Lie to Yourself

In my last two blog entries, I pretty much explained how to get your rank to progress steadily within the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu system.

The first one pretty much said, "keep track of your attendance and time in rank," and make sure your instructor knows where you are regarding them.

The second said, "don't trust the system and make sure that you check and find out what the rules officially are."

Today should seem a little less paranoid. This entry won't be about how the world is out to get you, but rather how you are out to get yourself.

Let's look at the important rules for the four horrendous Gracie Jiu-Jitsu technical exams. I am only listing one tiny part of the rules, that being to list how long the three curriculum section recordings must be.

The first test is called BBS1, and the rules are that there can be no breaks in any of the videos. In the three recordings of the curriculum sections, the relevant material must be completed within 15 minutes.

At the next level, BBS2, the three curriculum sections can be as long as 20 minutes, and it is even stated that if the third one goes a little over it is acceptable. 

BBS3 rules are identical to BBS2

In BBS4 the three curriculum sections each have their time limit raised to 25 minutes, or slightly longer for the third.

Have you got all that? There are 3 different sets of rules.

If I am working with a partner to get ready for any of these tests, it would be counter-productive to be doing so incorrectly. Getting it wrong when actually doing the test would be even worse.

What if we are working on BBS1, and I remember the limits wrong. We might practice for months thinking that each of the three drills only needs to fit into a 25-minute limit. What if we actually record the videos under this assumption? The test will be rejected, and all the recording efforts wasted, and the testing fee flushed down the toilet.

It would be equally bad to work on BBS4, thinking the limit is 15 minutes per video. We would go crazy during the workup for the test trying to get everything to fit into an unreasonably short time span. During the recording, we will fail over and over. If we actually do the impossible and cram everything in, it will look like crap. It is very likely that the number of errors made would far exceed the limit for a pass. The test would be a fail, all the effort to no avail, and again the fee wasted.

In my two earlier blog entries I say, in effect, don't trust anybody else.

This time I am strongly advising you to not trust yourself. Go check the rules. It takes almost no time and can save hours of work, and make success far more likely.

The worst that will happen is that you will find out you had remembered everything correctly. However, the upside could be that you will make things both easier and more successful if you find out you had been in error.

Another example is that almost everybody knows what the attendance requirements are for rank progression. You have to get at least 100 classes, right?

Well, yes. But there are rules about that, too.

Ten of them must be of a type called Reflex Development. Once you have accumulated ten of this type, any further such classes do not count in any way.

Ten others must be advanced classes that qualify as being "fight simulation." This means that during sparring padded gloves are worn, and participants try and whack each other. Once ten have been accumulated, any further classes count as "regular" advanced classes.

The remaining 80 must be regular advanced classes, or extra “fight sim” ones.

A lot of people don't get this, and just let things merrily roll along. Let's say you've just been promoted, and want to get your next stripe as quickly as possible. There is a rule that the minimum time is 8 months.

So maybe you do the math and figure out that 8 months works out to a fraction over 34 weeks. You normally train 3 times per week and so are pleased to determine that you can get 100 classes in that amount of time, and even have a small buffer (2 extra classes). You figure you can make it right around the 8-month mark. You are proud of how clever you’re being.

But, you don't actually check what the rules are. The months roll by, and you rack up "fight sim" classes easily enough, and plenty of regular advanced classes. However, you don't know about the Reflex Development rule. That class is held at a different time, and you never attend. Eight months roll by, and no promotion, then 9, then 10.

You might get all pissed off and just quit, or maybe you'd ask what's going on. It is explained to you, and you start attending Reflex Development religiously. In most schools that class only happens once per week, so the soonest you can catch up would take an extra ten weeks on top of an already delayed promotion.

Or maybe you just let it slide, and don't quit, and don't question it. Maybe your instructor will notice and bring it to your attention, but maybe he won't. You might go years without getting that coveted stripe.

You trusted that you knew the rules, but your brain lied to you.

I make mistakes like that all the time. Luckily I don't trust myself.

Every time I've worked with anybody on their technical exams, I check again to see what the requirements are. That isn't my job but I do it anyway. About half the time it turns out that the person actually working to complete the test is confused about some part of the requirements for their level.

Their brain had lied to them, and maybe mine was lying to me. Don't trust them. Brains are evil tricksters.