4 1/2 years studying AiKido and I am up to first Kyu. Another year and a half and i may be good enuf to try for a black belt. Dont spar much, since aikido studies both offensive and defensive moves, there really isnt a good way to see who is winning or not. I am confident that except for the 3 black belts and my sensei, I can probably outmatch all but 2 in my class but then I cheat 
<---- Read the username.
This is in judo. I have been a shodan for a little over twenty five years. Just not interested in promotions. A guy who made black belt after me is a rokudan by now - go figure.
I have done a bunch of other styles (tae kwon do, jujutsu, wing tsun, another style of ch’uan-fa called “White Eyebrows”), but tae kwon do is the only other style I practiced that did belt rankings. I quit tae kwon do when the instructor wanted me to teach the beginner’s class and still pay for my advanced training.
Regards,
Shodan
Huh - what level were you at this point? At my school, its genearlly assumed that the hihger-ranking belts (black, brown, and sometimes red belts) do at least help out with the lower belts (ie, warming up classes and leading stretches, etc) as part of the curriculum. I was under the impression that that was a pretty standard part of martial arts training. Unless, of course, your instructor wanted you to completely teach an entire lesson, which would be kind of strange, especially if you weren’t a black belt.
I’ve been taking Thai Kickboxing for about 5 months. I have not attended the sparring, grabs-and-holds, or weapons classes (it is a different sign-up and commitment level). But I have tested white to yellow and yellow to orange. We are not tested on forms until black belt testing. For all levels of testing, we do board breaking, a set number of push-ups dependent on belt, and a particularly grueling class for stamina and technique. I know it is not an ancient martial art, but I think it is considered a martial art. This is one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
I studied in a very free-form dojo for about 4 years, splitting my time among Modern Arnis-Aikido, American Kenpo, and kickboxing, with occasional forays into grappling. I wouldn’t say that I advanced very far in any one of the arts, but I did get a solid grounding in all of them; on the whole, I think that’s better achieving rank in just one style. Arnis is definitely my favorite style, though.
On the kata/sparring matter: We did forms in both Arnis and Kenpo, but there was a lot of sparring as well–there’s no way out of that when there’s a kickboxer among the instructors. We also did posting, which is sparring for the pathologically masochistic–you stand unarmed in a ring of people armed with sticks, and your job is to disarm them as they attack you. When you’re just starting out, they attack one at a time, but that doesn’t last. I miss it.
I studied Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (formally Bujinkan Ninpo Taijustsu) for 6 years before repeated back trouble made me quit. Before that I had a few years of Judo. The Bujinkan is a group of nine old Japanese Jujutsu (and similar) schools, including a significant amount of weapon use.