Interesting news last night..

For as long as I have ever attended GKR in Canberra, all gradings/seminars/TT training/special events have (as far as I know), been held in the local catholic primary school's hall.

Anyway, after last months grading, where we had 98 people attempting yellow belt, we're now moving to a new location, that's 3 times the size.
This move comes into effect for state team training as well.

Unfortunately, along with the bonus of extra space, we also have the *bonus* of lots more room to do running drills.

Number one on the list of evil running drills, is the dreaded beep test, which RM and assistant coach are all hyped to do next week.

I remember doing it at high school once or twice, and failing dreafully. And considering my running skills have not improved since then....

This is a description of the dreadfullness I found:

"The beep test is a test used by Physical Training Instructors to assess the fitness of soldiers. What it consists of is running between 2 points, 20 metres apart to a cadence, which will increase in intensity over the duration of the exercise. You start off really nice and slow, and then the intensity starts to increase.

To increase intensity, the time between each beep will decrease as you hit a new level. Basically, the idea is to keep running between these 2 points until you hit your aerobic threshold, and fall over in a screaming heap, gasping for air. Your aerobic threshold is determined when you cannot reach the target line in time of the next beep. If you keep running and you keep falling short, you are instructed to finish the exercise - you have reached your absolute limit."

I can especially identify with the falling over in a gasping heap part of it - perhaps it would be easier for all involved if I just passed out before we even started?

Apparently, to get into the army, you need to complete a minimum of level 7, stage 5 (males and females), which equates to running 1180 metres in 6 minutes, 30 seconds.

Evilness abounds!!!!!!

That's pretty tough Goyle.

Is that the Australian Army? But you lucky guys never do anything!! At least least our lads get to babysit Afghanistan and Iraq for the Yanks
This is going waaay off-topic here, but 98 people going for yellow? Thats a helluva lot........

Well since we have a history of fighting all your wars for you fair enough...
Still, we were in the last few together anyway... Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea...oh...hang on a minute .

Did a beep test at tkd a few weeks ago.
not my idea of fun in the slightest actually!

I hope my RM introduces it over here - on the condition that all the Instructors do it as well as the students. Share the pain......
I made a little mistake last week, and joined a gym. Went on thursday with a view to training in GKR on the friday. Cycled to the Gym,Jogged six miles on the treadmill and lifted weights until my shoulders creaked then cycled back.
Got up on friday morning and I felt it! Needless to say, I didn't make it to class......
Everything in moderation I think........

Yes... I was just reading something which mentioned "age uke torainingu". Sounds like fun


Mick

I use a "beep test" like training tool in my classes, which my regular students know as "the shuttle game."*

Get everyone at one end of the dojo (I have a nice indoor basketball school gym to work with), yell "RUN" and while they are on their way to the other end ask for "right hand out making chudan tsuki, medium pace" and as soon as they get to other end, start counting.

Then if everything is to my satisfaction, it is a quick yell of "RUN" then "chudan tsuki full focus, kiai on GO and JU" and the counting goes on!

Then "RUN" and "left hand out making jodan tsuki, medium pace" ...

I took it easy on Sunday morning's class, esp since one young lady was already looking a bit under the weather, and another decided she needed to use the hand basin in the ladies toilet. They got a drink between strikes and blocks, then blocks and kicks, and kicks and stances. And with noone below 7th kyu in the class, it was plain sailing.

Pretty much vanilla class format going through all the basics, just with a little run between each technique, and between slow/medium and full focus.

(* - I used this a fair bit in Canberra when I was a sensei there. So a quick hi to any of you training at Gowrie, or with Sensei Graham Reardon, Peter Noakes or Joann Jilbert.)

Well it seems your influence is still alive and kicking, because we still do that "game" here sometimes.

Actually, I remember doing that from years back, but I never ventured over to gowrie when I used to train.

