curious

[Athena]

how long does it take to get to a yellow belt in tae kwan do?

because earlier this summer, I sparred with this boy who was yellow belt and almost to the next belt and we ended up in a draw. I got him in the mouth w/ palm strike and at some point, his fist was just like half inch from my face. He insisted on fighting no contact. back then, I could NOT fight no contact.

Been self teaching myself for about 4 years (and constantly getting better) so I'd like to know >.>

[lordtariel]

It depends on the system. I've seen places where it's white-yellow-orange, places where it's white-orange-yellow, and places where you start at yellow. Either way, yellow belt is a fairly early rank. Some places, it only takes a couple of months to get to yellow belt.

You also have to remember that not everybody is that good at sparring right away. If you've been training for four years, you're probably going to do better.

[bushido_man96]

I would say a yellow belt would have somewhere between 2 and 4 months training.

[NightOwl]

I got mine after roughly a few months

[YoungMan]

We hold testing about every two months, so it takes about that much time (give or take) to reach yellow belt. We don't use hand contact to the face during free sparring however.

For the record, there is a thread dedicated to self taught martial artists. Many contributors (myself included) have a problem with that.

[KarateEd]

In YWR-TKD it would take about 6-9 months to get to yellow belt (which is right after white in our system). If a person has previous experience then he/she may not need that much time.

Ed

[YoungMan]

6-9 months? That seems a bit much to have to wait for yellow belt testing.

[Athena]

we do what we must, youngman. I'll face being teased once in a while in school and looked down on by school/mentor taught people to at least feel like i'm learning, that i'm getting something out of doing and practicing what I love. So yea. matched up to a yellow belt in tae kwan do with 4 years of leniant training. but now i'm up to at least 2-3 times a week.

As far as i'm concerned, no one is allowed to look down at me because I self taught, and be able to effect me without coming over here and testing me for themselves. Then they can look down on me, but the only thing that's gunna happen is I'll start working harder XD

[Zanshin]

we do what we must, youngman. I'll face being teased once in a while in school and looked down on by school/mentor taught people to at least feel like i'm learning, that i'm getting something out of doing and practicing what I love. So yea. matched up to a yellow belt in tae kwan do with 4 years of leniant training. but now i'm up to at least 2-3 times a week.

As far as i'm concerned, no one is allowed to look down at me because I self taught, and be able to effect me without coming over here and testing me for themselves. Then they can look down on me, but the only thing that's gunna happen is I'll start working harder XD

Hi Athena,

As NightOwl has already pointed out there is a thread running at the moment about the pros and cons of being self taught so I wont go over the same ground.

One thing that you may like to think about though is the fact that you say you have been self training for 4 years now and, by your own admission you say you feel you are equal to a “school taught” TKD student who has probably been training for about 6 months.

That should probably tell you something.

[Montana]

One thing that you may like to think about though is the fact that you say you have been self training for 4 years now and, by your own admission you say you feel you are equal to a “school taught” TKD student who has probably been training for about 6 months.

That should probably tell you something.

Agreed. I've ran into many self-taught martial artists over the past 30+ years and one thing they all have in common (I'm not saying you do) is very weak technique, sloppy, exposed, poor stances/foundations, no understanding of what they are really doing (the mechanics) and the list could go on. Instruction from a qualified teacher is essential to iron our deficiencies and short comings in order to progress and improve.