 The black belt is perhaps the most coveted status symbol of the martial arts. Terms like black belt excellence and black belt attitude are common expressions. However, on average, 1 to 3% of people who begin to train in the martial arts never reach this goal. Why is that? In this video, we're going to talk about what I think is the hardest part of getting the black belt. So, why is getting the black belt so hard? Sure, there are programs out there that let you simply purchase your belt online along with a certificate, but we're not even going to dignify those programs here. I'm talking about putting in the work to achieve it. This topic is especially fascinating to me because of my own training and my observations. In my 25 years of training, I have hit several roadblocks and I've watched as many of my classmates met their own setbacks. So, I'm going to break this video down into two sections, internal challenges and external challenges. First, let's look at this practically. Approximately half the people who sign up for the martial arts are going to drop off within the first month or two. Why? Because maybe they sign up as a new hobby or they make friends, or perhaps it was a New Year's resolution and an novelty wore off. Perhaps their kid takes classes and they wanted to try it themselves and unfortunately a big reason is sometimes when things get hard, people just give up. So, 50% of the students will quit within the first month or two and another 50% drop off before six months. As time goes further, you see it slim down and if you're in an art that takes four years or more to achieve a black belt, you're going to see very few of your early classmates reach that milestone with you. So, if it's not just a novelty of it or a New Year's resolution and you're absolutely serious about training, then the number one challenge that's the hardest part about getting a black belt is what I call training fatigue. Becoming proficient in the martial arts involves a lot of repetition. Learning the technique and practicing it over and over and over. You'll see it two to three days a week or more for years. More repetitive techniques get added in that you see every day and the curriculum will be building on you for years before you even reach the black belt status. It is a lot of stuff. This can become overwhelming for a lot of people. In my experience, I have seen most people stalled out at about two to three thirds of their way through the training of the black belt, usually around the brown or equivalent rank. In many traditional karate, brown belt is the transition from intermediate level to advanced students. So, in American Kempo, the Arch of Thy Train, traditionally ranking the belts is white, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, third-degree brown, second-degree brown, first-degree brown, then your first-degree black belt. White, yellow, orange are your beginner levels, purple, blue, and green are intermediate, and the three brown belts are your advanced levels. Now, this just means that you're going to see that brown belt for about a year and a half or even longer. Ideally, this shouldn't even affect you or your attitude towards your training because you should be disciplined and focused on your material. But to a lot of people, it's a psychological effect. You know, it kind of seems like they're not making progress. And to some people, that fatigue can start to set in at that point in time. So this is also why many Kempo schools will break up those three different brown belts into brown, red, and a red and black belt just to kind of break up them not even a little bit. Honestly, it doesn't really matter. The transition from intermediate to advanced level also signifies an increase in difficulty in the material, which can certainly wear thin on a lot of people. This was the rank that I saw most people drop out or take time off. Some of them came back later, but most of them didn't. Martial arts requires a lot of discipline and no one is going to keep you training but yourself. It's not always exciting. It can be tedious, but if you're serious, if you're really serious about reaching black belt, then you've just got to find a way to keep your own team moving because it's likely not the only challenge you're going to encounter while trying to reach that milestone. Sometimes obstacles that are completely out of your control will happen. They present themselves every day. Life happens. And in many cases, it can disrupt your training or force you to reorganize things. Maybe you're school close. Maybe you have to move. Maybe you experience an injury. Things happen that are out of your control, and when that does happen to you, you have to make the call whether you're going to continue training, push forward, or find a solution, or give up. Many people choose to give up. I started training in 1993 at the age of 14. After two years, my instructor converted the school to a completely new curriculum, effectively freezing me at brown belt. This is very discouraging. I found this discourage at first because I'm like, I have to start all over, but I found the new material actually much more engaging and effective, so I decided to press forward. I was one of five original teams that were still there from when the school opened. So when my sensei decided to allow us to dual train, we were going to get to learn the new material while finishing up the old material. So that way I was excited that I could still go for black belt. Two hard working years later in 1997, four of us tested for our first degree black belt. The fifth student actually literally quit the day before the test because he got tired and gave up during the pre-test exercises. Can you imagine training for four years and quitting the day before your test just because you got tired? The fatigue got him. And unfortunately, he's not alone. It happens. So then I continued my training. I loved the new material, and I had my sights on completing the new curriculum so that when I went all the way through it, I could achieve my second degree black belt. So that's what I was working for for a while. And I just want to remind those who don't know that reaching your black belt does not mean you're actually done training. Black belt's just beginning. Achieving it means that you just have a solid understanding of the basics and you're proficient enough that you can apply a lot of the principles. Once you achieve black belt, you now begin to study the deeper threads of the art. Many levels, you start to learn the foundational core of it. So I just kept going. I continued training while going through college and working two jobs. I was hungry for my second degree. But in 2003, my school shut down due to personal conflicts with my instructor. I was crushed. I was heartbroken. I had been with the school for 10 years at this point. Fortunately, a former instructor who had worked with him came back. He helped out, transitioned to school over, and he bought it and opened it up. And he became my new sensei. However, with him came yet another version of the curriculum. And once again, I had to start over. Two years after this in 2005, my sensei joined the military and the school shut down again permanently. So I decided to spend a few years on my own personal journey. I sought out written journals, training videos. I consulted with other local martial artists. I studied on my own. I had worked my way back up to the black belt part of the curriculum. And I was looking for a sensei at another campus school who might be willing to test me to see if I could still achieve my second degree. But in 2007, my instructor came back from the military and he reopened a new school and he took me in again as a student. But just as before, there was a revamped, the more updated version of the curriculum again. It was a better curriculum, but we were essentially a whole new school again. So I doubled down, worked twice as hard, and I worked my way through that material all the way back up. In 2008, 11 years after achieving my first degree black belt, I finally tested and received my second degree. The school continued to go through multiple changes, even closed again a few years later, but reopened. But I always continued to work with my instructor to the rank that I am now. So that's what actually leads us to the Art of One YouTube channel. I am fascinated by understanding arts at a foundational and fundamental level. I learned that everybody taught Kempo completely differently and that there's such a rich community of martial arts and material out there and the people who teach it and that my training and area of study, honestly now, is for all of you. I want to learn more. I want to know your challenges and what drives you. Tell me about your art and what you love about it. What discouraged you? How have you pushed through it? So for those of you who have reached black belt, who have worked hard and bled for it, literally sometimes, you understand the responsibility and the fulfillment that comes with it. For those of you who have not yet begun to train or have not reached it yet, I promise you it's worth it and it's an achievement you were never going to forget. My favorite part of being an instructor is actually watching our young students test and achieve for their junior black belts. They work so hard and I am so proud of them each and every time I get to wrap that new belt around their waist for the first time. That smile is truly a privilege to experience. So what is the hardest part about getting the black belt? Letting the fatigue and letting life get the best of you. Is that what you want or do you want to be in that 1% that makes it? So thank you for enduring my life story and watching this video. I want to hear all about your experiences. Tell me about your black belt test or how you're working towards it. So please share and subscribe and keep up that black belt excellence.