I know that this is probably a question that has been asked here before, so I apologize a head of time if that is the case, but,
How long does it generally take to get a blackbelt under a quality Judo instructor (not someone who is the Judo equivalent of Karate "McDojo" instructor)?
How many years? How many training sessions a week? And how many hours per training session?
Dude, it is completely an individual thing. It truly depends on the individuals training and practice habits.
Some people truly make the most out of every training and practice session so for such a person 3 training session a week may be enough. Other don't make the most out of every training session so for such a person it may actually take more for him to get the same thing out of it.
People are different they asorb information differently, they train differently, they have different levels of seriousness as well as athletic ability.
I've seen some people get a BB in a relatively short amount of time. I've seen others take much longer. I've seen some get a BB but they still sucked. I've seen others who excelled waaay before they even got their BB.
How good a person is and becomes depends on the person.
Depends very much on your natural athletic talent, your instructor, and how well you fare in competition.
In my experience, 6-8 years is normal for recreational players (3x/week, 1-2 hrs. per session). Talented and committed competitors can do it in 3-4.
I was up for mine before I injured my back--that was after eight years of pretty laid-back recreational training and intermittent competition (school interfered here).
they are right. it is a very individual thing-- especially with adults.
no adult can jump into hardcore judo 5-6 times a week. i dont care what other sports youve done or for how long.. youll destory yourself from your own ignorance.
with that being said, the most somebody could handle training seriously as a beginning adult is 3-4 times a week for 2 hours. so, 6-8 hours of judo.
now.. if you are a true natural physical athlete (wrestling, etc) had some really great coaches who were awesome players and were really top-notch with coaching ideas and what not and they had a whole school full of people from intermediate to advanced levels who were really developing too... then i'd say you could get a BB in 3-4 years-- considering that you did really well in competition.
below that. well, i think you get the point. fact is, dont worry about how long its gonna take you. thats the wrong attitude to have in the first place. judo is a sport where patience is necessary because immediate gratification does not exist in judo development. hell, it hardly exists once you are on top of the world.
The three legit national organizations have promotion standards for black belt. I don't think any of them allow it in less than 3 or 4 years accordign to their standards.
I think United States Judo Federation and United States Judo Association have their rank standards online, so you can check out their web sites for detailed info. USA Judo I am not sure has it online, plus, individual state organizations of USA Judo have different standards.
Personally, I agree with Josh's post.
Ben R.
If you are only looking to obtain your black belt, you're gonna have a bigger problem. A Black Belt isn't the culmination of your Martial Arts studies...it is only the beginning...
couldnt have said it any better than that nelson.
Right on, Nelson.
Ben R.
I made shodan in 2 years 9 months. Every promotion was done by the JA's requirements at the time. The minimum time in grade was less then than it is now. I made all my promos in minimum time because I competed all the damn time and had the maximum instead of the minimum amount of points.
I remember when I tied on my black belt thinking that I didn't know as much as I assumed I would at that stage.
3-5 years would be the average I'd say.
2.5years of 5 days a week to get my shodan here in japan
"2.5years of 5 days a week to get my shodan here in japan "
High school guys in Japan can get shodan in a year.
5 days a week 2 hours per session I can see getting shodan in 2 years, no problem.
That much training would be unusual in the US, though, Punk Dobbs aside.
Ben R.
I was told by a 5 dan in Japan that "when you can throw black belts, you will be a black belt". However, even though I consistently threw black belts, no one gave me a black belt. So apparently there's more to it than just throwing people. Personally I wouldn't consider myself to have black belt judo skills. I was just good at a few moves that they weren't expecting from someone with a white belt.
I made Shodan in less than 2 years.
I think 2 years is about right if you are athletic and train 5 days a week.
It's all about how well you do in tournaments. If you batsugan everyone, you will be promoted fast as lightning.
Blackbelt doesn't mean anything. It's just a passport to get into good competitions.
