How long til black belt

[Nickalo44]

How long does it typically take to become a black belt in most martial art systems?

[Ghost]

About 6 months.

If you train at a proper club about 4 years.

Why does it matter. Who cares if you have a black belt.

If you really want a black belt take the quick route and buy one.

[Szczepankiewicz]

Ha! That's good. And unfortuneately pretty true...

In my art I will hit the 5.5 or 6 year mark to get Shodan. But that only means I'm finally a serious student and probably won't be liscensced to teach for another 2-3 years. In BJJ it takes a whole lot longer to get blackbelt but you can start teaching after you get your blue (right?).

If you really want to be a baddass, buy a manual from Ashida Kim and the certificate comes with the book!

Bam, instant bad-ass!

Spanky

[Ghost]

There you go you dont even need to go to a class, just buy the book.

[BrownBear]

Re: How long til black belt

Originally posted by Nickalo44
How long does it typically take to become a black belt in most martial art systems?

As Ghost stated it will typically take about 4 years. However, once you get into a particular system you quickly figure out that "The Belt" is not the overall goal IMO. As you learn your particular art you will be to busy learning and growing to care what belt your on.

Although I will say that we have folks at my school who are definitely in it for the belt. Their only problem is they have to fight to get it. So if they are only in it for belts or just to be physically fit, they stop at brown belt. If they want the black belt they have to fight all of the other black belts. At that point they have to make a very personal decision on whether it's worth it or not.

Either way, lay out what goals you have in Martial Arts and go for it! At the very least you will have a great time learning.

[junglist]

i was studying for 10 yrs before my sifu let me grade.
life long process to acheive a true black belt, whatever that is.

[El Luchador]

It took 3 Years to get my Lakan in Modern Arnis
5 Years to get Lakan Isa Under Datu Hartman.
And 3 Years to Reach Shodan in Ju Jitsu.

I have fought in MMA(1-0) Kumite Ju Jitsu(14-3)
No Gi Grappling (4-1) And More Submisson Wrestling
Matches Than I can Count.

I Cross Train as Much as possiable & try to keep an opean Mind
Some other arts I've Practise include,Bando,JKD/Kali/Mauy Thai
Wrestling & Boxing.

I Lift Weights 3-4 days a week & Cardio Everyday
In My off Time I Read M.A. Books, Mags, Watch Videos I have
All Kinds Of MMA,Judo & Boxing Videos

And I have a verry under Standing Wife
Ooooooooo Yeah I Started My Martial Arts Training
Under My Dad at age 2 He gives no Belt but still
Gives Me advice even Now.

I think Each Person is Different in How Long it Takes to get to
Black Belt. Also Some Arts Take Longer to get one in
Some Hand Them out Like Like a Bounced Check.

How Ever Long it Takes U to reach Your Goal
Make Sure U are having Fun Doing it.
And Remeber There is alway's more to Learn.

Mucho Gusto,Adios

[ill_proph]

Would your question be better phrased, how long would it take to be as good as _____ ?

But I hear you can get a black belt/sash within a year at temple kung fu. It's a special system where via contract, the master converts your money to invincible chi energy.

[c_grappler]

it depends...

If you are asking about BJJ, find info on Lloyd Irvin, he has this new system that you get your black belt in 3 1/2 years...

Don't know if it is reliable or not... but that's what he promises.

[BadgerFu57]

Ashida Kim.... MA Psycho's are out there.

This was on his website, I put "*" in place of profanity, otherwise, this is unedited.

Official S*** List

DON'T GET ON THE S*** LIST!

"My friends, we have made a few enemies in our time. Malcontents who spam the Message Board with minutiae about how things are spelled, insecure young men with serious doubts about their masculinity who think they can "prove" themselves by making meaningless challenges they neither intend nor are capable of fulfilling, and so on.

