Black Belt at Home Students: Welcome to the Global Martial Arts University!
Black Belt at Home Students: Welcome to the Global Martial Arts University!
Welcome to the Global Martial Arts University! We’ve been working hard for nearly two years on this new, evolved version of Black Belt at Home. The goal of GMAU is to make the best at home training and ranking experience possible. This included filming new high quality videos with the best equipment, editing, and content. This included building a custom website that can be used on any device, and that can grow with us, as we grow and add more material and students. This included building our own dojo/studio in Texas, from pouring the foundation, to framing, painting, laying the bamboo floors, and installing the lights. This included working with a team of instructors, creative engineers, and media experts to get it all in place. So, here it is!
There is so much more work to be done, features to be added, and content to be created. We are just now launching, so please bear with us as we add things in, work out any kinks, listen to your feedback, and continue to improve. We literally have several pages listing new features and ideas that we have planned in the coming years for you. Of course, we build things that will make your training experience better, so please send us an email with any comments, good or bad.
Krav Maga Students
If you are a current Black Belt at Home student, please read through this section to be in the know, on any changes or updates. The belt ranking system has undergone a name change, rather than Levels, we are now using the belt colors. When you pass an exam, you will not receive an actual physical belt to wear (that is not traditionally done in krav maga), but the certificate of rank will denote the belt level that you have earned in the rank, which is done in many major krav maga organizations. It is literally just a naming thing, and has nothing else to do with accreditation or what you have completed.
- Level 1 is now Yellow Belt
- Level 2 is now Orange Belt
- Level 3 is now Green Belt
- Level 4 is now Blue Belt
- Level 5 is now Brown Belt
- Level 6 is now Black Belt
The other change is that, you do not earn a level 6 certification….and then take a black belt test months later. The Level 6 test is the black belt test. This means that you will be tested on the curriculum for that particular level, level 6/black belt, and all other testing requirements that you normally see in a black belt test. The black belt test (level 6) test is still required to be done locally at a center.
Student Journal
The new GMAU student journal is way easier to use. If you currently have a certain amount of hours that you have accrued in your Black Belt at Home student journal, you can transfer the hours over to the GMAU student journal, as nothing has been lost. To do this:
- Go to your Black Belt at Home Student Journal on the blackbeltathome.com website, or, if you have been keeping a paper journal, look at it. Total up the number of hours you have trained so far in the level.
- Go to your new GMAU account, click on Student Journal. Make an entry for that number of hours, all at once. The date of times don’t matter. If you had 20 hours accrued, you could so something like this: Date (3/28/2016), Start Time (1:00 am), Stop Time (9:00 pm), Description: These are all hours that I had trained up to this point, in the Black Belt at Home krav maga program.
- Your journal will now have a proper reflection of what you have trained to this point, and you can start using this journal. Notice that anytime you watch a video on the GMAU website, like if you do a 30 minute class for example, that will automatically logged to your journal. No need to make a manual entry.
Curriculum
The rank requirements are nearly the same; we have made tiny changes here and there. To check on the rank requirements for a belt level, click on Training, then Lessons. Then click on the belt level that you want to see. At the bottom of the page, you can see the rank requirements and minimum training hours required before you take a test.
Instructors
Michael South and Dustin Koppel are both head instructors for the GMAU Krav program. If you have a question or need help, you can send them a message via the GMAU messaging system.
Shotokan Karate Students
The new GMAU shotokan program is actually a completely new program, which teaches pure, traditional shotokan, as taught directly from the founder, Gichin Funakoshi. Sensei Jon has written an article about transitioning into the new program, it is very important that you read this.
If you have yet to earn a belt in the previous Complete Shotokan Karate course, then moving into GMAU will be even easier, as you are still in the first belt level.
We will be adding a new belt level of curriculum about every month to the site. We had a massive amount of material to make for the first two belt levels and decided to launch with these two belts first. Expect to see each new belt level coming online to the website on a monthly basis, until we have added up to black belt.
Student Journal
The new GMAU student journal is way easier to use. If you currently have a certain amount of hours that you have accrued in your Black Belt at Home student journal, you can transfer the hours over to the GMAU student journal, as nothing has been lost. To do this:
- Go to your Black Belt at Home Student Journal on the blackbeltathome.com website, or, if you have been keeping a paper journal, look at it. Total up the number of hours you have trained so far in the level.
- Go to your new GMAU account, click on Student Journal. Make an entry for that number of hours, all at once. The date of times don’t matter. If you had 20 hours accrued, you could so something like this: Date (3/28/2016), Start Time (1:00 am), Stop Time (9:00 pm), Description: These are all hours that I had trained up to this point, in the Black Belt at Home krav maga program.
- Your journal will now have a proper reflection of what you have trained to this point, and you can start using this journal. Notice that anytime you watch a video on the GMAU website, like if you do a 30 minute class for example, that will automatically logged to your journal. No need to make a manual entry.
Test Fees
We will now mail you a certificate of rank, and the actual belt for you to wear. Since we are now including a real belt, our fee went up some to cover the cost of the belt and shipping this larger size package. We think that receiving the real belt is an honor, great symbol, and well deserved acknowledgment once an exam has been passed.
Ultimate Bo Students
The new Ultimate Bo course has been completely re-filmed and has a more traditional Japanese bojutsu style.
Curriculum
The rank requirements are very similar, but we have added a new section to each belt level: Combat. The combat section will require a different type of training, and will be an added element to your rank exams.
Make sure and review the rank requirements on the Lessons page for that particular chevron level.
Student Journal
We now require that Ultimate Bo students keep a student journal, in order to be eligible to test. This is really helpful, as it allows Sensei Michael an overview of what you have been working on, and creates more accountability. There are also now minimum training hours required that you must train and log to your journal before you can take a rank exam. This will raise our standards and make you better as an Ultimate Bo practitioner.
Minimum Training Hours
- Yellow Chevron – 36 hours
- Green Chevron – 36 hours
- Blue Chevron – 36 hours
- Brown Chevron – 36 hours
- Red Chevron – 60 hours
- Black Chevron – 72 hours
The hours might be changed at some point in the future, if so, you will see the correct number that you need to log before being eligible to test on the lessons page for that chevron level, and also under the Testing tab. It takes approximately 2 years to reach black chevron if you train 3 hours per week.