Ten years of study for a black belt in Karate???

Question

I cannot believe that so many people on Y/A think that it does/should take ten years to Shodan(Black belt). Chuck Norris received his 1st dan in 1 and a half years, Bill Superfoot Wallace received his first dan in a year and a half, Joe Lewis (not the boxer) received his shodan in one year in Okinawa. I studied in Taiwan and China, my friends have studied in Japan and Korea....it DOES NOT take ten years to get to black belt. Maybe it does in America, where the Mc Dojos want you to keep funneling money into their school, ten years what a joke, any Sensei from Japan would laugh. In Asia, they do train better and faster, if any teacher at a school tells you it will take you ten years to Shodan..leave that McDojo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to Shodan in approx. 4years

Answer 1

Sho DAN or 1st degree black belt is nothing nada .It means you have mastered basics to the point you can start real training.
10 years either your sensei is stupid or you are
6 years max average is 4 to 5 some rare cases 3 years
10 years isn't a mcdojo it's worse than a mcdojo.
In the orient shodan is considered the real begginer rank up to that point you are looked at as just trying it out.

Answer 2

I have to somewhat agree but not for the obvious reasons. I traveled throughout Southeast Asia as a military member in the 70s and 80s and yes there were some programs that were taught at or around military bases that would promote you very fast. While some were not bad they certainly were not what was taught down town at the schools that would not normally take GIs. Most GIs also were only in country or on station for a year to two years; hence the short promotion time. Also Tan Soodo which has only five belts is what Norris studied promotes quickly just as Tae Kwon Do does.

While ten years is ridiculously long any good instructor should be able to get you to Shodan in four to five years in a Japanese/Okinawan martial art if you are working out hard three times per week. If not then he/she is not doing their job or the student is not seriously applying themselves or a combination of both.

Answer 3

Apparently it's the other way around, you are going to a mcdojo if the average time is 4 years to get a black belt.

BJ Penn received his black belt in ju-jitsu in less than 2 years, that DOES NOT mean that's the average time, simply a rare case of somebody who exceeds, that's the same with the examples you stated, Chuck Norris, Bill superfoot Wallace and Joe Lewis are the same thing, the are not average by any means.

If a teacher tells you you can get a black belt, or a shodan rank (same thing) in 4 years, THAT'S A MCDOJO! that's not nearly enough time to have the necessary skill/knowledge for an average person to become a black belt. If you train twice as much, or are already gifted with natural ability, or previous martial art experience, then it is possible to do it in 4 years, but then again, you wouldn't be average.

If you got to Shodan in 4 years, it means that you alot more dedicated than the average person.

Answer 4

Because it is not about the belt, then it will become another Mcdojo. I really don't see a problem with it, I been doing BJJ for eight years and have a purple belt. I see the trend already heading that way, all these non official schools have outlandish belt systems for BJJ just so they can make some dough. Just because the instructor went to a seminar he is already an expert. Only american I know who got a black belt in less than three years was B.J. Penn but he earned it as being the first american to win at the Mundials in Brazil.

Answer 5

It takes as many years as it takes for you personally to receive shodan. There is no time requirement, nor is there a time limit.

And let me make this clear- just because a school is in Asia does not make it good! Just like in America, there are Mc Dojos there too!

One more thing- let us all get over this kick of shodan/black belt being the top prize/end-all-be-all rank. It is not. It only means that now your training takes another form. If you are only concerned about ranks and how long it will take to get them, you're doing this for the wrong reason.

Answer 6

My Instructor in HTF Taekwondo is a black belt. And he told me it will take me at least 4 years to get black belt. But it also depends on how much I work out.

Different martial art schools are different.

Answer 7

There's plenty of people out there that have been doing a single MA for 10+ years and have green or purple. In BJJ you might NEVER get the black belt.

Answer 8

It didn't take Chuck Norris 1 and a half years to get his first degree because I trained with him, but I do know that it DOESN'T take 10 years. My dad's been training for 24 years and he's a 5th degree. Most of the time it just depends on the person.

Answer 9

Not nearly that long. Should take 4-5 yrs at the most and of course it depends how advanced you are