"And, we have encountered not a few individuals who, by their bad behavior as well as shabby and rude treatment of others, warrant some attention. In the first book we did on Ninjitsu, we included a Mandamus, a warning, never to steal this knowledge, lest the thief incur the wrath of our astral spies and occult guards, which are everywhere. And how true that warning is. For you and I, my friends, are those spies and guards. And now is the time to deliver our wrath.

"Therefore, posted on this site, shall be the names of those who have offended our most noble Brotherhood and the reasons for their dishonor, and the action we shall ask you to take against them, so that all will know how they have earned this disfavor and the justification of the penalty they have incurred."

PALADIN PRESS, P.O.Box 1307 Boulder CO 80306
Peder Lund, owner and principal beneficiary of the ill-gotten gains of short reporting sales of every book I wrote for them, of selling said books overseas and in translation and concealing or under reporting those sales, for selling the secondary rights to six of my books to Citadel Press and diverting the Author's share of the royalties to Ethan Ellenberg for twenty years, until I caught them. And, for continuing to sell my books overseas through their London office and not paying me a nickel for them after I caught them and confronted them with the evidence of these crimes. Paladin has also screwed Last Of The Independent Film Producers in Naples FL and the Navy SEAL Team authors who signed with them in good faith.
ACTION- Boycott all products

CITADEL PRESS, 120 Enterprise Ave, Seacaucus NY
Bruce Bender, Chief Legal Counsel for Carol Publishing Group of which Citadel is a part, who organized the diversion of Author's royalties from the secondary rights sales of my books to Ethan Ellenberg and who covered it up when I confronted him with the fact that Ellenberg was listed on his royalty reports as the "author" of my books by telling me "that is just an accounting device." And who saw to it that the company never lived up to its three contracts with me alone. Said company having now declared bankruptcy so they can be bought and resold by an insider buddy and stiff all the authors completely. This includes Rosie O'Donnell and Julia Child. So, it is not just me, with some inappropriate desire for revenge in these cases, but rather for justice, which cannot be had in the courts, through the FBI, or elected representatives.
ACTION- Boycott all products

ETHAN ELLENBERG, 548 W. Broadway, Suite #5E, NY, NY 10012
phone: (212) 431-4554
email: agent@ethanellenberg.com
Claims to be a literary agent, but I never heard of him until five years ago when I found out he had been getting my money since 1980. Afraid to talk to me on the phone. Sicced a couple of private detectives on me when I told him he owed me a bunch of money. We've seen some of them on the Message Board, trying to sabotage and impede our fellowship with their perverted ramblings. Which bring up the point of the SEAL Team leader, to say, "Okay, I learned a hard lesson. Forget it and move on." Can't be done, because then you leave enemies behind you that can take advantage of others not quite so enlightened as to the sorry state of the world as yet. Why not make it a better place by stopping this sort of anti-social behavior? Mr. Ellenberg has never been to a karate school much less a Ninja camp, yet he is still getting money from stealing Making of A Ninja (Paladin) and selling it as How To Become A Ninja. (Citadel) The existence of this, and several similar changes on other titles, was initially denied by Paladin, then "promised it would be looked into," then admitted with the proviso that the percentages had been miscalculated, but never a satisfactory payment or accounting. As proof, I offer a contract between Paladin and Citadel in which my name as the author has been crossed out and Mr. Ellenberg's has been inserted.

In 1999 Carol Publishing Group declared bankruptcy and stiffed all the authors on their royalty payments. Many of the contracts owned by Carol were "sold at auction." Ashida Kim titles went to Kensington Publishing, who despite repeated correspondence regarding the misappropriation of these funds by Ellenberg, steadfastly stands behind and continues to pay him MY money. Money, my friends, that could have been used to establish the Ninja Temple.
ACTION- I calculate Ethan Ellenberg owes me about $500,000 over a twenty year period. I have offered to pay as much as 15% commission for any amount collected.

