My that is a very short time to be able to test for 1st Dan. I wish that my cirriculum could have gone at a quicker pace, as well as encompass Shimssang.

I for one would not want to advance that fast.

Same here.

I posted this in the other topic, but I'll post it here too, and the moderators can choose which they want to delete. (Or both, haha. )



Pffft... you're lucky. I learned shimsang gumbub in two days, and tested on the 3rd.



Although I don't like to travel this information too much, I tested for my first dan within 9 months. I suppose it was as a result of my accelerated training for my trip to the East; 12-14 classes at a rate of 6 days per week. My quick progression made some of the black belts uneasy, and they were right in doing so. Learning too fast can be detrimental, and in my case it certainly was...

Once I arrived in Korea, I trained some 7-8 hours (regularly, save for my last 2 weeks) and we trained 6 days per week, the sixth day being reserved for bamboo cutting. Over the course of 9 months I learned everything from yedo ilbon to the first form of jangbaek gumbub. Learning all of this in such a short period of time sent my fundamentals straight out the window, spending all my time memorising patterns when I should have been working on the basics.

When I returned to Canada, I was a twisted experiement in HDGD training; an athletic, arrogant 1st dan, with knowledge of 4th dan forms, with no idea whatsoever as to what the heck he was talking about and he had absolutely no clue how to show respect to his seniors. I had memorised everything and written plenty down, however I hadn't internalised anything at all. Because of my quick progression I have had to unlearn quite a few bad habits. Yes, I have knowledge beyond my dan rank, however it's knowledge that often gets me into trouble with my supperiors. Egos tend to flare up when a 1st dan knows more material than a 3rd dan does.

The only thing I could do was to slow down and try to put off the stuff I shouldn't know and to shut my mouth about knowing it at all. My case was a special one, and I'll never know why my teacher taught me so much in so little time. What matters is that I hope people can learn from my mistakes and follow this advice; Slow the heck down. You have your whole life to learn. Don't let your insecurities get the best of you. Because you think you can/deserve to progress faster, it doesn't mean that you should. Time spent on learning new forms that you don't understand is time that could have been spent internatising forms you already know.

Don't get caught up with power-testing because you want that credibility that comes with that 4th dan. Frankly, I'd just focus on getting better and the rest will come. Do you seriously think people will say, "Wow, look at all those stripes on his belt! He must really be good.", instead of saying, "Wow, he just did 1hr of naega shinjang, after doing 1000 cuts, after running through forms flawlessly for 2hrs, after cutting 100 rods of bamboo with God-like accuracy! He must really be good!". I don't know about you, but I'd go with the latter.