Black Belt Test Stories and Protocol

[Steve_K]

What are some of your black belt tests like? How long, what do you do, how tough? etc

Also, tell about any kind of interesting aspect unique to your personal test, or just describe some of the most interesting parts. Anything that really stuck with you relating to your test.

This isn't meant to be a Brag-a-thon, just a place to reminisce and share your experience with other martial artists.

I'll post mine in a bit after some of you (hopefully) have already posted yours.

I look forward to reading your stories.

[orion82698]

I'm not where near BB, but this guy sure earned his.

Posted by Drivr

" Friday nights part of the test was the hardest and most psysically demanding things I have ever done. 4 mile run on the beach, 500 push ups, 500 situp, forms, then kicks. By the time we got to the kicks both my legs were cramping but I and the other 3 testing with me got through it. we went home around 10 that night after 4 hours of training and were back for the test at noon on Saturday. Everything went perfect. all the boards broke, all the patio blocks broke, we remembered our forms and the spinning jump in Chung-moo did not kill the ankle I sprained tuesday. All 4 of us got our confirmed 1st dan black belts."

[Steve_K]

Yeah I read that. That's what made me think of starting this topic. Thanks orion82698, and Drivr.

[scottnshelly]

I’ve been through four Black Belt tests so far. My first was at the age of 14 for Jr. Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I’ll save the stories of the other three for a later time.

The test was several hours long. We started off with the usual workout routine which consisted of pushups, jumping jacks, sit-ups and reverse sit-ups. Everyone did the same amount, but for Black Belt we do that routine four times. I can’t remember the exact number, but I know it came out to over 100 of each.

Then we went through the kicks, blocks, stances and punches – 10 of each on each side. Everything that you can imagine, I did 10 times, then switched sides and did it again. Then came combinations. The Black Belts would make up a combination (i.e. jab, reverse, side kick, backfist, rear-leg roundhouse) then repeat 10 times, and then switch leads and repeat.

Then came forms. I think I knew 12 forms (Chung-Gi through Gae-Baek) at the time. I also had to answer questions about the forms. They didn’t let me just go through them in order, but they would just call out the name of a form and I had to start without hesitating to think about which one to do.

After the forms came self-defense. I had to defend against anything they said, impromptu style. After each one, I’d have to slow it down and say each move out loud and then answer questions about why I did it that way. After about 20 of those, I defended against a knife a couple times. On about my fifth defense against a knife, someone came up from behind and tried to stab me in the back with another knife. Defending against two knives at once is more than twice as hard as defending against one!

After self-defense came sparring, 15 two-minute rounds, alternating between continuous and point (full contact, face and groin allowed). This was the first time I had a Gi torn. My Instructor’s Instructor grabbed my Gi at the get-go and didn’t let go until after the two minutes were up. You’d be surprised how much force you can add to your punch by pulling with the other hand!

I thought I was done after the 15th round, but they surprised me with some grappling, one five-minute round with my Instructor. It was no pads, full force, submission grappling.

Finally I was done with the physical part. This is the best time to start the mental part. They stood me in front of the panel and asked me questions. These were not particularly difficult questions, but all of my concentration was on standing in ready position. After all of the Black Belts on the panel were satisfied with my answers, they convened to discuss the test. They said that it was unanimous, I passed. It was quite a good feeling. They put the belt on me and presented me with a really nice plaque for being the first Jr. Black Belt in the organization.

I got it all on tape so I can watch it and be humbled.

Here’s my anecdote about that test: I remember explicitly that it was a Saturday night and we got done around 10 or 11. The school was on the turnaround of the ‘drag’. While I was trying to walk to my car, some of my friends happened to be turning around on the drag and spotted me. They stopped to talk to me and said that I looked really bad. I had several cuts and bruises on my face and quite a bit of swelling. I can’t remember, but I think I even perspired a little during the test, so I might have smelled a little funky.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Mine will be probably the most boring and least exciting of those that post, but it will give you a different perspective on how we test.

My shodan test was on June 19th, 1978. Shorin Ryu Master Yuichi Kuda was visitng my instructor in Montana for 3 weeks. During the last week, Sensei Kuda had us all sit in a line against one wall according to rank, and starting with my instructor, Sensei Dennis Miller, had us one at a time stand and perform whatever kata he assked us to do. To this day, I can't remember what I did when it was my turn. Pinan godan and Passai Sho I think, but I'm not sure. I had no clue that we were being tested, as Sensei Kuda had done this twice before already during his visit.