BUTOKUKAI, 11345 East Circle Dr, Cornville AZ 86325
Fred Berryman, who made a lot of big talk about buying books from DOJO Press and wanted us to send him a bunch of free videos, not to sell, but rather to critique, then never placed an order. Our product is as good as many he sells and the only reason it is not carried by him is discriminatory. Like many vendors, and people who claim to want to partner on the Internet, the contract, which is unenforceable, must be completely one-sided against independent producers to "hold them down" from becoming larger firms with whom business dealings are already in place, thus suppressing competition. Being a lackey for the Prince is as bad as being a malevolent Prince.
ACTION- Boycott all products

RYUKYU BOOKS, P.O.Box 535, Olanthe KS 66051
Bill Wiswell, who, when told of my lawsuit against Paladin, made me pay retail for a copy of my own book, as evidence they were still selling my books after reverting all the copyrights to me, then didn't send it. Then made me pay for it again, retail, and still waited a month to send it. Another pawn of the "legitimate" publishers like Paladin and Citadel, afraid to offend them, but not shy at all about offending a fellow martial artist.
ACTION- Boycott all products

AMAZON.COM, including Shanna McKibben, Chris Craft, Susannah Detlef, Lisa Sandoval, and Paige Evans
All of these people have been made aware of the preceding information regarding pirate and illegal editions of my intellectual property. Their response is typical of any corporation with which any of our members may have the misfortune to deal in this modern era of a "service oriented" economy. First, they make it hard to even contact them by having a thousand different functions available. None of which ever conform to the intent of the correspondent. Then, when you get there, the page is down or under repair, or your submission failed because you didn't type in what sort of browser you are using. Unless you are buying something. The integrity of those pages is secure. Second, Musical Chairs, in less than two weeks all of the above names each had a turn at sending me an e-mail each, enabling them to drift further and further from the issue. Nor should we consider any of these names to be correct. Most companies have "office names." Aliases under which all correspondence is signed, to protect the employees from retaliation. Chris Craft, for instance, is also the name of a boat manufacturer. Third is the Stall. They asked me to submit a list of all the titles in dispute with ISBN numbers. So I waste my time having my people write it up for them, again! Because we already sent this list a year ago to yet another department. Then, they want a list of all the titles I have to offer, but won't post them for sale unless I pay them a fee for each book to be registered up front. Fourth is the Phone Maze. When you call in, all you get is a long menu, commercial, that takes you to so-and-so's "voice mail" from which you can expect a return call, having now given them your location by leaving your phone number, sometime within 3-5 "business days" if ever. Don't these corporations realize that by not having anyone alive who can resolve a problem, or even answer a phone, that they have contributed to the unemployment of millions? Not to mention impeding their own progress and contributing to their own staggering inadequacy and incompetence. How many of you have tried to order "Ninjitsu For Women" from Amazon? It was posted for a year. But, it has never been published, nor will it ever be, due to Carol Publishing Group's bankruptcy scam. But, Amazon has no difficulty telling you they have it in stock when you pay them. Then sending you a "back order slip" and keeping the money for credit toward another purchase. Unless you fight to get it back. They hate to refund even $5 and will chisel that down to nothing by making you waste money sending them letters and forms in postage by the time you get it back. But! It is not for sale any more. Because I started this latest battle with them by telling them that. Has it been removed from their catalog? Because I am doing the right thing. Or, are they still taking your money? Therefore, because I have made every effort to convince Amazon.com that they are engaged in an illegal enterprise in blatant conspiracy with the above perpetrators and have been met with the final tactic of all corporations, lawyers, doctors, politicians, insurance agents, networks, and miscreants, "Ignore Him Till He Goes Away," I add them to this list of those who have made themselves enemies not only to me, but also to anyone who ever wanted to read a book and thought the author was getting paid for it. I'm not going away, I'm going for justice.
ACTION: Boycott all Paladin & Citadel products distributed by Amazon.

