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Greetings, all. I have just taken my 46th class and intend to test November 6th in West LA. By the time of my test I will have more than 60 classes, and at this point I feel confident in 80% of the Yellow Belt curriculum.
My question is whether anyone can recommend minimum fitness standards for testing. For example, “in order to likely pass the test, you should be able to run five miles, do fifty pushups….” etc.
Thanks!
-VincePS I did a search in the forum “Level 1” to see if this particular topic came up but I didn’t get a result.
Re: Minimum fitness suggestions for Yellow Belt test?
Your endurance is up to you. I’m not gonna preach to you you have to be x, y, z except to say you have to be able to keep going and don’t stop. That goes for the ‘oh $hit, I screwed up the technique’ Forget all that-you go, you defend yourself and finish it.
If you’ve done that many classes, be prepared for a test at least several hours long. How long level 1 is now I have no idea but when hubby and I did it, it was 5 hours:D:.
Disclaimer-not saying to start a debate on how long a level 1 test should be, just saying that’s how mine was;):
Re: Minimum fitness suggestions for Yellow Belt test?
The advice I was given by a fellow student before my test was too pace myself but be intense. “Hit fast and hard but don’t burn yourself out.” I was still exhausted at the end and had a grand total of 6 blisters on my feet, but I passed.
So I recommend the same. Be intense, but don’t burn yourself out.
It helped me to yell every time I did a combative. Every punch, kick, pluck, hammerfist and elbow was accompanied by an intense yell. Helped me make sure I was breathing with each strike.
Good luck.
Re: Minimum fitness suggestions for Yellow Belt test?
No matter how fit you are, your yellow belt test SHOULD test your mental and emotional desire to keep going. If you go in with the proper level of technique, and the mindset that no matter what happens, you will not quit, and you will leave it all on the mat, then you will succeed.
I don’t know if pacing yourself is how I would describe it. You want to be constantly pushing forward, putting in the maximum effort that you can sustain. It got to the point, at least during my yellow belt test, that all my self defenses were done on adrenaline alone. I had nothing left, I was spent, but when I would stand up and be ready for the attack to come on, I let that go. I have a video of me doing choke from the front with a push. As soon as the choke came on, it’s like a switch flipped, and I got a huge adrenaline dump.As far as minimum fitness, I’d say that if your gym has a bag class, take it a few times. If it beats the hell out of you, then realize your yellow belt test will be like that for at least twice as long. Drink TONS of water in the DAYS leading up to the test, as I can tell you now that dehydration is the biggest enemy. You can push your body a lot farther than it wants to go, but once you start cramping up from dehydration, life really sucks.
Re: Minimum fitness suggestions for Yellow Belt test?
Any test should test your ability, your progress and not someone else’s. That being said as you progress remember that you are doing this to learn to fight not pass tests. Your fitness should reflect what you are training for.
In my gym I have two cops. Both weigh about 185 pounds. One is a triathlete, can run forever, many people admire that and think of him as fit. He is fit, for what he trains for. Triathlons. The other cop just competed at a powerlifting meet. At 185 pounds he squatted 535 pounds, benched 335 pounds, and deadlifted 585 pounds. He can still run a sub 6:00 mile. Of the two cops which one would you rather fight.
Your training should always reflect your goal. Passing a test is cool, actually being able to apply what you have learned is better.
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