time question

[James Bullock]

Good points,

I use to think that if someone is wearing a black belt they should be able to defend themselves in most situations. Back in the "old" days the martial arts I believe that was usually the case with people like Miyagi, Funakoshi, Egami, Yip Man, Yamaguchi..and so on.

I then realized (i got more mature i guess)...that not everyone has the same goals. While my primary goal is to be able to react automatically in any situation. There are others that do the martial arts for aesthetics, or health reasons. I have seen 40 year old women start martial arts for nothing more than to stay in shape. You still teach them real self defense skills but they have no desire to maim or hurt someone to protect themselves. To me I would think everyone would want to protect themselves. But sadly that is not the case in many instances. As an instructor I think it is extremely important to impart real self defense skills, be able to nuture and instill a warrior mentality, at the same being able teach those who don't have the same goals as I or others do.

[Semaj]

thanks all especially you learning kenpo-kempo

[obiwansbane]

Your school may have it's own requirements to achieve a Black belt. Today wearing a Black belt does not have the same meaning as it did in the Seventies and eighties.

this is something i highly disagree with. I went to a tournament this weekend and saw a collection of blackbelts all looking like they were stuck in the 70's and 80's with higher than 2nd degrees, and they were completely useless... bad judges, bad forms, bad technique etc etc. they would never have been able to defend themselves against a 14 - 15 year old blue - brown competitor in the street if it came down to it.

A fellow black belt of mine made a statement that there is a point in a martial artists life, and thats when they get their black belt. They either slack off and eventually quit, or they go insane and become amazingly good.

Black belts mean less now, only due to the sheer number of fake ones out there, if you go to a good school you dont need to worry about how meaningless they are, because in your case it means something.

as for me it took me 5 years in shotokan karate, we did go to tournaments and were graded on our level of skill as opposed to some traditional schools that ive heard about that have certain times that u are required to be a certain belt before you can grade.

[ShawnJ]

Time to reach black belt is different depending on the style and the school.

At my dojo, it takes between 3 and 6 years to reach black belt and at age 17 for children. The average time, however, is three years. Some people choose to take things a bit slower.

For example, the belt system in my school is as follows :

white belt

1st green tip

2nd green tip

green belt

brown tips

brown belt

black tips

black belt

For people who wish to take their training slower, or who maybe don't advance as quickly, there will be gold belt in between 2nd green tip and green belt, and orange belt in between brown tips and brown belt.

A requirement in my school is that after you reach black tips, you need to work as an assistant instructor for one year before being permitted to test for black belt.

Belt promotions are every six months (I'll be testing for Green Belt in August), but black belt testing is only once a year. Usually in October.

[gzk]

In BJJ I think 10 years is about standard, for Machado JJ at least. In our shootfighting system I think you can get it in about 3 years if you progress quickly.

[Chuilli, Kyo Sah Nim]

uhh it took me 3 1/2 years i believe. and this is tang soo do

[gamedweeb]

Takes roughly 3 years in the system I'm in depending on how the regional testing schedule lines up once you are ready to test for the third rank in provisionary black (We call it Han Ban Bu), then it can be between four to six months before you test for 1st degree. I'll have been in about 3 1/2 years before I can test in October. My style is Bobby Lawrence Karate.

[DWx]

It usually takes us about 3-4 years to gain 1st dan. After that the minimum required time is about a year per dan you want to grade to:

eg. if I was a 3rd requesting a 4th, I wouldn't be allowed to test until 4 years had passed.

In reality it takes most people much longer, (unless you happen to be supernaturally good).

I train in ITF Tae Kwon Do.