Also, to those of you who have sent in the Red Scrolls to these people or have penned a letter expressing your displeasure at these feeble attempts to suppress this information which is free and shared with all who seek it without reservation, or who have taken other "actions" on your own initiative, I thank you. And, I ask you to remember that the only way any of these people can truly be touched is by a non-violent act, long used by such organizations as the NAACP, as the economic boycott. It is for that reason this is the recommended action in these cases. And, to let you know that it is possible to be redeemed from this list, and there are others yet to be included, by doing the right thing. Namely, not stealing from me or US or anyone else. That is anti-social behavior and should not be tolerated in a civilized society. And we are civilized, we must work together for the benefit of all, because we are all on this planet together. Sometimes the needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few. The needs of the self elected Few have taken precedence for far too long. That is why we live in a country where the elite can flaunt the law and the peasants are taxed to death. To this problem I have a simple solution, NO MORE! Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country, and it is OUR country, not the princes'. We are not sheep who can be fleeced and eaten with no regard for the much touted "human rights" of political speeches. There is injustice here, granted these examples are somewhat personal to my own difficulty, but all you have to do is look around to see it happening in your own lives. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In every revolution there is one man with a dream, and all of us have it within us to change the world and make it a better place.

Let's start now...

I remain,
Ashida Kim

[sun fist]

After six years in a huge martial arts orginization(Young Olympians) I had to go to another orginization called Order of the Dragon when I was a blue belt. I just passed my board braeaking test for my black belt so it's taken me about 9 years, but I figure I'll be a pretty good black belt since I had to wait and train so long.

Now in my former Goju school it took guys about 4 or 5 years at the most to become black belts because they had fewer belts in their system.

[osopardo]

It's funny, I remember asking my instructor the same question before I even signed up for the first introductory class. He just smiled and said, "Everybody asks that. It all depends on how fast you want to progress."

Since then, I've seen so many weird examples of Black Belts that the question has become pretty pointless (a skinny 9 year old kid, a 64 year old lady with osteopenia, a fat, middle-aged guy who used to light up a smoke before and after every class, etc.).

My point, I guess, is that the mystique of the Black Belt is long dead and it really doesn't matter if it took you six months or 12 years, it's all about the person who's wearing it.

BTW has anyone run across those ads in the back pages of martial arts magazine that claim you can become a deadly fighter in six weeks because "...if military training camps around the world can do it, then you can do it..."
I think they have a good point. Provided you're a healthy 19 year old and are willing to spend 10 hours a day, six days a week in a training camp. No thanks, I've got a day job.

[M@T]

Re: How long til black belt

Originally posted by Nickalo44
How long does it typically take to become a black belt in most martial art systems?

How ever long it takes you to nip down the local sport or martial arts shop and buy one.

On my last grading the instructor said to all the students "anyone in it for the belt should go into town and buy one, they're only £2.50".

I'd say about 4 years like what many have said here. I know clubs that do it in 2 years which is crappy. My first ever Shotokan club did it in 2 years and some people used to jump belts if they were considered good enough which is also crappy.

It only go's against you though coz once you get that magical belt you think your god and when you fight a real black belt you get your head kicked in.

[M@T]

And you'd be surprised just how many people are in it for the magical belts.

I do freestyle kickboxing which has 8 belts. White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black which takes 4 years minimum (regardless of skill) to get to black belt. We have these belts over 4 classes. White class, Yellow, Orange and Green + above. But the Green + above class which has 5 different belts in it has less people than the White belt class on its own, and the Yellow belt class on its own. Its quite sad really, people watch enter the dragon and think "I wanna do that" yet as soon as you mention hours of training and Spinning Hook kicks they all flake out and leave. We introduce the spinning techniques at Green belt which is when a lot of people give up.

We use swipe cards when we enter the gym and each time you come you swipe your card which gives you a point. Not enough points when the grading comes round and you don't take it, simple as that coz idiots were training once a week or once a fortnight or taking 2 months off then turning up on the grading day.

Its all been stopped now though

[sercuerdas]

for most systems that view black belt as your basic foundation upon which advanced thought and application is built on usually takes around 4-5 years. other systems that view black belt more of a completion it takes much longer.