Kyonovice

I am starting to lose the joy of training, the "style" is not the issue, and it's not the instructor either. I am just not happy that I am the only student at the dojo. To start with this was not an issue, I was liking the 1-1 tuition, but now I am losing that joy, I want to go to enjoy training and I just am not. So the question is, what to do? I haven't invested much monetary wise in the training (just a new gi which was needed), so should I go look for a new club?

Every martial art is (or has been) effective. Now surely it is down to the practitioner and how they interpret the art that makes it effective?

I have now subscribed to this publication ($2.99 a month - about £2.00). Good value for money I feel.

I studied Shotokan for many years before my break, yes it is a bit Kata heavy but then so are many forms/styles of karate. You should be learning Kihon as well as the Kata (do you start with Taikyoku series or go straight into Heian?). There should also be an element of sparring, sort one step and five step sparring at that level. I say there should be because it's Shotokan and unfortunately things in Shotokan got very political and there were various fragment organisations such as JKA, KUGB, EKGB etc etc the list is endless. Speak to your sensei and see what he says.

Definitely try other schools, your gut feeling seldom lets you down I find. I tried several different schools when I was finding somewhere to train, some felt ok, others were just a no go for me (one I went to who advertised himself as Wado-Ryu with some kckboxing included - turned out to be more kickboxing with no sign of Wado-Ryu even got me to sign a disclaimer saying that I wouldn't go talking to other dojo's about what he does - as if it was tht damned good - it wasn't that good at all for the record!) Anything that tries to get you into a contract for training is a no go for me, they are after your money weather you can train or not.

Hi, do you mind if I put my two penny worth in? I notice you say $198 a month is not too bad for you and your family to train, in the UK that works out at close to £130 at todays exchange rate to train once a week. To me that seems pretty high, but then how long is a training session? I pay £6 for a 90 minute session for myself and £4 for a 60 minute session for my daughter. I try to train as often as possible but then that is subject to shifts. Considering my dojo is open 3 days a week (Mon,Weds, Fri) for adults and twce a week for juniors, the MAXIMUM I would pay for both myself and my daughter to train is £112 per month based on a 4 week month (and that would be for me to train 3 times a week and my daughter twice - that seldom happens). So, in my mind for training just once per week, $198 is a lot of money. I also have a major issue with dojo's insisting that you enter into a contract, you are not buying a cell phone or asking for a bank loan here, you are paying someone for a service, there should be no need to enter into a contract. In my thinking, dojo's asking for people to enter into contracts are running scared that their students will not stick with them unless they have the contract to stick to, this is not how martial arts training should be (correct me if I am wrong). With regards to the issue of having the majority of the class as black belts shortly and yourself as the only white belt, this is something I would look into closer. Do the teenagers look like they have the quality to be a black belt or are they getting awarded the grade as a return for sticking with the dojo? I would be dubious of the fact that there are no lower grades at the club. Instructors with pushy sales techniques also stinks to me of potentially being a so called "McDojo" and I personally would not go near it, I decide where I train, I pay for it, a good dojo should not need hard sale techniques. If I were you, I would return to my old dojo or take a little while longer to search for the right one. I took a lot of time out (I am talking 15-20 years) and then returned to a different style as a novice (from previously being a Shodan), I took a lot of time to find my new dojo and I am so pleased that I did.

Hi I train as often as I can at my dojo. My dojo train 3 times a week, now we train the following: Monday - Kihon & Kata Wednesday - knock down techniques Friday - knock down and randori techniques I thoroughly enjoy the kata work and am learning new things every time I train (I am a white belt in Kyokushin, but have studied in Shotokan to a higher level). I have already gone through to Pinan Sono Ich and tonight we went through Sanchin No Kata - that hurt! The knock down stuff is new to me in that Shotokan doesn't train it, but I do like it, the randori is excellent but I wish I could get to grips with it more! The combination of all 3 is an excellent mix I have to say.

I did years of Ippon Kumite in Shotokan, now I have moved to Kyokushin, the contact is totally different! For Ippon kumite, definitely try to concentrate more on body movement and evasion of strikes (wish I had done that when I was in Shotokan, might not be getting hurt as much now!)

From my brief experience with boxing (see my previous post), boxing will teach punching and footwork (can't truly punch without proper footwork) better than anything else out there. You've got to alter the stance a little bit for kicking, but that's where the solid base in karate comes into play IMO. In that case, I may well be approaching Mr Takaloo (Takliobeshi) in the playground tomorrow then

Something that I have been considering since starting my Kyokushin journey, maybe western boxing could be of use. I have noticed some similarities in the punching and am thinking I could investigate this a bit. Seeing as this guy's kids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takaloo goes to my kids school, I might ask him for some hints and tips on power generation etc and see if I can use it...

Cross training is a good thing, it really is and I wish I had the time to cross train properly, unfortunately I barely have enough time for my base art at the moment! However, I have in my time moved about the map of the martial world a little bit, dabbling in different arts here and there. My base art is always likely to be karate in one form or another, I started out in Shotokan and now after many years, study Kyokushin. In my time I have "dabbled" with (by that I mean, when I have moved to another area and not found a suitable karate class, I have trained in others arts - not for what I consider a long time & never graded). I have dabbled in the following: Aikido Wing chun Judo Kickboxing In all honesty, in Kyokushin, I am now using some the BASIC Understanding of Judo and Kickboxing in helping me understand some more specific parts of that style (we do randori and the low kicks etc). I have learned a lot from my dabbling in other arts, Aikido was of particular benefit in understanding things such as body movement and using the opponents weight, momentum and position to your own benefit. Certainly as I get older and (hopefully eventually get more free time), I aim to cross train properly (More than likely with Aikido again) as I believe that to fully understand any martial art, you need to investigate it's weaknesses as well as strengths.

