How Long Does it Take To Get a Black Belt?
Earning a black belt in any martial art style is very, very hard. It requires a lot of time, dedication, passion, sweat, blood, and even tears at some stages. In fact, it is a lifelong journey for most people, regardless of whether we are talking about karate, BJJ, or any other martial art.
But on the other side, the amount of time that you need to get a black belt is not standardized. It differs between martial arts, countries, schools, coaching staff, and many other things. In this article, you are going to find out how much time does it take, on average, to reach a black belt rank in different martial arts.
One thing to consider is the fact that the exact time is an individual thing. Some people are simply more gifted than others for instance. Next, the progress is not the same for people who attend the classes once per week as for the ones who train five times per week. Things go to another level when you start talking about promotional criteria, schools, coaching staff, and many other factors your progress depends on.
Karate — (3–5) years
Karate is one of the most popular martial arts that is well spread all around the world. It has many different styles and forms out of which the most popular ones are: Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, Wado-Ryu, and Kyokushin. The belt grading system used in Karate has origins in Judo and the system developed by Kano Jigoro in the 1930s.
The exact number of grades and color belts varies between different karate styles. Also, the promotional criteria differ between schools, coaching staff, and even countries. You may get a black belt in a short time span in some dojos that are also called the “belt factories”. But on the other side, you won’t be as skilled in karate as students from other dojos where you need twice as much time to get a black belt.
In most karate styles, there are two different ranks, Kyu and Dan grades. Kyu consists of color belts below the black belt, while Dan grades are additional typically 10 ranks that go above a black belt rank. On average, students need around 3–5 years to complete a kyu grading system and earn a black belt or 1st dan rank. It’s almost impossible to do it in less than 3 years simply because the promotional criteria are very strict.
BJJ (7–10 years)
BJJ is often seen as one of the best combat system when it comes to self-defense, which is also very, very hard to master. On average, BJJ students need to spend between 7–10 years of consistent training before they can reach a black belt. This is the case for people who show up a couple of times a week, are able to stay away from serious injuries, and are passionate about training, learning and improving. There are a lot of cases where students need more than a decade. But why BJJ is so hard to learn?
In short, BJJ is a very complex system that has origins in Judo. Its creators Royce and Helio Gracie took judo as a base on top of which they have added advanced ground fighting techniques. Students need to learn dozens of different throws, positions, chokes, joint locks, escapes, sweeps, and how to mix it all together. This is why people often describe BJJ as a human chess match because there are so many variables.
And like that’s not complex enough, BJJ is continuously evolving and there are always new techniques and methods to master. If you ask all the black belts, the learning never stops, and earning a black belt represents just the start of your journey.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a popular martial art created in the 1950s in South Korea. It is a system that puts a lot of emphasis on kicks, while hand strikes are a secondary weapon. This is mainly due to the idea that legs are a long and more powerful weapon one can use in a fight. The second reason is the fact that the rules actually favor kicks over punches.
As in the case of karate, the Taekwondo belt ranking system varies between styles. Most use a system that consists of 10 different color belt ranks also called “geup”, and another 10 Dan ranks that go above the black belt rank. The time a student needs to go from a white belt to a black belt is around 3 to 5 years of training, the same as in karate.
As in other martial arts, promotional criteria vary between styles and dojos. But most traditional dojos try to maintain a high standards.
Judo
Judo plays a big role in this article because its founder, Kano Jigoro, was the one who came up with the color belt ranking system. This system would be later used by many other arts like Karate and BJJ for instance. Jigoro created a color belt ranking system in the 1930s after playing a board game called “go”, which is similar to chess. He used a similar concept to develop a color belt rank system that in its initial version had only three belts:
- White
- Brown
- Black
Earning a black belt in Judo is very, very hard. On average, you may expect to complete Kyu ranks and earn a black belt in 3 to 6 years of training. This also means that you need to spend a lot of time competing in tournaments representing your dojo or your country. Bear in mind that reaching a black belt in judo is not the end of the journey. In fact, it doesn’t even mean that you are a master of judo if you ask the coaches. You still have another 10 dan ranks waiting for you.
But it is worth saying that most people don’t come even close to reaching the highest dan rank. In fact, most 10th dan ranks are awarded posthumously.
Aikido
The entire concept of Aikido differs a lot from other martial arts. Although it may look soft and like a system that you can master in a very short time span, it’s not. Aikido techniques might not be that practical for real fighting, but this doesn’t mean that these moves are easy to master. In fact, it’s really hard to learn all those throws, wrist, and joint locks, and elbow techniques. It’s even harder to execute them in a flow against multiple “opponents”.
In 1930, Morihei Ueshiba created Aikido with only two belts: white (beginners) and black (masters). When Aikido started to spread around the world, notably in Europe, many schools started using a color belt system used in Judo. According to Aikido Federation, there are 12 kyu ranks. But some western schools consist of 6 kyu ranks and 3 dan ranks.
On average, aikido students need from 4 to 5 years of consistent training before reaching a black belt rank.
Combat Sambo
For over 80 years of its existence, the Combat Sambo ranking system consisted of only blue and red belts. But it has all changed in 2020 when FIAS decided to introduce the new belt ranking system with 7 new colors. Now, Sambo students need to hold each rank belt for no less than a year. This means that they need 7 years to from the white belt to the black belt rank.
Bear in mind that this is the minimum time. In reality, most Sambo students need to spend a decade learning and improving to reach the highest levels. This is because Sambo is a complex system that is a mix of different martial arts, and in some way, resembles modern MMA fighting.
It consists of various grappling techniques from Judo, Wrestling, BJJ, and striking from western boxing and Muay Thai. On top of that, it is an aggressive system where the main goal is to hurt and finish the opponent.
