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Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive!
No Matter Your Rank, You Should Train With White Belts in the Dojo
As an intermediate or advanced practitioner, you probably find yourself gravitating toward people of similar rank whenever your instructor tells you to find a partner in class. Although working with someone of equal or higher rank is beneficial, so is working with someone of lower rank, especially a white belt.
Before I explain, I feel compelled to mention that there’s one crucial thing you must do prior to pairing off with a white belt: Check your ego. Letting your ego take control of a partner exercise with a white belt isn’t beneficial for you or him. Practice humility. Remember that you stand to gain as much as the white belt does.
TIME TRAVEL
There are two primary ways you’ll benefit from regularly partnering with beginners.
First, white belts are average people with little or no martial arts training. And that’s perfect because as such they represent an ordinary person on the street who’s responding to a technique or a situation. Their movements and reactions are more natural.
In contrast, after you’ve spent 10 or 20 years in the martial arts, you no longer see things or behave like an average Joe. Instead, you size up every possible attacker and situation as a martial artist is supposed to. You can never go back to looking at things from the perspective of the uninitiated—which is why you need to interact with white belts. The experience provides you with the opportunity to go back in time and see things through the eyes you used to have—in other words, through the eyes of an untrained person.
Example: If you try to execute a throw on a black-belt partner, he’s likely to put a specific foot forward to make the throw easier. He’s also likely to stand straight up, relax, provide minimal resistance and fall perfectly in just the right spot. This isn’t intentional; it’s the subconscious product of years of training in a controlled environment.
Now try the same throw on a white belt. You’ll get a very different reaction, especially if he’s unaware of what’s coming. Bear in mind that it’s your responsibility to ensure the safety of said white belt when you’re throwing him because only you know how to give and receive the technique properly.
Use this kind of session as an opportunity to determine exactly how untrained people react. As noted above, your white-belt partner is likely to stand naturally without a specific leg forward, to tense up whenever he feels off-balance or uncomfortable, and to strive to regain his balance (possibly by grabbing hold of you) rather than go with the flow of the throw. Furthermore, he probably won’t land exactly the way you intended. Obviously, that part about not landing right means there are some throws—and other techniques—you should never practice on a beginner.
MARTIAL ARTS TEACHING MOMENT
The second benefit of training with white belts is the opportunity to teach a technique to people who have no idea how to move. Their lack of knowledge of the martial arts means you have to be very precise while keeping your explanations easy to understand. It’s not enough to simply show them the technique; you also have to explain what you’re doing and how your body is moving during the execution of that technique.
Example: When you’re teaching white belts how to throw a punch, they’re likely to look only at your upper body or arm. It’s your job to explain the connection between your hips and the rest of your body. You also must point out how your weight shifts from one foot to the other and how your legs bend and extend, as well as how you breathe, clench your fist, rotate your hand, move your hips and so on. Obviously, it’s easy to demonstrate a punch but more difficult to explain everything that goes into it.
It goes without saying that you can explain all these intricacies only if you fully understand them yourself. Nevertheless, explaining them to a white belt forces you to re-examine your own punching technique to ensure you’re connecting all the dots. Every once in a while, you might even experience a moment of personal enlightenment with respect to your own execution of the move.
Working with white belts is one of the most rewarding parts of the martial arts experience. Physically, teaching them can result in improvements to your own skills. Mentally, it can develop your humility. Sure, you can learn a lot from working out with your seniors, but you often can learn just as much from helping your juniors rise through the ranks.
