CheekyMusician

Welcome to the forum, 50bob! And as everyone else has said, age is just a number. One of the clubs I used to train at had a guy who'd taken up karate about your age. When I knew him, he was late 60s and going for his 3rd dan black belt. Admittedly, he struggled with fitness from time to time but he had some punch on him! He was the only person in the club that I actually used to be a little scared of when it came to sparring because he had so much power behind him!

Everyone else has given good advice. If you are enjoying it and getting a good workout etc. then your time isn't being wasted, but if you want to improve as a martial artist, it sounds as though this guy isn't giving you the opportunity to grow. Keep in mind, however, that if you enjoy the club or the workout you get there then you can keep going for that and find somewhere else to go too for your serious training. I was doing that at one point: going to a 'fun' sports based karate club for the workout and to chill out and then going to a traditional club for my serious training and gradings.

I agree that belts should just be given when the student is ready. However, you'd probably find if that were the case then there would be a lot of sub-standard black belts walking around etc. I used to not test, but decided to test with the JKA. Its pretty good as the JKA is such a well-known association in karate that I think most people would accept a JKA rank as a properly achieved one. The one good thing about belt tests is the fact that it forces students to face a potentially nerve-racking and uncomfortable experience and that can only be character building. I know I do tend to get quite nervous at belt tests, and its good to learn how to perform under those conditions.

I can understand where you're coming from. I'm often in the same boat. I'm at Uni, but have to commute in and out every day plus I work, teach kids guitar, teach Sunday school, and go to piano lessons. I don't drive, so that can make things even more time-consuming. For example, in first year at Uni I finished at 4, so by the time I'd commuted home it was already 6, then I had to try to get something to eat and leave to walk to karate which meant I had to leave the house again by quarter to 7. I eventually had to just give up karate that year. It was taking up too much time, especially by the time karate had finished and I'd walked home it was already about 9.30 and then once I'd had a shower I only had a very limited time left to do Uni work before going to bed since I had be up at 6 every morning. Sometimes you have to choose where your priorities lie. As much as I loved karate back at first year in Uni, I was going to fall behind with Uni work if I kept up attending twice a week. So I had to decide that my priorities were with Uni for a while and stopped going to karate. Yeah, I missed it, but it was only for a limited period and I knew I'd get back to it, and when I did, I began to appreciate my training even more. If this job is a short-term thing, you might want to consider just training at home for a little while, but if this job is long-term then I guess you'll just have to choose what you want to do. Keep in mind that training just a couple of times a week is OK if you're suffering from time constraints. Just make sure you make those training sessions count all the more. Remember, too, that the commute can be a useful time to do some martial arts training. Take a martial arts book on the commute with you, or think over new kata applications while you travel. A friend of mine has kata videos on her video iPod and you could do something similar if you feel that would help. Or try and hook up with a martial arts buddy near your home if there's anyone and use them as a training partner. If nothing like this can work out for you, you could maybe consider just changing jobs. I probably wouldn't be willing to accept a job somewhere if it made me unable to train, but then again I've not got a family to look after or a mortgage to pay or anything, and if you do, then that might not be an option for you. Keep us posted on what you work out.

I'm a girl and I find it can be annoying and awkward sometimes. At one of my clubs my Sensei is very much of the mind that a woman should train as hard as a guy and makes no concessions for us. It works quite well for us, especially as it is a very traditional karate club where we very rarely do sparring. However, my other club is very sport based and it can be a bit trickier. The Sensei there chops and changes a bit. Sometimes he separates women and men, other times he keeps us together and expects us to do the same as each other. I must admit, it does annoy me ever so slightly when he splits us up, but at the same time, I can understand where he's coming from. For example, doing padwork...I know that I would find it difficult to hold focus pads while a guy was kicking or punching them. But it also creates a bit of a catch 22 for me, anyway, and probably for some of the other women. I do tend to put my all into it when sparring or doing padwork, and a lot of the other women complain that I'm going too hard for them, but then again, if I was sparring with a guy who was putting his all into it, well I really doubt I'd hold my own against him and I'd probably come out of it with a few broken bones! Then again, when training, especially when sparring you always have to consider your opponent. You always have to take note of their ability, their size and strength etc. and you very rarely find yourself up against someone who is an exact equal of yourself in all these things. And often, for a higher rank practicing with a lower one, it doesn't do them any harm to work on their control, and then let themselves go full out when fighting with someone stronger and more advanced than they are.

