RAM18

Hey, Bit of a philosophical question but... I've been with my Wado ryu Karate school some 3 years now and in that time the school has brought on a fitness program from Cage fitness and also started Brazilian Jujitsu classes taught by a instructor from a local school. Lots of exciting things to do and try but i'm finding that perhaps the school has lost some of its focus on the karate side of things. The BJJ has taken off well and i am enjoying it but not as much as my karate. I prefer stand up martial arts. I seem to be very alone in this as a lot of people have been swept up in the completely different aspect of a ground game. Even my Sensei who is now talking of adding more BJJ classes but sticking with the one main karate skills lesson a week. I have been thinking that it might be time time to expand my MA horizons but i don't know where. One part of me wants to try another Wado Ryu school but i am aware this is considered rude and unethical if I train at both schools as i don't want to quit completely where i am. Another part of me wants to try another karate style such as Shotokan or kyokushin (although Kyo may be a little hardcore for me!) Or leave the Karate where it is and now try Taekwando or Muay thai? Being in the south east of England i have all these schools within 20 minutes drive of where i live. I guess the other road to go down is to speak to my Sensei about my concerns as a loyal student but even if that improves the karate side of things am i missing an opportunity in my MA development...

You say you hate cardio that leaves you dead. Sadly with fitness and exercise if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you.... Even in Martial arts the delivery of technique can be very cardio intensive if performed correctly. There are no shortcuts to fitness bar hard work.

Sounds like you have pulled your groin or hip abductor muscles. Very common injury in martial arts. lots online about it. As with most muscle injuries the P.R.I.C.E principle works as well as well as taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen. (Price - Protection. Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation.) if your at all concerned or it doesn't go in a few weeks see your doctor!

I want one at Shodan which is coming soon.... I'm thinking taking a dove wing (from the Wado Ryu logo) across the front of my shoulder with bold Kanji in doing down my upper arm. Cant decide on the exact wording as yet.... luckily my Friends wife is Japanese native so i can make sure my translations are accurate.

Watched it again this weekend. Its on DVD and BluRay too now. Some exceptional martial arts on display and very true to the source material. Love it!

Iain Abernathy's Bunkai;s are very thought provoking to say the least. I think for a good explanation of his goal is on his you tube videos and clips. They give a good indication of what Practical karate is. Real world application of kata if you like. Personally i really in enjoy his Kushanku / Kanku dai bunkai. His theory on the opening movement of the of the arms makes the most sense of all the theories i have ever heard.

OK most of these points i wholly agree a with but a few thoughts of my own. My school has black belt academy in its name and its run by two ex British karate team members. If i had been training at a Mcdojo for the last three years i would be a Dan rank by now and would be poor.... don't always judge books by there covers! Also stupid Kiai's... That's really subjective. Have you read into the reason for Kiai? From Wikipedia: Kiai relates to the manifestation, emission or projection of ones own energy (internal strength). How people choose to vocalize that will be different from person to person. As long at its genuine then it should matter what it sounds like.... lastly Team kata? Nearly all tournaments and competitions have a team kata section. Are you against the principle of it then?

Agreed! We have the same sort of requirements. My Sensei wants his blackbelts to be fit and remain fit.

For me it would be Chinto (AKA Gankaku) Like the use of crane stance...

Thanks for all the responses! Makes a lot of sense. The people moving on are now friends so i will still see them which is great. There are some positives out of it as this has made me more committed to my training than ever before and I'm approaching my 1st dan with much more of an open mind. What Kusotare said about the Wado Ryu syllabus being narrow i have heard before and do appreciate. I choose the school before the style but perfection of fewer techniques doesn't overly concern me but i can see why others could get bored.

Hi All, I have an interesting situation developing in my club at the moment and wondered what people thought about it...especially those of you who are several years and a few dans in! I have friends who are either 1st / 2nd Dan and one a 3rd Dan. Myself and one other friend are due to grade for 1st Dan in March. Of all these friends 4 have quit recently. They have all said that there isn't enough at blackbelt to keep them interested...they do the same thing every week and they are bored. My friend who was due to grade 1st dan has decided not too due to this. He does another martial art as well and says karate is not challenging enough! 4 people isn't a huge impact as we have around 35-40 adult students of all grades but it seems odd that they all are quitting now. As someone who is still loving my karate its strange to me. I cant imagine quitting. The essence of karate is someways is repetition for the pursuit of perfection that may or may not be obtained. They are all very competent at karate but as always there would be room for improvement but they have chosen not to pursue it. Is this a failure of my club to provide adequate things for the blackbelts to do or is it just personal choice that they have all discussed it and come to the same conclusion? I worry that if i make my 1st dan will i fall into this boredom too? What has kept people going to karate for 5+ years?

Nearly all cramps during exercise are down to lack of hydration / electrolytes. Most people drink during exercise but this is often too late. If you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. I used to get terrible calf cramps so a personal trainer friend suggested i try and drink more than 2 litres a day even more if i have a long training day. He also suggested that i avoid Tea/Coffee and anything high in salt after about 3pm as these take water out of your body! Now i rarely get cramp and i have a lot more energy during training!!! i would recommend it although it is hard if your at work to remember to drink water constantly but you get used to it.

