Training After Black Belt

[MJS]

Many times, we hear about people who, once they reach Black Belt level, they stop training. Either they lose interest or they feel that they've learned all their is to know.

So, for those that are BB and above, what has kept you going?

For those that aren't quite there yet, this is a 2 part question. 1) Will you keep going after BB? 2) If you do continue, what will those factors be?

 

[MJS]

For me, I just love to train and learn as much as I can. I'm fortunate to be training with a wonderful group of people and I've had the chance, through out my years of training, to have met many great people, many of which, I still maintain a strong relationship with.

As for the material....IMO, just because you know something, doesnt mean that you really "know" it, so that being said, I feel that its important to focus on bettering what you know. Above I mentioned learning as much as I can....of course, this doesnt necessarily mean always learning something new, but instead, as I said, refining what you already know.

 

[Big Don]

For me, it is simple. I am not as good as I want to be, yet.

 

[DarkOverSoul]

Eh, I may have not done what I Wanted to do (learn and or study martial arts) but I'd simply use a desire to want to reach the peak of your potential or to keep trying to better yourself to the best you can be instead. If you honestly believe you learned everything there is or that you've achieved the peak of your potential when you have a long way to go you won't get anywhere. You need something to fuel you or so I believe.

 

[WC_lun]

For me black sash just meant I had a base. After black was when the real learning started.

 

[Bruno@MT]

In Genbukan this is called 'Shodan Syndrome'
BB is still many years away for me so not yet an issue.
Tanemura sensei says that kyu level students should focus on getting their BB, and BB should focus on getting 4th dan. The reason for 4th dan is that from then on you can take the master level tests. I guess that once you get to that point, you'll have been studying over 20 years, and by then you don't stop anymore.

 

[ATC]

I don't think anyone stops training once they reach black belt because they think they have learned all there is.

After becoming a black belt it is obvious that you are not a good as your instructor or other higher level black belts, so you must realize that there is more and that you can get better.

I think people set a goal and once they reach it that goal they quit. Others simply let life get in the way.

One way to motivate new black belts to keep training is to have them set a new goal. Black belt takes so long to reach that many set that as the end goal. It is like going to college. 4 years and your Bachelors is good enough for many. Not many go on to get Masters or even higher the PhD.

All that training and money and not once did I even use it. I set my goal of becoming a BB and I reached it. Now what is there to push them higher. Not much really, now it is up to the drive in the individual. The ones that go higher just want to. They may not even have a goal in mind at all. They just keep doing what they like until they can't do it anymore.

Just my .02

 

[ralphmcpherson]

For me I train in a class with about 20 black belts who range in rank from 1st dan through to 6th dan. I am a first dan and to be training with 4th, 5th and 6th dans regularly it just reiterates to me every time i walk in the dojang just how much I still have to learn and as long as Im learning I'll keep training. I think training with higher ranks regularly keeps the fire burning.

 

[Blade96]

For those that aren't quite there yet, this is a 2 part question. 1) Will you keep going after BB? 2) If you do continue, what will those factors be?

1. i hope to be

2. Because I'd like to learn as much as I can about Shotokan Karate because i love it so. and with BB you still only learned some of it.

For me I train in a class with about 20 black belts who range in rank from 1st dan through to 6th dan. I am a first dan and to be training with 4th, 5th and 6th dans regularly it just reiterates to me every time i walk in the dojang just how much I still have to learn and as long as Im learning I'll keep training. I think training with higher ranks regularly keeps the fire burning.

Me too Most in my class is black and there is less of kyus. I look up to all of them and remind me that I'd like to be like them one day.

 

[harlan]

Ditto. Being the junior in the 'mature' dojo, meaning one that has senior, advanced students actively training, makes a big difference.

For me I train in a class with about 20 black belts who range in rank from 1st dan through to 6th dan. I am a first dan and to be training with 4th, 5th and 6th dans regularly it just reiterates to me every time i walk in the dojang just how much I still have to learn and as long as Im learning I'll keep training. I think training with higher ranks regularly keeps the fire burning.

 

[Cirdan]

Asuming things go well over the next two weeks, next year I will be preparing for BB tests in both my styles. Still not quite sure how to proceed, but the most important thing is to enjoy the training and keep learning.

I certainly don`t plan to stop training just because I get a new belt. Back when I graded for blue the belt meant a lot, but since then the focus shifed more and more to just getting better and grading is a bonus.

The factors thet keems me training? Still soooo much to learn. BB is just the beginning and where it really gets interesting.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I know there is a huge controversy over referring to Shodan as the 'first step' in mastery of one's chosen art, but that's the way I feel about it. I am now a brown belt (san-kyu) in Isshin-Ryu, with perhaps another 3-5 years to go to Shodan. I know a bunch of Shodans and I completely respect them, but with the greatest of affection, they're not even close in ability to our Sandans or our Godans, let alone our sensei, a Hachidan. Shodan is just being able to write one's alphabet from A-Z with relatively neat penmanship. Then comes writing words and sentences. Novels are out of the question for most of us, despite a lifetime spent learning to write, and bestselling authors come around about as often as a Bruce Lee does.

