Black belt in Judo

gavinhenson

How long does it TYPICALLY take some one to get a black belt in Judo. A colleague has just got his after training 2 times per week for 3.5 years. I know next to nothing about Judo, or Martial Arts more generally, but this seems very quick? Particularly as he hasn't exactly dedicated his life to it, and goes to lessons twice a week after work.

Doug Cartel

That's fairly quick, but not impossible. Do you know when exactly he got the belt?

gavinhenson

Doug Cartel wrote: »

That's fairly quick, but not impossible. Do you know when exactly he got the belt?

Even only training 2x per week? Is it becoming 'easier' to get blackbelts because people seem to be more driven by having a blackbelt these days than actually learning to master (relatively speaking) a martial art? Not exactly, but it was fairly recently, definitely in the last few months!

Doug Cartel

gavinhenson wrote: »

Is it becoming 'easier' to get blackbelts

I don't know, how difficult was it before?

gavinhenson wrote: »

Not exactly, but it was fairly recently, definitely in the last few months!

If you can tell me which month I can tell you who graded at that time.

gavinhenson

Doug Cartel wrote: »

I don't know, how difficult was it before?

I don't know, 3.5 years seems really quick. I'm not being critical, I went along with him once or twice to watch him training and everything the lads were doing was very impressive. I'd love to take it up, I've just been told I haven't the right attributes and I'd get killed.!

If you can tell me which month I can tell you who graded at that time.

I'll find out!

arybvtcw0eolkf

Its possible if a lad has the technical ability ~ ie a good fighter.

You can only grade as far as green belt in the club, after which you must compete on a national level for blue, brown and black (for blue and brown you've to win two fights out of four, for black you must gain points from wins to total 100 points).

If you think its easy, or easier to get a black belt in judo I can only recommend you give Judo a try.

If your friend recently graded to his first dan I most likely fought him, well done to your friend.

Besides all that a black belt is often seen as the start of you really learning Judo, but sadly a lot of people drift off after gaining their BB.

gavinhenson

Amara Inexpensive Fig wrote: »

Its possible if a lad has the technical ability ~ ie a good fighter.

You can only grade as far as green belt in the club, after which you must compete on a national level for blue, brown and black (for blue and brown you've to win two fights out of four, for black you must gain points from wins to total 100 points).

If you think its easy, or easier to get a black belt in judo I can only recommend you give Judo a try.

If your friend recently graded to his first dan I most likely fought him, well done to your friend.

Besides all that a black belt is often seen as the start of you really learning Judo, but sadly a lot of people drift off after gaining their BB.

Yes, I would definitely like to try it out. But I'm only 5'7 and 11 stone. Is this not too small?

Doug Cartel

gavinhenson wrote: »

I'm only 5'7 and 11 stone. Is this not too small?

It's not that small at all. Kyuzo Mifune, who is probably considered to be the greatest judo practitioner of all time was 5 foot 2 and weighed 100 lbs, and he was doing judo back before they introduced weight categories.

Berserker

gavinhenson wrote: »

Yes, I would definitely like to try it out. But I'm only 5'7 and 11 stone. Is this not too small?

Not at all. I competed and graded etc at -66 kgs for years. I had lads in my club who fought at -60kgs. Grading in Ireland is a bit messed up, particularly the national gradings, in my opinion. It is open weights so you can end up fighting a player who is +100kgs or someone who is -60kgs. If there are enough numbers at the grading, they try to split the groups into -73kgs and +73kgs.

How many people are actively playing nowadays? I gave it up a few years ago as a result of work commitments, the cost of licences, competitions and the lack of bodies at contests.

average hero

Hi OP,

To answer your first question, it is possible to earn your Black Belt in 3.5 years but it is relatively rare alright. In Judo you earn your first belts in your club up to green and then you compete for your blue, brown and black as stated above. Therefore if your pal has a legitimate Judo Black Belt - he earned it and deserves it.

My story with Judo is as follows..... (Makikomi is in the same dojo as I so he'll call me out if he thinks I'm BS-ing haha)

I dabbled with Judo for about three months at the beginning. I was relatively hopeless and found it difficult at first to get the mechanics of it. I moved to my 'permanent' Judo club then under a 5th Dan coach and began to take it seriously, training twice a week. Three months after that I graded to Yellow Belt. I reached my Orange belt three months after that. It took me 9 months to get to Orange belt level from novice. I stayed at Orange belt as I had reached a plateau for about 9 months. At the 18 month mark I was told I was ready for Green belt and I graded in-club for it.