That's where judo begins. Once you're blackbelt and working your way up to the Olympics. How far you get determines your judo level. Belt ranks don't mean anything.
In my opinion a brown belt who happened to win an E level tournament in the black belt division is a better player than a 5th dan who never won an E-level.
I guess any time a "white belt" throws a back belt it is because the black belt let him do it.
When I was a white belt I was throwing a lot of black belts like they were nothing. A lot has to do with strength, agility, conditioning, and natural athletic ability.
If a white belt can throw 5 guys in a row at a promotional tournament, he deserves his a promotion. That's why we have this way to promote to black belt which doesn't include time in grade (up to BB). Just batsugan your way to black belt if you can. Won't take long if you're good.
"In my opinion a brown belt who happened to win an E level tournament in the black belt division is a better player than a 5th dan who never won an E-level."
Sort of. Like you pointed out, it can have a lot to do with athletcism etc. If you mean player in only the contest sense, it's one thing, if you mean overall knowledge in skill in Judo, it's another.
However, there are some pretty crappy 5th dan out there for sure.
Ben R.
I guess any time a "white belt" throws a back belt it is because the black belt let him do it.No, but most of the time, you're technique is so bad and your form so dangerous that we'd just rather take the fall and walk away safe that try to stop you and risk serious injury...
competition is only part of judo. i know tons of awesome players who just cant put it together on tourament day, why idunno. but i know that i learn as much from them as anybody else.
if you are only gonna judge a guy's judo by the medals in his closet, well i am afraid that you sure wont find too many places to train in the US at all then.
i dont have a lot of medals. sure as hell doesnt mean i cant, or wont, be able to teach somebody else to be a better competitor or better player then i was able to be.
there is almost no direct correlation between athletic ability and knowledge. expereince and knowledge is a different story. to win in judo takes a very high level of committment to a select number of things-- to coach in judo takes a committment to every single part of those things for each and every one of your players.
If you haven't seen a white belt throw a black belt then you haven't ever trained in judo club in Japan. Yes, they do sometimes let absolute beginners finish a throw if they have set it up correctly--in other words, they deliberately do not do the defense or counter that they would do with an opponent of similar rank.
But judo in Japan is not like jiu-jitsu. The difference between someone who has trained for 2 years and has a white belt and someone who has trained for 2 years and has a black belt is not always so big---the white might be a day away from black, while the black may have just gone black.
Also throwing exists in wrestling and is even taught in hapkido. Even jiu-jitsu guys sometimes learn a few basic throws, if their instructor has a judo background. I wasn't suggesting that the "white belt" knew nothing about throwing or that he hadn't learned something about it during his several years of intermitent judo practice. And in fact, on one day when White belt fogot his white belt, the head of the club (the 5-dan) handed him one a brown belt that was laying around, rather than one of the white belts. I wasn't implying that Mr. White belt was there for his first experience of throwing--merely that he didn't have "judo" black belt.
But the writers above might be right: maybe the black belts all got together and decided to let him throw them (except for the black belts who didn't agree to let him).
I guess it's just impossible for a judo black belt to get thrown by anyone who doesn't have a judo black belt. Logically, that would make it a bit difficult for anyone to ever become a judo black belt, because. as I was told and as I started my first post by saying, to become a black belt you have to throw black belts. I don't think they meant you have to throw guys who are "letting" you do it. Incidentally, it is the same for dan promotions. The point was in answer to the question "how long for a black belt?". The answer in other words is that there is no time requirement (in Japan, for adults, and no requirement to master the whole kodokan curriculum). The requiremnents are performnce based--when you are as good as a black (in the sense that you can throw them) then you are a black belt.
Therefore it is not only not impossible, it is indeed absolutely unavoidable that sometimes white belts will throw black belts.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and things may be different in the USA and other places, but this is how it is in Japan. Note also please that I specified that this is a judo club, not the Japan Olympic team.
keseki.. well said.