Safroot

That's exactly my question, if you are rookie like myself & know nothing about the art, How can you figure out if your technique is wrong & the instructor is ignoring that fact for money or if you are on the right track of MA training ? One way is to contact the Hombu of said governing body. Find out where the closest dojo that's under their umbrella, and visit with that dojo's CI. But first, ask the Hombu to contact that CI for you, in order for you to have a evaluation, to see if you're on track. We do this all of the time!! If you can, go to the Hombu itself!! Cut the middle man out entirely; right from the horse's mouth!! Now, if the CI is recognized by the Hombu in a favorable way, then tread softly when you speak to them with your concerns, but still speak to them...keep it short...or you'll be shown the door quickly. If, after speaking with the Hombu, and you're lucky enough to get their attention, they will send a Senior Dan to investigate and to speak with that CI. The Hombu will not want some CI casting any bad light onto the Hombu as well as the brand/style. The Hombu will try to help your CI to see the errors of his way, and help him to reach a solution that will benefit everyone!! If the Hombu ignores you. Than quit asap!! Go somewhere else!! Your gut feelings...trust them...you believe that you're not receiving the highest quality of instructions...then be proactive and help yourself...you owe that to your MA journey!! Hang in there!! Thanks for the advice sensei8. The new dojo I found is recognised by: Australian Kyokushin Federation / Kyokushin World Federation / Kyokushin World Union and even listed on the AKF website, does that mean it's a good Dojo or not necessarily ?! To the bold type above... That's a great question, Safroot!! What's the answer?? Each practitioner of that governing body will have their own answer as to that question. Their daily dealings with that governing body should be favorable by all rights, and again, that answer depends and varies on each practitioner. We can have a good governing body on one hand, and at the same time, we can have a bad dojo on the other hand, or vice versa. Trust me, no matter the size of the governing body, each dojo, and more importantly, the entire student body is quite aware of things of that magnitude of importance. The one thing that remains constant is that neither a website and/or an endorsement and/or the like is the infinitive guarantee either way...either 'it' is or 'it' isn't!! But guess what? Guess who determines that...again?? The practitioner!! However, for that believe to take root, one will have to have more than a notion of an idea and that comes from experiences of being both a practitioner as well as a member of that governing body!! Hopefully the practitioner can determine at the end of the day

Thanks DWx , I agree it takes decades to get such knowledge & that's why I asked the question, to put myself on the right track to start building my own. I think you are right , I am getting into the Conscious Incompetence stage of learning

Thanks Wastelander, seems like I have underestimated the dojo/instructors role !

and that's the hard part I guess, to find the right person to teach you

Thanks JusticsZero

Congratulations, sorry for being about 1.5 years late but I was away from the forum for long time

Hi Guys, Since I have joined this forum & I am always wondering if one day I would have the extensive MA knowledge that some members have here. While browsing the forum I find lots of topics that I really can't understand what members are speaking about & will need to ask for Dr. Google's help (most of times it's nearly impossible to understand a whole topic from it). My questions is, where & how do you gather your MA knowledge from ? I guess being in the dojo once or twice a week wouldn't be enough. I know that books might help as well but I usually have no enough time to read with long work shifts & kids ! (It might take me couple of years to finish a good MA book ). Any Suggestions ?!

Nice Video. Thanks for sharing it Stonecrusher69.

That's exactly my question, if you are rookie like myself & know nothing about the art, How can you figure out if your technique is wrong & the instructor is ignoring that fact for money or if you are on the right track of MA training ? One way is to contact the Hombu of said governing body. Find out where the closest dojo that's under their umbrella, and visit with that dojo's CI. But first, ask the Hombu to contact that CI for you, in order for you to have a evaluation, to see if you're on track. We do this all of the time!! If you can, go to the Hombu itself!! Cut the middle man out entirely; right from the horse's mouth!! Now, if the CI is recognized by the Hombu in a favorable way, then tread softly when you speak to them with your concerns, but still speak to them...keep it short...or you'll be shown the door quickly. If, after speaking with the Hombu, and you're lucky enough to get their attention, they will send a Senior Dan to investigate and to speak with that CI. The Hombu will not want some CI casting any bad light onto the Hombu as well as the brand/style. The Hombu will try to help your CI to see the errors of his way, and help him to reach a solution that will benefit everyone!! If the Hombu ignores you. Than quit asap!! Go somewhere else!! Your gut feelings...trust them...you believe that you're not receiving the highest quality of instructions...then be proactive and help yourself...you owe that to your MA journey!! Hang in there!! Thanks for the advice sensei8. The new dojo I found is recognised by: Australian Kyokushin Federation / Kyokushin World Federation / Kyokushin World Union and even listed on the AKF website, does that mean it's a good Dojo or not necessarily ?!

