Ascalon

If you finish a session and you weigh less than you did when you started, you are dehydrated. That may be fine for you but due to a history of injuries I prefer to ensure I have a healthy fluid intake. Students should be permitted to consume water at any time that it does not disrupt the class. There are plenty of natural breaks in training where a quick swig is achievable. Instructors who only allow water to be consumed during specified breaks every half hour or hour are doing the health of their students a disservice. No other sport puts such restrictions on its participants, and we work just as hard as anyone.

In a warm dojo wearing a heavyweight dobok, I will drop upwards of 2kg during a 2hr session. This means I need to drink 2L over that period. You cannot consume that amount of liquid in one or even two breaks whilst exercising. It needs to be ingested slowly over the entire period. I understand the wish to not break up training excessively, but not keeping properly hydrated is a recipe for cramping and injury. Excessively restricting people's ability to ingest water during a session for vague reasons like 'discipline' and 'spirit' is rubbish. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Even when I was doing basic and field exercises, as hard as they pushed us the one thing we were never denied was as much water as we needed.

I strongly disagree with instructors who limit when people are able to drink water. My opinion is that you should be able to keep a bottle at the side or the back of the dojang/dojo, and have a quick swig at any gap in proceedings. Most people sweat profusely and hydration is very important. I had a two hour session the other night in a hot hall with high humidity, where we were permitted a single one-minute break in the middle to drink water. IMO that is borderline irresponsible.

Have a session at a very traditional dojo tomorrow. Wanted to get my head around a few basic titles/terms before I go, since all I know are Korean ones from TKD. Head instructor = Sensei Assistant instructor/other blackbelts = ?? Greeting = ?? Thank you (after sparring) = ?? Those are probably the essentials I think. Anything else I need to know in order to comply with basic etiquette, feel free to throw in.

You are misunderstanding my point. I believe in belt skipping, because I believe that your grade should be a true reflection of your ability. Just as people should not be advanced merely because of time that they have served at a grade, they should not be held back merely because they have not served time at a grade. It makes no sense to hold back someone who is competent to a particular level merely for the sake of formality. If a person is competent to a given level, it is appropriate for the head instructor to recognise that. Just as it devalues a grading system to have incompetent holders of particular belts, it also devalues a grading system to have overqualified holders of particular belts. The whole point of the belt system is to recognise tiered levels of competency.

Massive hypocrisy in this thread. People complain about McDojos where ranks are given out on time served, rather than being earned. Yet that is essentially what is being argued here. Students should not be advanced grades when they are not ready, but the flip side of this is that they should not be held back when they are. Both devalue the grading system. I am not saying that a black belt in one discipline should automatically equate to an X belt in another discipline. But if somebody demonstrates their competency to a certain level then it is absolutely within the discretion of the head instructor to recognise that. That is, after all, what grading is about.

Re the weapons/no weapons debate, it really depends on why you study martial arts. If you want to be a great fighter (or self-defender) then yes - in addition to empty hands skills you need weapons skills, and grappling skills, and ground skills, and so forth. It is people like that who I think naturally gravitate to the MMA scene. For me, the study of martial arts is not really about self defence. It's just a nice side-benefit. I started as a student for the health and fitness benefit, but somewhere along the way the study of the discipline became its own end. The other day I had my first session in probably 7 years, and it all came flooding back - the enjoyment from just immersing myself in the style, being 100% aware of my body, no distractions, concentrating on and perfecting my control over the way I move. Slightly off-topic, but I have always firmly believed that everybody who studies martial arts (no matter the style) should someday try tai chi. I have only studied it intermittently, but have found its principles hugely helpful to my whole mindset as a martial artist.

Well, I went to a training session last night to suss it out. I guess I had a mixed reaction. It was a nice training environment - plenty of higher grades, everyone quite friendly. A lot more casual than I am used to. My last dojang was incredibly strict - lots of Korean, no speaking out of turn, firm rules on uniform, etiquette, respect to higher ranks etc. This place had a bit of joking around during the session and quite casual about things like bowing, turning your back on people, etc. The lead sensei was quite good, clearly very experienced and quite a good teacher. Very egalitarian. A bit offputting at first but a nice experience nonetheless. They spar with shinguards, groin guards, gloves and mouthguards. I have never used anything except groin guards before. I found the gloves exceptionally annoying. Having my hands wrapped in big pieces of padding was unwieldy and unfamiliar. Not only do they use them for sparring, but also pad work. I don't like not being able to form a proper fist, let alone being unable to use proper knife strikes and holds. The hand techniques threw me off a bit. Being from a TKD background, hand striking is already a bit of a second class citizen, but they use a lot of hooks and crosses which are less popular in TKD - I am used to very linear attacks, if that makes sense. I found it challenging but interesting. They also keep their guard right up around their face, and use typically less of a side-on stance. It's more like boxing than TKD, to be honest. I got a lot of love taps from the black belts - mostly because I was very slow and unfit, but partially because I am not used to such close-in sparring. I kept wanting to kick them away. I think it was definitely a good learning experience. They also do a lot of groundwork and grappling, which doesn't interest me much. Also, no cute girls. Jury's out. I have a goju-ryu session later in the week, will compare the two afterwards and make a decision.

I think kata (or other patterns) are the heart of martial arts, and I feel that the MAs that do not use some sort of kata/pattern as the fundamental learning mechanism are much the poorer for it. I don't think that means that kata are the be all and end all of karate (or any other MA). Kata teach you technique, discipline and mental strength but they do not teach you adaptability, responsiveness or an understanding of your opponent - all of which are integral skills of a martial artist. One of the best things about karate compared to more 'purely functional' MAs is its holistic approach. If you take away any aspect of it you are left with a poorer discipline.

I guess by traditional I mean similar to the major forms of karate internationally. I use the term fairly loosely. Humour check, dude.

Ha. If I was 10kg lighter and could remember any of my patterns, I'd be more comfortable with the title. If I walked into a dojang tomorrow I would be more comfortable wearing a white belt. I think this is probably a good call. You're right, I will probably get a good feel for the dojo by attending a few classes. I just don't really want to start with a niche style that I can't pursue if I move out of the area (which I probably will in a few years). It is interesting to hear that it is not a karate style. The dojo styles itself as a karate venue, but perhaps that is just marketing. There is also a goju-ryu dojo in the area which seems a bit smaller and less well-funded, but I might try that out as well. The sensei there is also qualified in shotokan and kyushkin, and being a more traditional style it may be better in that sense. Certainly, coming from a TKD background, the goju-ryu sparring seems more similar to what I'm familiar with than koryu uchinadi. I have never been much interested in joint attacks and grappling. Real men use striking.

Hi all. First post in the forum... signed up specifically to ask about this style of karate. I'm a former TKD black belt returning to martial arts for the first time in quite a few years. I decided I wanted to give karate a go, unfortunately I don't live in a big city and the options are a little limited. The main dojo in the city teaches this form of karate. Can anyone tell me a little more about this style, and how well regarded it is? I had never heard of it before and from a quick browse on the web it seems fairly modern. From what I can gather on their website, it doesn't seem to be a very 'pure' form of karate - there seems to be a fair few grappling techniques taught. The local dojo has instructors with Shotokan and Kyokushin dan gradings (both of which are the styles I initially wanted to try). On the other hand, a couple of the others have backgrounds in GKR - which even I know is a pretty notorious McDojo. Is koryu uchinadi a credible martial art in its own right? How transferable are the skills if I was to move out of the area and want to join (say) a kyokushin dojo? Thanks in advance for any advice.