Without sashes

[wildfire]

The school of Pakua I'm joining doesn't use a ranking system, which I think is great thats what I wanted. But for students of Pakua, or a similar style like I-Hsing or Tai Chi Chaun, if we consider the concept that a "black belt" is a student that knows the basics of his style, how long does it take the average student to reach that point in Pakua? For most forms of Karate, I think its around 2-3 years. I wouldn't be suprised to find its longer to reach that point in Pakua, what do you think?

[warpedpig]

I'm not sure about Pakua but for Traditional Karate the average is about 5 years to attain a black belt. 2-3 years is McDojoland.

[bushido_man96]

In the end, I don't think it is time that matters, as everyone puts in different amounts of time, in the form of days and hours per class per week. In the end, what will matter is what you are learning will help when need be. You really find this out with experience, as opposed to time-in-rank.

That is what I have always appreciated about styles like Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA, or Wrestling; no ranks. If you can prove you are ready, and then win or show promise when you perform, then you and all others (of the style) know where you are, and respect it. Of course, it doesn't mean that they don't want a shot at you, either!

[wildfire]

I'm not sure about Pakua but for Traditional Karate the average is about 5 years to attain a black belt. 2-3 years is McDojoland.

I can't necissarily agree. It really depends on the schools importance and deffinition of what a black belt is. I attended the most non-mcdojo school of Karate I have so far seen and it's minimum time towards blackbelt was two years and some months. But a black belt was the begining, not the end. It was a display of basic skills. (And actually, the black belt test was quite tough). That was also, minimum time. Had they made a promise like "Guaranteed Blackbelt in two years!!" I'd have agreed to the mcdojo mentality. But plenty of students were held behind. One girl I knew was going on her seventh month learning Kusanku. Money certainly wasn't a motivation for that, as the instructors were not paid and the dojo's dues were for paying the rent....And it barely covered that.

[NightOwl]

sashes are not traditionally worn in kung fu, and therefore not having them is not something to worry about. A black belt/ sash is just that...a piece of cloth. The artists is the thing that matters

[wildfire]

I agree, I guess what I'm asking is, and understanding that everyone individually is still different, if you could take an average how long does it take most people to become reasonably proficent.

[bushido_man96]

I agree, I guess what I'm asking is, and understanding that everyone individually is still different, if you could take an average how long does it take most people to become reasonably proficent.

I personally believe that gaining proficiency shouldn't take too long. I would say 6 solid months of hard training, and you should begin to feel proficient. Maybe even less, if you have lots of time to train, and get in lots of reps and feedback. Now, mastery, on the other hand, will take a considerably longer amount of time.

[stonecrusher69]

generally speaking internal styles take longer to use in a fighting situation then most other styles.A lot of time is spent on the internal(like breathing,stance and chi qong) which takes a long time. I would not worry about how long it would take you.If your really into this style ,and are comited to a life time of training then you will get their eventually.the best thing to do is ask the other students in the class how long they've been with the sifu and get an idea at what level of skill they are.that will give you an idea where you might be if you put in the time as they have.

[NightOwl]

yeah- it might be best to ask some other students and/or your teacher. Many times the more experienced ones can tell you when it 'clicked' for them

[WudangDragon]

"Kung Fu" literally translated means "Hard work" and it is used in the original context to describe any art which takes 10 years or more of training to master.

As such, for a kung fu style, 10 years is the general length of time it takes one to know the basics of an art.