Do you still keep in contact with Peter Noakes?
He's on the ACT tournament team, and occaisonally speaks of you. All good thing of course..
He teaches sunday mornings at Gowrie, as well as kambah and queanbeyan, to my knowledge...
I think I know of Sensei Graham, no sure on the last name though.. Older guy, BB?
Never heard of Joann Jilbert, but I have had a few years off
Who else did you use to train with in canberra?

I found an MP3 of the beep test, and it sounds very very very very very very scary...



Yeah, we're too busy running beep tests, and doing a crazy amount of sit ups and pushups, to kill anyone. You guys get all the err *fun*.

I didn't get to see the yellow belt grading, but the hall at kambah is not particularly large.
We had about 100 people in there at a recent seminar, and everyone had to angle themselves to do side backfist, side kick, etc. Not fun....
*Imagines 98 people doing 1st kata all at once....*

I think I've met sensei Graham. Think he's the one who handed me my orange belt certificate. Not a young guy, bout fifty-ish? Black belt of some rank, higher than Shodan-ho I think ?

Yeah, I think that's him too.



*Shrugs*

Once you're black, it doesn't matter, right?

So as excited about the running as I am then Mitten?

Sure, care to give me a piggyback?

Yes, well, you can blame me then!


I don't keep up with Peter actually, but he was my student from white belt to sensei belt, and hes a really decent young man.


Yeah, ShoDan now, 55-ish, tall, grey hair, softly spoken, and another really nice guy who I have plenty of respect for and plenty of time for.


I think Joann was doing the Kids class in Jerra for a while, but don't know her whereabouts now. Her husband was on the Tournament Team for a while also. I haven't been in ACT for 2 years now, when Adam Butler was still RM.

I trained with lots of people too numerous to mention - and about 99% were really good people too. Very few a**holes in the region I reckon.


I remember a seminar at Kambah where we all did Toilet Kata, attemting to stay on the same spot the whole time! Hilarious!

Duly noted.



Lol, still is.
He looks to maybe be joining the BB brigade next year...



Yeah, that's my impression also. I like my region.

You would know Ben Sledge right?
I'm lucky enough to have him as my instructor on monday nights - also still on the ACT tournament team.
Other BB guys on the team are James Young, and Andrew Lawrence.. Ken Bromley of course, although he's currently our assistant coach.





I bet that's what the last yellow belt grading was like too!!

I used to train with a girl who was looking at entering the federal police after she finished her law degree... Part of the physical test was a shuttle run as well as pushups and situps. No equality there - the requirements for women was much lower than for men. I forget exactly but it was something like 1 pushup or situp was the minimum, and the shuttle run times could have been done by a 1-legged man with a sore foot in less time!


Mick

Owww!!!! Beep tests are evil!!!

As promised, we had the beep test last night, and I made it to the start of level five, before practiacally dying. Most people made it much higher, with a few of the BB's up around level 16.
We've been told to remember what we got up to, and we'll do it again in a couple of months, to see how much our fitness has improved.
Something to look foward to then....



The minimum of 7.5 for this test was achieved easily by 3/4 of our class..
Other army requirements are 45 sit up for both male/females, and 8 pushups for females, 15 for males.

IMO, that doesn't really make it difficult to get into the army. In fact, if you trained for a couple of weeks, then you should get in easily.

Is that for real??
When I was in the army it was 100 situps, I think 20 chinups, 5Km run in about 25 mins depending on age and a few other things like firemans carry over 100m....
Soldiers these days....I dunno

My kids tell me it is called the "beep" test at school cos they aren't allowed to swear.




... and you had to walk 15 miles to and from school in the snow with no shoes and it was uphill both ways....


...

see the sig....

carrying a horse....
and that was SO my line you pinched

Just wanted to reiterate...


Anon

Yuh huh, I really really really believe that

Did notice that sensei who brought it in decided not to show us unfit slackers how it was done though

Finders keepers

We had an instructor who used to like doing a warm up that sounds like the beep test.

That's all I can say.

