Hello everyone! I just registered in this forum and, first of all, I'd like to kindly introduce myself. You can adress me as Kohi and I've been doing martial arts for a few years now. I was looking for an internet forum where to share experiences with other practitioners and have fun. Pleased to meet you all! So, here's the deal. One of the reasons I registered was because I'm having doubts about where to take my martial arts learning from now on. You see, I started training roughly a few months before getting into college. Got into Shotokan Karate, really enjoyed it at first, though I couldn't train as much as I'd like because of all the time my studies sucked up. If I had been born before the internet, or if I wasn't such a curious person by nature, perhaps I would have been happy just sticking with what I was doing. But that didn't happen. I like to research, to try new things and meet new people, to broaden my experience. That's why since my very first years of martial arts life I would always like to spend time browsing the internet, reading books about the matter, making friends with people who practised other styles, and just trying to get as wide and enrichening a perspective as possible. That attitude didn't fit well in my Karate Dojo, where the mentality was more of the "do as you are told" kind. So I ended up in a kind of complicated position. You see, I really like Karate. All aspects of it. I'm not one of those guys who's only focused on self-defense as if he were planning to get into a fight as soon as he left the Dojo. I have a lot of fun performing Kata, and I am open to participating in tournaments. I just don't feel like the schools I have access to right now give me the whole experience of all that Karate can be. I mean, they spend most of the time practising the most basic of Kihon and applying it into the elemental Kumite drills. Like, you'll probably end up doing a thousand straight punches a week, some kicks, (always over the waist), and that's that. Any other kind of technique, such as circular strikes, maybe hook punches or elbows, and grappling, is little more than anecdotical. Forget about Kakie, breathing control. And, of course, you can never break away from the basic Kihon form, which means sticking to deep stances, no matter the situation. But, unfortunately, I may not have access to any other Karate schools in the near future, at least not until I get a job and have the means to move to a bigger city (which I totally intend to do). So I have to decide whether to stick with what I have, or try something different. I do have a brown belt, and getting my 1st Dan before next summer wouldn't be out of the question. But I don't know if that would really mean anything else than just inflating my ego, to be honest. And I guess I could try my luck with a new Shotokan school when I move... or go for something completly different. I do know that, if I move to the capital, I'd have access to, at the very least, Goju Ryu (from the IOGKF, Higaonna's federation) and Uechi Ryu, and I have an interest in both styles. There are also some decent Kyokushin groups, but I don't know if that would really change much: yeah, I have no doubt Kyokushin fighters are tough, but it's as sport-centered as your average Shotokan place. For the time being, I have set my eye on a Muay Thai school that looks really nice. I did some Muay Thai for a little while, before college completly took over my life, and I really enjoyed it. I think the guys that teach in that gym have fighters training and fighting in Thailand, which I know it's a really good staple of quality. Thai boxing, the real thing, has a great variety of striking techniques and lots of interesting stand up grappling techniques when it comes to the clinch, which would really help to enrichen my Bunkai. Also its focus on combat drills and sparring would help me improve my fighting skills, which is something I'd always benefit from. Also it is much cheaper since the school is nearer my home and I don't need to use public transport. So, what do you think? Should I bear it with the Karate I can do right now, or should I go and do something else until I have a wider range of options? And, when that time comes, do you recommend me to change styles, or to stick with Shotokan for a little longer and see what happens? What are your experiences with different Karate styles? Thanks a bunch everyone! Edit.: Before you ask, no, I don't have the money to train several martial arts at one time, at least not for now.
