still kicking

I used to train when I was younger, and my favorite kata at that time was Enpi. (My style is Shito-ryu). Now I am back after many years, and have worked my way up to purple belt, which is 7th kyu at our school. I don't know if I'll be able to get Enpi back, because it's really hard on the knees! My current fave is Seinchin. I tend to like katas with dramatic beginnings, I guess, because I also really like Rohai Nidan and Aoyanagi.

It seems that there are conflicting messages out there about how to train. On the one hand you hear that you should have a day of rest in between hard workouts, but I don't know if this refers specifically to weight training or not. The thing is, I am an older beginning (intermediate) student, and every class seems like a hard workout. Especially after classes where we have done a lot of moving basics in low stances, my quads and other leg muscles are aching the next day. I can't see skipping a day of training, though, and usually attend classes 5x/week. My question is, is it a bad thing to train even though your muscles are really sore, or would it be better to skip a day? I do try to spend extra time stretching and warming up before the next class, when I'm really sore -- FWIW.

Hey G-Man, yours is the attitude I would like to be able to maintain, but it's not so easy. I have decided to check out a couple of other schools after the holidays, but I really like this school for a number of reasons -- such as the emphasis on traditional Japanese karate and "high standards". It's just that it's possible to take that too far, I think. Anyway, for now I will bide my time. Remaining injury free is a big concern, especially because I have internalized things from the past and sometimes I get carried away and throw myself into things, without thinking it through that I don't have the flexibility I used to. I came back to karate primarily for fitness and conditioning, and did not expect to become such a fanatic again. I should have known! It's great that these forums are here -- gives me a way to be obsessive about karate when I'm not actually training.

Thanks for all of your kind responses. I'll add some further thoughts when I have more time, but for now I would just like to make a couple of things clear. When we enter tournaments, the divisions are determined by number of years training rather than by rank. Our green belts ususally end up competing against black belts. This eliminates the possibility of a sensei deliberately holding his or her students back so they can do better in tournaments, but in other ways maybe is not so fair. Also, I did talk to my sensei at the beginning about rank and etc. He said that I had to test for all of the ranks, but I could test as often as once every month or 2. In reality, though, it hasn't worked out that way, both because of time limitations and his perfectionism. As I've already mentioned, we don't have regular evaluations, and testing is done one or 2 students at a time, after class. (And not after every class at that.) I asked sensei at the end of October if I could test for purple belt soon (7th kyu), and told him the things I had been working on and that I thought had improved. He said seemed like he thought I was ready, and said "after the tournament", which was early November. The tournament came and went, I asked sensei about it again, he looked at the 2 kata I needed to perform, and proceeded to give me feedback on a bunch of minute details, still saying nothing about testing. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to strive to improve my karate in every class for as long as I am training, but it seems like he wants black belt level of performance just to get 7th kyu! I should also say, as objectively as I can be, that I think I perform at least as well, and in some cases much better, than the students who are ranked above me, in terms of form, speed, focus, power, and "presense" or spirit. I'm not trying to make it sound like I think I'm all that, but I was pretty good back in the day, and a lot of it has stayed with me. I'm rambling again, sorry. I'm thinking about what some other people on here have said about possibly looking for another school, but for some reason this place has become a part of me and I would hate to leave. I guess choices are 1) to stay and deal with things the way they are 2) to keep pushing sensei about testing, though I have to say it feels a bit like begging, and 3) go to another school. Any further thoughts would be much appreciated!

Several people have posted on similar topics, but I don't know if anyone's situation is quite like mine. I returned to karate training at the beginning of this year, after being away for more than 20 years! I know, I find it hard to believe myself. It is the same school and the same organization, although a different sensei. In the past I had attained the rank of shodan-ho, which means it was a provisional black belt and so not officially recognized by the head organization. Actually the current sensei was a student back when I was training, and has been very gracious about acknowledging me as a teacher of his. I am thrilled to be back training again, as I never did find any form of exercise that was enjoyable to me in the 20+ years I was gone. Now I am back to being a karate fanatic, and usually train 4 or 5 times a week. Here's the thing, though. Of course I am being required to start over from white belt, and I'm fine with that since I was gone for so long. However, the current sensei promotes students much more slowly than my first sensei, and it usually takes students from 8 to 10 years to earn their black belts! I earned my first BB in 4 1/2 years, and now after training for a year I'm only 8th kyu (starting from 10th). My sensei has very high standards, and our school is recognized for having very good basics and we always do well in tournaments. My problem is that I don't want to care about what rank I am, but I do! I have been reading other people's opinions on this board on this topic, and I completely agree that the color of the strip of cloth holding your gi closed shouldn't matter, but I have to admit that I find it demoralizing to be wearing a blue belt after having earned a black, especially knowing it will take years to earn it back. Part of it is that I want to get back into teaching, I am now in my 50's, and I don't hace unlimited time. (In case you're wondering, I'm in pretty good shape even though I'm so old , and the muscle memory is strong.) Sorry about rambling -- My main point is, I guess, I wish my ego wasn't so caught up in this, but I love my school and the people in it, and I greatly respect my sensei, even though the extreme perfectionism makes me crazy sometimes. Another thing that makes me crazy is that we don't have regular promotion tests, but the sensei invites us to test when we seem ready, and I feel like pushing it more but I don't. Any ideas for overcoming ego and adjusting to the idea of having to take many years to "re-earn" a black belt?