 Hey everybody! Today is Q&A. We're going to go over a few questions that were submitted to us by our Patreon and YouTube members, so let's get to it. Our first question comes from Jamiah Watson and he asked me, how does one go about achieving further down levels? And that's actually a pretty good question because if you're not in a martial art that has, of course, the color belt ranking system or if you're just starting off or if you've only been in a few years, it's not always apparent in how you would achieve more black belt levels because you've got your set curriculum for each belt level, but what happens when you hit black? The first thing I want to reiterate though, as we've talked about this many times, is let's not forget that black belt is not the goal. That is not when your curriculum ends. That's not when your training ends. It's really just the beginning. The way I personally like to look at it is comparing the martial arts to, say, a karate system with belt color system to schooling. So your colored belt levels, your whites, your yellows, your purples, your blues, whatever order you happen to have, those are your grade school levels. You know your first grade, your second grade, your third grade, and what do we learn in grade school? We learn our basics. We learn our basic math, our basic history and science and comprehension and writing, all of that, so that by the time you work your way up into graduation, you have at least a general idea of all the basics that you are encountering in your academic career. That to me is the black belt. When you graduate high school, you have achieved your black belt. Is your education over? No, far from it. There's still a lot further you can go. You start going into college and you start working on your degrees, much like degrees of a black belt. To me, black belt is college. You've graduated, you understand the basics, now it's time to apply it to a specialty, deeper study, deeper understanding. You know, you work into a bachelor's, you work into a master's, all the way up to a doctorate or you want to be a grandmaster. You can see that the black belt is very much still a very beginning part of your education that will go through your lifetime. But to answer the question as to how to actually achieve different black belt levels, that's going to entirely depend on the system, because most systems will have their own requirements and it's usually still continuing curriculum. When it comes to college, you usually set a course path of action, you continue taking classes. It's the same thing with the martial arts. You continue taking classes because there's often a lot more material to learn. And that material typically average, typically speaking, goes to about third to fifth degree black belt levels. Of course, this is going to vary between different arts. But that makes sense because some arts such as shuttle con back in the day, founder Kishi Funakoshi never promoted anybody past fifth degree and he never went past fifth degree himself. So I would say third to fifth degree is where a lot of systems run out of curriculum. And from that point on, promotion is time ingrained into the system. But it's going to vary and it might even vary within the same art. For example, Ed Parker with Kempo, our curriculum went through different changes. We had a curriculum when it started that early on, like in the 70s and 80s, there were 32 techniques per belt level. And it took a long time at each belt level. So by the time it went through the entire curriculum, you were basically at first degree black belt, but it took a while. And as they revamped it, we had a 24 technique system that came out. Well, then by the time you got through that material, you were at your third degree black belt. And right after Ed Parker passed away, a lot of schools adopted the 16 technique system, which would carry the material, the same material carried all the way through fifth degree black belt. So I still say on average between third to fifth degree is where a lot of systems run out. And in this time ingrained in the system, but there's always exceptions. I recently saw an interview with just speakman, where he said that he holds that testing standard to each belt level. He's a ninth degree black belt, as of the making of this video, he's going for his 10th, and he still goes up there in front of his peers in front of a panel, and he still performs, and he shows his dedication and keeps up with the material. And he expects that of all of his black belts, whether they're going for the fifth degree, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth will have you that expectation. So there that you're going to test for it, you're not just going to get it as an honorary, you need to earn it. But of course, you're going to see some variation across the board, depending on the art that you're in. But when we talk about putting time ingrained into the system, let's look at the keyword there is time. When you're working something as fine as the martial arts, and you just get to the point of expertise where you've mastered the basics, you know, a few black belt levels in, and you want to continue your training, you start to specialize. That's kind of like when you're in college, where you start going, Oh, you know, I'm going to go for a master's of science or art or communications or or or sonography, whatever it is, you find your specialty. And I feel it's kind of the same way with the martial arts. As you go up the ladder and as you become more experienced, you start to find your specialty. Some guys like more of the academic side, some guys like the sparring, some guys go for the tactical self defense, some go for healing. It's