Dan Test "Conditioning"

[Gary Santaniello]

To all,

We seem to have had a non- confrontational disscussion regarding "sanchin" testing as i hope to continue discussing other requirements that we look at for Dan Testing, as well as
other aspects of our trainning.

"Conditioning" is another area that we may view differently. We have over the years added "leg" conditioning into our
arm rubbing/arm pounding of which i believe was not originally part of the drill?

However,the fact is that we have incorporated it into our regular routine now and it does serve good purpose in not only hittig with the legs but also in their "deflection" or blocking of strong kicks.

So should we, (do some) include the leg portion into our Dan Testing ? I feel so. Is it nessessary ? Not really, but does it show ones abilty to know the use of the drills for their intended purpose ?
I feel that the "leg" conditioing is as important as the "arms".

Surely one does not have to "pound" consistantly in order to condition as i understand the slow gradual process, although some of like good "strong" contact as a preference. (yes, i'm a guilty one) However, what level impact do we look for in Dan Ranks ? What do we expect from the candidates at testing ?

If they can go through the drills at various dan ranks but do not contain much power or impact in their demonstration, is that acceptable for dan testing ?

What are we actually looking for here ? Obviously it is not who is superior on strength as we are not always evenly matched.

This area appears not to receive much attention at testing. It was originally rated low in points in the scoring of testing, however, is it another area of importance ? We do need to be able to block and take hits at times in our "karate" so what do we look for here ?

Your opinions ? Do we refer to "conditioning" as "strong checking" also ? Actually, that might be a better choice of words as it served well in "Sanchin".

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Gary S.