Its a great thing to do as long as you take it easy. Lesson i learnt the hard way is if something hurts - stop! Possibly a worst case scenario but I ran a 5 mile Kamakzie forest adventure run. I felt my ankle aching due to the uneven surface and carried on. A day later i couldn't stand on tip toes and it took me a month to strengthen the ankle muscles in my right foot again so if your out in the woods/forest be aware of your ankles/knees!! That said running is great cardio and stamina training. In my school we have a requirement to pass a running test at 1st and 2nd Dan which makes sure all black-belts are at a certain level of fitness...which i think is a sound idea.

The word Bunkai directly translates in to the word analysis. No harm in analysing your kata. We learn a bit of bunkai but there is plenty of examples out there. One of the foremost experts in Bunkai is well worth a read: http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/

Awesome. Good luck in your search. I do fear that the Heinan (Pinan) series will be almost impossible to trace as there is much discussion of them being actively altered to be easier taught to children in schools. They were created by Anko Itosu so maybe research on him might be the way to go? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ank%C5%8D_Itosu Im sure many here have heard of Ian Abernathy. He has a brilliant article on the Heinan/Pinan Katas which may help: http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/pinan-heian-series-fighting-system-part-one

Look on the internet for karate schools your local area, town, city region, state or whatever. Try and see if any of them have reviews online to gauge how good they are. Most should give you your first lesson for free so go and see if you like it! There are many different styles of karate so if you want to you can research them online (Wikipedia is good start).

In Wado Ryu we just call it Bassai Apart from the timing I think the basic form is about the same as the Shotokan one.

This is the essence of modern karate. Kyu ranks really just show small development which keeps people interested. In my humble opinion Most of the people on this forum are no doubt extremely dedicated to there art and practice regularly but sadly we do not make up the majority of students in the average karate school. A lot are just trying it to get a bit fitter or see what its all about. These people membership money keeps the clubs going so you have to keep them wanting to come back and feel like they are learning. I find at my school we up the "small things" at about 3rd Kyu. By this i mean correct hip posture, weight distribution, flexibility, etc. and I tend to find that those with a passing interest who perhaps not quite at the standard they need to be either acknowledge this and leave or up their training and dedication and raise themselves to meet the standard of their peers. Appreciate that this might not be the case at every school. Especially those on the dangerous edge of McDojo pricing but i guess what i'm trying to say is that standards tend to balance themselves out eventually....but there always will be interpretation due to the nature of the age of the art and of styles that exist in Karate today.

Interesting on the license. My slip has a hand written number for our club ID but as i can clearly see the who the governing body is and i could (and have) checked it out with them. They are easily found online - My club use http://www.nakmas.org.uk/ which covers your personal insurance from injury or injury to others in martial arts. I pay £20 per year for this on top of my membership. They also hold a record of all Blackbelts registered under there licensing which can be found online too. You should be able to easily look up online your slip to see if the insurance is a genuine company or not...and if they have a record off you! As for the sparring...not something i have come across. Our instructors jump at the chance of a bit of kumite

Epic work out! Looks hard. I'm training for blackbelt currently and we have to do 100 x pushup, squat thrusts, sit ups, leg raises. 500 star jumps and 1000 roundhouse kicks!! Going to be hell but then i did join a club who like students to have a high level of fitness... One of our brutal workouts is: 15x 30 seconds of pad punching 30 seconds of press/push ups repeat no rest.

Paying to learn is not a new thing. We pay to learn to drive. we pay to learn at higher education and evening classes. People pay for Art classes which is even more subjective than martial arts! If you apply hardwork and do something long enough then you can be rewarded with such things as a black belt. The trouble is these days is we don't train in paddy fields from Okinawan masters. My school has a dojo in a top sports facility offers Karate and BJJ a karate cardio class and a Cage Fitness class with well maintained equipment. We are expected to apply ourselves to our skills and fitness and progress. This is something I am happy to pay for!

Nice use of stances... The other thing that struck me is how different Nihanchi is in my Wado Ryu style. Our kata is purely lateral so not sure if different stances would be as effective?

I have struggled with a lot of ankle/foot and toe pain over the years and being dedicated to excising these areas! That and dealing with some of my friends perception of Karate and why i do it...

We train our main skills day in a tennis/basketball court due to having more people than room in our actual Dojo!! Beginners always find it hard on the feet and sometimes slippery but it's amazing how your body adapts with practice and training. I love the wooden floor now. In fact sparring on the matts i bent my toe about four times because i wasn't used to it. One thing i would say about shoes that we have seen during kicking drills, trainers don't allow as much slip as feet do... so any kick that requires you to twist the standing foot can but massive pressure on your ankles as the trainers restrict that twisting movement so be mindful of that.

I think this is where Karate suffers from tradition vs reality. Katas, kihons and all line work we will be expected to have our hand on the hip, back straight and hips forward. its in the foundation of most karate styles generally. When we spar that all changes, hands up, hips sideways Sparring is much more natural body position but it is important to understand the traditional side of karate and why such things exist...