Tag Archives: karate black belt

What You don’t Want to Do to A Karate Black Belt!

Karate Black Belt is Looking Good!

I earned my karate black belt in 1974. Back then we didn’t have all the karate equipment and martial arts supplies and stuff.

I was in Chinese Kenpo Karate at first, and we received neat, new belts with each promotion. I had an Orange Belt and a Blue Belt and Green Belt and all the other rank symbols.

karate black belt

Peter Urban properly dressed

 


Then I went to the Kang Duk Won, and belts weren’t the issue there. Knowledge was the point of it all.

I had gotten a white belt with my uniform, and my sensei told me, when I got my first promotion at the Kang Duk Won I was told to dye it.

So I put it in a pot, added dye, and the thing shrank a litte, but it was still workable.

For some belts we had to go into ladies fabric shops (blush) and get iron on strips of cloth.

By the time I reached Black Belt I had a beaten up short strip of belt that looked like it had been through the ringer.

So, I admit it, I bought my first real belt. It was long enough, it looked good, but it was…stiff.

Well, I had done enough already, actually buying a belt was a bit proud, so I just worked out hard and hoped nobody noticed the overly prideful guy with the NEW belt.

And it eventually work it’s way into a comfortable rag.

Speaking of rags, I should tell you about the artificial aging of belts. Some guys bought belts, and to make them look old, they would take a razor blade and shred the edges of the belts. They would have half a dozen belts, all artificially aged and cool looking.

Unfortunately, the karate these guys practiced wasnt’ aged, and it looked artificial.

And there were guys who would drag their belts in the dirt, scuff them by walking on them, and so on, just to look cool and official and aged.

I actually don’t wear a belt anymore. And my classes are so small that I don’t need to have people wear belts. So we actually practice in street clothes, which is what we would wear if we were attacked on the street.

Still, I remember my bouts with pride, and my first karate black belt, and the honor it was to wear it.

The Karate Black Belt…What You Have to do to Get There!

A lot of people try, and a lot of people fail. To be precise, out of a thousand people that start the journey to a Karate Black Belt, only 1 or 2 will make it. Check out the video, and then I’ll tell you how to be sure that you make it!

So, how do you make sure you are going to make it?
First, pick a good school. Not a make money trophies in the windows school, but a long time hole in the wall that has a record of good, solid martial arts, and the students to prove it.
Second, dedicate yourself. Put a picture of Bruce Lee (or some other martial artist that you admire) on your front door, and bow to it every time you go out. Make it a reminder that you will make every single class. And, if ever you feel like not heading out to the dojo, pick yourself up by the scruff of the neck, and GO!
Now, that is really all there is to it. Dedicated school, dedicated student, and the martial arts will seep into your soul like chicken soup into the belly of an invalid.
Of course, there are a few more things you can do.
One, read everything you can, and not just on Karate. Read about every martial art, think about how they will fit together. Bring the techniques to your school and ask others about them. You will get an education far beyond your wildest dreams. It’s creative thought, man, and that is what an art is about.
Two, haunt the internet. Don’t buy the bushwah, don’t get involved in the internet hype, just learn how to tell when a fellow is serious, and when he is just an internet marketer trying to grab your bucks. The more you look at, the more educated you become, the easier this will be. Once you know the difference, examine what other legitimate artists are doing. Learn their moves, see how you can use those moves in your own art.
Finally, work out, work out, work out. Be at school early, and stay late. Help beginners, and you will find the advanced students will help you. That’s just the way the universe works in a real karate school.
Now, if you do what I have told you here, you will make it. The only thing you have to understand is that rewards go to the sincere, the dedicated, the honest and hard working. All others quit and go to the movies and think about how great it would be to be a karate black belt. They will wonder about what you know. Now go for it, and may all the skill on earth be yours. Go to Learn Karate Online if you want some free lessons to get you started!

How Long Does It Take To Get A Black Belt In Karate Is A Good Question!

Learn Karate Online!


The thing to be understood, in this question of how long does it take to get a black belt in Karate (or in any martial art), is that the answer is coming from someone who wants to take your money. Thus, the dojo owner, without blinking, says four or five years. This is an incorrect answer, an inflated answer, and the real answer is quite different.

