Average years of training?

[SifuJason]

Since I am new to these boards, I was wondering what the average years of training people have. This crowd seems a bit (understatment) more experienced than most MA boards. For the sake of counting, subtract time off. IE if you trained for 3 years, took 2 years off, and did another 4, you have 7 years of experience, not 9.

Since it's my thread, I'll start. I am on my 17th straight year of training (so completed 16).

[Chili Pepper]

Mid-March will mark the beginning of my 26th year.

[Ronin.74]

15 years this July

[Omar]

Years is not a good way to measure. If you do it that way, I have been training, all things put together for about 20 years, the last 12 or so of that in CMA.

But this stuff should really be measured in hours, not years.

I forget how that works out for me. I made an estimate once. Close to 2 years I think.

[Tomas Drgon]

19 years not counting kids judo about 30 years ago...:)

Tomas

[MaartenSFS]

Years is not a good way to measure. If you do it that way, I have been training, all things put together for about 20 years, the last 12 or so of that in CMA.

But this stuff should really be measured in hours, not years.

I forget how that works out for me. I made an estimate once. Close to 2 years I think.

Agreed. Though, at this point it's impossible for me to count that. I have been practising some type of martial art for the last almost seven years and for the last year and a half been training daily.

- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

[Mr. Mantis]

10 years, with these last few years severely lacking, but picking up.

[EmetShamash]

I have been training for about 2 years now.

Haven't really put in the time that I have wanted to these last two years, but I have been making steady progress I think. Bad habits are hard to break you know?

[Omar]

Agreed. Though, at this point it's impossible for me to count that. I have been practising some type of martial art for the last almost seven years and for the last year and a half been training daily.

- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

It's impposible to get an accurate count but you can get a rough estimate. Figure out about how many hours a week you trained in any given period. Like I know that I did TKD 3 times a week for about an hour and a half each time. Sometimes it was 3 hours but sometimes I missed a class so I'll call it 5 hours a week for 4 years.

When I was in Hung Gar for the first couple years I didn't do much training outside of class. Each class was 3 hours and I went about 2 times a weel. So I could estimate conservatively, about 6 hours/week for 3 years. Then I started practicing outside of class in the mornings before school when I was at city college. So for that period it was about 8 hours a week. There was a period of about a year or so when I started taking a Judo class at college in addition to my Hung Gar classes and also would practice on campus between classes. I got it up to about 12 hours a week for that year and managed to maintain about 10 hours a week even after I dropped the judo because I was meeting with some friends and doing other stuff outside of class. The last couple years before I came to China I was working an insane amount for a full time student and dropped back to about 6 hours a week. When I got to China, for the first 2 years I had no serious instruction but I was really into getting up early and that gae me a solid 7 - 8 hours a week. Then I found a good teacher and that slowly grew to it's present 3-4 hours every sunday, an 2 hours most other days although I tend to just be too tired or lazy at least once a week. Usually mondays. So I'd estimate 6 hours or early morning + 3 hours on sunday morning plus an hour of afternoon practice say....4 days a week = about 13 hours a week currently.

I don't feel like doing the math but that's how you get a rough idea of your training in hours instead of years.

10 years or 3 one hour classes a week is less training than just 2 years of consistantly training 2 hours 5 days a week.

[dwhomp]

I will give it a shot...

Total MA actual years, crap or no crap: 17 years
(I wont bother with the hours here)

Total MA actual years, no crap (in my opinion): 12 years

Total MA actual years of chosen art: 10 years

First 3 years of chosen art: 3-4 hours a week, very little self training.

Middle 5 years of chosen art: 5 (2 private) hours instructor lead, 2-3 hours self lead

Last 2 years of chosen art: 8 (3 private) hours instructor lead, 2-3 hours self lead

I am too lazy to do more math:)

This does not include bouts of smaller inactivity/training, boredom times, etc. I think just about everyone has one, eh?

I have also not included like the 5 months I did groundfighting (I was only interested in learning what I felt was enough and always debatable), various seminars (good or bad) and those types of things.

I would say I have only gotten serious about Xing Yi in the past 5 years and REALLY serious in the past 2. When i first started for a good many years, I was not motivated to work solo and had self-discipline issues. I also wanted to focus on nothing but sparring and full contact, etc., similiar to evey young kid playin up. Now I am more interested in the other benefits of the practice.

[wakinonioi]

I dunno about the hours thing. I mean, when someone asks you how long you've been at your current job do you tell them from the time you started until now or do you start calculating and subtracting weekends, holidays, time at home, etc.? Its just not practical after a certain point.

I think.

[Omar]

I dunno about the hours thing. I mean, when someone asks you how long you've been at your current job do you tell them from the time you started until now or do you start calculating and subtracting weekends, holidays, time at home, etc.? Its just not practical after a certain point.

I think.

If it's just some random "someone" then no, because the answer will be meaningless anyways. When anyone with no serious training asks me if I have a black belt I just tell them, "yeah. sure." Could you beat up 3 guys at once? What? 3 guys like you?...sure no problem. I couldn't beat up ONE guy if his name was Mirco Crocop? Random people off the street can hardly tell the difference in meaning between a BJJ black belt and a Shotokan Karate black belt. I got a friend out here expecting me to be awed by this other dude he met who beat the head abbot at the Shaolin Temple.....which if you've been around enough, really isn't saying much. So who gives a fuck? Give 'em a pointless answer that they can't understand anyways.

I'm just saying, my "20 years" is a kind of meaningless answer. We got UFC champs with maybe a third of that. In hours they are probably closer. If you are trying to gauge the experience of the board, which Jason said was his purpose, then getting an answer in years is meaningless. It gives and answer that really means, "give or take 300%". Whatever the listener thinks of as "10 years of training". You're actual training is anywhere from 1/3 to 3 times that.

[SifuAbel]

25 years straight.

Do a search for ronin. this type of thread down to the hour was done once.

[Omar]

That's when I tried to calculate it the first time was.

[SifuAbel]

Found it.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...&postcount=142

Of course all my posts were deleted. Mutha fuckas.