Hours to 1st Dan

[Rabbitthekitten]

Maybe this has been done before but I'm curious as to how many hours it takes to reach black belt or equivalent level in different martial arts in terms of hours in the dojo. Obviously this will vary depending on so many factors and the individual involved. But an average in people's experience. But I'd be interested in how different arts compare.

 

[Headhunter]

Depends on the school and the ability of the person. It's basically impossible to say

 

[Rabbitthekitten]

Well I was asking about peoples own experience at their own dojo I guess. For themselves and other students.

 

[jobo]

some thing like a 1000 hours.

working on, 3- 4 hours a week for 5 -6-7 years, which is fairly typical of most arts, unless its a belt factory where it's 18 months tops

 

[Rabbitthekitten]

some thing like a 1000 hours.

working on, 3- 4 hours a week for 5 -6 years

Which art was this?

 

[pdg]

As said, it should be the individual...

At the school I attend (ITF TKD) each grading is primarily based on ability, but there's minimum term in grade and minimum attendance too.

Working the minimum (if you can develop in that timeframe) it'd be 3 1/2 years to first dan - attending twice per week.

Theoretically, that means 364 hours is 'possible'...

I reckon you'd definitely have to be doing a reasonable amount outside class too though.

Whether anyone has actually done that, I don't know.

 

[jobo]

Which art was this?

all of them, its much the same, if they have,a reasonable standard for black belt

 

[Rabbitthekitten]

Theoretically, that means 364 hours is 'possible'....

It's unlikely that this would happen though. Although I suppose if someone was dedicated and had a natural ability it's possible.

 

[Rabbitthekitten]

all of them, its much the same, if they have,a reasonable standard for black belt

Ok so which arts do you have a black belt in?

 

[jobo]

It's unlikely that this would happen though. Although I suppose if someone was dedicated and had a natural ability it's possible.

you'd have to include the hours they practised outside of the dojo as well, so you could probably double that, even if they were talented

 

[pdg]

all of them, its much the same, if they have,a reasonable standard for black belt

It's all arbitrary numbers though really, x hrs or y years to black belt.

It's not just class time - I do 3-5 hours a week in class generally, but probably 15+ hours outside with practice, research, etc.

 

[pdg]

you'd have to include the hours they practised outside of the dojo as well, so you could probably double that, even if they were talented

I'm well over double that number if you include outside the dojang - and I've only been in for 2 years...

 

[jobo]

Ok so which arts do you have a black belt in?

black belts are with out meaning, outside the context of a particular school, one arts blue belt is anothers schools black belt, i have belts in kung fu, tkw and karate, non of them is black

 

[Dirty Dog]

In our Moo Duk Kwan TKD school, promotions are based on knowledge and ability, not time in rank. We will not promote someone just because they've been X rank for Y time. And it's more than just being able to get through a form. There are also intangibles. 1st Dan is considered a teaching rank, so there is a minimum standard for your ability to pass on what you've learned, as well. And, frankly, there are intangibles. Judgement calls.
It will take the average adult 6-8 years to reach 1st Dan, attending 2-3 classes per week and putting in a reasonable amount of time on their own.
Some people will never reach 1st Dan. It's also possible to do it faster if you're extraordinarily talented, extraordinarily determined, have prior training, or some combination of those three.

 

[JR 137]

Looking through our organization’s syllabus and doing some math, the minimum number of classes attended is 450. Having some fun with math, it would take almost 3.25 classes per week to do that in 4 years.

That assumes that you tested immediately upon reaching the minimum amount of classes for each rank, i.e. if there’s a minimum of 60 classes from 4th kyu to 3rd kyu, you tested (and passed) right after your 60th class. Realistically speaking, that’s impossible because tests are scheduled in advance, and not for each student at the exact completion of the minimum number.

The 3.25 classes per week also assumes the student never missed a class for any reason - holidays, vacations, illness, etc.

The minimum number is exactly that, a MINIMUM. Realistically speaking, the CI determines if the student is ready, regardless of the number of classes. I tested early and double promoted my first few belts. I was a 1st dan in an offshoot of my current organization 15 years ago. The syllabus is about 90% identical. The first few belts were more of getting the rust out than anything else.

Most people without any relevant prior experience allegedly test for 1st dan in 6 years or so. My CI does kyu testing in-house, and we test for dan ranks under our founder. In a good way, my CI would rather us be over prepared for the test than under prepared. In his 30 years of running his own dojo, he hasn’t had a student fail dan testing. And yes, more than a few people fail each time (there are students from many dojos within the organization testing together). So I guess it’s safe to say my CI knows when someone’s ready.

 

[Michele123]

My first style took me four years to earn my 1st Dan, and that was considered rather fast in our school. I attended an average of four hours of class time per week and practiced about 8 hours per week. That doesn’t count the research papers we were required to write for each rank starting with 5 kyu. So for me it was about 832 class hours plus a handful of seminars and assistant teaching children’s classes. Then about 1664 hours of practice at home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tony Dismukes]

None of my ranks are from systems with explicit rules on time spent for rank. I suppose I can make a very rough estimate of the hours of training it took me to reach black belt in different arts ...

Bujinkan taijutsu: approx. 1000 hours
American kickboxing: approx. 1000 hours
BJJ: approx. 4500 hours

Notes:
The BJJ required not only more time, but much more intense training, hard work, and functional skill than the others.

Rank standards in the Bujinkan are notoriously inconsistent, so my experience should not necessarily be taken as typical.

The kickboxing rank was from an instructor who had his own rank system only for the brief period where he had his own school for a few years. These days he coaches May Thai at other people’s gyms and doesn’t issue ranks.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

SKK: For me 2808 hours. For other people in my style and school it took way less. I can't think of anyone I know that it took more.

Kenpo: 792 hours. That was on top of the previous 2808 hours in a similar style. Got it much quicker than others, but I had the advantage of 14 years of martial arts when I started.

Neither of these are consistent, for reasons mentioned. In SKK I took longer than the average person...I didn't pay attention to how quickly others ranked so not sure what the average is there. For my style of okinawan kenpo, I was way quicker than the others in my dojo, but I had the advantage of 14 ish years of experience in kempo at that point, so that sped up my progress significantly.
Both of those numbers were estimated based on average number of hours/total length before bb in each style. Not definitive numbers.

 

[Swanson]

Hi
I'm new to the forum
But at my club to reach black belt is 4 years

 

[_Simon_]

Some really great responses. It comes down to the individual really, some people just take longer. It took me 7 or so years just to reach 4th Kyu, and that was by choice. I wanted to take my time and really absorb and understand each grade, and only wanted to do about one grading a year (plus, the gradings were brutal... didn't wanna do that more than once a year XD).

But then I've heard of people as live-in students, training almost every single day for many hours, and reaching 1st Dan within a year or so. At first I thought that was far too fast, but seems it may have been more common in the older days (from the stories I've read). And when you think about the quality tuition and quality of training they're constantly exposed to, it's no wonder that their skill and ability just skyrocket...