Capella

Yes, pretty much. Unelss there is a trademark on the name of the style, there is nothing to legally stop someone from declaring himself an expert in a martial art, traditional or otherwise. Sure, he might get called out by people with legit experience in that art, but they can't do much more than pointing a finger. And sadly, there is a market for that stuff as well. Because, let's face it, earning a black belt in a legit traditional martial art takes a lot of time, effort and devotion. It is not something that happens in a year or two by showing up for training once a week. Most people want to eat the cake, but they don't want to bake it. So McDojos who promise fast and easy success are in high demand. The starkest example I found so far is a German online karate course with some weekend seminars (I think six of them), that promises you a black belt in karate in a year. And it even is backed by an official organization, and it takes some digging and research to unravel how phony the 7th dan "master" who gives his name for this actually is. And there are schools out there that mostly offer children's karate in Germany, run by instructors who got their black belt from that same guy and organization (maybe not the one year online variety, but who knows?). For a parent without any experience in martial arts, who just wants to sign their child up for a karate program, it is next to impossible to spot this.

Well, since you chose Kyokushin as an example: Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin, died in 1994 without naming a successor. As a result, a bit of an inheritance-war broke out and there are now at least 7 world-wide Kyokushin organization (plus an uncountable number of smaller, national or regional ones). Each organization has it's own curriculum and ranking/belt system. Even the belt colors can vary for tthe kyu ranks. Still, most Kyokushin competitions are open to participants from other organizations and the belt rank is usually accepted when you change schools/organizations. For example my school changed organizations a few years back, but all the belt ranks stayed legit, despite some changes in the curriculum. In other traditional arts/styles like Judo, Goju Ryu karate, Shotokan karate etc. this is normally handled similarly. It is a bit different, if you change styles completely, though. Like if I decided to visit a Shotokan dojo, I would not wear my Kyokushin belt. I would start as a white belt again. But it would probably possible for me to progress through the rankings faster or to test for a higher belt in my first Shotokan belt test without having to start at the 10th kyu again. So if your belt does come from a school which is associated with an international organization, then other schools of the same or a closely related organization should accept that belt. If your belt comes from a self-proclaimed master of combat skills, then it does not matter how fantastic or legit the system your sensei invented is, nobody outside of your school will give a lollipop about the color of your belt. I am not very familiar with the world of American Kempo, except that I know that it is about as split up as the Kyokushin world, and for similar reasons (succession issues after Ed Parker's death). But I do not know how they handle the belt thing between different schools or sub-styles. I wouldn't be too hung up on the belt rankings, though. You've learned what you've learned, and if that has any value, it will stay with you, no matter what color your belt has.

Okay, very personal opinion here, of course. I am a 49 year old woman training Kyokushin karate. I don't fight in competitions, I am highly unlikely to get into any kind of "streetfight" (my last real world fight happened in 8th grade if I remember correctly ... I lost) and my aim is more to sparr in a safe (and fun) way than to prepare myself for a life and death encounter with Hercules. So from that point of view, I am quite happy that Kyokushin does not allow punches to the head. I kind of like my face and I have grown quite fond of my braincells. I find the thought that noone is going to bash my head in during sparring quite comforting. Okay, there is the risk of a kick to the head, of course, but they are way harder to pull off and therefore happen less frequently. Also, we usually sparr with a lot of control when it comes to kicks to the head. It would be very difficult to have the same kind of control for punches and still keep the sparring fluent and natural. Also bareknuckle attacks to the head are not feasible for most of us who have to go to work in a normal job the next morning. I find it difficult enough to explain the bruises on my arms and legs and the occasional limp to my employer and my colleagues. It always has to be a trade-off between gloves/protective gear or a limitation of target/technique. Let's face it. Most combat sports don't allow groin shots for very good reasons. Yet in "real world situations" they remain an option. A similar thing is true for punches to the head. I think it is more realistic to fight without gloves and without punches to the head than to fight with gloves and with punches to the head. Gloves change everything. If your main focus is self-defense, it probably would be a good idea to alternate between bareknuckle sparring without headshots and sparring with gloves and headprotection, so that you learn to cover and evade punches to the head.

CobraKai has been acquired by Netflix. Season 3 is supposed to come out later this year (September or October).

When I showed up for the first trial lesson at a kyokushin dojo, yes, I did sparr bareknuckle. Actually, apart from some judo randori when I was young, it was the first time I ever sparred at all. But it was totally alright. Everyone was very gentle with me. It is possible to sparr without any protective gear and still not hurt anyone too badly. I did get a few bruises that night, but mostly from throwing some kind of attack that was blocked. That's normal, though. If you don't get bruises, you are not doing kyokushin. Not letting someone experience that when he comes to try out a class, would be misleading him. If you can't take a few bumps, then kyokushin is not your art. And that's what a trial lesson should be about, shouldn't it?

