Iskrax

Hey This is really cool that you passed up the exam! Congratulations! As a martial artists we all have times when we feel like we are not improving at all. We feel bad and sloppy, struggling to do the technique, losing motivation.. Sometimes I feel like that too, everyone does. I can't give you advise. You must suck it up and continue your training. Push yourself even if you are feeling bad. Eventually, you will no longer feel disheartened. Do not even think about doing a pause. Keep going!

Rafael Aghayev, Niyasi Aliyev Luigi Busa George Tzanos Douglas Brose, Vinicius Figueira

Hey Arawaza is really good brand for karate. A lot of professional athletes use it. I personally use arawaza onyx evolution kumite gi. Best gi I ever had and I really enjoy it because: 1) It is very light (by this you feel like you are naked). 2) It looks fantastic That is kumite gi. I am sure the kata gi is also very good!

During competitions, some federations forbid some techniques to be used because they can damage your opponent (I am talking about point, sport karate).

Hey. Personally I have been training in traditional style for 4 years (2 KYU). You know these low speeds, very tense kumite fights. Last month I switched to Olympic orientated school dojo (Shotokan-wkf). I was astonished by the speed and dynamics of kumite. It is very difficult for me to adapt to this dynamics. So has anyone faced similar situation? Do you have any ideas how long it would take me to adjust to their style?

For everyone saying ''talk to sensei''. Im sure that sensei is not going to change his teaching method because of me. Majority of people in my dojo are here just to learn karate for self defense moves (bunkai) . Thats why sensei is not going to put more on kumite game. I want to try sport karate.

Thanks for replies. You did not understand right. I would go to the dojo where I have zero friends, i would be meeting new people. I do not see dojo or martial arts as a social club. Yes, the seniors at my dojo are lower grade(9-6 KYU), and some of them are not even worth this rank. My reasons to leave current dojo 1) NEW experiences, dynamics (Shotokan WKF) 2) More trainings 3) training with my age people, who are better than me. I actually would improve myself. My reasons to stay in current dojo 1) Very good sensei

I want to improve myself. I do not see dojo as a social club where I can talk to people. I do understand that there are many seniors who are fast, strong and have a lot of educations. Sadly, they are not in my dojo. I forgot to say. I do not like my current style (Goju-Ryu). We often focus on KATA and self defense. I understand that it is really important part of karate but I want to train under WKF. I want to try another style, new dynamics and experience.

Hey I need your help, this decision is going to have a huge impact on my life. I been training in karate for 4-5 years. I am brown belt and huge fan of this sport. I am thinking about switching dojo. It sounds simple but it is not. Here is why This year a lot of my friends, who are same age as me (I am 19), switched to other dojos. So today I do not have any good martial artists who are the same age as me. I mostly train with veterans, who are much older than me. I feel like I can't progress with older people. Any karateka will understand me When you train with older people it is not the same when training with your age partners. Elderly are not that flexible, fast and etc. so you can't really progress. Younger people in my dojo are not my level of karate (it sounds silly, but it is a fact.) Another reason is what there is not much kumite work. In my opinion, we do not train kumite as much as we need to do. I love kumite and the fact that I can't put my mitts kills me! Also I need more trainings. On the other hand, the sensei is really good dude. He has 5 DAN and he is about 35. He is my first sensei and he sees a lot of potential in me. I train in a traditional dojo. Twice a week. If i go to another dojo, I will be training with WKF 3rd dan Sensei (woman). 3 times a week. I really want to improve myself, meet other karatekas, but the fact that I will need to leave my sensei, who has put a lot of work into me. Help me ! Thanks

Did you overcome your fears?

but Kyokushin fighter is usually in stand by and stiff position. Shotokan karate moves way more so

Hey karatekas! Imagine situation when Shotokan karateka and kyokushin karateka do kumite. How do you think it would go? Full speed, full contact. The task is to win by showing proper techniques and not to KO opponent, just some contact. We all know that Shotokan karatekas are very fast with their leg techniques and fast tzukis. We all know that Kyokushinkai karatekas are famous for their strong low kicks and tobi mawashi geri. My prediction: The fight would be very interesting. On one hand Shotokan people work in long distance while Kyokushinkai work in close distance. This means that both martial artists would be feeling uncomfortable. Shotokan lad would be in real trouble trying to stand too close to the Kyokushinkai. He knows that leg kicks are very dangerous. He would keep his distance, attacking from distance using fast tzukis and mawashis (perhaps throwing some ashi barai techniques?). Kyokushin guy would need to catch the right time to attack when Shotokan lad comes. Otherwise he is in trouble.... See yourself. This is the closest kumite fight I could find between styles. Nichollas is famous kyokushinkai karate who trained under Masutatsu Oyama, his opponent is Okinawan-shotokan karateka. This video just shows difference between styles or maybe how the kumite between styles would be? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5At0AnSUw How do you see this fight?

