Charlewisoe

I've done some competitions now and would like to share 2 clips they made from me: The one above was against a blue belt. The one above was against a black belt. Sometimes i still turn my back... Thanks in advance for your comments / tips !

Purple Belt

Indeed very basic but very important techniques. In our dojo we do a lot of kihon and kata, so the basics are there, only the follow throughs I have to work on to gain more confidence. I've scored the most points just by countering with Gyaku zuki, with a perfect timing and distance, and it feels so good ! That feeling of your fist planting itself in the others plexus when the want to knock off your head

If a shotokan guy is in close range, he hasn't done his job right, the opponent had allready been KO. In shotokan the danger zone is much further away. On the street this mindset can be better to be aware of your surroundings, if you see guys approaching to harass you, keep you're distance with knowing that you can attack from a safe distance and hit him quite hard on a vital spot. Then run away In the movie Kuro Obi is a good example, when the police wants to attack with his sword, he's allready KO'ed by the shotokan master

This weekend I've fought allready my Third tournament ! This was my first international tournament in another country (I'm from Belgium and the tournament was in the Netherlands ) I've fought 4 times and lost one time. So I ended third ! Normally I had a very good chance to be Second, but the I made the same mistake that I Always make when I'm a bit scared, turning my back, and also I stepped out the ring three times by accident.... So I know my mistakes ! All the opponents where much bigger then me, and much heavier ! Also lot more aggresive like I'm used to. Nevertheless I beat 3 guys ! I was much more relaxed and countered their attacks very good. Just need to work on my attacks and not turning my back away after I make my attacks. 30 March is an european championship in Belgium, so I still have time to work on that back turning error. And I forgot to read the earlier posts about the side kick that stops the bulls ! I stopped them with my counter punch in the plexus

Yes I know turning my back is a major error. Gyaki zuki is punching with your backfist (opposite of the front leg), while jumping forward with your front leg, with the other hand you block. This was my countering technique, and kizami zuki jodan, is jumping in with your front leg, and punching with the front hand at the same time. I guess for this first competition I was a bit to nervous and scared, and made that error of turning my back away. I searched the forum on how to use the blitz, and I will going to work on that, so I know how to overwhelm my opponent without being scared and turn away after a few attacks.

Thank you very much. Basics are apparently very important. In our Dojo we do a lot Kihon, and kata, We don't do free sparring a lot, only the basic kumite techniques like, sanbon kumite and Gohon kumite. I guess if you start walking very good, and you can walk very good, you can start walking fast, and then you can start learning how to run. And in the beginning just keep those feet on the ground, even when I thought I had fast leg techniques, they where just to slow in competition, you can block them so easy, are go back so easy. You've got the be very good with you're legs to score a point with them. For now I'm going to practice more striking combinations, so that I will be able to attack much quicker, and without being afraid, so that I don't turn my back away. And if I turn my back away, I will need to do something, like uraken or ushiro geri, or ashi barai. If anybody else has more good tips, you're welcome to share !

Yesterday I had my first Kumite tournament as a blue belt, with Shobu Ippon Rules. I've learned a lot !! Most points i've scored with Gyaki zuki countering when the attack came. The first match was against a brown belt with a few years of experience in competition, but I even knocked him to the floor just with gyaki zuki conutering (twice ! ) And didn't get a warning at all to my suprise, I thought shotokan was no contact, but apparently only no hard contact to the face. (the guy needed to sit down for a few minutes to get his breathing back.) In my thoughts I was always thinking that you could easily score with leg techniques, but a good Gyaki Zuki counter does the trick very good !! The second match was against a guy that used his legs a lot, so he kept me at distance, but I noticed when he was kicking, his guard went down, so when his legs where flying at me, I scored a lot with kizami zuki Jodan. The final for first and second place was also against a guy with a few years experience in competion and also a brown belt, he was just to quick for me, and with far more experience in competion he just scored his points very quick with kizami zuki and gyaki zuki, he also used his legs, but i could block them very easy (again, scoring with legs is not so easy) The only negative thing I did was turning my back constantly. This is a very bad habit of me. When I attack and didn't score, I turned away with my back to the opponent, which obviously is very dangerous, I even had a warning for doing it to much. But now I was thinking, when I turn my back away, when I am so close to my opponent, isn't it a good idea to just do a quick ushiro geri ? Or maybe a quick back leg sweep ? I'm afraid that i will have more difficulty to learn to don't turn my back away, then to do something when turning my back away, or does anyone has other good tips for a beginning competitor ? It was a very nice experience, and second place against more experienced competitors was not bad at all for my first kumite match. But there is still room to improve

8/22/2013 Weight lifting: 87,5kg squat 5x5; 42,5kg Overhead Press 5x5; 100 kg Deadlift 1x5 Stretching and 3 sets of 10 clap push ups; 3 sets prone bridge till failure Karate class: Kihon followed by Geri Waza focus on Yoko geri kekomi and Mawashi Geri, Kata Jitte and application. My kicking techniques are getting much stronger by the Weight lifting, but the deep shotokan stances after weight lifting are killing my legs !! Today is resting day.

Thanks for the advice, Tabata looks very interesting ! never heard about it before. We will give it a try. Normally I go straight home after karate class to be with my girlfriend, so maybe I can do some tabata style exercises with her

After a month training I can say things are getting really heavy. I am in week 10 of my Stronglift 5x5 program, and to do this training just before karate class is not that easy. But I have to be honest to say that I'm not getting slower by doing weight training, I'm only getting much stronger, and I don't look like a pancake anymore. Also I can handle a lot more heavier punches to the stomach or upper body and even the solar plexus. The downside of the weight training before karate class, is that I do need the resting days in between. So I don't have that much time to do cardio/endurance workouts anymore. And that I notice in karate class. So now I'm stronger, I think I need to find a weightlifting program that also trains the endurance a bit, do you guys can help me out with that ? I found something that calls Calisthenics, maybe this is what I'm looking for ?

after my workout A, I do 3 sets of fist push ups and Pull ups / Chin ups as fast as I can, each time till failure. After my workout B, I do 3 sets of reverse crunches as fast as I can each time till failure and 3 times a prone bridge till a fall down. Is this a bit plyometric training ? In karate class we jump a lot and need to sprint standing still also, But this we do more as a warming up a guess. Tonight I leave to summercamp !!! Yiiieeehaaa, If I have enough to tell about I will make a new thread about it. I'm looking forward to meet Hirokazu Kanazawa in real life ! A real karate legend !

You might check out the thread "karate workout plan". I'm in the same situation as you are. And I'm bulking up with my new stronglift 5x5 program. I lift weights before karate class, and this works really well.

Sad news, yesterday was the last karate training in our dojo for this season. But this weekend we go on the SKIF summercamp with Grandmaster Kanazawa Kancho 10e dan, Murakami sensei 7e dan, Suzuki sensei 6e dan en Wakisaka sensei 4e dan ! It will be a great opportunity to train with the 83 year old legend Hirokazu Kanazawa ! After this weekend I will need to train my karate at home. In the dojo we will start again in August. With the starting strenght I'm in week 5 now. And it doesn't slow me down, instead I feel faster in my karate. Also the progress in push ups, crunches, chin ups, pull ups and prone bridge is great, i can do more and longer each workout ! This is a great motivation.

Hello Hawkmoon, thanks for your advice ! I will try the kata with closed eyes, I think it is a very good idea to train the mind also.