Hi Peeps In 3 weeks I grade for my Brown Belt. Our gradings in Goju Ryu last 2 days, well 2 lessons so just over 4 hours so stamina, energy is key. I dont usually have an issue but the brown belt grading is a killer. Just curious to see what you guys eat on the day of a grading to give you more energy and stamina? Im fine when it comes to doing katas, bunkais and basics, I can do them all day long, what gets me are the push ups, burpees and situps that have to be done at the end of the grading and after 4 hours of pure energy zapping training and grading. Some people have suggested brown rice, bananas etc. What do you suggest?
Yes, this is why it is considered the most gruelling style. So, 2hrs on Mon and 2hrs on Wed. the Monday grading consists of Hojo Undo and traditional Okinawan karate exercises, Pad work and drills, sparring. The 2nd part on Wed consists of basics, katas, bunkais and the worst of all......pushups, burpeees and sit ups at the end. So as you can see i need all the energy I can get!!!!
at my hapkido gym, they basically just gave us belts. i had to do a demo for black belt. but it was only a demo, the grandmaster already was already going to give it to me. in my aikido dojo, there was a definite testing process for each belt, with a committee even watching. i like bjj the best: here you go.
Big Mac and fries. In all seriousness, your performance will be affected more by the food you in the week leading up to the event than immediately before. But sources of slow release carbohydrates (brown rice/bread/pasta and sweet potatoes) and healthy sources of protein (grass fed beef, omega-3 enriched eggs, oily fish) are a good idea.
Cheers guys!!! Yes, the pushups etc are a test of that final strength and stamina. After effectively 2 lessons of grading do you have the strength to also finish off 75 situps, burpees and pushups. Ive done it in all my gradings, but for lower belts it was minimal (30 of each), but i think for brown its 70 or 75 of each.
I must admit , I've never been a fan of this approach , if they want to see your stamina and such they should just have you spar at the end.
Might just be a quantitative test of mental fortitude? Personally I'm not a fan of gradings fullstop.
I've no idea about what you should eat, but I'd like to say good luck to you! I also do goju-ryu, but grading is (luckily) usually shorter, but we need to go all out at the time, which is perfectly sufficient to exhause me completely , and luckily we do squats instead of burpees. I'm at a lower grade, but last year I double graded and was required to do 70 push-ups, squats and situps. Never again Well, at least I'm not doing that again while having cold and higher temperature... I'll be curious about how it went!
have to say, it's the weirdest thing what i'm hearing. at the end of a martial arts grading session, you're forced to do calisthenics? what if you can't do the required number? are you failed? what does this have to do with learning to fight?
Its a test of Willpower, which is pretty handy In a fight. Sparring to failure would be better, but could be too risky for the participants.
