Mr. K's UBBT Experience

Requirements

The UBBT is a personal journey --and the test's requirements can be custom designed for each participant. Every tester asks him or herself: What could I do to make this the ultimate test for me? What could I accomplish that I have always wanted to do? What could I become, learn, and change --in a year’s time?

The UBBT is not a standardized test, but an individual journey created by and for each participant. Each candidate will, hand-in-hand with Team Director Tom Callos, custom-design a good portion of his or her test based on skill level, strengths, weaknesses, personal interests, and goals

Each candidate will supply (in the UBBT’s on-line journal page) a set of written and specific personal goals he or she plans to accomplish as a part of the test. Written goals should be quantifiable and as specific as possible.

Ten (10) Personal Victories
Each UBBT team member is required to fulfill (and record) 10 achievements they consider to be “Personal Victories.” A Personal Victory might be doing something you’ve always wanted to do or finish (skydiving, meeting a hero, finishing a degree, making amends with someone, running a marathon). Personal Victories will be entered in your journal and documented in the UBBT’s Project Workbook.

Ten Testing Performances
An integral part of the Ultimate Black belt Test is in the mastery of your martial arts skills. To polish these skills each participant is required to put together a demonstration An integral part of the Ultimate Black belt Test is in the mastery of your martial arts skills. To polish these skills each participant is required to put together a demonstration (a “Testing Performance”) featuring their personal martial arts test requirements and curriculum. A Testing Performance is a demonstration of the techniques and skills you have mastered in your martial arts career and for your test. As a part of the UBBT you must have performed your Testing Performance in front of 10 different groups. Those groups may include your students, your peers, your seniors, and various groups in your community. Your Testing Performance is made up of those skills that make you look the best. You get to design it yourself.

Participation in UBBT Special Masters Training Events
Each UBBT will have three Masters Training Events in which all candidates will be required to participate (exceptions for health, maternity, and family emergency exceptions to be reviewed with Tom Callos).

Participants in The Ultimate Black Belt Test II get to attend three very special events. The events are meant to bring the team together for unique experiences that build camaraderie, teamwork, and new skills. Note: The events are, always, more than they appear to be. No UBBT Participant has left one of our events wishing they hadn’t come. Instead, most black belts that attend go back to their own schools and recreate the experience for their students.

Push Ups and Crunches
52,000 (minimum) push ups and crunches are required by final exam. That's 1000 a week, 150 a day per exercise.

This may seem like a lot of reps, but test participants soon come to realize it's one of the easiest requirements. The concept behind this requirement is in taking a huge and ambitious project and breaking it down into small, bite-sized pieces. As martial arts teachers, this is exactly what we want to show and teach our students: you CAN DO things that seem overwhelming if you set your goals properly and work at them on a day-by-day basis.

Sparring
1000 rounds of sparring (stand up and/or ground fighting) are required by final exam time. That's an average of 3 rounds per day. Rounds must be 2 minutes or longer.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or NHB (No Holds Barred) Requirement Each participant in the UBBT must complete 150 hours of Jiu-Jitsu mat time (three hours per week). Ideally each candidate would earn a blue belt or equivalent in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or any NHB style grappling. The official UBBT Grappling Coaches are David Meyer of Los Angeles, CA, BJ Penn of Hilo, Hawaii, and Casio Wereneck of Sacramento, CA, but candidates may use anyone (and there are a 1000 great instructors around the world) for instruction and ranking.

Form Requirements Each UBBT participant will choose one form (or more, if they care to) and complete a minimum of 1000 repetitions of it. This form will be a part of the final UBBT exam.

The UBBT is about getting in shape, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. What "in shape" means, is relative to the participant . . . so that determination will be made between the participant and the team coach. Whatever the end result of the test, one element is standard for each participant: each tester must show a level of mastery in their chosen discipline that is congruent with their level of rank and physical potential. Let it be known that nobody will earn belt rank in the UBBT unless they come to the final test in the very best shape of their life. For the form (kata), each participant should be able to perform it at the very highest level, and meet the strictest requirements of any traditional master of that particular style.

