me, and told me I simply can't speak to a BB like that - shows disrespect etc. That's fair enough, I'm cool with that. The problem is that after I explained to the Head Instructor the history of this guy, I was told to "suck it up". What the hell do I do with this guy??? I can't ever come close to him physically, but I'm sick to death of what is otherwise an enjoyable experience being ruined by this jerk. Ideas...?
Sparring is the time when you get to put into practice the techniques you have learnt throughout the lessons(s). You will always get one person who is better than the other and it is the duty (as I see it) of the better exponent to draw that extra 5% out of the less proficient of the two. If you are taking a few digs and are under pressure that is fine, it is where you should be, however if the other guy is just looking to beat on you without helping, instructing and giving tips, then that is not so good. It is worth talking to this guy either before or after class and asking him to help you during sparring. Tell him frankly you are not as his level in terms of the power delivery. If that fails and your instructor is not interested in helping then you have a decision to make.
Last Sunday I had two guys sparring and one turned away when under pressure and after taking a few heavy shots. He swore, as if to say "christ's sake, this is stupid". I let it go because that is the level he should be at. That said though I would not let it continue like that week after week, that would not help him progress. Now is the time to wind it back with this guy, work on his technique and build up his confidence in both his sparring and himself.
You are doing BJJ as well right? Well then "Go Gracie" on him and take him to the ocean for a swimming lesson if he is trying to beat you up, as opposed to trying to help you.
I'm not sure what the sparring rules are for your club/dojo but since you have some experience in BJJ, why not go for a take-down or throw? At the dojo I train at we sometimes have some black belts or brown belts who either are cranky or insist on hitting quite hard. Since I have some experience in judo, I wait for an opportunity to do a throw or take-down, anything from a mere foot sweep to catching a kick then taking the opponent down to a throw that's not above the hip (in accordance to the sparring rules). If you are allowed to do any type of throws, ideally go for one over the hip or shoulder and put as much power into it as you can. You could also try using a completely different set of striking techniques and fakes as it may throw the person off from what they typically expect you'll do. Alternatively, ask one of the other black belts or head instructor to show you a technique they used that works against the aggressive person. If all else fails, simply talk to the person outside of class as well as explain why you said the choice words. You can ask the other black belts if they experience the same issue from the person and if not, then it may come down to a personal grudge.
I am going to take you on your word - you know, there's always two sides to a story. Unfortunately you really did yourself a disservice for letting it go on for this long without letting your instructor know about his attitude and actions. Now it can look like you are just finding excuses for swearing at the guy, which could be the reason you are getting a less than sympathetic response from your instructor. So there are a few things you can do. Being the nice guy is number 1. Go and apologise to the black belt – even if you don’t mean it, make sure you sound sincere. Then pretty much follow what simon s says and I may as well quote it. Genuinely ask for advice and how to improve. It may be he really thinks you are ready for that sort of pressure. And he may not know the full extent of your injuries. When doing this always come from the perspective of asking for help or assistance and NOT trying to tell someone else what to do. After that give it a few more weeks and see if there is any change. If there isn’t then perhaps go to one of the other black belts and ask for advice or to see if they are noticing it as well. They have been training with this guy to and can maybe give you some more advice or have a quiet talk. Alternatively you can go straight back to the head instructor. Just be honest, say that you realise you want to get better to be more competitive, but that you aren’t learning much by sparring with this guy in particular because he just beats on you. Compare him to the other black belts. Again, ask for advice and avoid whinging or lecturing. Other than that I have some less than ethical solutions that came to mind, but let’s save those as a last resort.
I'm used to being smaller than many opponents i'll face, and there for at a segnificant size disadvantage, i think it's important to give as good as you get. but i think it's really low using your rank as a shield to beat up others and winge when you get your own medicine. This guy may not like the fact of your steady progress (2.5 years is less than average time to getting brown belt). He could not be used to the whole "helpful" aspect of Dan ranks (that should start happening at 2nd and 1st kyu IMO). either way he won't stop so deal with it i a karate suited fashion (NB: not punching him). practice your defence most or something, but long and short, Suck it up, if you get hit wear it.
Just wondering, what style of karate is this? I remember when I did karate, while sparring with the under black belts were ok. I really only made more progress when sparring with the black belts (this did left me with more bruises than anything else). Anyway... I agree with what righty alrady said However if that doesn't work, you can get martial art protective gear. -Ken
a black belt beating up lower-ranked people? shame on him. i'd suggest trying to handle it diplomatically, but a dojo that does not control someone like that is not one i'm particularly inclined to praise, if you catch my drift. being a black belt involves responsibilities towards ones fellow students, not power over them, that's just a silly thing from dojos full of young japanese macho-men which eventually trickled into western dojo full of western macho-men. as was mentioned, there are two sides to everything, but what you mention sounds like nothing more than bullying, IMO.
Osu Fish Of Doom, Hold your guns, you only have one side of that story here; when the OP asked his instructor to remedy, he was given instructions that he is not following and would rather complain about it here... He is a brown belt; time to step up to defend himself! That said, you are right, a dojo that promotes bullying, etc... But we all know that already. Osu!
Osu, Teaching a brown belt to hold his own and ramp up the volume is not stupid... most of the time it even makes a lot of sense. If he does not do it now, when do you think he should??? At his BB test maybe? Yeah, you see the problem generally with impulses... Osu!
Yeah we don't know the whole story, but we do know the OP is just trying to protect himself. Nothing like a bruised rib or worse to take someone out of training for a month or more. Training under heavy contact environments tends to be more straight forward. People tend to be more aware of limitations and there are usually customs or guidelines that end the beating. Light contact is less straight forward because people have to respect the technique for it to seem realistic. My suggestion to the OP, besides the most important thing, that is communication between you and your sparring partner, is to find out the proper customs for ending the beating. You do get black belts beating up white belts sometimes, but there should always control not to cause permanent damage. Generally, the higher belt will go as hard as the lower belt for learning purposes. So the harder you go, the harder the black belt will go. This can either go on until time is up or until someone gets hurt... to avoid the latter there are customs specific to the instructor or school to stop the beating. In our school, if you get rocked good, you go down and take the 8 count. Of course you cover up because they can still beat on you when you are down. They keep beating so long as you fight back. If you cover and stop fighting, then it is stopped and you take your time getting back up to make sure everything is okay. If you are still hurting, then you are done, otherwise continue sparring. You don't get back up until the instructor tells you it is clear. If you get back up sooner, the beating continues. The key is no one is out to kill each other, know your limitations and protect your vitals, elbows in, cover, etc. For the OP, there has to be some custom at your school for stopping the sparring after taking a good shot. This immediate allows your opponent to "finish" you in a controlled manner. For instance, you go to the ground and they get the finishing (light contact) strikes on you while you are on the ground. Then it ends, you get up slowly, and sparring continues. If however, you keep on fighting back, then they do too.
