Belt Levels

There are eight colored belt levels in Tae Kwon Do:  white, yellow, green, high-green, blue, high-blue, red, and high-red.  After high-red comes 1st Dan (degree) black belt.  There are 9 levels of black belt.

Belt tests for yellow and up occur twice a year. New students may test for white belt after roughly 4 weeks.

Each belt level has it’s own set of techniques. This page provides a general guideline of what each rank should know. The actual learning process will vary from student to student based on individual skills. The only things that are always the same are the forms and sparring techniques.

Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
new student front middle punch low front Chun Gi
back high punch high inside swing
cat low punch outer palm outside swing
ready front punch inner palm side
sitting roundhouse
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
white fighting back punch knife hand axe 3 steps: 1-4 Chun Gi
twist punch double outer palm sliding side Tan Gun
jab double outer knife sliding roundhouse
single knife hand chop double knife hand sliding axe
reverse knife hand chop double low knife hand sliding inside swing
palm strike single outer knife hand jump front
jump axe
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
yellow spear finger front back 1 steps: 1-4 Do San
horizontal backfist double inner palm hook Suh Kang Il
alternating back
back kick forward
sliding hook
front side
front round
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
green Won Hyo ready ridge hand skip-in side 3 steps: 5-7 Won Hyo
lunge punch skip-in round 1 steps: 5-7
vertical backfist jump side
jump round
double round
double side
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
high green sweep 1 steps: 7-10 Yul Gok
jump back
jump hook
flying side
front hook
jump 180 front (+rev)
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
blue Choon Gun ready high belt strike with punch high cross jump turn back 3 steps reverse: 1-7 Choon Gun
high belt strick with chop low cross jump turn hook
hook punch (choon gun) reverse roundhouse
hammer fist jump 180 round (+rev)
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
high blue Hwa-rang ready double lower inner palm jump turn inside swing 1 steps reverse: 1-10 Toi Gye
x block jump turn outside swing Hwa-rang
mountain jump 180 side (+rev)
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
red tornado HapKiDo: 1-5 Suh Kang Ei
jump double front
double front
Rank Stances Hand Techniques Blocks Foot Techniques Sparring Forms
high red triple front HapKiDo: 6-10 Choong Moo
split
jump double round