Just after the two year mark I began getting fitter and stronger in the gym to grade for my Blue belt. Around 27 months in I graded for my Blue Belt winning 3 out of 4 fights (I shouldn't have lost the 1 I did!)

About 9 months after that (coming to the 3 year/36month mark) I was in preparation for grading for Brown belt when I snapped my PCL in training. This was only about two weeks from competition too! I was gutted and I am currently rehab-ing my knee for the next six months anyway so that I can go back and grade for my brown belt. I was told that I was certainly at the level of a brown belt (by IJF referees) as well as being told I was close enough to Black belt level (by my coach) so I'd say it's very easily possible to get a black belt in 3.5 years

That's my story of training hard and where I am now so I hope it gives you some sort of idea of it. The fitter,stronger and more technical you are, the better you will be.

There is no 'too small' or 'too light' in Judo either . There are plenty of good Judoka's at your size (I'm not much bigger) - give it a shot!

gavinhenson

average hero wrote: »

Hi OP,

To answer your first question, it is possible to earn your Black Belt in 3.5 years but it is relatively rare alright. In Judo you earn your first belts in your club up to green and then you compete for your blue, brown and black as stated above. Therefore if your pal has a legitimate Judo Black Belt - he earned it and deserves it.

My story with Judo is as follows..... (Makikomi is in the same dojo as I so he'll call me out if he thinks I'm BS-ing haha)

I dabbled with Judo for about three months at the beginning. I was relatively hopeless and found it difficult at first to get the mechanics of it. I moved to my 'permanent' Judo club then under a 5th Dan coach and began to take it seriously, training twice a week. Three months after that I graded to Yellow Belt. I reached my Orange belt three months after that. It took me 9 months to get to Orange belt level from novice. I stayed at Orange belt as I had reached a plateau for about 9 months. At the 18 month mark I was told I was ready for Green belt and I graded in-club for it.

Just after the two year mark I began getting fitter and stronger in the gym to grade for my Blue belt. Around 27 months in I graded for my Blue Belt winning 3 out of 4 fights (I shouldn't have lost the 1 I did!)

About 9 months after that (coming to the 3 year/36month mark) I was in preparation for grading for Brown belt when I snapped my PCL in training. This was only about two weeks from competition too! I was gutted and I am currently rehab-ing my knee for the next six months anyway so that I can go back and grade for my brown belt. I was told that I was certainly at the level of a brown belt (by IJF referees) as well as being told I was close enough to Black belt level (by my coach) so I'd say it's very easily possible to get a black belt in 3.5 years

That's my story of training hard and where I am now so I hope it gives you some sort of idea of it. The fitter,stronger and more technical you are, the better you will be.

There is no 'too small' or 'too light' in Judo either . There are plenty of good Judoka's at your size (I'm not much bigger) - give it a shot!

Thanks a million mate. I really appreciate that, I will give it a go!

Mellor

Are there many matches for lower ranks at competitions?
Could a BJJ player, rock up and take part? Or would it be frowned upon?

Berserker

Mellor wrote: »

Are there many matches for lower ranks at competitions?
Could a BJJ player, rock up and take part? Or would it be frowned upon?

All competitions in Ireland, with the exception of the Irish Open, have kyu grade competitions. The lower kyu is for white and yellow belts. I think you would need to have a valid IJA/Judo Ireland licence to be able to compete though. I'm not sure what the situation is like now but when I finished up, judo in Ireland was split into two associations, the IJA (Irish Judo Association) and judo Ireland. Utter nonsense given the numbers playing in Ireland.

Doug Cartel

You have to have a licence to compete in an IJA event. This usually means one issued by the IJA or a foreign organisation recognised by the International Judo Federation, but right now they will recognise a Judo Ireland licence - though I think you have to pay an additional insurance fee.

Mellor

How does one get a license?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Mellor wrote: »

How does one get a license?

I believe that you get you license when you join a club.

Would you be able to show up at one training session pay a license fee get a license and then compete? I don't know.

Doug Cartel

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I believe that you get you license when you join a club.

Would you be able to show up at one training session pay a license fee get a license and then compete? I don't know.

Once you're paid up, you're technically good to go. It's an insurance thing.

Berserker

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I believe that you get you license when you join a club.

You get one from the IJA when you join a club but you have to buy one. It was €60 or so when I last got one.

dubdamo

Mellor wrote: »

Are there many matches for lower ranks at competitions?
Could a BJJ player, rock up and take part? Or would it be frowned upon?

A BJJ player would have to brush up on rules , esp re passivity, grips, leg grabs etc