Hapkido Belt Test

My path towards a black belt shortened its length a little on Saturday. Yup, I passed my test and am now the proud owner of a green belt in Hapkido. To understand what that means, you have to look at the following hierarchy:

10th Gup - White
9th Gup - White with Yellow stripe
8th Gup - Yellow
7th Gup - Green
6th Gup - Blue
5th Gup - Blue with one Red stripe
4th Gup - Blue with two Red stripes
3rd Gup - Red
2nd Gup - Red with one Black stripe
1st Gup - Red on top, Black on bottom
0th Dan - Black on top, Red on bottom
1st Dan - Black

(Gup just means 'student' in Korean and has nothing to do with its phonetic friend, Cup (Note: IITM inside joke))

That means I've been through (and passed) 3 belt tests. So yeah, I know what it's like.

For starters, the obvious question is, what do we do in a belt test? The answer is even simpler: Everything we have been taught. So, as you progress, since you know more, you have to do a lot more.

Naturally, tests get harder and longer as you pass through the ranks. To add fuel to the fire, you're expected to be a lot fitter as well. For instance, as a white belt, you would be expected to do 50 karate push-ups and 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes before starting your belt test. As a green belt, you run a bit to get your heart rate up before you do 60 push-ups and 60 sit-ups in 1.5 minutes.

I'm not really complaining. Taking up hapkido is probably the best self-made decision I've ever taken. My muscles have increased significantly in size and exponentially in hardness. I feel like a million bucks and that's ONLY because I am forced to push myself out of my comfort zone every time I enter class.

But, I digress. Let us return to the belt tests.

The first thing you have to understand is that belt tests are hard. Really hard. Halfway into my first belt test, I was utterly exhausted. i.e. My car was running with an absolutely empty tank. I actually managed to pass the test with reserves that I never knew existed. These statements are mirrored by most people who have taken a belt test here. Our instructor wants you to be on the edge of your energy and sanity.

But why, you ask? A belt is meant to be a measure of the amount of practice you have put in. It is only when we are utterly exhausted that our body does what we have conditioned it to do, through repeated practice. Your brain switches off completely. No matter how much you try to pretend that you know what you're doing, if you really don't, it WILL show. Why is this important? Because your opponent will want to fight you when your balance is off, when you're tired and hurt, and when the last thing you want to do is fight. And your body should be capable of handling anything that is thrown at you.

Our hapkido classes are divided into sections. We do two sections a class, and we are tested on all of them on D-day. They are:

Kicks - No explanation necessary :). Linear, circular, crazy, they're all there.



Strikes - Palm, fist, elbow, your hands are at work here.



Locks - Joint locks. Wrists, shoulders, elbows, ..



Defense - Practical applications of the rest of the sections.



Basics - The ground work needed to do everything else, like turns, stances, movements, ..



Falls, Rolls, Throws - The Judo part of Hapkido. We 'borrow' stuff from everywhere.



Weapons - We start off with nunchaks, go on to sticks, knives and maybe even swords(?).




Additionally, we are also expected to break 'tiles' during the test. This pic of me breaking one shows you what I mean by 'tile'.



A bit hard for newbies, but you get used to it. One set of tiles for strikes, and another set for kicks. What you use to break them is left to the instructor's discretion :).

(All these pics are from the belt test prior to the latest one. Those pics aren't out yet. Blame Masatran, our official photographer)

The whole process lasts for about 5 hrs, usually from 9 am - 2 pm. It concludes with the giving of belts, and a group lunch at Tiffany's, the institute's restaurant.

From what I've heard, a lot of dojos just ask you to spar a bit before giving you your belt. Now, I may be biased towards my art, but I still think that's absurd. You could be a great fighter with a handful of techniques, but you could never teach your martial art to anyone else. I'm very happy that my instructor is unlike all those chaps, and does his job so darn well. You could learn any art you pleased and become a great fighter, but without a good instructor you are totally lost.

I really really want to go to Georgia Tech and learn Hapkido at my master's dojang. Now, if only my CGPA was better....

(For insti junta: If you're really keen on seeing what a belt test looks like first-hand, videos of the last belt test are shared at 10.94.26.12. So, if you use Linux, use Samba and see what the chap has, and if you use Windows, in the 'Run' dialog box, type "\\10.94.26.12")