1 year to black belt

One year?
No work?
No school?
No family?
10 sessons a week?
Black belt grade training partners?

Easy.

Hell, Yoshinkan guys do that all the time

 

I would say no, probably a McDojo

but if you do what DexterTCN just said? Then yeah maybe

 

No black belt should be earned that quickly even if you are at that skill level. It's the exp that's also important in getting your belt, and zooming threw dosn't give you much of it.

 

I don't think it could happen in my style. Three years, maybe, if you trained constantly, and never missed a class. But I think even three years would be rare.

 

Now you are trying to qualify what a black belt is or should be, beyond the original question.

 

Depends. If you take classes twice as much as the reguar person, you'll probably learn the techniques faster (although not twice as fast, probably). If you take 3x the classes, you'll learn even faster. Hell, the Shaoling monks that train every day probably learned the stuff for 1st degree black belt in less than a year.

Now, if you were to say that there is a school advertising something (like a "secret training pattern", or some such thing) that made you a black belt in a year, with regular classes, then I'd say it would be a McDojo.

PL

EDIT: Chris, what kind of experience do you mean? MA experience? Or just the passing of time? The former is solely based on how much you train, and the latter is irrelevent.

 

I agree with Dexter, its not the destiny, its the journey. Just going thru the motions and learning the movements, the sparring skills etc. really aren't enough. Its KNOWING what a black belt is, and what it means to wear one that contributes to BEING a black belt.

 

Depends, is this your first MA?
if so you will probably need more time like 3 or 4 years.

Is it a MA similar to one you have already put in 3 or 4 years?
Then probably yes you could earn (and pay attention to the earn) in a year.

 

You can get a black belt in a matter of minutes at any K-Mart. Or a martial arts store if you wanted an actual martial arts belt. Of course, it won't have any bearing at all on your martial ability.

I'm not really a big fan of the Gracies, but one of them once said something very true:

"A belt only covers 2" of your ass. The rest is up to you."

 

Possible, but next to impossible.

 

Joe Lewis earned his in a year.

 

It's possible if the school sucks. No decent school would allow that.

 

-I know of two individuals who legitimately earned a real first dan in under one year. Former world karate and kickboxing champ Joe Lewis earned his in Okinawa in less than a year and when he reurned to the US (after a little more than a year of training) won both the forms and sparring grandchampionship at one of the biggest tournaments in the US at that time beating all the favorites, some of whom are BLACK BELT HALL OF FAME fighters themselves. In achieving black belt in this time frame, Lewis trained several hours virtually every day. (as I have been told by one of his senior black belts, this was basically his job during that time in the Marine Corp, or at least a big part of it.)
-The other is motivational speaker/success-performance coach Tony Robbins. Tony specializes in getting peak performance and streamlining it and making it more efficient. He also had GM Jhoon Rhee on the road with him as his personal instructor/trainer. It was basically an experiment in how fast a legit. black belt could be earned. They took him before a testing board of reputable, high level masters and he did pass. Not with flying colors, but he did pass. By his own admission later though, he said if he could go back he would do it differently. He said he felt that both in injuries and overtraining, as well as really getting the most growth out of the experience, he felt the longer path was better. This coming from a man who has made a career out of teaching peak performers in sports and other areas how to quickly optimize their personal performance.
-In my opinion, is it truly possible to reach black belt levels in less than a year. For the right individual using the right training methods and having both the dedication, the discipline, not to mention the time, it is possible. Is this the right way to do it. Probably not. Another factor would be how extensive the cirriculum is that they are training in, too. I do believe that an average of 4 years or more is a good standard if it is a well rounded cirriculum with high exam standards.

 

I think it would be possible, if you devoted yourself exclusively to that aim, ignoring just about everything else, under an excellent instructor. Otherwise..... you know the rest.

 

It's possible if the school sucks. No decent school would allow that. -

That is a false statement. It really depend on how the person train, and how many hours his/she is willing to spend on and off the mats. Of corse it is not recommend and unusal that 1 year of training someone can reach black belt level, but it does happen sometimes. You got to look at how the person train, and where they stand now before you can decide wether they deserve the shot for the testing. Remember jealousey will get you no where. The way I train and teach now 1 year might be 5-8 years for other. I spend more than 8 hours in martial art a day, practicing, watching, teaching, reading, writing jornals, and reply others on-line about martial art.

And I have seen beginniers who train the way I do, and those type are the one who can reach black belt in a year or so. Is totally acceptable, but is rare. Remember your 1 year of training does not equal someone elses 1 year training. You can not possibly compare what you gain in 1 year compare to someone else's. The test itself should justify that answer. Unless they are really training under a Mc Dojo, which is mostly the case so I can understand why some of you said what you said.

 

If I recall correctly, the Yoshinkan course trains to black belt standard in 9 months. (oh baby)

The final 3 months are to take you to instructor level.

This course is not some self-deluding McDojo. It was required attendance for Japanese riot police.

Many live-in students return home from staying with high grade martial artists (in many arts) for 6 or 7 years with 5th dan and above.