Adaptation due to MMA

[Kuma]

We Have Kudo Daito Juko which is Kyokushin and Judo Mix which has arrived quite recently

Daido Juku is actually celebrating its 30th year this year, it just was never too popular until more recently. Takashi Azuma Sensei was influenced by Jon Bluming and actually has his 8th dan in Kyokushin Budokai. He just took it a step further with Kudo.

[sojobo]

It's a firm no from me also.

Traditional karate - taught well, by a good instructor - has always offered as much (if not more) than MMA.

Sojobo

[MasterPain]

As we all live in the post-MMA martial world now.

We were influenced by MMA back when they called it Vale Tudo.

[sri_mersing81]

For me, it's how frequent u train and how u'd understand the exercise that counts.

Maybe some traditional exercises in Karate might not be seen applicable in real life situation, but as a martial artist, we have our own responsibility to understand why the exercise is executed.

[bushido_man96]

Our TKD school hasn't made any adaptations yet, but I would like to see some. My instructor did tell me he was going to be talking with the Defensive Tactics club instructor at the college about coming in and doing some ground fighting with us, which I would enjoy greatly. I have been to a few of the DT club classes, where they do quite a bit of ground fighting, but my schedule doesn't allow me to stay consistent.

I've seen that trend as well, karate organizations utilizing kata to teach ground concepts. I've never been a fan, since it seems like revisionist spin and not much else. It strikes me as odd that most of us will say that learning mas from a textbook alone is a bad idea;however, some organizations will use kata, a moving textbook, to teach ground work. Pre-UFC 1 there was no talk of ground work passes along in kata. There were no teachers really saying "this is what this means". Now, we're making stuff up, in an environment entirely different that the ground, and saying it works because it's in kata.

I agree with you here, tallgeese. Iain Abernethy, who is big into the kata applications training, wrote in one of his books that there was no ground fighting in the katas. He has adapted some of the standing moves and worked with them on the ground, but that is different.

In regard to the focus mitts, I ask because it's an area of interest to me. I've been around kempo based systems for years as well as MMA. Throw in some boxing here and there and what I've noticed that while trad ma-ists might use focus mitts, they usually use them more statically than other forms. Let me say, MOST karate schools tend to use them in a manner less than optimally. So maybe they are not MMA exclusive, but again, it's a look at the methodology that goes into their use.

When I think of focus mitt training, I think of how I've seen Boxers work the mitts in the ring during training. A lot more active and moving around, and even using the mitts to attack and work movement drills. That's the kind of mitt training I would like to do. More than just target work.

[skullsplitter]

We've added MMA classes (and XMA too) for those that want to do it. We've not changed our traditional classes.

It's not a huge change for us since often in the past we've had guest instructors from other arts (judo, kung-fu, and some others).

[mizu]

I've not seen any changes in our dojo following the rise of MMA popularity. I see no reason to either - we're there to train in Shotokan, not MMA. That's not me being all traditionalist or anything - just how I see things. If I were at a badminton club and they started to practice table tennis because it was more popular I'd think it suspect.

Whilst there are cross overs and similarities, MMA and karate are different, and are mostly trained for different reasons.

[bushido_man96]

I've not seen any changes in our dojo following the rise of MMA popularity. I see no reason to either - we're there to train in Shotokan, not MMA. That's not me being all traditionalist or anything - just how I see things. If I were at a badminton club and they started to practice table tennis because it was more popular I'd think it suspect.

Whilst there are cross overs and similarities, MMA and karate are different, and are mostly trained for different reasons.

Keeping this in mind, do you think it is possible for Shotokan schools to adapt to do some of the things that someone like Lyota Machida has done over the course of his training to keep with the spirit of Shotokan, as well as adapt to MMA?

[kansascityshuffle]

Daido Juku isn't just Kyokushin + Judo, neither. It has a very heavy Muay Thai influence, Boxing, and whatever individual instructors want to focus on.

I wouldn't say it's that popular in the USA, neither. Very briefly in the USA, there was a NY based Daido Juku dojo, but no more. I know of one Daido Juku shodan in California but he works in the movie business as a stunt man.

Some Daido Juku dojo are ran more like professional Muay Thai gyms, some are ran like MMA gyms, and some are ran to focus on Kudo rules. Kudo is the rules with the infamous "super safe" helmets.

I know of one Daido Juku shodan that told me he primarily trained in Muay Thai but for his shodan test had to do a "Kyokushin like 10 man kumite." He wasn't prepared for that, because he said he didn't train knockdown kumite for quite a while.

Anyway, just clearing up some misinformation...but I wish we did have Daido Juku dojo in the USA...that may change soon, though...