Go-Kan-Ryu discussion.

[BarbedTerror]

What are you thoughts on the karate club Go-Kan-Ryu?

[andym]

It's not a karate club, nor a style. It's a business organisation, that sells karate door to door. But unlike say Avon, it's 'product' is sub-standard and over priced. It expands by talking beginners and lower grade pupils into opening clubs for them. This is why it's 'product' is sub-standard.

[Dobbersky]

It's not a karate club, nor a style. It's a business organisation, that sells karate door to door. But unlike say Avon, it's 'product' is sub-standard and over priced. It expands by talking beginners and lower grade pupils into opening clubs for them. This is why it's 'product' is sub-standard.

Agreed, its Pyramid selling but the "product" is Karate!

There are some excellent GKR black belts BUT these are Karateka (who already have a long history of karate) that have joined GKR for money not the Art!

I wish GKR was a good style with some awesome ambassadors but who wants a knock at the door and made to pay £20 before You've even stepped into the dojo to be taught by someone who's wearing a Black/White belt only been training themselves for 8 to 18 months and doesn't really understand what karate is about!

[Nidan Melbourne]

There is some potential for some students who train in the GKR system BUT from what i've seen is that the techniques they learn are dodgy at best.

I went to watch a class last night because i bored out of my mind and i didn't have my class on (i don't train in gkr but another school completely). And the techniques they were doing were off and wouldn't really help.

They did sparring at the end and it was poor. It was along the lines of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKNtAkRDarg

There were 4 students there: 2 white belts, 1 red belt and 1 blue belt. 1 of the white belts had a bad case of lordosis (excessive curvature of the lumbar region of the spine) and the instructor was getting him to do techniques that he clearly couldn't/struggle to do.

As we all know for a back hand punch you step forward, have plenty of hip rotation, front hand goes up to protect your head whilst punching. They weren't doing that at all. And this was during a kumite drill.

And I am NOT criticizing GKR because of this. But IMHO they really do need to overhaul the style to make it an effective one

[AlwaysInTraining]

Did Kenshukai Karate (Exactly the same as GKR), recruited same way as described above, learnt very little but got high up the ranks, loads and loads of politics, left, much happier now.

I hate to say it but if you dont know much about martial arts then the door to door method of selling to you really does work. Who wouldnt be interested in becoming a black belt or an instructor in a short amount of time and if your being positivly renforced (when recruited) that what your doing is good and effective/authentic then how are you to know?

[bushido_man96]

Did Kenshukai Karate (Exactly the same as GKR), recruited same way as described above, learnt very little but got high up the ranks, loads and loads of politics, left, much happier now.

I hate to say it but if you dont know much about martial arts then the door to door method of selling to you really does work. Who wouldnt be interested in becoming a black belt or an instructor in a short amount of time and if your being positivly renforced (when recruited) that what your doing is good and effective/authentic then how are you to know?

That is a good point. But, in a wierd way, they kind of help by exposing others to the Martial Arts to begin with.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Did Kenshukai Karate (Exactly the same as GKR), recruited same way as described above, learnt very little but got high up the ranks, loads and loads of politics, left, much happier now.

I hate to say it but if you dont know much about martial arts then the door to door method of selling to you really does work. Who wouldnt be interested in becoming a black belt or an instructor in a short amount of time and if your being positivly renforced (when recruited) that what your doing is good and effective/authentic then how are you to know?

That is a good point. But, in a wierd way, they kind of help by exposing others to the Martial Arts to begin with.

That's the only good thing they do [making people aware of Martial arts]

[ashworth]

That's the only good thing they do [making people aware of Martial arts]

But can't this be a bad thing? if someone has never done martial arts before and a bad GKR class is all they have ever known that can put them off of martial arts... There are some half decent people in the club, but the standard is far too inconsistent...

[sensei8]

I've no opinion one way or another concerning GKR.

[AlwaysInTraining]

Did Kenshukai Karate (Exactly the same as GKR), recruited same way as described above, learnt very little but got high up the ranks, loads and loads of politics, left, much happier now.

I hate to say it but if you dont know much about martial arts then the door to door method of selling to you really does work. Who wouldnt be interested in becoming a black belt or an instructor in a short amount of time and if your being positivly renforced (when recruited) that what your doing is good and effective/authentic then how are you to know?

That is a good point. But, in a wierd way, they kind of help by exposing others to the Martial Arts to begin with.

You are right it did expose me to the world of martial arts but I did learn stances and blocks really well and there were some very talented people there who had nothing but the style but it kind of set me up for when i moved on in terms of mentality of the martial arts but i found that the focus on class numbers and politics was a big thing and i feel it is a substandard style having mastered the syllabus by 4th kyu and i became much happier when i left and started learning more and better things. Overall it gave me a starting point but i would only recommend it to those people who have a family and want to do karate with their kids in same class as a way to bond and keep fit and to those who want to be a black belt by age 12 (something i came across).