Self-Defense Training
Each candidate must have training (currently, there are no minimum time requirements) in a reality-based self-defense training program. Self-defense advisors to the UBBT are Mr. Bill Kipp (billkipp@aol.com) and Mr. Tom Patire (tomp@cdt-training.com). Tom Patire, Bill Kipp, Peyton Quinn, and Tony Blauer all run programs acceptable for this requirement.

Escrima / Kali
Each UBBT participant must study one of the many Filipino "stick-fighting" arts ( Kali, Escrima, etc.) during the course of the 13 month test. Candidates will be required to show their proficiency in their elective stick-fighting art at the final UBBT exam.

Boxing Requirements
Candidates must have a minimum of 20 hours of training with a boxing or Muay Thai boxing coach.

Seeking Out a Master
Each candidate will be required to seek out one master (of any discipline in or out of the martial arts), interview them, and, if possible, study with him or her.

Reading Requirements
Each candidate will be required to read 12 or more books pertaining to management or philosophy, motivation or enlightenment. Members of the UBBT have access to a suggested reading list, however the candidate, based on his or her interests, may choose the titles. Books read will be tracked in the UBBT’s Workbook.

Anthony Robbins 30 Day Unlimited Power Course
Participants must go through the Robbins 30-Day or 7-Day tape series or have equivalent training in the Robbins system.

Body For Life
Participants must come to the final exam in the best shape of their adult lives. Each candidate, prior to the exam, is required to read and follow Bill Phillip's diet and training program from his book, Body For Life (or equivalent).

Empathy Training
One full day of living in a wheelchair, one full day blind, and one full day mute are required by all candidates.

Acts of Kindness and Compassion
Each candidate must perform and log 1000 acts of kindness and compassion in his or her UBBT Workbook (or in an on-line Acts of Kindness web site. In addition to this requirement, each candidate must be the catalyst for 50,000 (minimum) acts of courtesy, kindness, and respect from their students and/or community. Candidates may choose to use Tom Callos' Random Acts of Kindness Program (available through NAPMA) or the first booklet in the Six Tasks Character Development Program (available through MAIA) or a program of their own creation.

Righting Wrongs & Mending Relationships
Candidates are required to right three wrongs they've done in their lives or mend three broken relationships.

The UBBT Book Project The UBBT staff plans to produce a book of motivational sayings and quotes for martial artists. All of the proceeds from the book will be applied to a UBBT scholarship fund; the scholarship will fund, when large enough, one child's college education.

Each participant in the test should write or seek out at least 10 motivational sayings or quotes that have meaning to them in relation to martial arts and/or the life of a martial artist. Chicken Soup for the Soul-type inspirational stories may also be submitted. Each participant will receive a writer's credit for his/her contributions.

Submissions may continue for the entire length of the test, and there is no limit on the number of submissions. Candidates enter quotes and stories in the QUOTES part of their personal on-line journals.

Meditation Requirements
Each candidate must have formal training in meditation from a meditation master, followed by 15 minutes of daily meditation practice, 7 days a week.

Environmental Project
Each candidate must participate in, or spearhead, an environmental clean-up or improvement project. For ideas and suggestions, contact Tom Callos.

Supporting Fellow Teammates
Candidates are required to make contact with and support their fellow classmates.

Weekly Journal
Every UBBT participant is required to make a weekly journal entry on the web site. This journal entry should be approximately 100 words long and chronicle the personal journey of each participant as he or she lives with the UBBT experience. Journal entries will be open to the public and may be used in the book project. Participants should write about their gains, losses, feelings, frustrations, passions, and victories. Please spell-check all entries before posting.

WIT CARD
The WIT (Whatever It Takes) Card is a special challenge Tom Callos might issue during the test to individual candidates or the entire group. If a participant receives a WIT Card (written or via e-mail), his or her challenge is to do whatever it takes to get the task done in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

A 1000 Miles Walk - Run
"The journey of 1000 Miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu

Dropping Out of the UBBT
Forget about it. Don’t join if you can entertain the idea that anything could make you withdraw. The UBBT is about overcoming obstacles, not giving in to them.