Let’s pretend I am an expert in several martial arts, like boxing, muay thai, BJJ and wrestling, but no karate experience at all. If I started karate lessons today, how long would it take to reach black belt status?
Totally depends on who’s awarding you the black belt. There are amny different organisations and dojos both large and small. There’s no single standard, and there are a lot of dodgy ones which’ll give ou a black belt pretty easily, and a lot of really good ones.
A black belt nowadays is just an indicator of basic competence in a martial art’s basic techniques and an understanding of the principles. Anywhere from 3 - 6 years will grant you a black belt in a standard school.
If you really have trained in several martial arts, then you should be aware that a black belt does not mean you have mastered the art.
My 1st degree black belt in Tracy’s Kenpo was relatively easy to get (3 years). In the Tracy’s system, you have to actively attend classes for 2nd degree black for 2 years after you get your 1st degree before you can even test. I think 3rd degree might even be longer.
You’re not really a “master” until you get up to around 8 degrees, where Al Tracy is (and no one else).
You’d think there’d have to be at least one other 8th. Whoever trained him maybe?
How does that work?
There is only one Master. His name is Leroy Green, and you know he’s the master because he glows blue.
Probably only a slightly shorter period of time than usual. A lot of it is about memorizing moves and kata. It’s not really about how tough you are.
Sho’Nuff!!!
There *is *only one master, but he is Chiun the Master of Sinanju, the Sun Source of Martial Arts.
What about the Deadliest Man Alive! Hello Dim Mak.
A black belt has no universal meaning. A person with a black belt is hard to compare to someone else with one, with no other information to go on. It is an acheivment within the art and school you are studying and has no other meaning.
If you have all those other skills, why would you want a generic black belt?
I took 7 years to get mine, and in my school I was promoted much faster than average. Its just that the creteria for one varies greatly from school to school. In TKD tournaments I was moved to black belt for purposes of competition while I was just a blue belt. But my school was not a TKD school, but was Hapkido.
I liked the information I got when I asked a martial arts instructor. I have no cite, but it sounds awfully accurate, but could be garbage though.
A long time ago…
New students were given fresh white belts. As you rolled around in the dirt it became dirtier and dirtier. If the first lessons you learned were how to fall down ‘correctly’, then a dirty belt meant you had that training and could be tossed about in the name of teaching.
White turned to brown, and brown to black.
In this way you weren’t ‘given’ a black belt, but rather you earned it with blood and sweat.
Now I suppose the argument against this would be, that it’s quite possible to spend years and years of training, get a dirtier and dirtier belt, and still not be an expert.
Err really?
I don’t know about this.
When you were ready to get a black belt. Depends on the school, the instructor, and the requirements for obtaining it. It’s essentially a certification that you’ve mastered certain criteria as outlined by your particular school. Like university degrees, where you got it and from whom, matters as much as the major course of study.
If you were in fact already proficient in other martial arts, it would probably only be a year or two of regular practice for you to pick up that style of fighting movements. But at that point, as someone else mentioned, having a black belt is kind of worthless in and of itself. The knowledge and practice was worth more than the certificate.
I’ve got a second-degree black in one martial art, and shihan (teaching level) certification in another, with a smattering of practice in a few others without official certification of any kind. It took me five, and four and a half years respectively to get those. Knowing other arts helps, like being bilingual helps in picking up a new language, but it’s no substitute for practice, and sometimes even gets in the way when similar things conflict.
On the other hand, there’s a lot of overlap, since a good fist is a good fist, and having experience with a variety of styles means you’re more likely to have developed good habits that focus on these areas of overlap, which can help your speed of advancement considerably.
Possibly, but having had a little experience in different styles, sometimes it’s harder to un-learn something than to start from scratch.
The trouble with that idea is that the previous experience in multiple styles means they’ve already unlearned this stuff multiple times before.
Some more questions then:
A kata is like a combo, right? Here Kata - Wikipedia says that katas have 20 to 70 moves that all must be executed in perfect form. Are katas practical in real fights? What happens if the opponent sidesteps after move #3 and you miss? Do you go on and perform the rest of the kata?
Dog80. I’m not sure how kata’s are tought everywhere. However, the idea is that kata’s are made up of techniques. The dojo’s I’ve been in contact with teach students kata’s by drilling the individual techniques with sparring partners. Kata’s are a good way to learn/drill and remember techniques.
For example, in Kenpo Karate. Long form 3 is made up of grab techniques/counters. Techniques to counter if you get grabbed in the lapels, a headlock, bearhug, etc.
In a real fight, you generally use parts of techniques/counters (which maybe you learned as part of a kata). Eg, guy grabs you and you use a grab technique and the fluid situation changes to where he punches and you do a punch counter, then you slip on a banana peel and you break his kneecap from a prone position. Every one of those moves is in different kata’s. Think of it this way, a kata is not meant to be followed sequentually in a fight. techniques learned in a kata are meant to be used dynamically and fluidly in the changing situation of a fight.