How long did it take you to EARN your black belt in your art?

Lorenzo

New member
hello,

it varies considerably. the reason being is that belts are usually an indicator of skill level. depending on time allowed for training in a give day or week, the acquisition of the skills associated with a belt level coold be a fast or slow process.

things begin to vary even more when we consider that oftentimes, the granting of a belt is merely done according to the judgment of the instructor giving it.

every instructor seems to have different ideas of what constitutes "ready for a black belt", for this reason, we see a great deal of variation in the quality of new or recently promoted black belts.

lastly it should be noted that american instructors and students are a lot more academic in their approach to learning these systems than those of other nations. not sure why.

long long ago, in a galaxy far far away...

earned a black belt in judo in about 4 years. did wrestling at the same time. age 12-14

earned a black belt in jiujitsu in about 4 years. had been doing wrestling and judo for about 3 years before jiujitsu. age 14 to age 18.

bear in mind, judo really hasn't changed much in all this time (25+ years). so a black belt trained in 80' would be comparable to one trained now.

jiujitsu black belts in the 70's and 80's looked like the blue belts and purple belts of today. so, the criteria for earning it is very different now than it was then.

earned a black belt in taekwondo as well, took about 3 years. taekwondo is starting to "look" a bit different. this has to do with the goals of different federations, organizations and associations.

well, hopefully this helps.

thanks
 
Earn it not from a mcdojo. I would be interested to hear from people who have a black belt in Hapkido,Karate,Judo basically any.
 
Legit places do not take 15-20 years....not even close. Even in Okinawa the average time to black belt is around 4-5 years. It took me 9 years. I began in 1978 was approved to test in 1986 but they had me wait until I was closer to my 18th birthday since there were no kid black belts back in those days...not real ones at least. I finally tested in Goju Ryu and Judo on November 7, 1987. Nidan was one year later.
 
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