I used to do a warm up that sounds like the beep test

That's cause you're evil



Hmm... evil Sensei Ken.
Though he'd probally be able to get up to level 10 or something without breaking a sweat.

Not with his bloomin feet super glued to the floor he couldnt!

But first you'd need to get close enough to him without him kicking you across the room......

The beep test is a standard test for cardiovascular capility. Karate Ka should not hold such tests so highly. The AFL use such tests to judge the persons cardio endurance.
It does not show you are a competent fighter. Any person who has run for 1 year and can complete 5 km in 25 minutes will score 15 or above believe me i have prior to karate training. Does it mean i am on the same level as a black belt NOT.
If your RM whats to get serious about contioning you guys they should look to 5, 10 20 man sparring.
YOU should train as you would fight.

Hi Ironpalm, Nice to have you back around!
I can only agree with your comments, continuous sparring is by far the toughest part of my training.
I once attended a class once, when we were sparring, I actually sparred six people from Orange belt through to Brown Belt. I don`t believe I have ever felt so tired as I was when I fought that Brown Belt. Yet It gave me strength.
Ok, I got my backside kicked around the dojo - but I felt though I'd accomplished something......

We were only doing it as an *interesting* warm up for our state team class. We're certinetely not going to include it in every class... *Wipes brow in relief*
I guess the idea is to remember what level you got up to, and see how much your fitness has improved by the next time we do it (2-3 months away).

I only lasted to level 5, but it was directly after a grading, so I was reasonably impressed that I hadn't passed out by level 1...

As it's tournament training, I dont think we'll ever do 10 or 20 people on one - unless the NAS suddenly decides to include that kind of thing...

Goyle,

Your time will improve if you run, but the point I mean to say is any descent runner will post a good time. I am a big time follower of Thomas Kurtz and his ideas on training. But I also take a dim view on some of the exercises brought in to the dojo by people with out the backgroung in physical education instrution and it's the effects on the body.
Sometimes your sensei will give you some test which has no practical application to your karate, star jumps in warm up are a prime example.
The exercise in itself has no practical application!!
I HATE STAR JUMPS IN WARM UP, a useless waste of time with no real practical application in training, please read the book T Kurtz's The Scientific Art to Strecthing for further expession of the idea of practical training.
Star Jumps do more harm then good for us who train in martial arts.
The proplem is that Sensei's in GKR for the whole part are not trained as Personal Instructors from a Industry standard point of view, ( refer for example VIC FIT fitness course instruction.,) and as such will place upon us stupid and damaging exercise which are either too advanced or impractical for martial arts training, and as a result bring in to the dojo exercises that are damaging to our karate.
Dont hold any credence to beep tests but focus on this point;
TRAIN AS YOU WOULD FIGHT.

Done the beep test. Don't want to remember it. My result wasn't brilliant when I did it... don't think a lot has changed. MEH!

Although it may have.... looking back up at replies I noticed somebody say they do a warmup somewhat similar to it... one of my classes has that too... Hmmm... Nup. I think I'm too lazy to find out.

We jus incorporated burpies into NAS warmup, not cool.

I've watched a short video by kurtz ("stretching scientifically"), which I think is the most brilliant warmup routine ever conceived as far a karate goes. Kurtz himself practices what he preaches, and he has full range of flexibility and excellecent muscle strength.

My sensei has seen it too and I am encouraging him to incorporate the stretching regime at the end of class and the "early-morning" warm-up before class.

On the subject of the dreaded beep test I scored a low 6.1 when I was 14, I know I'd like the opportunity to have another go.

edited because I found a version of the beep test at

http://www.defence.gov.au/army/hq8bde/jobs/fitness.htm

wghich also says that for the army reserve you must get a 7.5 minimum, which your avaerage karateka will struggle to meet if i understand it correctly.

A young girl i used to work with was trying out for the state netball team and the beep test was part of the try outs....

cant remember what the level was exactly but it was something rediculously high.... like 14 or something......

