Once you get a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do how long does it last? Are you a black belt for life?

Tae Kwon Do Black Belt|||Once you earn a black belt you are black belt for life. you could even stop practicing completely and they can not take away the title black belt. with that said, black belt just means that you have mastered the basics and that you can start thinking on your own to reach the level of mastery. (start thinking does not equal going rogue) a lot of people feel they accomplished something when they reach black belt and give up the art, when they only have just mastered the basics.|||Tough question. You get a certificate, and that certificate will last for life. So technically, you're a black belt for life. But if you stopped for a few years and then wanted to resume, how do you think you'd do? In my school - and many others - you'd have to come back as a probationary student.





There are many practical reasons; suppose your technique suffered:





For students who are attaining their black belt, they'd feel like what's the point of training hard if this is what's required?





For students who've already attained it, they'd feel you were cheapening the value of their honor.








Then there are the reasons you've suffered in technique:





You might have gotten your belt, then when you got to middle school, you quit because lacrosse practice got in the way. Now you've graduated college, and you want to resume training.





You might have suffered a terrible car accident and spent a few years in rehab. You're out, and now you want to resume.





You quit to join the army; you did your 8 years (even saw battle); you came back home and want to resume.





Each person has a reason why they stopped, each has a reason to rejoin. Is it fair to call a few a black belt and not others? Is it fair to call them all black belts? Is it fair to make them all re-rest for their belts?





In the interest of fairness to other students who've worked hard - and continued to - in my book, you are only a black belt for as long as you can continue passing a black belt test - one commensurate with your age, rank, and capabilities.





So I say, the certificate shows what you did in the past, not what you are now. It lasts as long as you can maintain it. You are not a black belt for life, unless you demonstrate your commitment to the art. And that is precisely why the tests for upper dans focus less on technical capability and more on contribution to the art.





And when you do earn the belt, and if you do leave and come back, you really shouldn't call it a "dojo". If you want people to believe you are a black belt, start by calling it a "dojang".|||It lasts as long as you believe there is any value in it whatsoever.





My 2nd degree black belt lost all internal meaning to me the day I started training in my current style. Before then I claimed my TKD rank as something relatively significant in my experience. Now it's just a memory and something to tell stories about.|||Basically if you have earned the rank of black belt you should keep it for life the only time I have heard of anyone losing their rank is if they have done something bad enough to be banished from the dojo.