Epyon

He was a fantastic fighter in the 90s. He was only 1.60 and 68 kg but dare to compete with guys like Francisco Filho. Check this video to see his fight at the 7th world open tournament.

Does anybody know what Ryu Narushima is up to these days? Theres not so much information to be found on him, but I find him to be very a very inspiring karate.

Thank you! Very helpful. On june the 22th I'm going to have my first karate exam by the way! So I have 38 days left, and yesterday I challenged myself to at least train 20 times by myself. I'm working hard right now (karate, power/strengt/weight and cardio). I'm already starting to notice that my body is getting stronger and my karate smoother.

Thanks guys. For weight training my sensei says it's better to use lighter weights and do more repetitions, but I also read somewhere it's better to use heavier weights and less repetitions (8-12). What is true?

At my current shotokan school we train only once a week and this kyokyshin school trains two times a week, on tuesday and on thursday. Yes, I just need to see how it goes. It's such a bummer that there ain't no kyokushin school nearby.

I'm just really wondering if I should travel 1.5 hour each way or not. I'm going to do it on tuesday, to train with them an see how the travelling goes.

How far do you guys travel to your dojos? Mine is five minutes away from my house, but I am thinking of changing karate style (from shotokan to kyokushin) but there aren't any dojos nearby, so I would have to travel 1.5 hour with public transportation.

My sensei says a good karateka must be able to run for about 45 minutes. Since I'm only 1.68 cm tall I am very afraid of getting shorter http://www.stronghealthtips.com/lifting-weights-shorter This article says you get shorter from deadlifts and barbell squats. Should I just avoid everything that goes above the head and what could I do instead?

I have one question....I will get later back to weightlifting/strenght training. For running, what would be the best running regime for a karateka?

Tallgeese, another Gundam fan?

Thank you guys. I too hope the flame will burn brighter every time I have trained! I'll try to keep you guys posted on these forums about my progress. I have been practising heian shodan and heian nidan at home since I started, and heian shodan is the one I can keep up the best when I'm training with the group. I also try to memorise some of the terminoly, but theres alot coming my way. Since I have never practises a martial art before I also need to get used to bowing before going into the dojo and when leaving, but some of the guys there immediately told me about these things.

Thought I'd introduce myself since people here were already kind enough to answer some of my questions. I'm Epyon (well on these forums I am) and I am 19 years old and started training shotokan karate three weeks ago. At the moment it's what I look most forward to during the week and I can't wait to train again tomorrow. I hope I will be able to keep this enthousiasm for years to come. Some people ask me why I chose karate and I could give you several answers. I have always been a fan of martial arts in general, loved watching K1 on Eurosport when I was a kid, and what fascinates me the most about martial artists is their dedication. I wanted to be dedicated to something like this too! I chose karate because I like the style and it will toughen me up physically and mentally. It will teach me how not to give and and work hard.

Thank you for your responce. I'm not a tall guy, more like Asian lenght, haha, so is it true that deadlifting and overhead press can make you lose some lenght? I also wonder, I have a pretty good dumbbel set here at home, can I do these exercises with them instead?

And how exactly do you train speed while using normal weights? I need to strenghten my arms, upper body and legs. Weighting my wrists and ankles can do that? I guess that for the abs I could just do sit ups?

Oh yes, it's affordable, I just wanted to know if that would be much or not for karate, since I don't have anything to compare it to. I'll embrace the idea of gloves, because I like doing what I'm doing. I just started to wonder because I saw all these video's without gloves. The video I posted of those Germans is without gloves and shotokan and not kyokushin, right?

Good, great to know that it's not a sham. I do feel like I was a little quick to judge, since the training did seem to be go This is in Germany and they spar/fight without gloves. On youtube I saw more videos without gloves than with, that's why I started to wonder. I also thought that if the Japanse are fighting without gloves, then it must be right to do so.

Okay. What if it's not really possible for me to do exercises in the water? Are there other alternatives? Is it true then that doing things with weights is wholly excluded? To be honest, haha, my whole body needs to get stronger. I am not fat, not even close, so it's not like I need to lose fat, chances are it would even be beneficial for me to gain some weight.

Goede dag, darksoul. Dutch? I'm happy to hear that. I just read all these things on the internet avbout mcdojo's and got a bit concerned, because I just started and want to learn things the right way. About the exams, I guess you just pay for the fact that you're having a exam. Hmm, you guys are probably right. I think in our dojo it takes about 5 years (if you pass all exams the first time) to get your 1st kyu brown belt. @Zaine: on monday mostly the higher belts train and they told me that maybe after I few months I could train with them, but right now it's too fast for me.

Thank you for your kind responce. I started doing karate because I really want to dedicate myself to something and get the most out of myself. It might be a stupid question, but what do you actually mean with 'basics'?

Thank you for the reactions. I am having serious doubts about the dojo. So I wonder, is 18 euro's a month alot of money? I believe you have to pay money for exams too and the exams are twice a year. Some parts of the training all the belts train together (most people are around my age btw, which is 19) and later in the training the group gets divided into lower belts and higher belts. Lower belts are the people with white belt and yellow belt. I think the trainer also told me that real matches are with gloves, which I hope not to be true. I believe they also said not to spar that much during trainings. I've been two full trainings and haven't seen any sparring. I know that I am not ready for sparring, but I haven't seen any higher belts spar either. Are there any other things you guys should know? My trainer ordered my ki, but he said I could get it somewhere else too if I wanted, that was up to me. The first payment had to be for the first quarter of the year (3 months upfront) and after that you just pay once a month. If you want to stop you have to notify them two months ahead. It always gets extended your membership for another quarter if you don't notify them you want to stop.

I just started training shotokan karate and I think we spar with gloves on, but when I watch clips of japanese karate association karate fights they are always without gloves. This is really distressing me.

I'm 19 and I started training shotokan karate three weeks ago and I would like to start doing some additional training. To be honest, I know very little about these things but I read that lifting weights will make you slower etc. I want to become stronger and faster, what can I do? So what I am asking for is what can is specifically do to reach my goal? These additional training sessions are meant to be done in favor of karate, so perform the best I can. I guess you guys should also know that at the moment I train once a week on every thursday, but I hope to start training soon every monday as well. Thanks!