There are two prime factors you should take into account when it comes to black belt certification. First, the longer an art is, the harder it is to learn. Second, the more complex an art is, the more difficult it is to apply.

Obviously, if you have to commit large numbers of forms and techniques and such to memory, it will take time. But what happens when somebody is jumped on the street? A well placed kick to the apples is the solution, or a punch in the throat saves your life, or something equally simple.

And, if you memorize hundreds of techniques, you have to select from hundreds of techniques, and who has the time for that? After all, most attacks are simple…a grab or a punch. And most defenses should be equally simple if they are going to stand a chance of working.

One should immerse themselves in basics, for basics are the key to everything. And one should have a good knowledge of the body, for it is the body you are using, and it a body that you are working your martial arts on. Thus, while I recommend reducing systems to a few core techniques, I don’t recommend putting aside Karate (or Taekwondo or Aikido or whatever); I do recommend finding a system that is condensed and efficient and has simplicity as its catchword.

Really, to get the best out of karate training or Kung Fu training, or any fighting method, one should look to the original moves of the system before it was added to. Pan Gai Noon, an early karate style, had three kata, and Tai Chi Chuan has one (yes, it is long) form. Thus, find the basic moves that work in a real fight, find a few tricks to handle any ‘what if’ possibilities, and practice those until they come out of your ears.

The point is that if you wish to earn black belt certification, in Karate or any martial art, go back through the history of your style and find out what the basic kata were. Isolate the techniques that worked before anything else was added. See if there is a core concept from which the system is constructed, and work on that.

How long does it take to get a Black Belt in Karate? Honestly, if you dedicate yourself to focusing on the basic concepts of an art, it should only take a few months. There may be a few who object to this, but they are arguing only because they wish to make money off you, or because they bought into the four or five year program and don’t want to admit the truth of my words here.

Learn Karate fast! Head on over over to Learn Karate Online and get started now! Take a free sample lesson!

A Kid Gets Black Belts in Two Different Arts!

Man, I know, this looks like utterly shameless advertising, and I’ve got to admit that I like it, but…I ask people for wins after classes, but I don’t demand. After all, they either win or they don’t. The good news is that everybody gives me wins, and the permission to share them. The also good news is this…I didn’t tell Forrest what to say. Incidentally, he’s the kid I am disarming in the blinding steel video on my youtube channel. If you like the video snippet here, check out my youtube channel. Just type in aganzul on youtube and you’ll find me.

Before I started Al Case Martial Arts I was very shy and though not completely unable to fight, I didn’t really KNOW what I was doing. I had gone to a few other classes before Al’s. In one of these classes the first two hours was actually them teaching me to do a cart-wheel into a jump-kick(no joke). Though this can look very pretty, it really has little if any true application. I mean, I guess you could do a cart-wheel to get out of danger and then jump kick a random guy to your left. But then there’s always the question, “Why not just step to the side?” This is the kind of martial arts I like to call, “The Jump Kick Variety,” (the kind with little TRUE application.) So, as you may have guessed I stopped going to this class and began my search for something that could actually do SOMETHING. And sure enough I found it. And sure enough it could actually do something. In fact it taught me more in five minutes then all of the other classes I’ve ever taken. Within a year and a half I had Black Belts in TWO DIFFERENT ARTS!!! This was able to be done because Al Case has discovered some of the Basic/Basics that most instructors don’t REALLY EVEN KNOW. When I found out how and why I was doing certain moves, and what really made them work, It just put in the missing piece to making the martial arts really applicable! These are the things that the Best martial artists in the world JUST SIMPLY KNOW. But the only problem is that they don’t know how to teach it. Well, Al Case actually discovered the EXACT Technology on how to teach the martial arts so you can learn it fast and easily! As well as the real reason some things work and some don’t. And the real cause of failure in the martial arts. But the really amazing part about all this, is the amazingly LOW PRICE. I can promise that for the value of the knowledge and ability gained by one class alone, there is not a better system on EARTH.?FW

BTW, Forrest was fifteen or sixteen at the time, I believe. Thanks for reading.