My son is a first degree black belt in traditional taekwondo. He had quite a bit of trouble getting past the physical requirements for the black belt test, sit-ups, push-ups, etc. He's built like a stick figure, tall, but he only weighs about 65 pounds and he's almost ten years old. As a result, building up strength in his arms and legs has been a challenge, but he was eventually able to pass the PT part. His instructor was amazing as far as working with my son to get him where he needed to be. The actual board breaking and forms part of the test he did very well on. The aspect of the martial arts training I've been most impressed with over the years is the subtle changes in my son's behavior toward others. He's always been a very well behaved kid, but the consideration I see when it comes to helping others and being respectful toward his peers has definitely been increased due to his training. He's pretty much done with Taekwondo now, I think all the training he went thru to get the black belt has worn him out so he's taking an extended break. It's an expensive hobby for sure and we've dumped quite a bit of money into his training, tournaments, testing, etc., but overall I think he's gotten a lot out of it. His instructor left recently and that has definitely affected how he feels about going to class. The new instructor doesn't seem as interested in the kids as the former instructor did and I noticed the last time we went that several students have dropped out. He went overall for about five years. Lots of miles on the vehicles and lots of weekends in hotels in Kansas City and Little Rock...lol