Kata as cardio

[Sohan]

Wow, Sohan, I wish I had your schedule. Makes me jealous

Well, at almost 40 I have to work harder to keep up with the kids. I'm also in a profession where I have to walk the talk, so there's a little more pressure to keep really fit. So I kind of look at it as part of my job description!

With respect,

Sohan

[Yasutsune Makoto]

I don't like the idea of using kata for cardio and here is why...

kata is based on technique, and that perfection of technique is what aids our growth in the martial arts. Now, I'm a shotokan guy, so this may not apply to all styles.

I do think that if you aim to perform a perfect kata...and try about 10-15 times in a row, with full power, speed, rhythm, breathing, like it's supposed to be done...you'll get pretty worked up cardio-wise.

[AnonymousOne]

Kata ought to be an anaerobic activity.

There is no benefit in doing Kata slowly. It needs to be practised as if one were on an actual battlefield.

Just in case what I say doesnt have enough credibility, here is a quote from Master Anko Itosu:

"During practice you should imagine you are on the battle field. When blocking and striking make the eyes glare, drop the shoulders and harden the body. Now block the enemy's punch and strike! Always practice with this spirit so that, when on the real battlefield, you will naturally be prepared".

Real fighting is fast and furious. One needs to practise in the same way one would use it.

Karate is not dancing... its fighting!!

[Sohan]

There is no benefit in doing Kata slowly. It needs to be practised as if one were on an actual battlefield.

Just in case what I say doesnt have enough credibility, here is a quote from Master Anko Itosu:

"During practice you should imagine you are on the battle field. When blocking and striking make the eyes glare, drop the shoulders and harden the body. Now block the enemy's punch and strike! Always practice with this spirit so that, when on the real battlefield, you will naturally be prepared".

Real fighting is fast and furious. One needs to practise in the same way one would use it.

Karate is not dancing... its fighting!!

I find Master Itosu's above quote often interpreted in a way I don't think he originally intended. I don't believe he meant for kata to always be performed with fighting rhythms, but rather with a budo spirit.

As far as how one should perform kata, I personally derive great benefit from varying the pace, intensity, and focus of my kata in training. Particularly I find doing my kata very slowly at times provides me with great precision in movement, and improves my balance tremendously as well. Doing kata quickly all the time is a common mistake, in my experience, because one may miss errors in execution of technique that become glaringly obvious when the kata is slowed down. I see this constantly in my dojo, with karateka who perform kata with the objective of speed and power, yet they aren't generating their effective potential due to inefficient and unbalanced technique.

Besides, kata should never be performed at the same pace or intensity all the time anyway. If you train for a particular rhythm and pace, you will fight at that rhythm, and when your opponent is not in sync with your fighting pace, you will be sorely at a disadvantage. Kata is simply not a static form with only one way to interpret it and must be explored through a wide range of applications to derive the greatest benefit in a fighting situation.

With respect,

Sohan

[AnonymousOne]

Of course to learn a kata and to get all the movements right one has to start slowly.

Eventually that day passes.

Sprinters practise the 100 metre sprint at full pace. I see no difference for the Karate-Ka.

One needs to teach ones muscles what to do. One needs to constantly push the bounds of ones speed, co-ordination, timing, power, focus and anaerobic endurance etc constantly.

If one doesnt then Karate just becomes a useless dance in which I call it "Punch Dancing".

Practising Kata at full pace all the time is gruelling and most students back away from it.

When Holyfield was training for the world title, they changed trainers. They bought in this south African guy and the first thing he did was remove aerobic training and replaced it with anaerobic training.

He felt too much emphasis was placed on the age old idea of doing things slowly over a long period of time.

The end result was that Holyfield won.

For us fighters, there can be great lessons drawn from this.

When I lived in Japan in the 80's the emphasis was on getting the Kata right first and then practising with full power. Not only does it look a damn sight better but it pushes ones body and mind to incredible levels.

That is what I have found in the last 43 years of training

[Sohan]

Of course to learn a kata and to get all the movements right one has to start slowly.

Eventually that day passes.

Sprinters practise the 100 metre sprint at full pace. I see no difference for the Karate-Ka.

One needs to teach ones muscles what to do. One needs to constantly push the bounds of ones speed, co-ordination, timing, power, focus and anaerobic endurance etc constantly.

If one doesnt then Karate just becomes a useless dance in which I call it "Punch Dancing".

Practising Kata at full pace all the time is gruelling and most students back away from it.

When Holyfield was training for the world title, they changed trainers. They bought in this south African guy and the first thing he did was remove aerobic training and replaced it with anaerobic training.

He felt too much emphasis was placed on the age old idea of doing things slowly over a long period of time.

The end result was that Holyfield won.

For us fighters, there can be great lessons drawn from this.

When I lived in Japan in the 80's the emphasis was on getting the Kata right first and then practising with full power. Not only does it look a damn sight better but it pushes ones body and mind to incredible levels.

That is what I have found in the last 43 years of training

Kata is not sprinting. Performing kata effectively is a far more complex biomechanical activity than running a 100 meter dash, so the comparison doesn't work. And doing kata slowly is hardly an "aerobic" activity. It is actually a distinctly anaerobic activity when performed with proper intensity, creating lactic acid buildup in the muscles through carbohydrate metabolism, regardless of whether it is performed fast or slow.

I began boxing more than 30 years ago and I've performed combinations of faster and slower movements in all my martial arts training since. I have always been known for having developed exceptional speed and control and I credit it to varying the pace and rhythm of my repetitions. Many respected MA experts agree with this, including Loren Christensen and even Bruce Lee, who used slow motion training in his own workout regimen. And with regards to Evander Holyfield, who I have personally had the privilege of training with here in my hometown of Atlanta, he performs superslow motion rep training as well and has found it very beneficial to his balance. However, I don't believe I ever recalled him performing kata, so he really isn't relevant to this discussion.

***By the way, the day NEVER passes when one has mastered a kata, or as you put it, "to get the movements right". My great Master Walter Todd said (just before he died at 72) that he regretted that he was yet still a beginner with his kata and had much to improve upon--in his eyes, of course.

With respect,

Sohan

[bushido_man96]

Kata is the perfect solo workout for the martial artist. I believe that there are advantages to be gained from doing it slow (strenght, focus, concentration) and from doing it fast (speed, anaerobic capacities).

The wonderful thing about doing a form is you can take one, and choose if you want to work on speed. To do this, you make all of the moves fast. If you want to build strength, you sit low in your stances and hold them while performing slow, tension movements.

And, if you want a cardio workout, you string a bunch of them together, and do them continuously for a period of 15 to 20 minutes. Or, you can just practice one form over and over for this amount of time. Forms are personal interpretation, that is what makes them great. If you practice something one way, all of the time, you lose flexibility in your self.

As Loren Christensen said: "You can't do the same thing every day and expect different results. Do something different!"