Hi Safroot, Im Chris. I am dealing with finding a good dojo right now as well.. unfortunately cost has to be a consideration. Hi Chris, It's always good to find someone in the same boat. My previous Dojo was never a Macdojo although I don't like some issues about it but now I have moved far away from it to a rapidly growing area in Sydney where you can find lots of Macdojos in all MA trying to make good money from the growing population. I will try one that doesn't look dodgy & the instructor there was the instructor in my old Dojo years ago before moving here. That dojo is recognised by: Australian Kyokushin Federation / Kyokushin World Federation / Kyokushin World Union, so hopefuly they are good.

I figured this would not be translated correctly. I should have qualified these statements. Yes it is good for you to train with more qualified students, even black belts. However the curriculum is different between the ranks. Point in fact - you would not teach a Hachikyu Kusanku as their first Kata. There is a natural flow to the learning process and it exists for a reason. Having made this statement I need to further explain - a Mudansha student first learns a beginner Kata to learn how to move, transition and how to generate power. These techniques are often times simpler to pick up. If you were to drop a student right into a black belt class they would not be able to defend themselves during Kumite and they would not benefit from learning an advanced Kata before the basics have been taught. Yes it benefits the student to train with higher ranks and this is common place once they have been acclimated. We bring in higher ranks to work with lower ranks and give them pointers and help them progress. However I do not have Shechikyu training with Shodan, Nidan or Sandan students. To further my point you would not force a Shodan to back track every class to practice basic Kata, Kihon. Yes it is always good to go back to the basics and we do this often but I do not force my black belts to take beginners classes nor train at their level. It serves no purpose. McDojo's throw all ranks onto the floor and the training can not be said to be targeted to the specific rank. It slows down progress and this is by design. If you train longer and it takes you longer to learn the requirements for a given rank, the instructor benefits and the student does not. We target our students training to benefit them. I hope this clarify's my statement. Thanks for clarification MatsuShinshii but I still feel like that way of mixed rank training is not the best for beginners like myself but that's the case in all dojos I have contacted or been to. may be if they can split the class at one stage to work on the basic skills of the beginners instead of asking to try to do your best to do combinations that you will never be able to do & will feel lost in the class. I am not that experienced in MA but that was my feeling during my previous training period.

Completely agree , it's a major surgery & better to be on the safe side & check with your doctor first

Thanks so much Patrick

Congrats sensei8 with more years to come

Congratulations everyone and thanks for the staff team for creating this forum. I really missed it so much

Happy birthday Bob, sorry it's about 6 weeks late but I have been away from the forum for nearly 2 years ! Wish you all the best in your new year

Hi JusticeZero, Welcome back to the forum & thanks for re-introducing yourself again. Wish you all the best in restarting your MA journey.

Hi Mazzybear , yes very long time, since early 2015 I would say when I stopped training but now I am ready to restart was thinking of Muay Thai but the school close to my new place is not recognised by any Muay Thai organisation , Instructor is a young guy who has been training in Muay Thai for only 3 years and the place has its own grading, felt it will be doddgy then I found a Kyokushin karate school close by & I am planning to restart training there soon, hopefully before Christmas. I have really missed being a part of this lovely forum but life was too busy with family, kids, work, ......

Good points to keep an eye on, Thanks MatsuShinshii. Regarding point 4, it has always been a concern for me to be trained with higher ranking at the same time, doing same combinations (which I will struggle with all the time) but I thought that was normal in every dojo ?!

That's exactly my question, if you are rookie like myself & know nothing about the art, How can you figure out if your technique is wrong & the instructor is ignoring that fact for money or if you are on the right track of MA training ?

I agree with you that both are important but for some instructors they will never correct your technique or tell you that you need improvement, they will never be harsh on you during the training in order not to leave the dojo and they lose money ! So practically you will end up with really some bad techniques that you will struggle later on in your journey to fix as long as they are getting the money ! It's hard equation for the instructor I believe !

Has anyone tried kyokushin karate or any other karate mobile apps ?! I have found couple of video apps like : Kyokushin Karate to win & lifelong Kyokushin karate basics on apple store. Are those apps of any good ?! If anyone has found a good beneficial Karate app, plz let me know its name. Thanks

Thanks lowkickr , I am not looking for fast track ranking. I want an instructor to teach me the real Karate art even if it takes ages which I am sure it will . I will give tne new dojo a go & see !

Wow, that's pretty interesting sure will try it. Thanks

How can you do that ?! Very interested to know !