How much training does it take to get a judo blackbelt?

Hellboy31

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Does anyone know what the average is? I'd like to start cross training Judo and I'm curious - Not so much about how long specifically for the belt but I'm using that as a benchmark for proficiency in the sport.

For the judo BBs are those that have been training for a while - If you pick things up at a fairly normal speed, how long does it take to get to the proficiency level of a Black belt in Judo?
 
like a year for each belt... yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, black...
 
like a year for each belt... yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, black...


Thanks for your response..How many days a week of training would you need to do to advance at that pace?
 
It depends, but i would say about the same as purple belt in BJJ.

Judo BB means absolutely nothing, really. If anything it means you know some pretty basics and you can do throws you will never use after your BB test. It is not linked to proficiency.

There is a reason why there are no belted tournaments in most places, there is also a trend, specially in countries where you start judo relatively late, to wait until your competitive career is over to start grading yourself.

If you train specifically to get graded i give you about 2 years before getting an "official" BB.
 
Thanks for your response..How many days a week of training would you need to do to advance at that pace?

i'm at about the same pace (my system is white>green>blue>brown (3 degrees)>black). I do one judo class, one nogi class, and two bjj classes a week (my optimal schedule). It definitely helps to go to tournaments and place. My teacher got his black in 4 years due to frequently going to competitions. I go to 2-3 judo tournaments (and 2-3 bjj tournaments) a year.
 
also, (like in bjj) you can really only measure your own proficiency through randori and competition. Belts do help as a general guideline for who is at what skill level, but they don't take into account many other factors (such as if the student has cross trained, been practicing for x many years, etc).

For my level my ground game is much better than my peers, but my throws are at about the same level. Every once in a while you'll run into a guy at a tournament who is a bjj (insert belt color here) but is competing at a lower belt level (IE- bjj blue, judo white).
 
Min 6 years where I train.

I know you do both BJJ and Judo... Do you feel that most of the throws and trips you learn but you in a good dominant position when it hits the floor? The reason why I'm asking is that I'm interested in learning judo as a separate art to BJJ but a big part of my motivation is to improve myself as a BJJ competitor. Would you say that at least half of what you learn in Judo is directly transferable?
 
There is a reason why there are no belted tournaments in most places, there is also a trend, specially in countries where you start judo relatively late, to wait until your competitive career is over to start grading yourself.

yeah it sucks that for shiai there's just beginner (under brown) and advance (brown and up).
 
one thing people neglect to mention is it depends entirely on your instructor.
 
I know you do both BJJ and Judo... Do you feel that most of the throws and trips you learn but you in a good dominant position when it hits the floor? The reason why I'm asking is that I'm interested in learning judo as a separate art to BJJ but a big part of my motivation is to improve myself as a BJJ competitor. Would you say that at least half of what you learn in Judo is directly transferable?

The short answer is yes. Not all grappling is ground fighting. You need to round your game. Working on the transitions from standing to the ground is key when you start standing. Not every throw will put you in a dominant postion but working those throws will make more dominant while standing. Most of Judo is transferable, you just have to remember the rules of the match you are competing in.

There is no denying you will start with upper hand in a grappling match if you are the thrower.

Hope this helps.
 
It took me 6 years to get my 1st dan, and another 2 (plus an olympic qualifier where I did fairly decent but obviously didn't qualify) to get my 2nd dan. To be honest, I'm not even testing myself to get higher because I'm not really competing in judo much anymore (I'm mostly doing no-gi and MMA now). I do it occasionally to stay sharp but I'd say at least 65% of the stuff you need to know to get your black belt you probably won't use again except maybe once or twice (or at least I haven't). It's not really like BJJ where you need to be pretty proficient in a million different things to be a high level black belt. In fact, from what I remember, the last judo tournament I was at I only went for like 3 or 4 different throws (harai goshi, uchi mata, tani otoshi, and kata garuma) because those are the throws I've been using most in a no-gi context.
 
one thing people neglect to mention is it depends entirely on your instructor.

also Age or Country/NGB

You can get a BB in japan in a year or less.
IIRC Kodokan has an accelerated program to get you your black belt in roughly a year.

In some places in japan, they give you a black belt after defeating X amount of opponents at a tournament.

By average north american standards, i'd say if you consistently go 2-3x a week, you'll get it in about 4-6 years.
 
also Age or Country/NGB

You can get a BB in japan in a year or less.
IIRC Kodokan has an accelerated program to get you your black belt in roughly a year.

In some places in japan, they give you a black belt after defeating X amount of opponents at a tournament.

By average north american standards, i'd say if you consistently go 2-3x a week, you'll get it in about 4-6 years.

One year in Japan but you would have to train 5x week I'm sure.
 
also Age or Country/NGB

You can get a BB in japan in a year or less.
IIRC Kodokan has an accelerated program to get you your black belt in roughly a year.

In some places in japan, they give you a black belt after defeating X amount of opponents at a tournament.

By average north american standards, i'd say if you consistently go 2-3x a week, you'll get it in about 4-6 years.

What you are talking about is Batsugun. Which means you have to beat for instance 10 blackbelts in a row to get a blackbelt. Not that easy to do.

This is the supposed one year class you are talking about at the Kodokan. Although the information is not very clear and you might still have to do the Batsugun gauntlet.
Kodokan School of Judo

Keep in mind that 1st degree blackbelt or Sho-dan simply means Beginning Belt.
 
In Vietnam the school or your teacher can not promote you, only the Judo Federation can do that. You start at white belt then you have to beat 3 white belts at comp to get your yellow belt. Then to get your orange you have to beat 3 yellow belt at comp to get your next belt. And so on and so on. So you can get a BB in 3 years or you may never get it if you don't compete or if you dont win.
 
In Vietnam the school or your teacher can not promote you, only the Judo Federation can do that. You start at white belt then you have to beat 3 white belts at comp to get your yellow belt. Then to get your orange you have to beat 3 yellow belt at comp to get your next belt. And so on and so on. So you can get a BB in 3 years or you may never get it if you don't compete or if you dont win.

Hmm that's interesting. Definitely gonna do Judo when i'm back to Vietnam. This sounded a lot more reasonable and easier to gauge skillwise.

BTW, do you know any legit Judo school in Vietnam? Particularly HCM City.
 
There are two good schools in HCM city, I'll get the name and location the next time I talk to my friend. It cost about $5 a month to train there. One school has class from 6-9 and the other one is like an on going open mat every night.
 
how big is judo in vietnam? i might go visit in the next year or so
 
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