Here is the first two "belt" levels at the school i teach at and train at what do you

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
1

White belt - Yellow belt

All techniques must be shown on both right and left leads

Stripe 1:
Dojo rules a. bowing b. tapping c. speaking

Ki-yi (Spirit shout) a. offensive b. defensive

Palm heel strike a. lead b. rear

Knee strike a.upward b. thrusting

Stripe 2:
Foot work a. step-slide b. X pattern

Parries a. inside b. outside

Body targets a. nose b. chin c. diaphram
(must show three different method of attack on each target)

Stripe 3:
Ukemi-break falling a. rolls b. falls

Mount a. Apply and explain b. Escape and explain

Guard a. Apply and escape b. Escape and explain

Stripe 4
O soto gari (rear reap)

Rear elbow strike a. high line b. low line

Stomp a. Standing b. Prone

Yellow to Orange belt

Stripe 1
Define a. Karate b.JuJitsu c. Kali

Front kick a. shovel b. push

Juji Gatame (straight armbar) a. Mount b. Guard

Footwork a Circle stepping b. Circle stepping on X pattern

Stripe 2
Leg Blocks a. knee b. foot ( do standing and prone)

Shuto(knifehand) a. Winding in b. Winding out

Hip throws a. waist b. arm c. head

Stripe 3

5 angles of attack (sticks)

Forward elbow strike a. horizonal b. upward

Body targets a. carotid arteries b. groin c. jaw hinge
(must show three different method of attack on each target)

Just threw this out to show how we train and get some ideas on thinks you might do

2

I don’t think my class is quite that regimented. White (and really every level) we work stances pretty hard…especially seems to hurt at white though. Horse, bow, bird, etc. Basic rules of bowing and respect. He reviews a general history of our style. Something he REALLY likes to do is put us in horse stance and tell stories… about past masters/history, chinese words/definitions, origin of different things in our system or zen-ish moral stories. Basic punching and kicking is taught, pointing out weight distribution and proper body alignment. I can only think of three different types of punches and three kinds of kicks that are reviewed at first though. Then we’re shown 10 short forms based on a condensed format (30 total) of Tan Tui. They also teach 10 basic self defense responses…with the understanding that things, including forms, have to be modified to work in real life. Lots of folks quit in our earlier levels because of the conditioning part of the class. Fingertip pushups, crane beak pushups, crunches, stance holding, one leg squats, stretching…whatever my instructor calls for that day. It’s not often that he allows whites to spar…they tend to hurt themselves or others if they’ve not had previous experience. Most often around yellow is when sparring begins, whites just sit and watch.
Like I said, we’re not quite as formula driven as your dojo…a person will learn all that I mentioned (often more) but the only real stated necessity to advance is learning the 10 short forms and self defense. Everything else is just sort of picked up along the way.

3

I personally have a diffrent outlook, don’t like a belt system.

The things you are mentioning are basics. Beginner. That’s it. A bigginer. Shouldn’t be stages, you know what you know and then you learn more. That’s my aproach.

I’ve seen green belts beaten by similiar sized white belts, black belkts beaten by purple belts. How? Why? I think people get too caught up in learning the forms and saying the right things to move on and miss the practice, the real discipline.

I 100% agree that bowing or saluting ones peers and seniors is important. Other then that, the discipline comes from the practice: holding uncomfortable stances, working our on one’s own. But, for the young the belt aproach might work and is certainly good for business.

For adults, I like no belts, no uniforms. Keep it real. Everyone knows where everyone stands and if there is a question about it, well, put the gear on.

Belts can add pressure. I know someone who is not happy at their school but doesn’t want to leave because he “almost has his black belt.” He’s terrible, has no discipline in his actions, has no skill and obviously floated around a large class and was not corrected on many flaws.

As for almost having his black belt, he’s only a green belt. I told him he still has a long way to go. Then again, I’m just a student so what do I know?

Either way, good luck. I’d like to teach someday. I just need to go out and do more fighting, learning, ect.

4

Our first exam has ten technique, the second has 20(the ten from the first exam, and 10 more).

All of the technical names are very aikido specific though, so it may not be of any value to post them here.

Basic tenkan, irimi, irimi-tenkan, shihonage, ikkyo, kokyunage…

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just be happy u are learning something..my gf is a orange belt in tkd and she knows 4 patterns, 4 ****ty self defense moves…and how to break a board. :-/

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*note the " " around belts
The “belts” are actually different colored T-shirts and the only reason we have them is to give a little structure to our school. Belts are REALLY not important to me see i have been training for around 8 years now and have a white belt. The way we train is if you came in an asked a “white belt” to show a “white belt” move and then ask the same “white belt” to show a “black belt” move he could do it with no problem. Just thought i would show you even MMA schools have some structure.

7

Basically, we’ve got two levels.

Begginers: We learnt to throw the basic punches: jab, cross, hook, uppercut, and elbow.
The basic kicks: Round kick kinda muay thai style i’m not sure if anyone really knows its name :), front push/stomp kick, side kick.
Basic blocks: Slap pary(metal block), wood block, and when i was doing it, we learnt an earth block(more of an intercept) with the legs for against kicks.
Some grappling/takedowns: Priest’s robe, helicopter throw(forget its real name, just picture one that those wushu guys do in performances when they spin through the air several times before they hit the ground when thrown). Some grappling against a round kick. Thai clinch. Seizing the arm (arm bar), seizing the leg, embracing the tiger, arm locks.
(Different begginers might learn different things each year though).
Some “finishing” moves: Triangle choke, arm bar, leg dislocation thingy.

That’s pretty much all i can remember anyway.

People above aren’t begginers any more: Basically we do all of the stuff we did as begginers. Still ALWAYS focus on the punches, and intergrate it with kicks and grappling. Cycle through some chin na, other grappling, weapons stuff. Until after a number of years, and periodically repeating things,we might eventually of seen everything there is to know that our teacher does. Then of course, we can go through it all more, as there is a big difference between knowing a technique and being able to use it on a resisting oponent

8

You guys must be stoked making a living from teaching. I’m jelous, but happy for you. Seems like a dream.

Maybe one day I can join in.

Seems like you need a decent amount of capital, to strat up and make it through that few student stage. Is that the case?

Maybe I should start saving my pennnies now, I’m hoping down the road I’ll be good enough and have my teachers blessings to open a school some day. We’ll see.