Seamas

Hey, Late to the table here but I read down the thread and was wondering how things are going with this a year on? Did the PT sessions continue? and did they help? I am a Karateka and PT. I did my PT certificate to learn all of the principles of fitness so that I didnt have to pay someone else to drip-feed me it haha. At the end of the day though, a coach is really important in certain cases. If the goals are just to lose weight and gain strength generally, then there are some simple principles to live by and you can make mountains of progress without a trainer. I might post here and see if the info is useful to anyone. Seamas

Fun Fact! Though you all probably know it already. Karate Gis were adopted from Judo, not for any practical reason, but to help make Karate more appealing to Japanese people, as back in the day when it first arrived in Japan it wasn’t very popular. So Karate Suits are really a marketing tool/Japanese Fashion statement 😆 (that is if this is in fact true, can’t remember where I read that.)

I think a test should be a test. Whether someone knows you are capable or not shouldn’t matter. If you turn up drunk to your test and give all the wrong answers, you should fail. Obviously I’ve never witnessed a drunkard take a Karate grading, but you know what I mean haha. Also, there seems to be two systems being described there. Clubs the ‘put people forward’ when they are ready. And Clubs (like my old one) that hold gradings that you choose to take part in rather than being nominated. It’s up to you to make the judgement of whether you are ready or not. Not with no guidance at all, but with more emphasis on the student knowing the criteria and Knowing themselves when they have fulfilled it.

Would you say that you weren't properly prepared for the test then? Yea. And while our Sensei didn’t tell you ‘yes you should’ or ‘no you shouldnt’ grade. He would suggest in other ways that you were racing a little. Which I was I think. If you wanted to grade, you go ahead. But don’t expect to pass just for taking part. People fail tests, there’s hardly a point in even having a test if there’s no possibility of failing.

Like any style, what you get out of it is really dependent on the instructor and his/her philosophy and approach on teaching and learning.When I briefly attended the Aikido school in my hometown, the sensei there knew that of my TKD experience, and the fact that I would kick and punch as a warmup didn't bother him at all. Likewise, most of the students there knew I was a local TKD guy anyways, so it was never an issue. As for learning the techniques....the sensei is worked with described it as "giving" or "providing good energy." There is a learning curve that is heavily involved in trying to learn how to receive the techniques and then flow into the throws. I found at times that if I wasn't given "good energy" then I needed to produce some extra of my own, usually by pulling them along to get their momentum going. I think as the practitioner gets better, these things get figured out. Now, I don't necessarily like this way of learning, and think it definitely has it's problems. But I think once students start to really understand it, they can see the training benefits of it. I totally get that, different schools, different vibes. From what I’ve seen in whole now, I don’t feel aikido contributes much to a karate practitioner (unless it helps calm you or something, like yoga or meditation). In competition, people want to win, they aren’t going to give you “good energy”, so while it might be a fun thing to do in your free time, I don’t think it’s a good habit to expect good energy from your opponent. Could have a negative effect on someone’s Karate I think. And then take it a step further, on the street, if someone comes at you they’ll be bringing that ‘bad energy’. Another bad habit that might bleed through, is learning to provide your opponent with attacks that are terribly easy to take advantage of (aka good energy). I have no hate for Aikido, but I do think a lot of people are delusional about its applicability in a fight.

Late, like the last poster, but I may have a different insight to share. When I was younger I was 4th kyu Wado and enjoyed sparring and competing in Kumite. However, I wasnt very good at following through with throws when I caught an apponents technique and I felt I was wasting tons of potential points. I went to a local Ikido club, I didnt know much about the art but from demos they looked like they knew their stuff when it came to countering techniques with throws. When I was warming up Id often practice a few kicks and punches, and everyone looked at me in literal disgust. I was confused, and one week even had a senior pupil approach me while I was warming up and say to me "we dont do that here". I was like 'what the hell is this place??' When the class began, it was........ weird. 'As attacker' you had to make it as easy for your opponent to perform their counter. Even when you tried your best to be completely stupid and literaly throw yourself for the opponent, and they mess up and fail to grab your wrist (even though you werent moving) theyd be upset with you, for not being easy enough to throw............... I stayed for 5-6 weeks......... learned nothing, and left.

I think, in theory, only those who are ready will grade. However in reality, lots of people try to force progress and grade regardless of their instructors advice. When I got 4th kyu, I almost failed, and the other 2 who went for it did fail. Many people failed that day. We didn’t just get a pass or fail, we got a secondary mark that indicated whether we did well or just brushed through. I just made it and no more and really, I was lucky because my Karate was pretty much identical to the 2 that failed. I enjoyed the harshness if that club. 4thkyu was hard, and at the competitions here our 4th-1st kyu competitors were often equal to 2-3rd Dan competitors from the other clubs that were there.

Thanks for the reply Sensei. All good info. As a student it’s really hard to gauge what standards should look like. I also feel a person who trains 1-2 nights a week is perfectly capable of progressing if they practice and put their hearts into it. And they might not be able to attend any more classes per week due to their circumstances. I found the local JKA guys to train with, and did a Zoom lesson with them tonight. It was pretty good! I’ll stick with these guys and then attend class after lockdown lifts. And go from there 😄 thanks again!

Hi there, I have trained Chinese martial arts with a highly graded Shifu here in Belfast, who’s main gig is Tai Chi. He was a judge at the Wushu World Championships where I competed in Sanda. Tai Chi and Qi Gong are pretty different. Tai Chi is a martial art, where Qi Gong is kind of a meditative practice of trying to influence the ‘chi’ energy within the body. As a firm NON-believer in ‘chi’, I was more interested in Tai Chi, which turned out to be quite a difficult art form. It involves a lot of isometric strength which isn’t as practiced in Karate. So it can make you feel like a baby when you realise that these slow movements are a bloody challenge for a big strong karate enthusiast. Some of the principles of Tai Chi overlapped quite nicely with the ideas of Wado Ryu karate when I was training, and the Tai Chi complimented my Karate with some conditioning and flexibility that wasn’t really developed in the Dojo.

Hi guys, I’m new here. I’m age 31 trying to get back into karate, but I’m finding it hard to decide where to train. I’m finding it hard to trust any school. I feel they either have no standards, or if they do have standards, they pressure you into training every night of the week, which is extremely expensive. It ruined Karate for me before. I trained Wado-Ryu as a teen for 4-5years and then in my 20s I learned Shotokan for 2 years. I had drastically different experiences in both clubs. In the Wado school, it was difficult to progress (but I liked that) and it felt like there was a high standard set. I reached 4th Kyu which, for that club, was hard to achieve and many people failed tradings. But I was expected to train 5 nights a week at that stage and I just didn’t have the money. So even though I didn’t want to give up, I had to. In my 20s however, the Shotokan club was very welcoming. But it just seemed like no one ever failed tradings and the standards were super low. They gave me 4th kyu after only a year, and I was winning kata competitions. I felt weird, and I wanted some of what I felt before. The struggle, being held to scrutiny. I just can’t afford training every night. I really like Shotokan though.