Going with or overcoming body type

[still kicking]

This isn't really a question for me in terms of choice of style, because I love Shito Ryu Karate. I love the aesthetics of the long clean lines and the crisp focus. From reading these forums, I have learned that people practice martial arts for a variety of reasons. Some people are primarily or maybe only interested in fighting, but I have to admit that for me that is secondary. I have always been drawn to the aesthetics of Japanese arts in general -- I think maybe I was Japanese in a past life , and for reasons I don't fully understand myself, I love to do kata and work on perfecting it, making it more clean, focused, etc. I do feel that developing this skill is applicable to being more effective in a fighting situation as well, but even if it wasn't, I love to do kata!

In terms of the "going with or overcoming body type" issue, this question has come up for me in terms of choice of kata to work on in performance and competition. I feel that speed, power, and focus, are strengths for me, while balance and flexibility are weaknesses. Up until now I have mostly chosen kata (with advisement from my sensei) that highlight my strengths, such as Annanko, and now Bassai Dai. But lately I have been also focusing on Rohai Nidan, which has those blasted crane stances. It is really hard for me to hit them without wobbling, and I'm not to the point where I would want to use that kata for a promotion test or competition, but I want to work on it so I can make my balance better! So in my opinion, it's good to go with your strenghts and work on your weaknesses. This can be difficult if it involves practicing 2 or more different martial arts, but I think that's the beauty of kata, you can practice different ones to work on different things.

[bigpopparob2000]

I would vote in favor of pursuing your interest over your aptitude. Often times, people are spoiled by potential. They get used to progressing without any hinderances, but when they inevitably encounter something that's difficult for them, the sudden discouragement causes them to quit.

Case in point, at my old college TKD dojo, we'd get new students with dance backgrounds. Because of their dance experience, they had amazing potential. They could easily remember patterns, and their warm up stretches were awe inspiring. Still, dancers seldom lasted because they couldn't rid themselves of bad habits (i.e., pull your toes back when you kick). Sadly, they thought because they could hold their legs straight up in the air, they could take passes on the what they did wrong. Ironically and tragically, it was because of their amazing potential that they couldn't learn anything.

Pursue your passion. Your passion will help you remain committed when things get difficult.

[furry_Homeboy]

Can you imagine how many more things you learn when you do something that is tough for you? It's what you learn on the inside and how you feel that truly count.

Another note, consider that a hundred years ago, people didn't have access to many different martial arts. For example, in Karate people of all body types pursued it. There were those who were large and muscular, those perhaps a little too large, those average, those long and lanky, short and thin, etc. Anyway, people of all body types have learned to thrive within a single martial art.

The point is, you can work with your body type, and pursue any martial art. The art does not make the person, the person makes the art. Your taekwondo will be different than somebody elses, but that doesn't make it worse, just different.

Perhaps saying too much on this post, an example would be two of Gichin Funakoshi's teachers. On one hand, Azato told him to think of the hands/feet as swords, while his other teacher Itosu was described as barrel chested and said that one must condition their body to take a powerful blow. Both studied karate, and in fact were great friends, but had quite different methods of karate. All arts change to each unique person.

[bushido_man96]

Those are good analogies. I also think about the physical differences between some like Kanazawa and Demura. But each were able to make Karate work for them.

[tallgeese]

All true.

It still come down to what one wants. If your looking for fast progress, it might be better go with what your body type best suits.