I only trained for a few months when I was a teenager. I did a highschool exchange year in Kentucky, and that is where I started karate at a very small and cozy Goju Ryu dojo. It was the perfect place for me at the time, and my sensei, Robert Brown, did become my very own Mr Myagi. When I returned to Germany, I wanted to continue, but the only thing I could find was very sports oriented Shotokan Karate at large sports clubs. A lot of rather rough kids in there as well. I really did not feel like I fit in. I did a little bit of Judo and Shaolin Kempo at uni later, and I liked it, especially Judo, but there were so many other things to do and so I gave it up. Last year I decided I wanted to do something for my fitness, and I was tired of going to the gym on my own to lift weights or run on a treadmill. So I had a look at several martial arts schools instead, because it seemed more fun to me. And I stuck with a small kyokushin dojo. Great freindly atmosphere, really tough workouts and a very realistic, no-nonesense fighting style. I never thought I would enjoy full-contact fighting, but I really do.

I practice kyokushin in a small dojo in Germany. We usually train twice a week for 90 min, sometimes, if the dojo is free on Wednesdays, we throw in a third 90 min session. Every session is a bit different, and depending on who is there and wether we are preparing for a belt exam or a competition, the focus can shift a bit, but a typical session looks like this: - greeting - warm-up (shadowboxing, open hand sparring, skipping rope or just some light cardio stuff, mostly) for about 10 min - half an hour of either kihon/kata or combinations/pad work - some strength/conditioning or flexibility workout - half an hour of sparring As I said, not every session is exactly like that, but there usually is a strong focus on kumite and there is always at least some strength/conditioning involved as well.

The way I see it, training develops your body: strength, flexibility, endurance etc. Practice develops your brain by forming the neurological pathways to perform a movement in the most efficient way through repetition and variation. Actually, there are many stories of athletes who keep practicing in their head after being layed up with an injury by just imagining doing the movement. Of course, under normal circumstances, you can never completely separate one from the other. When you begin weight training and start squatting, for examples, the first few times, squats will be terribly hard, not only because your muscles aren't that strong yet, but also because you just have not found the most efficient way to do the movement yet. So every exercise you do in training will also challenge your brain and therefore be "practice" (even though maybe not practice in the sport you want to become better in). On the other hand, especially when you are starting out in a new sport or martial art, a lot of your practice will also be training, because you are using muscles which aren't that trained yet and the load will be enough to challenge them. The longer you train and practice, the clearer the distinction will become. Now, functional training has become popular mostly because it gives training a purpose if you have nothing to practice. Many people go to the gym because their doctor tells them to or because they feel generally unfit or they want to lose weight. But they have no specific sport in mind that they want to get better at. That's where functional training comes in. Just training your bodies abilities without coupling them to your brain in a usefull way is like tuning a car and then leave it in the garage because you can't drive. So I'd say the two factor approach makes a lot of sense if you are an athlete training for a specific sport (or martial art). Functional training makes a lot of sense if you are trying to generally better your health and fitness without committing to a specific sport.

Hi, my name is Jutta, I am 48 years old and recently started training Kyokushin karate. I have next to no other martial arts experience. I did a little bit of Goju Ryu karate during an exchange year in Kentucky about 30 years ago and got a yellow belt in judo while I attended uni a few years later, but that's too long ago to remember anything of it, to be honest. Also, I've never been a very athletic person. I started playing golf a few years back and that's about as far as my physical excertions tend to go. So what madness has befallen me to join the Kyokushin club I really couldn't say. I tried out a few different martial arts classes in my area, because I wanted to improve my fitness in a way that was more fun than just lifting weights in a gym. I tried Kickboxing, Krav Maga and Escrima, but the Kyokushin one was the one that pulled me in the most, even though I am way out of my league there. There is something very honest and real about it. Some of the fighters in the class are currently training for the German championship, which will be held this upcoming weekend. So the training in the last few weeks has been very much fitness, conditioning and sparring oriented. I was thrown in at the deep end, so to say ... even though, I am not sure yet, that Kyokushin even has something like a shallow end. I still can't do a single push-up in good form (I normally do them on my knees during training and still can't keep up with the others), I struggle to develop any kind of punching power with my left and I have bruises on my bruises (still don't know if the claim "you will stop to get bruises after a while" is true or just a myth). But at the same time, I can't wait to get to the next traiining, I spent hours watching kyokushin fights on YouTube and search the web for all information I can find on it. Which is how I found this forum. I had some trouble signing up, so huge thanks to Patrick for sorting that out for me.