You should know what there is special celebration for all of us in October-The karate day. Many dojos choose different ways to celebrate it. Today Vilnius karate community celebrated it doing 100 times kata Setsu Bama Yama. I went to dojo, knew nothing about this kata. 3 hours of hard work and I love this kata! How did your DOJO celebrate? I seen on internet how Okinawa celebrated it. 3500 karatekas were doing same kata, they broke guinness record! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daCoxePBf9Q

I am currently training really hard for brown belt. I have test for 3rd KYU (Shotokan) in couple months. What is your opinion on brown belt? Is it like really premium rank in karate? I mean it is almost black belt (still couple kyus ahead). When I tell my friends about brown belt, they are not impressed because it is not black. But how advanced for karate is brown belt? As a sensei what do you think about your brown belt students? I don't know how to explain this, but what do you think about brown belt rank? Thanks

Hey lads. Do you use WKF foot protection or gloves? Are they really worth buying? I do not have any foot protection because nobody in our dojo is using them. We only use gloves, but not the light WKF approved but a little bit heavier. Recently during kumite I injured my shin. It was painful. Also I always have callus on my feet from tatami and fast technique applications. My birthday is coming up, I am thinking of buying adidas wkf gloves and foot protectors, answer these questions as detailed as possible. Is there any possibility of breaking thumb using wkf gloves? They are really light and from what I had seen they do not fix your thumb. Are they comfortable? Easy to wear and protects your fist? Does foot protection set save your feet from callus? injuries? Are they comfortable to use (I am talking about mawashi, ura mawashi, ushiro mawashi techniques)? Do you kick stronger with them? slower? So should I buy them and use them in my shotokan trainings? Thanks

I shout Kiai because it gives me more power and force. It may also scare opponent. You don't scream the word KIAI actually. It's the term used for energy shout. Everyone has different kiai, for someone it may be: AHH, for you: BRahhh. A lot of people confuse and they scream word kiai but it's worthless. It should come from your body at the right moment. My kiai is the loudest in our dojo . But that is my kiai and I'm the one who controls it. Scream, shout and fight!

Rafael Aghayev is amazing! Short guy who won many world champions is ideal for many karatekas! You think he is going to do tzuki but in reality you are already on the ground by his ashi barai technique while referee gives him ippon. Luigi Busa. Strong, fast Italian who loves to eat pizza. I love them!

Shotokan is very fast and intense style. The main idea of shotokan is to knock out your opponent with single blow. It has deep stances and transitions. Shotokan uses speed and less force, the main aiming of the training is to fight with extreme speed and not much power. Of course they will learn you how to kick and punch hard. Low kicks are rare, a lot of high kicks, ashi barais. Punches are standart tzukis. Trainings involve a lot of training with partner, kumite, kata and basic form repetitions. As for Judo, this martial art cannot be trained alone without partner. Of course you could train ukemi (falling techniques) but you need partner for actual throws. Do not even bother training it from books, it is worthless... I have been training Shotokan for 4 years. Good luck!

Makiwara or punching bag? That's the question. For speed? Strength? Practicing technique? What is better to train with.

Hey brothers! I'm 3rd kyu on shotokan karate. (4 years of martial arts+) I love my classes, hard work, a lot of partner work, kumite. The main problem that there is no punching bag in DOJO. Sure we have sand bags, makiwaras where you can train your technique and stronger your fist. There was a punching bag couple months ago until some black belt hit it so hard that it fell out from the construction. I remember how after hard training me and my buddy used to spend like 30 mins on bag each time practicing combinations and powerful kicks. From that time no punching bag here. I can't practice my combinations and very powerful hits. What to do? I'm really afraid that my kicking and punching game strength is not on point and when I will need to use my karate skills on street there won't be any effect. Help?[/u]

1) How did you first become interested in martial arts? In summer 2012 there was a strong athletic kid who was messing with me around. He was making fun of me. Telling me I'm not strong. He was always pushing me to the ground, he didn't even bother to fight me. After that I told myself that I'm going to the DOJO and learn how to fight in order to revenge him one year later in the same camp 2) What discipline did you decide to practice? Karate 3) Why did you choose that specific discipline over the other disciplines? It was the first thing what came to my mind. I also liked the karategi and belt system. 4) What is your skill level within your martial arts discipline? I didn't even know how to throw a punch or form a fist. 5) What other things do you like to do? (When you're not in the gym/dojo, what else do you like to do with your time? This can be physical or nonphysical pass times) I love watching martial art videos, practice martial art techniques, go to different seminars and camps. Yea I'm enthusiastic! 6) What are the first 3 martial arts related brands that come to your mind. (FIRST, not BEST). Adidas, Venom, nike 7) How do you decide what martial arts gear/equipment to get? (How do you select one type or brand over another?) I select the most popular brand or the equipment my sensei tells me to to get (gloves, teeth protector, pads for legs and etc..) Roughly how often to you buy new martial arts equipment? Once in 2 years. Usually gloves, my kimono stays for like 4 years. 9) Where do you get your equipment from? Is there a reason for this? From internet website because there you can buy most popular things.

Have you heard of him? For those who don't know him he is famous Azeri karateka, who has won many titles (by many I mean five times World, ten times European champion and many others...). He is basically my idol. I enjoy his kumite fights, his encouragement to win and his leadership. He is the cup of tea of Azerbaijani national team. Look at his speed and coordination. Damn... those judo throws on tatami.... What do you think about him? Would you dare to face him on tatami? I would! Even though I'm 3 KYU on shotokan and he is 5th dan, every second on tatami with him would give me fantastic experiences!

Thanks for help but its not really that 'ura' Ura starts with facing right side. Normal kata with facing left. Dont know about kyokushin. That kata was not ura because it was same as normal Heian nidan. This is normal kata heian nidan - So basicly i need Ura like in video.

But i need heian nidan ura. Not other katas

Hello. I have kyu test coming in 7 days. I know all kihon, kata and everything else. The problem is that to pass this test I need to know heian nidan ura. I know normal heian nidan but when i try to do it 'ura' i mess everything. I looked at youtube but I couldnt find any videos. Please help me!! Can someone post video how to do heian nidan ura? During july our club doesnt have trainings so i cant get help from my friends. I have one week to learn heian nidan ura! Please help. Thank you! My style is shotokan.