Ironpalm - The "warmup" at state team training is normally used to increase our fitness, strength, and stamina - all useful things to have for tournaments.
We tend to mix up our warm up a bit, so every week we're not doing the same thing.
For example, last night we had four stations on the basketball court, (push ups, situps, squat kicks, and yes, those evil star jumps ), and had to run around 10 times, until we had accrued 100 in each station.
Other weeks, we've done the beep test, jogging on the spot,sprinted the length of the dojo, and partner work for the warm up.
We then move on to kata and kumite exercises in preparation for tournaments.
The whole point of the test was to get a gauge of our fitness levels, and then see how much they improve for next time.



*shudders*

Burpies have got to be my most hated thing, EVER!! I would rather do a 10 mile run, as opposed to performing ANY burpies whatsoever.



A couple of the BB's got up to level 16 I think - by that stage, it's more about your turning speed as well as your actual sprinting speed.
But I agree - that's an insane level.

Has anyone actually seen someone complete the test? Who could be that fit to reach level 20, I wonder?

I have never had to do the beep test - thank goodness. I just hope my instructor doesn't hear of it or we will be. He is a sick sad individual

I hate running, I used to play a lot of netball and ran marathon and cross country etc - until I developed shin splints. Thats why i hate running, it hurts.

Once again, burpies.

Haven't been into running, prefer to focus on anaerobic training like heavy bag work.

I just hate running full stop.

It's evil.

Running is the incarnate of the devil.

what are Burpies???????

When I was young and fit we did it at College as part of our volleyball training and I am still proud of the fact I got to level 17 - which was and still is pretty good.

Having said that I reckon 13 years on if I got to level 8 I would be doing well no as I have put on a stone or 8 since then!

it is still a really good measure of overall fitness though I would love to do one again as it is as good a personal challenge as you will ever get....

I will not let the beeps beat me..........

To be honest..... I have never done a beep test, and if I did one?..... Well, I hope the paramedics are standing by
When I was playing rubgy years ago, I probably would have done alright, but now?
Might be worth having a go, I may surprise myself........

Yeah, I wanna know too, what are burpies?

I believe a "burpie" to be an exercise where you squat down, put your hands on the ground next to your feet then thrust your feet back into a push-up position then bring them back to your hands and stand up, then repeat as long as you can withstand the pain!!
Brad

I take it back, I didnt want to know!

that used to be a part of our extensive kung fu warm up....

glad i havent seen them in a while

Mitten!!!! You had to ask now didn't you?

Guess what we'll probally have to do for sunday "warm-up" now...

We do burpies to four counts.

One: squat down
Two: kick legs out into push-up posture
Three: Bring Legs back in to squat
Four: Jump straight up as high as possible on the spot

If anybody slacks off on the jump we get more. The amount of burpies we do is proportional to the amount of team members absent or sitting on the sidelines. Usually it is about 5 to 10 for each person and there is usually about 20-30 total burpies.

If tires out your legs like buggery and gets your heart going, but unlike pushups (which we do at end of class) you can still lift your arms afterwards.

Eeeep!

How many people are on your team, Bradt?
I would guess the ACT has the smallest team with approximately 26 members.. Probally too many when we go up to QLD for the airlines liking though!



We tend to get all of that fitnessy type stuff out of the way at the start, then we have the rest of the class to work on tournament specific stuff... however, if pushups were at the end, I can imagine how many people would suddenly have to leave early....

Team: less than 50 people i think.

Mind you, doing pushups at the end mean that all those punches in the middle are a bit easier, and there isn't as long a queue for the toilet as you might think when it comes to pushup time.

Actually, we'ed probably all get burpies for the people trying to dodge the pushups!

*Nooms steps carefully away from horrid burpies*

I was trying to go to sleep this morning when I suddenly realised why this has been bugging me:


I have heard so many karate instructors (in and out of GKR) say the first rule of self defence is be not there - run away. So running would really be part of the training of self defence? Being fit would be part of the training? (Not including burpies or star jumps or any of the other stuff that's bad for you )