a martial arts factory?

Question

how long does it take most people in taekwondo or other martial arts to get to each belt. in this case white to yellow? i've only been taking for 3 weeks so far, and my instructor already wants me to test for yellow. is this normal? i come from an aikido background. and yellow belt took me a year. my dad thinks it's a factory that just goes to competitions and advances people that aren't ready. is it?

Answer 1

The question you should be asking is, do you think you deserve it? If you honestly think your skills aren't up to par yet and he still insists on promoting you, then there might be a reason to think he's just after your promotion fee. You say you come from an Aikido background, Hombu or Ki Society? If Hombu then you know testing for belt is optional and doesn't require a time frame or deadline. That's usually the problem with most competition based arts, they tend to focus more on status and rank over quality of self defense skills. Since you came from a purely self defense art like Aikido, the idea of promoting you to encourage you to strive to become a champion blackbelt is kinda foreign to you. The key word here is "competition", these arts usually caters to the "I wanna win fights now" mentality. Which doesn't mean you can't find a good school out there. But with all the competition among schools for higher student enrollments, you're most likely to run into the McDojos a lot more.

Answer 2

It sounds like that is what you are encountering. Your previous martial arts training can be creating the situation where you learn faster and your instructor needs to move you up some. I would look at the other ranks; especially the higher ones. If their skills, knowledge and abilities don't match their rank then you have your answer. This is more prevalent in the TKD systems and Aikido being a very traditional Japanese martial art takes a very different approach to promotions and skill levels than TKD does in general.

Answer 3

If you have experience in another marital art, 3 weeks may not be too soon. To advance from white to yellow, you are demonstrating you can do very basic punch, kick, and block techniques. Since you have taken martial arts before, you probably have better control of your body (able to do the technique) and know how to learn. It is hard for a lot of students to watch a technique and then do it.

As far as the factory or McDojo (McDoJang in TKD), if your school is competing and winning, then their program must be decent for the area. I wouldn't want my colored belts getting beat.

Answer 4

I'm a 1st dan in Moo Duk Kwan, a sister art to TKD if you will.

From what my sensei has told me, the general time goes as such:

White to Yellow, and Yellow to Green: 3 months each
Green to Blue, Blue to Brown: 6 months each
Brown to Black: 1 year
1st dan to 2nd dan: 2 years

Those are just the mininal requirements. Some people require more time and some require less time. It depends on how skilled the student is and how fast they pick up what they are taught.

Answer 5

In our school, the minimum time in grade is 16 classes, which usually translates to 8 weeks. 3 weeks is too soon, unless you've been going to class 4 times a week. The belts get progressively longer as the rank gets higher. Ultimately, the WTF prefers a time of 3 years from White to Black.

But, it comes back to curriculum and standards. If you've met the standards of the curriculum, then you should test. I have a lot of students that have said they were not ready when I made them test (after time in grade was satisfied by at least another month) - only to have them blow the socks off anyone in the room.

Answer 6

It took me four months to get my yellow belt in Taekwando. But trained pretty hard for it. But three weeks seems a little too soon. You need to be able to perform your Kata and all your punches, kicks, and blocks like they are second nature. Plus your feet should glide as though you are performing a dance. Be careful. Depends on where you live I can recommend an excellent teacher.

Answer 7

TKD has a real McDojo problem. I'd say 9 out of every 10 TKD dojang are McDojos. You just weren't lucky enough to find the good 10%.

Answer 8

Well your standard karate, my friend took and it took him around 7 years to get all the belts, he said it can be 1 day to get the next belt or 71 years, it just depends on how much progress you show.

Not for jujitsu, nooooo, it took me 5yrs to learn how to disable, knockout, and kill someone. But it will take me 15 more to fully master the art.

Answer 9

I myself think it sounds wrong but in saying that you said you had learned another art, so perhaps the TKD teacher recognizes that and thinks you might benefit more if he advances you.
In our school it takes between 6mths to a year to reach yellow.

Answer 10

It took me ten years of very hard work to 'earn' my black belt (Shodan) in Judo, and eight years of extreme pain to earn my black belt in Hakko Ryu Jiu Jitsu.

A rule of thumb for a black belt is: ten years for Judo, five years for Karate. That's three to four times a week of training plus a whole lot of tournaments.