Master Kwon's Hapkido Karate School

Hapkido - The Art of Coordinated Power

GUPs

"GUPs" are the ranks assigned to the various skill levels as the student progresses through training. A student starts as a white belt, after their first test they advance to yellow belt (gup 10) and progress to red belt second stripe (gup 1), and then to black belt (first dan). Each gup adds new skills while reinforcing those already learned. The key skills for each gup are as follows:

11. WHITE BELT

    Stretching, stances, falling.
    Basic punches, kicks, and blocks.
    Wrist snatch & hit techniques.

10. YELLOW BELT

    Side kicks, wrist breaks, basic strikes.
    Kick blocks, basic combinations.
    Punch block hit & kick defenses.

9. ORANGE BELT

   Roundhouse kicks.
   Cross hand wrist grabs.
   Punch block breaks, kick defenses.

8. PURPLE BELT

   Combination strikes, jump kicks.
   Defense against garment grabs

7. GREEN BELT

   Jung bong weapons techniques.
   Combination hand blows & kicks.
   Two hand wrist grabs, kick defenses.

6. BLUE BELT

   Intermediate combinations and kicks.
   Defense against garment holds from rear.
   Same side wrist grabs and throws.

5. BROWN BELT

   Jung bong combination.
   Advanced strikes and combination kicks.
   Both hand wrist grabs, punch block throw defenses.

4. BROWN BELT w/ STRIPE

   More advanced combination strikes and kicks.
   Defense for bear hugs and chokes, judo attacks.

3. RED BELT

   Advanced kicks, kick defense with breaks.
   Basic knife attacks and defense.

2. RED BELT w/ STRIPE

   Advanced combinations and kicks.
   Throwing techniques for kick defense.
   Jung bong combinations.
   Disadvantaged position defenses.

1. RED BELT w/ 2^nd STRIPE

   All of the above
   Plus creation of new techniques.

   BLACK BELT (1^st DAN)

   Starts with complete review of all lower belts.