Once I had completed the two kata he had qasked me to perform, I returned to my spot along the wall, then Sensei Miller leaned past Pat Wright, the senior student, shook my hand and said "Congratulations...shodan!"

I said..."WHAT???"

Well, I guess I had tested without realizing I was being tested. Sensei Miller had his first black belt under a towel on a table in the dojo and he said I could wear it until I got my own.

Soooooo...no running, no pushups, just a normal class (with the exception that it was run by the head of the entire system of course).

My 2nd dan test was similar in that I was working with a 6th Dan in Minnesota by the name of Sensei Greg Ohl, and he presented me with my Nidan without my knowing I was being tested as we worked out.

3rd and 4th Dans weren't any big deal either. In general, we don't make a big production out of tests. They are just a natural progression of skills developed, time accrued, and effort acknowledged.

[orion82698]

I’ve been through four Black Belt tests so far. My first was at the age of 14 for Jr. Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I’ll save the stories of the other three for a later time.

The test was several hours long. We started off with the usual workout routine which consisted of pushups, jumping jacks, sit-ups and reverse sit-ups. Everyone did the same amount, but for Black Belt we do that routine four times. I can’t remember the exact number, but I know it came out to over 100 of each.

Then we went through the kicks, blocks, stances and punches – 10 of each on each side. Everything that you can imagine, I did 10 times, then switched sides and did it again. Then came combinations. The Black Belts would make up a combination (i.e. jab, reverse, side kick, backfist, rear-leg roundhouse) then repeat 10 times, and then switch leads and repeat.

Then came forms. I think I knew 12 forms (Chung-Gi through Gae-Baek) at the time. I also had to answer questions about the forms. They didn’t let me just go through them in order, but they would just call out the name of a form and I had to start without hesitating to think about which one to do.

After the forms came self-defense. I had to defend against anything they said, impromptu style. After each one, I’d have to slow it down and say each move out loud and then answer questions about why I did it that way. After about 20 of those, I defended against a knife a couple times. On about my fifth defense against a knife, someone came up from behind and tried to stab me in the back with another knife. Defending against two knives at once is more than twice as hard as defending against one!

After self-defense came sparring, 15 two-minute rounds, alternating between continuous and point (full contact, face and groin allowed). This was the first time I had a Gi torn. My Instructor’s Instructor grabbed my Gi at the get-go and didn’t let go until after the two minutes were up. You’d be surprised how much force you can add to your punch by pulling with the other hand!

I thought I was done after the 15th round, but they surprised me with some grappling, one five-minute round with my Instructor. It was no pads, full force, submission grappling.

Finally I was done with the physical part. This is the best time to start the mental part. They stood me in front of the panel and asked me questions. These were not particularly difficult questions, but all of my concentration was on standing in ready position. After all of the Black Belts on the panel were satisfied with my answers, they convened to discuss the test. They said that it was unanimous, I passed. It was quite a good feeling. They put the belt on me and presented me with a really nice plaque for being the first Jr. Black Belt in the organization.

I got it all on tape so I can watch it and be humbled.

Here’s my anecdote about that test: I remember explicitly that it was a Saturday night and we got done around 10 or 11. The school was on the turnaround of the ‘drag’. While I was trying to walk to my car, some of my friends happened to be turning around on the drag and spotted me. They stopped to talk to me and said that I looked really bad. I had several cuts and bruises on my face and quite a bit of swelling. I can’t remember, but I think I even perspired a little during the test, so I might have smelled a little funky.

Impresive! You truely earned your BB that day. Full contact with groin... .man... I give it to ya. Nothing is worth a shot to the ballz!

[karatekid1975]

I'm not a BB yet, but for my first gup/kyu test, I tested with BB's. I knew I blew it in the first half hour (forms) of the test. We did basics, forms, one steps, defenses, breaking, then sparring.

But the BB's have to go through "power camp" which includes 1 and a 1/2 mile run in 13 minutes. 50 each of the following under 4 minutes: push ups, sit ups, "supermans," side cruches each side, leg raises, and ... I forget now (my honey did it 6 months ago and told me) LOL. Then 8 hours of pure (he**) training (from forms to defenses to sparring, ect).

