Koo Self Defense - Black Belt Test Requirements
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Cartersville, Metro Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Home of the World Youngest Black Belts
Master Koo and his students have appeared on numerous television channels since 1989 both in the United Kingdom and the USA.
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Most traditional martial arts' systems and the general public believe that the black belt is the belt to achieve and when you attained the black belt, you are supposed to be able to defend yourself on the streets. This is the greatest myth of all time!You ability to defend yourself on the street does no depend upon a piece of cloth which happen to be black. Any belt, colored or black really denotes how long you have been in training and this depends upon the martial arts style that you are practicing. There is no universal standard as to how long it should take to reach the black belt level. In most martial arts organizations, the rules are laid down quite clearly and when you have attained your minimum amount of training, you become eligible to take your test, ready or not. In some martial arts organization, students are failed because they do not meet the technical standard whether in terms of techniques and/or breaking power. Whereas in other organizations, everyone passes regardless of performance. Note, the movements and techniques learned in traditional martial arts have no bearing to what really occurs on the streets, because the street fighters or muggers do not fight like they do in martial arts studios. In some martial arts organization, to be eligible to take the test for colored belt and black test is solely at the discretion of the instructor. In some styles, they can make a student wait months or even years. As explained throughout this web site, Koo Self Defense is unlike other martial arts styles or systems, the emphasis is not on learning and perfecting many forms (katas), techniques, blocks, stances, sparring and so forth as found in all other martial arts' systems but rather on achieving top physical fitness and developing awesome hitting power for real life threatening situations. We have had many black belts from all types of martial arts visited and train in our studio only to discover that they do not posses the fitness or the hitting power that they believe they ought to have as a black belt. They are overwhelmed by the fitness and power of our lower rank students. Even seasoned aerobic instructors from renowned gyms struggles with Koo Self Defense mix of aerobics and anaerobics workout drills! For Koo Self Defense students, the emphasis is not on the belt per se but more on the content of the workouts and the achievements from it. As part of Koo Self Defense continuous evolution, all colored belt tests were eliminated in 1996 except for the black belt test which was designed to be the most objective, demanding and toughest test in the world! You are probably wondering would the standard of the KSD students deteriorate because of no colored belt testing? On the contrary, the students at Koo Self Defense are much more fitter and more powerful that when colored belt tests were conducted. This has been proven with time that our students are more fitter and more powerful than black belts from other martial arts styles.Koo Self Defense Objective Black Belt Test System Master Koo has developed a unique objective test system that requires a strict set of criteria in order for the student to achieve the rank of Black Belt. There are three parts to the test. 1. Endurance/Stamina mobility drills performed on focus mitts and shields with maximum power for about 30 minutes non stops. 2. Breaking Techniques: a) 52 Separate Breaking techniques b) Awesome Power Breaking techniques. a) The 52 separate breaking requirements utilize both hands and feet (leading and rear leg required). The number of boards for each break varies according to whether the candidate is a child (calibrated according to their age), adult male or female up to a maximum of 3 boards per break. b) For the awesome power break, Children as young as 5 years of age have to perform a full board. Adult female, a minimum of 2.5 to 3 full boards and adult male - 4 boards. The boards used for the test are brand new re-breakable plastic to maintain consistency for each test. Each full board takes about 70 lbs. of pressure to break. These boards are harder to break than wood! In order for any candidate to pass our Black Belt test, a minimum percentage must be achieved with no exceptions. For Children: a) 70% of the 52 separate breaks must be on first attempts, with no misses scoring 100% and b) for the 'awesome power' breaks 1 full board for age 5, increasing with age and size, for their best hand or foot scoring 5% and if they perform with their weaker hand or foot will score 10%, totaling a maximum of 115%. For Adults: Male and Female a) 80% of the separate breaking must be on first attempts with no misses scoring 100% and b) for the awesome power break, a compulsory best hand or foot scoring 5%; Women's minimum 2.5 boards to 3 boards and Men - 4 boards and if they perform with their weaker hand or foot, they will sore 10%, totaling a maximum of 115%. The maximum number of boards to be broken by an adult male will be 86. KSD's black belt test is the hardest and toughest test in the world! Just imagine going on a shooting range and have to shoot 52 separate targets. A shooting target is made up of different circles narrowing to the 'bull's eye'. It's simple enough just to hit the target but can you hit the 'bull's eye' with at least 42 'bull's eye' out of 52, after you have been physically worn down by some of the harshest KSD drills. The 4 boards 'awesome power' test is the toughest of them all! KSD's black belt test checks for your accuracy in your power, your ability to focus on one point. That's why the plastic rebreakable boards are harder to break as no matter how much power you have, it will not break unless you can focus on the line. Other martial arts' systems that have power testing that uses wooden boards have no consistency as each piece of wood is different in strength. Moreover, you can hit generally anywhere on a piece of wood and it will break.
The Power of 'Chi' or 'Ki' Rebreakable Boards. The toughest boards in the world! Koo Self Defense will be changing the plastic rebreakable boards for Black Belt Testing in 2004 (as the previous ones used has ceased to be manufactured) as soon as the old supplies expires. These new plastic rebreakable boards from UMAB has proven to be tougher and much better. We have been testing the BLACK boards which are the maximum strength available at our studio and also had them tested in a laboratory. It would be interesting if someone else would do the same tests and see if the result comes out to be the same. These tests were conducted at ZERO velocity using pressure until the board reached the breaking point. Obviously martial arts' practitioners uses body mass and high velocity to break boards and it would be interesting to see the results for these new boards. Anyone who has the facility to conduct velocity tests for the boards is welcome to do it and have their results published.
1 Board took 366.387 lbs. to break 2 Boards took 832.003 lbs. to break 3 Boards took 1,336.572 lbs. to break  
   
 
Our thanks to David Center in organizing the test at a laboratory! Power Boards Breaking on brand new pleastic rebreakable boards From Michael Spaulding's Black Belt Test, August 23, 2003 utilizing the remaining white boards prior to the new black much tougher plastic rebreakable boards as shown above for 2004 Black Belt test. The 4 boards are performed after completing 52 separate breaking on FIRST ATTEMPT ONLY with both left/right hands and left/right feet ranging from 1 board to 3 boards!  
Sample from our GuestbookRecord 38 Name: Dina Donato Website: Referred by: Just Surfed On In From: Cartersville, Georgia Time: 2000-05-08 22:03:25 Comments: I started taking kickboxing from Master Koo in December of 1999. I have NEVER enjoyed any workout as much as i do this one. The workout is challenging and different everyday. Master Koo is an expert at what he teaches and he is a lot of fun. Kickboxing is an important part of my daily routine!! March 7, 2000 12:06:09 (GMT Time)
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