I think its best to be able to train with all ranks. There's a lot to learn from those above and those below you. In fact, when sparring sometimes I find that the beginners can be more difficult to defend against than the experienced members of the class as the beginners tend to be all over the place and you've no idea of what is coming next! Also, sometimes it can be the case (especially with adults) that they don't test or don't test very frequently, so even though they may be wearing a lower belt colour than you are, in reality their skills may far surpass that. Its good to get a focus on specific ranks, though, too if time and space permit, especially for kata, but all ranks doing kata together can work well too. At one of the clubs I go to we often all do kata and start at the beginning and work through them. Sometimes we're told not to progress past the kata we need for our next rank or sometimes we're told to just try and keep up and work through all the kata. The instructor just simply focuses the majority of his attention on the group that needs it most. For example, by the time we're all trying to do 2nd dan kata he only occassionally stops to help the lower ranks, but he'll spend most of his time working with the 1st dans who are preparing to sit their second dan. I think that works pretty well as it gives the lower ranks a chance to try their hand at advanced kata and even though they might not be very successful, at least they can familiarize themselves with it, plus the upper ranks have more reason to try and keep themselves in check and perform the kata properly as they know they've got a whole bunch of lower ranks behind them all frantically trying to copy their movements!!

A phone call sounds like a great idea! I lapsed in my training for a year or a year and a half or thereabouts and I missed the first couple of months or so because of legitimate reasons and then I started to think that if I went back after so many weeks off they'd all think less of me for missing so many classes, so I started to make excuses every week and the longer I left it, the harder it got to go back. If I'd had a wee call off my instructor, I'd have been right back, I'm sure. However, where I train isn't really a commercial venture, so it would probably only have worked 'cause I'd have known that my instructor actually cared that I wasn't there and wasn't just missing my payments for classes. Just my two pence worth

Its really up to you. You know whether you're likely to become saturated with knowledge doing two arts at once at this early stage or not. When I first started my Shotokan training, I started training in Aikido a few months into it, too, and I found that they did complement each other quite well, but left Aikido after a couple of months, partly because I didn't like the teacher and partly because I felt I'd rather get to a stage where my Shotokan techniques started to become second nature to me before I started training in another art. Its always an option to find the middle ground and maybe wait until you've maybe reached the mid-kyus with karate before branching out into Aikido, but as I say, you know how you learn better than we do, and so you can only really judge for yourself.

Are you wanting to use this video as a fitness video or as a way to help you remember techniques?

I've also got the short arm problem. Basically whenever I try to punch someone I need to move in so close I end up getting slugged by them myself. I sort of want to compete, but competitions tend to be point based and I guess that I can't afford to just be punched if I don't get out in time. Yeah, got no advice for you, but I sympathise with you!!

Cathal hit the spot, but remember that you've got to ask questions relevant to you. So ask him about whether his art will fulfill your needs eg. whether you want to train for self defence, fitness etc. But really, I think the most important thing rather than arriving armed with a tonne of questions is just getting a feel for the art and the club when watching the class. Some other questions might pop into mind when you get there and begin watching and you might see some things going on that you wonder about or whatever. The most important thing is to watch the class and decide if your comfortable with the instructor, the teaching style and whether you'll be comfortable in the club or not.

You are getting closer to what I am saying. Also, Killer Miller, I understand about karate guys communicating to each other. I know my Korean for my TKD, and use it in class, but if I were to talk to you, or work out with you, I would use English, and not expect you to understand my Korean terminology. When I post, I usually talk about techniques in English, therefore no one has to wonder what it is I am talking about. I can see what you're saying, but I don't see why it would cause an issue. Just because you learn the Japanese or Korean for a technique doesn't mean that somehow you hoover out your own native language for the technique out your head. Obviously, if I was to train with a TKD practitioner, I wouldn't say to him, 'lets work on Mae Geri.' I'd ask him to work on a 'front kick', but that still doesn't remove the advantages of knowing the Japanese or Korean terminology for use within your own system. And furthermore, if I (as a Shotokan girl) was to practice with a foreign TKD guy, say from Russia and he didn't know any English and I didn't know any Russian, it would probably be more likely that we'd be able to communicate better through Japanese or Korean as one of us would probably have at least a basic familiarity with the other's style terminology than we would of each other's native languages.