THEN they go through the test I did a week or so later. Thank goodness I didn't have to do power camp before my test this time. I was sooooo not with it (plus I failed anyways).

But I retest in November. I'll be "ripe" by then

[Steve_K]

Wow, great stories guys. Unique and respectable.

Here's mine

My black belt test was on May 31 2003 and I was 17 years old. The test was about six and a half hours long non stop with 5min breaks every hour, from 9am to 3:30pm on a saturday. One of the things that really stuck with me was how serious all of my instructors were during the two or three weeks leading up to the test. We would be practicing in class and while discussing the upcoming test, I asked my teacher, "You wouldn't be testing us if you thought we might fail right?" and all he said was "Not necessarily. You all had six months (since the date was set) to prepare for the test, and I hope you're ready."

They were also telling us what we should eat for the two or three days before the test, how much water or gatorade would should bring etc. We went through a lot of psychological testing before the actual test date. Finally, during the last class before our test they told us that we weren't allowed to approach the black belts before the test, attempt to engage in any conversation with them, and to be completely serious during the entire proceeding. That was a little unnerving, because for the five years prior, they were always comical, friendly and very relaxed people even during class.

The day of the test arrived, we bowed in and the test officially started. There were four of us testing by the way. Right after we bowed in, I think there was a moment of silence, and then one of the black belts (there were four of them as well) said, go up to the track and run half a mile. So we did, we came back down and then they immediately started us off on the first of our ten previous test requirement sheets. We did those, stood in front of them, and then one of them asked me "how many push ups can you do?" I figured there was no use in being clever and gave an honest answer which was, at least eighty. They asked that to the other three candidates, and then said "Do them" so we did, we stood back up, they barraged us with questions about Korean history and such, and then another similar question about sit ups, with the same consequence, I said 100.

We jumped from one thing to the next and then back, including katas, technique, self defense etc. We each had our own area of an entire gymnasium to do our katas, each facing a different direction so as not to be able to watch one another. I knew all mine, but some of the other got flustered and stalled and the black belts would tell him/her to start over, while the rest of us had to hold our final position (like a deep horse stance with an arm extended), which can get pretty tiring. It went like that for about five hours, and every now and then, one of them would ask us "do you guys want to leave? It's okay if you leave. This is really tough and we won't hold it against you if you want to quit" Which none of us did. That went on for about five and a half hours.

The point came where they realized that we hand't broken anything yet, so they busted out the boards and asked us what technique we wanted to do. I said punch because it's simple, so I punched the board, but it didn't break, boards were never a problem for me, so this was a little perturbing, so I struck it again, no good, and again and again, finally my knuckles started to bleed and they told me to kick it, I kicked it once, no good and then twice, it finally broke. I was later told by someone who picked up my board that it was sopping wet with sap, which if any of you know, makes the board infinitely harder to break. After doing another kata with blood dripping off my hand, the black belts finally told me to go get it cleaned up by my dad, who was one of the two doctors on hand to treat injuries. I came back from the bathroom and the other three just finished doing their own devised kata, and it was my turn, I did it, and then we took a break. The rest of us knew what was next, because everything else was done with, the sparring. The sparring at my class ranges from light to a little less than full contact, and in the case of our test, we knew it was going to be pretty rough. So we started, and we each had to fight each instructor one by one for about three minutes each. We were already pretty well worked over after that, and actually thought we might be done, but we weren't. That's when one of the instructors called the first person who sparred up again, and then he had to fight three of the instructors simultaneously, with very little control. They would throw us to the ground and kick us and get on top of us and pummel us, but they would use control in those situations since that would be verey dangerous if they didn't, force us back up and keep going. My turn came and I fought them all without letting myself go to the ground. Finally the last of us to spar was up, he fought well until he allowed himself to get cornered against the wall, and tripped. He fell back and cracked his head on a steel support beem that ran up the wall. My dad and the other doctor on hand rushed to him and made sure he was okay, which he was after a moment of unconsciousness and laying on the ground. The instructors decided that was the end of the test, and excluded concrete breaking and our weapon forms.