I do not anticipate ever quitting training. I certainly hope I never do, anyway.

 

[Omar B]

Lifestyle, obsession, distraction, I've said it all. But really, some of us like myself really can't stop. I wouldn't say I have a goal to get to a certain level, I've not even tested for a belt in over 3 years and really don't care to.

 

[clfsean]

It's lifestyle/obsession at this point. 30 years next Wednesday... I'm only 41.

I've done this stuff almost as long as I've ridden bicycles & such.

 

[Jdokan]

Is there an option NOT to train????

 

[Stac3y]

Just got my black belt. Tested in August, was awarded the belt last week (it's a long wait when you know you've passed, but that's just how we do it.)

I will keep training because I love it, because I'm teaching, and I want to keep getting better at that, and because I compete regularly. Competition is a major motivation for me, and moving up into the black belt division is going to be hard. I'll now be competing against people who have been training for 20 or 30 years, in some cases, so I have to step it up.

 

[Flying Crane]

I received my shodan in 1987, have never ranked higher than that and do not expect to, and honestly don't want to.

I currently train in a school where belts are just not the focus so it doesn't matter. I guess they do exist, but nobody wears them, nobody talks about them, nobody seems to remember them most of the time.

I just train because I love to train and don't know what I'd be doing otherwise. Just broke 26 years last month.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Many times, we hear about people who, once they reach Black Belt level, they stop training. Either they lose interest or they feel that they've learned all their is to know.

So, for those that are BB and above, what has kept you going?

For those that aren't quite there yet, this is a 2 part question. 1) Will you keep going after BB? 2) If you do continue, what will those factors be?

As a beginner, we see black belt level students and think 'wow! That's really impressive.' As a black belt student, we we realize that we are, in many ways, not that much further along in the art than the white belt. We realize just how much further there is to go in the art and that a period of two to five years has given us the physical skills to be a first dan and has certaily given us some maturity. But we also see that our seniors in the art have a depth that makes their execution of the art go beyond merely physical execution.

On our way to first dan, it is mostly about learning physical skills and developing power, speed, and agility. By first dan, we start to realize that these things, while valuable, are also superficial and external.

Watching our seniors explain things that we are still just beginning to internalize to beginning students and realizing as we watch them that they move with a precision that we are still just playing at and watching the 'old man or woman' take apart younger, faster, and stronger dan grade opponents (or being one of those opponents) and looking like he or she is hardly moving or expending any effort in the process opens us up to new possibilities and we then strive to surpass mere proficiency in the art.

Often, people expect that after black belt, they will get to learn 'all that cool secret stuff' that will make them transform into deadly ninja warriors or super samurai. When we get there and find that, aside from maybe some new forms and a few new tachniques, its just more punching, kicking, and grappling, we have a choice to make. No ki-balls, vulcan nerve pinches, or any of the other things that movies and television have conditioned us to expect await us and the floodgates of perfect technique have not opened. Our choice? Work hard and keep training all the tedious basics that we first learned as underbelts and keep training them to perfection... and then train some more.... or take the belt and end your journey, knowing that you can begin again if you so choose.

Most do not stay on after black belt. For many, earning the black belt was a way of confronting insecurities and fears. With those insecurities and fears confronted, the student can now face things in his or her life that they were unable to before. They may not continue to actively train, but if earning (not buying) that black belt has helped them to improve their lives, then his or her instructors have done a wonderful thing for that person: achieving the goal of black belt has enabled them to go on and pursue goals that they lacked the confidence to before.

Those of us who make the choice to continue usually have established new goals in our training or simply know that there is more to learn.

For some, the black belt is the milestone that allows them to begin new journies in their lives, and their time in training is looked back on with fondness and is treasured. For others, the black belt is the milestone that tells us that we have found the journey that we wish to take.

Daniel

 

[Blade96]

Ditto. Being the junior in the 'mature' dojo, meaning one that has senior, advanced students actively training, makes a big difference.

Yeah. btw its kind of fun to be the 'cute little one' of the dojo I'm the lowest rank, and very often the other girls - all higher than me in rank, brown and black belts - baby me in a good way. They say things like 'she's our little sook' and 'we takes good care of her' Almost like they're my 'shotokan mums' Hehe. I love them.

That and yes I' m surrounded by senior advanced students. so I learn a lot from them. like i say they give me a more incentive to improve.

 

[CoryKS]

Reached 1st BB last June. I continue to train because it's fun and interesting and makes me feel good. Karate has been a life-changer for me, for a variety of reasons which would be hard to express without turning this into an Oprah special. I don't understand how people can devote so much time and money and effort into reaching a certain belt and then walk away from it but your mileage may vary, I guess.