Fitness Testing

[Evil Dave]

I am curious as to what different people / arts / clubs do for fitness testing? This can be part of the belt testing process, or outside as an extra and if you don't do specific testing why not? This does not include the warm-up exercises / routines used to get people ready, specific testing / requirements only please. Thank you.

[Harlan]

'Evil Dave'...nice to meet you...and you probably know my view from the prior post.

Probably a no-brainer, but my post reflects our training. Our 'fitness', as well as progress, is evident every time we show up on the mat to train, and we don't waste dojo time on it. As for testing, never did that either. No belts...no need to prove anything to anybody except ourselves.

We do 'warmup', sensibly, prior to every class and it consists of sets of gong li, punches, kicks (essential techniques) and kata. I have seen testing in our group, and there IS sparring, and more aggressive fitness testing, bordering on the concept of 'shugyo' for higher belts (2nd, 3rd, 4th dan).

[Nidan Melbourne]

I organise all the fitness testing for my club as an extra for all students in my club. It all depends on what my sensei or students require.

I test everything from musculoskeletal (i.e. push ups, sit ups etc), aerobic (running, sprinting etc) and anaerobic (muscular power and strength).

But for classes we do a warm up of a combination of all 3 fields. But the difficulty of each depends on rank and age.

[bushido_man96]

We don't do any fitness testing in my school. I know some styles do them, and the ATA has added it to their testings for higher ranks, I believe. I'm kind of mixed on the idea of them, as I don't have a great level of fitness as it is. I've never been great at push-ups, nor sit-ups, and I do not run. I understand why some schools have them, and why some don't.

[Aodhan]

For the ATA, they have implemented Fitness testing before you can test at a National or World event (Which is mandatory for anyone testing past 3rd degree, must be done at a Nat/World event. 4th to 5th and higher must be done at Worlds).

1 min round, 1 min rest. You have to do pushups and situps, then on the bag punches, kicks, and punch/kick combo. (Must have at least 1 kick per 2 punches). The bags have impact meters, so weaker techniques won't count.

Minimum standards apply. For example, in my 40-49 male age group, it is 40 pushups and 47 situps. I can't remember the standards for the kick/punch items. However, if you are deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others. For example, if you do 30 pushups, then you need to score 10 extra among the other standards.

Our schools also implement a 1 mile run and a few other items above and beyond these when testing for any black belt rank.

John

[Nidan Melbourne]

For the ATA, they have implemented Fitness testing before you can test at a National or World event (Which is mandatory for anyone testing past 3rd degree, must be done at a Nat/World event. 4th to 5th and higher must be done at Worlds).

1 min round, 1 min rest. You have to do pushups and situps, then on the bag punches, kicks, and punch/kick combo. (Must have at least 1 kick per 2 punches). The bags have impact meters, so weaker techniques won't count.

Minimum standards apply. For example, in my 40-49 male age group, it is 40 pushups and 47 situps. I can't remember the standards for the kick/punch items. However, if you are deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others. For example, if you do 30 pushups, then you need to score 10 extra among the other standards.

Our schools also implement a 1 mile run and a few other items above and beyond these when testing for any black belt rank.

John

Interesting John for fitness testing the norms for your age group is slightly different. You are expected for your testing to do 40 push ups which is in the excellent category and so are your sit ups. as the older you get the lower the score that is expected of you to get.

[bushido_man96]

For the ATA, they have implemented Fitness testing before you can test at a National or World event (Which is mandatory for anyone testing past 3rd degree, must be done at a Nat/World event. 4th to 5th and higher must be done at Worlds).

1 min round, 1 min rest. You have to do pushups and situps, then on the bag punches, kicks, and punch/kick combo. (Must have at least 1 kick per 2 punches). The bags have impact meters, so weaker techniques won't count.

Minimum standards apply. For example, in my 40-49 male age group, it is 40 pushups and 47 situps. I can't remember the standards for the kick/punch items. However, if you are deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others. For example, if you do 30 pushups, then you need to score 10 extra among the other standards.

Our schools also implement a 1 mile run and a few other items above and beyond these when testing for any black belt rank.

John

Does the website have these standards listed? My old instructor had talked about them, and it sounds like a testing can be quite draining, for sure. I know I would struggle with 40 pushups right now.

[Nidan Melbourne]

For the ATA, they have implemented Fitness testing before you can test at a National or World event (Which is mandatory for anyone testing past 3rd degree, must be done at a Nat/World event. 4th to 5th and higher must be done at Worlds).

1 min round, 1 min rest. You have to do pushups and situps, then on the bag punches, kicks, and punch/kick combo. (Must have at least 1 kick per 2 punches). The bags have impact meters, so weaker techniques won't count.

Minimum standards apply. For example, in my 40-49 male age group, it is 40 pushups and 47 situps. I can't remember the standards for the kick/punch items. However, if you are deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others. For example, if you do 30 pushups, then you need to score 10 extra among the other standards.

Our schools also implement a 1 mile run and a few other items above and beyond these when testing for any black belt rank.

John

Does the website have these standards listed? My old instructor had talked about them, and it sounds like a testing can be quite draining, for sure. I know I would struggle with 40 pushups right now.

How old are you bushido_man96? As the older you get the less you should be able to do. if your in the 40-49 group like Aodhan is you would be in the excellent category for push ups and sit ups if you got more than 40

[bushido_man96]

Sadly, I'm younger than Aodhan, at 35, and am overweight at around 250 lbs. Pushups have always been tough for me.

[RAM18]

Our fitness tests are at the end of grading. 9th Kyu are required to do 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 squad thrusts, 15 leg raises and 15 seconds of pad punching.

By 1st Kyu this is up to 90 of each and around 3 mins of punching! Fairly brutal!