Day One...of Twenty-One

[Truestar]

Today was my first day of testing for my black belt. At 16 years of age and being the first martial artist I can remember in my family I consider it quite an accomplishment.

We worked on speed drills, accuracy, reviewed form, learned the first 5 moves of a creative form our instructor created years ago, and reviewed some grappling/self-defense exercises I've since forgotten.

All in all I have a new uniform waiting upstairs in its package. Its a uniform that our black belts wear, and I hope by August I can go to class wearing that uniform and my new belt.

I'm 5'7" and 180 lbs roughly, so I have some extra baggage. But I'm taking this as a great opportunity to fix that.

I'm glad I got to start testing before I graduate high school, now I just need to pass.

[tori]

You will pass. Have fun.

[KarateEd]

Good luck!

[Patrick]

Good luck, Ryan.

[ninjanurse]

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

[Jazzstorm]

Good Luck!

[GMac]

Good luck to you. BTW, do you mean your test takes 21 days to complete? or am I reading wrong.

[bushido_man96]

Good luck to you!

And don't consder yourself carrying too much extra baggage; I am 5'8", and about 250.

[Truestar]

Thanks guys, by day 4 I'm feeling a bit sore but have managed thus far.

Yes, our test takes 21 days to complete for red to black belt. The reason is that it's developing our bodies and conditioning them. Our instructor is hoping we take this test to heart, and continue to work hard and challenge ourselves afterwards, whether its simply running or doing form.

For instance, the first day we did a series of exercises, ab work and upper body. We will continue to do upper body and abs until the last day. Some days we'll do the work differently, but the same work is getting done to the body. He's got the test split up into Flexibility, Strength and Conditioning, Technique, Contact, Form (Katas), Accuracy, Speed, Grappling/Self-Defense, and Concentration. We have different exercises in each category everyday, but it gets done. Not to mention we have to learn his creative form he created in the nineties. This form takes more energy and focus for me than any other form. I might be able to get some video up when we've learned the last bits.

The last day is like the tests I read about here. We take 2-3 hours to do the 'normal' stuff, but at the last hour he breaks out the video camcorder, and on this day parents and relatives are allowed to come and watch. We do our forms for the camera, have wooden sticks broken over our bodies to symbolize our conditioning, and we do some breaks on the patio blocks. We don't touch much on sparring during the test as that is something we do in class a lot.

Overall, this is day 4 of 21. I'm feeling sore, yet pretty good right now. I'm having a steady intake of protein and whatnot to try to build my body up a little bit around the muscle area in place of the waistline.

[tallgeese]

Keep at it and stay positive. Sounds like you're dong well.