BB test preparation, multiple styles

[Cirdan]

To those of you who are BBs or are preparing for the test, what was your weekly training schedule before grading? Did increase the number of hours for the last few months, and in that case how much and for how long? Did you train differently in any way?

I have a 1st Kuy grading in a few weeks and asuming I pass I will then be looking foreward to BB grading in two different arts (Wado Karate and Ju Jutsu). I don`t forsee any big problems and this is the most interesting time in the arts for me so far. Things are finally starting to make real sense. However if anyone has been in a similar situation I`d be interested in how you balanced your time between the styles.

 

[Stac3y]

I think this depends greatly on what type of BB test your organization does. My friend's test was 2 hours, so he didn't have to do a lot of conditioning.

Mine was 8 hours the first day (techniques, weapons, and self-defense) and 3 hours the second day (sparring), so every day I was running at least a mile, doing 9-12 minutes of jump rope, shadow boxing or hitting the heavy bag 6-10 minutes, doing 100+ situps and pushups. Then I would do one or more of the following: all 12 katas that would be on the test, all techniques since white belt, all self-defense sequences since white belt, techniques for 5 weapons (arnis, bo, nunchaku, sai, tonfa). Additionally, 2-3 times a week I would practice extracurricular self defense incorporating judo throws and takedowns.

 

[Big Don]

I was on the mat 3-5 hours a day for 3 months leading up to my test, and working out at home another 2-3 hours a day, and it was all worth it.

 

[Cirdan]

I was on the mat 3-5 hours a day for 3 months leading up to my test, and working out at home another 2-3 hours a day, and it was all worth it.

That`s a lot of time of time spent training Big Don. Seems kind of extreme even to a MA fanatic like me. How did your body handle 5-8 hrs working out every day, not to mention how did you find time to do anything else?

 

[Noah_Legel]

I'm only a sankyu in Shuri-Ryu, but I was on an attack team for a shodan exam and in addition to attending every class for about 3 months we all worked out after class for an hour or so, and got together on Sundays for about 5 hours. The test itself was very long--as a member of the attack team I was there for about 7 hours (3 people were testing, so it slowed the process a bit) but the people being tested were still there for another couple hours after that.

 

[dancingalone]

Depends on the type of test administered, I suppose. If it is supposed to be some marathon, I would train for enhanced cardiovascular function in the months prior to the test.

Really for my school, I don't tell the BB candidates to do anything extra. They just need to come to class and they need to practice outside of class too, but that's normal protocol.

 

[Big Don]

That`s a lot of time of time spent training Big Don. Seems kind of extreme even to a MA fanatic like me. How did your body handle 5-8 hrs working out every day, not to mention how did you find time to do anything else?

I was really stressed out, and it calmed me down quite a bit.
Plus, which, I don't have a life, so, when I got off work, I went to the dojo.
Not having a life was actually a plus at that point.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Where I train we are virtually graded in class as the instructor wont send you to grading until they know you are profficient to a black belt level, so the actual grading itself is not someting I necessarilly had to do extra training for, its really just a formality. Students do fail black belt grading but that is normally seen as the fault of their instructor for sending them along when they clearly arent ready. I did do a lot of extra practice on forms and techniques though because they dont tell us which forms/techs you will be asked to perform on the day so I had to have the whole curriculum covered so I could perform at my peak no matter what I was asked to do. I did a bit of extra cardio work to help with sparring at black belt grading and made sure my timber break was near perfect because if you dont break you fail. For me the biggest challenge was keeping the nerves under control.

 

[Grenadier]

My primary belief is that if you're given the opportunity to test for a dan ranking, then it's more of an evaluation of how you've done over a significantly long stretch of time, and not how quickly you can pump yourself up for an exam.

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary when taking my exams for either my Shotokan or Wado yudansha rankings, except go to my usual classes to train and / or teach, which came out to about 10-12 hours a week (and still does to this date), with the sole exception being that I devoted some more time to the older material I had learned as a lower ranked mudansha, just to make sure I wasn't rusty.

 

[Cirdan]

I had a serious talk with the head instructor and decided it is probably best to focus on one style next year. So next to no Ju Jutsu for me until I get my Wado BB. Miss it already but it also feels suprisingly good to narrow things down a bit after doing two arts every week for six years.

 

[dbell]

If you have been training hard, know what you have been taught, and train at least three days a week (or two for some people), there should be nothing different needed to pass the test. When I took my 8th Dan test for Aikido, which lasted for two week, 8 hours or more a day (except Sunday), I taught classes, did every move from 10Kyu to 3rd Dan (were training new things pretty much ends in Aikido) and did Randori with several people over the two weeks, all I did to prepare for it was continue to teach classes, work my students and myself through the content of the art, and kept doing the "same ole thing" so to say.

At the same time I took a test in Kendo, from who I thought was "Head of Family" to verify that I still knew the art, which I wasn't teaching as much, not many people in the US seem to want to invest in Kendo training, at least in areas I've lived in recently, and could contest in it. Again, all I did was find a school that sorta did Kendo (as I knew it), and trained with them for a few weeks to make sure my skills were still there, added a few hours extra of practicing strikes, etc., and took the test.

So, if you have been training regularly there should be no need for increased training or exercising, you should have it in you already.