In all my years in Martial Arts, this question always came up. The first person I heard asking it was myself before I started my journey. Later in time when I had a brown belt in one system, I used to ask this question to gauge instructors and decide if I wanted to take Martial Arts lessons from them. “How long does it take to learn Karate?” I used to hear other people asking my instructors at different schools. “Do you think someone like me can learn Martial Arts?”, “how long does it usually take to learn Martial Arts?, and “how long did it take you to learn it?”

After 28 years in martial arts, I wish to address the question. The answer will vary depending whom you ask. Here are some answers I heard over the years: “it took me 4 years to get my black belt”, “my master was very hard core, it took me 7 years to get my black belt”, “such and such is very good; he got his black belt in 2 years.” And then one day I heard “I got a black belt in this system, a purple belt in this other system, and I'm working towards certification in this one system. So which answer was correct? All of the above. One way to understand this is by drawing an analogy with sports.

If you were to ask a coach how long it would be before you or your son learns how to play baseball, what do you think his answer would be? Some would say that it takes time to master the basic skills, after that it's just “practice”. Some coaches will tell you “it depends on how much time you put into learning and practicing.” Yet others would point out that your son is a “natural” and it will not take him long to learn the sport and be “good” at it. The next question is how long before becoming “good” at it. The answer is almost always the same... “it takes time”. And let's not forget another question to ask, how good does he want to be?

In Martial Arts one needs to understand that there are several areas that need to be covered. Some of these are: conditioning, attribute development, coordination, technique, strength development, flexibility, and speed to name a few. Notice again the similarity with sports, and like in sports previous experience always helps. So back to the question, how many lessons before I can learn Filipino Martial Arts (Kali), or Silat, or Karate, or Jeet Kune Do, or Muay Thai, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Part of the answer is, what do you want to accomplish? How good do you want to be? How committed are you? How often do you plan to train, once a week, once a month, every day? In summary, how much time are you willing to dedicate to learning Martial Arts? How you answer these questions to yourself will determine how fast you will progress in the Martial Arts and in any sport. How far you go in your journey is a direct consequence of how long you are willing to remain on your path. This leaves us with a final question.

Is it worth my while to do it for only a few lessons? The answer is a definite Yes. Is it worth your while to start on the road even if it's for only a few feet? There have been persons who only knew one or two techniques, and managed to used them effectively. After all everything you learn in life, you may end up using in one shape or form sooner or later. It may take you longer, but if you keep returning to the path, the knowledge will continue to accumulate. Also remember that goal achievement is a good thing, but at the end it is the journey what we will treasure the most. This is what we believe at the St Louis Kali-Silat Martial Arts School. So keep practicing and don't give up. Take a break if you must, but always return to your path.

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