At our club adults seem to drop out quite randomly, at any level, but I suppose adults do tend to have other things in their life that might dictate to them whether they can train or not eg. kids arriving on the scene, moving away for work, their income dropping or their work schedules changing etc. For kids, the dropout seems to be similar to what bat noticed. A lot of early stage learners 10th and 9th and 2nd and 1st kyus.

I've never really met many MMA guys/girls, but I've met some traditionalists who seemed to have an attitude like this guy. I met an Aikido teacher who told me Shotokan was pointless and no use in self-defence and I've even met a Shotokan instructor who told me that anyone who trains Shotokan outwith the association he is part are not proper karate-ka. I think its best to take what people say with a large pinch of salt. I trained under that Aikido guy I mentioned and he turned out to be a bit of a plonker and so I stopped training with him, but when I trained under the Shotokan guy he turned out to be an amazing instructor, even if some of his views did seem a bit radical. So yeah, I think you should give this guy a chance even if he seems a bit disrespectful. He might turn out to be a complete prat, but he might turn out to be a great teacher, and he's worth giving a shot despite your initial impressions, I think.

Not really. At my Uni club we do a lot of punching in natural stance or doing Heian Shodan to warm up and beginners will usually be taken out of the main body of the class and taught by someone else until they are ready to join in. At my other club we don't do basics up and down the hall every training session, but during the 6 weeks or so leading up to the belt tests we'll do them for maybe 45 minutes or so and they generally follow roughly the same pattern: practicing basic stepping punches, then basic blocks, then blocks followed by punches, then other striking techniques, combinations or hand techniques, basic kicks, combinations of kicks and hand techniques together.

I agree that it isn't STRICTLY necessary, but is most certainly practical, useful and respectful, and in the vast majority of cases the only thing that is stopping martial artists who don't learn the Japanese etc. is laziness, rather than anything else, although I'm sure that isn't the case with you and I'm sure you're well armed with all the correct terminology. Osu I know most of the terminology used in my classes, but I have noticed that in different sources there are different words for the same techniques. In the ATA books, the techniques are different than in the TSD book that I have, and different than the Kukkiwon Textbook that I have, and those are all different than the terminology that we use in our class. To me, English is just as useful, and less confusing. I'm sorry to hear you've got confusing terminology in your class. I must say, this isn't really a problem I've come across in Shotokan, apart from the fact that some books use more extensive terminology than other books eg. will put the whole description in Japanese rather than just the technique name in Japanese.

I agree that it isn't STRICTLY necessary, but is most certainly practical, useful and respectful, and in the vast majority of cases the only thing that is stopping martial artists who don't learn the Japanese etc. is laziness, rather than anything else, although I'm sure that isn't the case with you and I'm sure you're well armed with all the correct terminology. Osu

But still, you still know that Germany can also be called Deutschland, even if you don't call it that yourself generally. Fair enough, many English speaking martial artists might not use Japanese/Korean etc. every time they mention a technique, but they should still know what it is called in the original language in case they ever need to use that term. As I say, using Japanese or Korean as a common denominator language is practical and doesn't exactly take a great deal of effort on the part of martial artists everywhere. I know that personally I'm considering doing some travelling in the next few years and I plan to continue my training if I do go abroad, and its nice to know that if I end up in a country where i don't know a word of their language, that I'll still be able to keep up with them if they tell me to do a Yoki Geri Keage instead of telling me to do a side snap kick in their language.