They told us that we could sit down and take our gi tops off and relax. They each had their own words to speak to each of us, all very good, encouraging and heartfelt. During this moment all of the candidates started to become very emotional and began tearing up, I was able to fight it back, but decided it best to not try to speak. Finally they asked us the same question they ask after every test, which was "If you were in our position, would you pass yourself?" We all answered yes and gave our respective reasons. At this point my mother, grandmother and about every other female watching were already in tears. They stood us up, bowed us out, and told us we were finished, but due to tradition we had to wait a month before we were actually promoted. After that, we all conversed and enjoyed eachother's company for a short time and left.

During the test I consumed two large jugs of gatorade, and did not have to use the bathroom once, in over six hours. It was the most mentally and physically and fulfilling thing I have done yet in my life.

Thank you all for your responses and (if you took the time) for reading my story, and keep yours coming.

[zuluking]

The test began last night with the 1-mile run. I had 8 minutes and did it in 7:45. This was followed by push ups and sit ups. 50 each in a minute each. No problem. Then was stand-up self defense. Grabs, chokes, take downs, etc. Smooth sailing for me.

Then came grappling, or Ju-Jitsu to some people. I breezed through the positions of advantage and their submissions, but then came my moment to grapple Sensei David, a 2nd degree black belt. We had 2-3 minute rounds. He basically gave me a butt kicking on the ground. But I survived, even holding my own at times and we moved on to sparring.

3-2 minute rounds, full contact. My first opponent was Sensi Pablo, a 3rd degree black belt. We were about 30-45 seconds into the round, and I was holding my own, if you call getting kicked in the stomach a few times holding your own. But I did manage to get a few strikes in, until "the kick".

My hands were already starting to feel heavy from the 16 ounce gloves and I dropped my left hand just a bit. WHAM! He caught me with a roundhouse kick to the temple sending me to the floor out cold. I don't know how long I was out, but the next thing I know my Shihan (Master) is asking me where I was, my name, etc. I somehow convinced him I was okay (I wasn't) and the round continued.

The whole dojo was a whrilling, spinning, blurry mess. Sensei Pablo knocked me around and down to the mat 3 more times before the round ended. I had 1 minute to recover and get my head straight for round 2.

Sempi Sebastian a 2nd degree Black Belt. This time I was up against speed, not power. My head was still spinning, but I managed to smack or kick him 1-2 times for every 10 he hit me. The round ended and I almost threw up (really). 1 more minute to recover and the final round.

Sensei Robert a 2nd degree Black Belt. A big, brusing, hulk of a man. I'm 6'1", 225, he easily outweighs me by 40 pounds standing 6 feet tall. I don't remember much of round 3, I did manage a few well placed side kicks and knee strikes on Sensei Robert, but of course, I hit the mat 3 or 4 times as he smacked me around.

The round ended, the Black Belts cheered for me, and a doctor came over to check me out. He said I probably had a mild concussion (mild?!?!) and I told him I didn't care. Sparring in a Black Belt test is more about character, not quitting, not saying "I give" more than anything else, and I didn't quit.

This morning was the 2 hour written test and I nailed it, only missing 2 questions. Then came Katas, which I aced. Techniques followed, and I aced those too. Then came falls and rolls, board breaking, and the test was over.

During board breaking I tore some tendions in my elbow, but at the point I didn't care, and its nothing a sling and some bourbon can't take care of.

I'll recieve my belt Wednesday night. Thanks for listening.

[ninjanurse]

My first BB earned was in Shotokan and basically I was tested without my knowledge and promoted. Nedan was the same way.

My second BB was earned in Tae Kwon Do and the experience was drastically different. It was a 3 day test commencing on a Friday night with a written test , meditation, and some technical exercises. The next day at 7 am we started with forms, kicks, sparring, arnis, and breaking. That evening we had to perform in front of hundreds of spectators-more forms and breaking which included bricks. I think we ended about 10 pm , then had to sleep inthe floor at a local dojo. The next morning we were up at 5am and driven to a site for physical conditioning. Pushups, firemens carry up the muddy hill (It was raining!), wheelbarrows in the sand pits, step ups, sit ups, harrassment by Black Belts...and lots of running! It was by far the hardest physical test I had ever been through (took 3 hours)! My second and third dan tests at that school were similar but each one was progressively harder with more pressure and responsibility.

Two drastically different tests...two totally different mindsets. Neither means less than the other.