McDojos and TKD

[senna_trem]

As my profile says, I train in kyokushin, but I have a friend who trains TKD. I happened to ask him today how long it took him to get his black belt and he said a year.

 

But that is to McDojo quality, right?

 

This is not the same for all TKD dojos?

 

How long does it normally take to get your black belt?

 

And how long for each stripe after that? He said it would take him a year to get each stripe.

[tufrthanu]

A year is possible an alot of tkd schools...especially if the person is there every day for 4 hours. That's to first dan. If by stripe you mean like 2nd 3rd dan and what not theres no way you should get those in a year. If you are very diligent 2nd dan in a year...3rd in 2 years. And so on. Generally it takes about 2-3 years in most tkd schools to get to first dan and then whatever dan your going to figure that number of years from first. So from first to second is 2 years. From second to third is three years. And so on. Unfortunately alot of commercial schools pass the bad students with the good students so its really hard to say whether its a bad school or not. The best thing is just to look at the individual. It personally took me 3 years...but I was a 2 times a week person I just managed to pick stuff up pretty quick.

[Spookey]

Dear All,

 

I have found that the majority of dojangs (teaching functional non-sporting TKD) generally take 3-5 years to earn a BB. Yes there are some that excel in less time (2.5 - 3yrs), however, this is generally with previous martial arts experience, and I dont mean a green belt when you were in grade school.

 

Also, the rule of such schools is the number of years to the dan. Meaning, two years to second, three to third, ect. Remeber these are bare minimums and not the rule. These standards are generally only obtainable for the student that puts in upwards of 20 hours a week (athough some may be done outside the dojang), but the practice wont lie. Not every student should be ready to test at the bare minimum as it is just that minimum, not average!

 

TAEKWON!

 

Spookey

 

"That which we teach and learn cannot be bought...it is not money!"

[tufrthanu]

5 years is too long IMHO. Unless you are going once a week every other week. If you have recieved a dan ranking in a similar art I would think the time would drop to months not years to learn the new material. Joe Lewis is about the quickest I've heard of to recieve a black belt at 7 months. From starting that is. But as we've seen he was pretty exceptional.

[Sam]

I have to say i dont agree about the matter of months - i dont think a black belt can be obtained that quickly even if the arts are similar (unless its ITF TKD and United ITF TKD - which are practically identical).

 

But then i come from a purist TKD background- martial art, not a sport.

[SloMo]

I really don't see how it can be done in a year IMHO. 2-3 is more likely in my opinion. Can it be done? I suppose so but it would have to be an exceptional student who is extremely dedicated.

 

In our school it's also not just learning the material. You need to have teaching hours and we have added a community service requirement as well. ( That is not typical of TKD it's just something we believe in ).

 

But even without it. It would be rough to do in a year.

 

Now your friend may be a great student who deserves receiving the BB. I'm talking mostly about my experiences.

[Myst]

It took me about 3 1/2 years to get to black belt, but I've seen others achieve it in a much shorter timespan and a much longer timespan, so it basically depends on the dojang and the ability of the students.

[tufrthanu]

As I put in my previous post Sam that months to black belt would be if already had a dan ranking in a similar art. If you can not learn a new set of forms and combos in 6 months then you just arent being diligent about it. And as to the year to BB the two most famous men Bill Wallace and Joe Lewis to do it in a year or less came along in a time when that was almost impossible. Now days if you come to the dojang every day that it is open and take every class that they offer and also perfect the techniques I don't see that you couldnt do it in a year or 18 months. Now that wouldn't be the vast majority of people of course but its possible. And once again I must emphasize look at the individual. If he can do 360 round kicks that look fantastic and knows all the forms and can perform the self defense stuff without even thinking AND he did it in a year he definitely deserved it.

[karatekid1975]

The quickest I ever seen someone get to BB is 2 and a half years. That is with previous experience. The londest I've seen was 7 years. That's just what I have seen, anyways.

 

I've been training 4 years (3 in TKD), and I will be testing for BB in the fall (IF I am ready), so that makes it 5 years total training for me.

[senna_trem]

He goes twice a week for two hours. And no offense to him, but from what I know of him from school, he's not the smartest guy. Really nice, but not the quickest (mentally). I think his sister got her black belt in around the same amount of time...