black belt test

[shogun418]

im not more than 2 hours away from my first dan test. i was wondering if anyone had advice so share with me. i have wated for so long to get here and now im 2 hours from it.hit me what what you have.

[Fightback2]

Although I haven't been through a black belt test - yet. I've seen both my husband and stepson (who was 15 when he took his test) through theirs.

First of all - breathe. No kidding. If you're not breathing properly you're not going to have the energy to get through your test.

Eat something light, like toast, to settle your stomach. Nothing too heavy.

Visualize yourself going through the test. Go through every step in your head. If you can do it there you're well on your way to doing it in the dojo.

Best of luck!

[De_Franza]

Me neither, but I second the advice to breathe correctly, and to try to relax as much as possible so you don't defeat yourself.
Remember they (probably) wouldn't test you if you weren't ready, so try to chill as much as possible and not psych yourself out.

All the best! Break a leg! (figuratively)

[moogong]

The best advice is just to relax. A good instructor will not make you test if you are not ready. Also, put the importance of the test out of your mind and let everything be as natural and flowing as a regular work out session or night training at the dojo.

[Posiview]

Too late for any advice!

How did your grading go?

[De_Franza]

Passed with flying colors, right? :karate: OSS!

[Fightback2]

What happened?

[shogun418]

the test was rough nedless to say. it wasent as bad as i though it would be though i was kinda expecting a blood bath or something but it was fine. ill spare you guys the detal i wasent expecting this many people to want to see how it went. :bow: thanks. i passed! i have my first dan in american free style karate. and my black sashe in yee-chong kung-fu. if you want to here in detail how the test went ill be glad to share so let me know and thanks for your help.

[moogong]

Well, of course we want all the "bloody" and "pee soaked gi" details. Please share! :D :D :) :)

[shogun418]

well it started out with me and another red belt testing for her black also warming up the res tof the students who would be used to beat us around the mat. after that we started with 5 min of free style forms and no stops. after that. we moved right into forms. which i performed all 14 of my forms non stop start to finish. then we where asked to perform weapons. i presents the first bo form along with a form i created a year back. then i was asked to perfom a kata form so i did happo-giri (8 cuts and im rough on spelling) then we went into self defence. i was blind folded and grabed randomly about 12 times. and the last my instrucor came behind me (still blind folded) and grabed my gee pant legs and pulled the out from under me......luckey for me i had a good front brake fall and i was fine. after the blind fold sd we went into weapon sd i was ataced randomy with a club and knife (dident have time for the gun :( ) after that we went into brakeing :D we broke 1 inch pine bord fairly easy reverse punch, thrust kick, side kick, ridge hand, and my personal fav. a speed brake where you hold the bord with one had at eye level drop it and brake it mid air, all these i did forst try exept for the last, i was asked to brake 3 bords with a hamer fist i got it in the seccond try though. o and i did a palm strike. after that we spard which i wasent happy becaused i was promised a beating by my instructor but because of time we dident have time :'( we did clasic free style sparing, and a round of sticky hands with our 8th dan which was fun. thats the test in a nut shell :D enjoy :bow:

[shogun418]

o by the way i have vary pour spelling so try to bare with me.

[Lagardo]

Congratulations! I have started martial arts training 5 times...I hope to one day be in your place...with a dan rank!

[Dennis Monk]

Shogun418. Congradulations on your advancement. I know it is something you have worked long and hard for. The test sounds pretty rigorous, but it should be. I like the idea of defending against attacks while blindfolded. I am going to speak with our instructor about this and see what he has to say about it. How many hours in all, did the testing take? Also, I would like to know, in your system, are you in a probationary period for a while? It sounds like you should be proud of your efforts and achievements, just not too much so. :D I am a lowly green at my school, and hope to continue to advance also. Good work and keep it up.

Oh yeah, I also need to remind you to sign all posts with your real full name. It is easiest to do so by going to your user CP tab and putting it in your signature. Those are the rules.

And again. Good job.

[De_Franza]

That does sound like quite a test! Congratulations!

I too should have mentioned the Real Full Name thing before. It's easiest to pop it into a Signature so you can't forget.

Congrats again!

[Fightback2]

Congrats! Sounds like you definitely earned it.

[Estrella]

Congratulations!!! :D

[kmtsd]

I like the blindfolded self-defense too... our students may be in for a surprise!

[shogun418]

i never let anything go to me head and thank you all for your congradulations. the blind folded sd is vary fun and exciteing becauses when youe blind folded your not worryed what others think, how it looks, how it should look, you just do it and thats the best way to think about it. thank you all agen. :D and best of luck to you Dennis Monk i know you will make it

Cody rinehart

[charvel pointy]

I just did this as well 2 weeks ago. Man was I nervous. I noticed every little mistake I made, sure Grandmaster did as well. He tried to psych us a little bit, especially over our forms. All well and good, but in retrospect I would have to say that I was the most prepared for this one and I did the best I've ever done in a testing. Congratulations to you. They say now the real training begins. I'm sure that's true, but I also think the real fun begins now as well. Awesome

[Chris Wade]

I have found that dan gradings tends to be about 60% "show me what you know" and 40% "let me show you what you don't know". I have been through six dan gradings - 3 in jiu-jitsu and 3 in karate, and in each case there was always a component of humility.

[Chris Wade]

I almost forgot - Congratulations, Cody! :D

[Ayla]

Hey well done but you have scared me out of going for a black belt! (only joking, like anything's going to stop me!)