Well I returned to training on Wednesday for the 1st time in 2 weeks. I now ache, a lot! My Sensei brought in sparring, 10 x 1 minute rounds, just he and I. Never sparred like it before, my chest aches from being punched so much, my left leg aches from being hit so often with low kicks. BUT...My God it felt good, it's a good ache and I feel it has helped me in coming to terms with the whole philosophy of being struck!

Ah that's fair enough, I would certainly have a look at the first one again, pop along and see what it's like, what do you have to lose?

Hudson, adter a quick google search just for Karate Clubs in Lowestoft (I Know the area is quite big, I have relatives that way), I came up with these other karate clubs, I cannot vouch for the clubs individually and some of the styles are ones that I have not trained in but might be worth a look: http://www.karatelowestoft.co.uk/index.php?start=6 States to be based on "traditional" styles of Wado Ryu and Shito Ryu. Has been about as a club since 1979 so must be doing something right! Or there is this place who state they do Kyokushin http://eafaobushidocentre.wix.com/wwwbushidocentre/kyokushin-karate#!__kyokushin-karate They have very little information on their website and claim to be some not for profit organisation that appear to have all sorts of martial arts going on. Looking at the Kyokushin page of their website, it seems to only be juniors, but it might be worth while giving the sensei a call and explaining what you want to do, they might be able to help.

Yes there are loads of kyokusbin dojo's in England, its one of the most popular styles here. If the op could be a bit more specific as to where on east coast I could maybe help more

Ok, I am in the South East (Kent), there are loads of Kyokushin (or off shoots) here. You could try searching for off shoots of Kyokushin (I train at a place called Karate Jutsu Kai which is essentially Kyokushin but with a few differences). Other than that, have you looked at Goju Ryu at all? As far as I am aware, they use some quite good kicks and are pretty full on when it comes to sparring.

where abouts are you?

never tried foot to foot, might have to give it a go sometime.

Congrats on passing your grading. I have a question for you about your side thrust kick (well 2 really) 1. does your style/association do the kick in kiba dachi and step across or stationery from a fighting stance? 2. If you are in kiba dachi and step across (to the side), does your style/association insist on stepping across in front of the standing leg? I ask as, in my new style, we do side thrust kick from a fighting stance with a double step or switch step to generate the power, however in shotokan, we did the kick in kiba dachi. In shotokan, they used to insist on stepping in front of the standing leg which essentially closed the hips up, however, as I got further up the gradfes and with experience, I learned that this was not something set in stone and started experimenting with stepping behind the standing leg which kept the hips open and helped in generating power and throwing the hip into the technique. Try it sometime.

I was going to suggest Kyokushin. I made the move from Shotokan to Kyokushin earlier this year and believe me, if it's competition you are looking for and more leg work (kicks), then Kyokushin is for you. Yes there are some major differences, yes you will find it a huge challenge (especially in changing of mindset), but my god you will love it!

I am on a 2 Staff Safety Training refresher today and tomorrow so I am still "working out" and doing some punching etc, just feel like I am letting my Sensei down by not attending

I hate this, I have been loving training lately, but this last fortnight (and for this week into the early part of next), I am unable to train. I haven't got home from work in time to train tonight, my next session I have got my children to look after as my wife is at a work event and then the next 2 training sessions after that I am at work (night shift). So basically I can't train until a week on Wednesday! This has totally annoyed me, I have my new gi and the shin guards I need and now I can't use them, my brain is all over the place as I so badly want to train but just simply cant! Anyone else get like this?

Finally my new gi has arrived, all embroidered up with club kanji and I have to say it is lovely! My only concern is that the new gi is not a heavyweight one, it is 100% cotton but is quite thin. Although this is going to be a wonderful break from a heavyweight one, I am concerned about the following: - The "snap" with it being light weight, I fear it won't snap as well as my old one and my technique won't "sound" right - Randori - we do some randori now and then in lessons, I worry that this one won't hold up to the rigours of randori and will break which I really don't want. I am now trying to decide what to do, I might just speak to my sensei about getting a judo doji (top only) for the randori or see if there is a way in which the randori can be included without as much force used to try and keep my gi from breaking at the seem.

Had to run a search on that, it appears to be a splinter of Kyokushinkai, and very proud of its heritage and art! ... they fight bare knuckle, That will make you smile! Looks to be in all tense and purposes to be a 'bona fide' Kyokushin organization! They held there first world tournament in Oct 2013 According to the 'youtube video' I found! Kyokushin refers to itself as the strongest karate, we focus a great deal on physical fitness, and body conditioning as I mentioned earlier the aim is to fight at 'Knockdown' level! It test you body and when the body hurts its tests your mind to keep going! You should enjoy this, so long as this is what you seek in a Martial Art that is! Enjoy! Yep, that looks like it could be fun (but brutal), not sure I will ever pull off some of those kicks though!

On a side thrust kick I tend to rotate the standing foot, helps with the opening up of the hip.