Generally both my clubs use both English and Japanese, but more Japanese than English. Personally, I think its important to learn the Japanese terms, and I think all karate clubs should ensure their students have a degree of familiarity with them. As someone has already said, it means there is a common 'karate' language and visitors to the club understand what is expected of them and if any club members decide to travel to Japan or anywhere else, there is a good chance they'll be able to understand what technique they're being asked to perform. I don't see it as 'traditionalism', I simply see it as practical. Its just like when musicians learn Italian performance directions. Most musicians understand words like 'forte', 'andante', 'sforzando' etc. and since that is a common musical language used by musicians and composers all over the world, it means a musician can see performance directions written on the top of a sheet of music and follow them without having to find a translator to explain their meaning. The way I see it, using Japanese terms in karate/Korean terms in TKD etc.etc.etc. has the same element of practicality about it.

None whatsoever. I don't really think there's any need for them and prefer a plain white gi. I would probably wear one, subtle patch if my club or association wanted me to, though, but prefer my gis patchless.

I train twice a week (currently looking to get to train three times). When I first started I was only able to train once a week because of club schedules clashing with other things I did. The amount of training you can squeeze in depends on a lot of factors including club training schedules, money and other commitments that you have, but I think that if you make each training schedule you go to count, then it doesn't matter so much. Remember you can train at home, go over stuff, read books on kata etc. even when you can't afford to go to class.

I can understand what everyone is saying about making it fun for him, but at 9 and half-way through his Kyu grades I think that is is more or less beyond the stage of being 'fun'. I think you should take him aside and point out to him that from this point on things are going to keep getting harder, but that you'll be proud of him if you see him TRYING, not flying through belts. Again, give him the chance to leave karate, but stress how disappointed you'd be if he chose to quit just because things were becoming difficult, but that you could understand him quitting if he was only involved in martial arts because it was what you wanted and not what he wanted. I think at 9 he's starting to reach that age where he can begin to become responsible for his own actions, and at 9 he's also old enough to start learning about perseverance and self-discipline. It can still be fun. He can spar with his dear old dad, or as someone else mentioned play games of testing his stances by pushing him over and getting him to do the same for you, but I also think at the age of 9 its about time that the mollycoddling kiddy karate is phased out and you start to introduce 'proper' martial arts.

Most martial arts will involve a lot of hip movement. Often I find that the kicks bother my hips less than the rest of the stuff we do! My karate Sensei had a hip replacement a few years back and is still going strong and recently gained his 4th dan, so there is definately hope for you. He said that after his operation his kicking skills were pretty much all gone after a lifetime of working to attain them, but he just persevered and now you wouldn't even know he'd ever had problems with his hips, so maybe you want to just go into martial arts realising that your hip op is going to make things a lot harder for you, but thinking that with a bit of hard work you can manage anything, even those dreaded kicks.

I'd probably stay with my Sensei, but it would also depend what new association he was going to etc. In fact, something like this happened to me. My Sensei broke away from the association he was with and as far as I know he and some other instructors started up their own organisation, but I didn't really want to sit belt tests with a small, independant organisation so joined another club and sit my belt tests with the JKA now, but still train at the original club, too. I was never too fussed about the original association that that Sensei was with, so I would never have jumped ship to another club in the same association when he left it. However, I do really like the JKA as an association, or what I've seen of it so far, at least, so if my JKA Sensei was leaving the JKA, I would probably stick with the association. If possible, I'd still try training with that Sensei, though, but also find another JKA club to train at and sit my belts with.

Yup, the problem is here in the UK, too, as KarateK says. However, my big sister and I were actually talking the other day about our experiences of physical education programmes at school. Both of us agreed that for years we thought that we HATED sports and were useless of them all thanks to our PE teachers. I've spoken to quite a few of my friends who feel the same and many of them have never participated in sports since. The system was far too competitive. Normally, it was either team sports or competitive athletics and we were very rarely given any choice over what sports we participated in. I the 4 years of compulsary PE at high school, there was only one block (we did different activities in 6 or 12 week blocks) that we did that I actually enjoyed, which was circuit training, as we each had our individual programmes to follow and no one was competing against anyone else. However, this was only a 6 week block and I broke my toe after just two weeks of it and had to sit out the next 4 till it healed! Grrr! Typical! I think schools have to be very careful about introducing PE into the curriculum as it is very easy to put kids off sport for life by forcing them to participate in it in a school setting which is almost always a competitive setting. Thank goodness I found martial arts which rekindled my love of sport!