wagnerk

Welcome to our corner of the internet

I know it's a bit (or very) late, but thanks all. Had a great time

Depends if you teach within the association that you are currently studying with or not and also on what your focus will be. TBH, I see nothing wrong if you leave your current association (join another one) and start teaching at your previous rank if your focus will be competition based. If you stay with your current association and decide to teach for them, then use the rank that they awarded, as that is the one that they recognised and stick with their focus - which sounds more self-defence rather than competition. There this is nothing wrong with either path (so please don't take it that I'm swaying you either way). Edit: I have seen people who do not display their rank and I have seen people who mention their different ranks, but they put the association first then the style, so something like this (this is just an example): Black Tiger jujitsu 3rd Dan White Crane Jujitsu 1st Dan American Champion Jujitsu 2nd Dan -Ken

Welcome to out corner of the web, I hope that you enjoy it here -Ken

You have started to learn that the more you know and learn, the more you find out how much you don't know

This is one of the things that can happen because there is no standardization. When I use to train in Shotokan, the requirements per grade sometime would vary greatly between different organisation. While I haven't heard of someone having to start all over again in the same style, I have heard of some that have either dropped or been promoted quite a few grades. I would say that while you felt as if you weren't near the standard of your former rank, you did achieve it with one organisation and whether it's because of standards or because of age, medical, etc... It's really the heart of the training that were all in it for

Woohoo, congrats mate

The same thing practically happened to me. Due to a combination of age, medical condition, a "feeling" and a change in interest. I moved from a Traditional but sports orientated art to a modern sports orientated art to a Traditional self-defence orientated art. Maybe I should be using the word approach instead of art in this case...

Welcome to our corner of the web Also in the UK

Cool, congrats. All of that will come in time

Same here

Congrats mate

Sad story, RIP...

Cool, congrats mate

While I've been a supporter to get karate into the Olympics. I know that karate has so many splits and so many rule sets it would be near impossible to get a "proper" unified front.

Sweet, congrats

Cool, glad you're trying out Shotokan

This is funny to me as when I was working up the ranks, I actually broke down my goals very similar to that... Small goals: this was every belt. Medium goal: to get to brown belt. Long term goal: To get black. Brown belt for me would have been a great place to stop if I couldn't training anymore. And it may be the same for a lot of other people. One thing that I did notice that the training jumped from 4th Kyu to 3rd kyu (there was a steeper learning curving when you get to 3rd Kyu and above, then same thing happened at 4th Gup to 3rd Gup) and I think that is what also puts a lot of people off.

Too many to choice from... 1. Starting the MA 2. Gaining my first belt 3. Achieving my first black belt 4. etc., etc., etc...

Welcome to KF Glad to have you part of this community.

Excellent, well done

Cool, congrats - just goes to show that the MA is for all ages

ok, I always wanted do the martial arts - well mainly for two reasons. 1. Was bullied as a kid and 2. Jackie Chan Any why the styles (I'll only include those I had one or more gradings with)... 1. Shotokan, as I recall it was due to my work/study schedule. Left due to move. 2. Freestyle karate, I wanted to incorporate more sparring and there wasn't a Shotokan class in the new area I moved to that was compatible with my work/study schedule. Left due to wanted a more "traditional" art. 3. Ni-Sen karate, similar to Shotokan karate - wanted to get back to the "Traditional" roots. Left due to problems with my knees. 4. Kickboxing, 2nd attempt to restart my journey into the martial arts. Thought that it would be easier on my knees. After about 4-5 months had to leave as problems returned. 5. GKR, Wanted to experience first hand this style due to discussions about this style, stopped training due to various reasons. 6. Tang Soo Do, I wanted the same feeling that I got from the first association that I was with. Tang Soo Do was just an art that I tried after a long stream of different trials with different arts/styles. Fell in love with it and have been here ever since There have been others but I was only with them from a couple of lessons to just under 3 months, so no grading with them.

Welcome to our corner of the interweb

From what I've seen, most of the time it's between 1st and 3rd Dan (and above). However there are some associations out there that will licence & insure you from Brown Belt (3rd Kyu) with assistance. But like it's already been said, there really is no universal rule or law.