all across the board. And that's the position where you start to really, you know, absorb what you've learned and you start to turn that material around and you start to develop your own spin on it. That's the time ingrained in the system, but you don't do that overnight. It takes time. But unfortunately, what we see a lot and I hate to say it and Keppo is incredibly guilty of this, is there are practitioners who will zip through first degree all with the 10th degree in a matter of a few years. And honestly, I personally feel that's a disgrace. Yes, the belts don't mean anything. But whatever meaning that they do have that you want to apply or any integrity gets damaged at that point, you know, people will get the first degree black belt, and then they'll break away and make their own system. And all of a sudden, they're 10th degree black belt, you're doing yourself and you're doing the art a great disservice. Go by following that path. You want to contribute. And that's the other big thing to is contributing to your art, whether it be through teaching, through seminars, through dissertations and thesis, whatever, give back to the art, the whole point of martial arts is to make yourself better. So take the energy and try to make other people better elevate the art, be part of it, you know, add to the legacy. That's in my opinion, how you truly earn further degrees of black belt, if you want to put any meaning to the belt itself. Our second question comes from Michelle Poirier, and she asked me my opinion on elitism in the martial arts. She says that she's noticed that people get snobby over lineages and what they consider real martial arts versus fake. And what my opinion was on this elitism. Honestly, I think it's an absolute poison and the source of some of the worst toxic politics in the martial arts today. I mean, on spending energy on arguing that your art is better than somebody else's art or that you're better in your one version of art versus another, I don't think it accomplishes anything. It's a waste of energy and it's just so negative. And unfortunately, I've witnessed a lot of dissent in my lifetime in the martial arts. I've seen senior students look down at under belts and say, oh, you know, come back and talk to me when you're black belt. I even recently had a comment on a video. It was about if you're a black belt, sparring a white belt, someone who's just starting, you know, don't go 100% on them, work with them a little bit, you know, you get them, you know, try to get them up to speed, show them something, be their mentor. And one of the comments was, I won't even work or touch with a colored belt. That sentiment, I don't think adds anything. I think it poisons your own training and it does a great service to the art and you're not giving any benefit to anyone else that works with you. There's a lot of different reasons why you wouldn't want to work with a belt lower than you, but if the reason is because you look down on them or you feel you're above them or elite, I think that's a problem. And the elitism doesn't stop at just rank. Sometimes people just want to show off. Sometimes people, for whatever reason, they can be insecure or they're a bully or whatever reason, they just want to show how tough they are. And then we have the worst of them all, the keyboard warrior. Oh my goodness, the internet is some of the worst politics I've ever seen involved in the martial arts, because that's where you find the trolls and that's where you find the trash talking of lineages and who's better than who, and what's goes better than which, and all my lineages is this. Honestly, when you get to that point, you are doing the reverse of what earns your rank. You are not contributing to your art, you are destroying it. So, if you're one of those people who tries to look down at others or you're trying to elevate your own image of someone else, just understand you are damaging your art and your discipline that you spent so much time and energy in. So, Michelle, to answer your question, I think elitism is a huge problem. It doesn't stop with the martial arts, but I think it's a huge poison to the martial arts. And that's one of the reasons we started this channel, was to bring together a community to try to overlook that it's not all about what art's better, or who can be who, or who's better than who. It's all about sharing and making each other better. That's the point of the martial arts, making the better you. And if you're doing anything other than that, then you are doing it yourself and everyone around you a great disservice. So, thank you so much to Jamai and Michelle for submitting your questions. And of course, now I'd like to hear what you guys think. What is your opinion on elitism and the martial arts? Do you find it a problem? Where do you see the worst offenses of this? And how do you think we can overcome it? And also, what does your system do? If you do have a color belt system or a different senior ranking system, how does your art achieve it? Do you have to test for each level? How far does your curriculum go? Or what are special considerations or contributions that you have to give back before you can achieve more rank? So, thank you all for watching. Please be sure to like and subscribe. And if any of you want to submit more questions, we do have a Patreon channel. We do have our YouTube memberships. If you guys want to sign up, that's where we tend to find more of our questions. A lot of stuff gets mixed and lost in the comments below, but we do have sections, or we do have posts that you can reply to if you want to submit questions of your own. So, thank you all so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.