Transition from Shotokan to Kyokushin

[JohnnyB]

I did some searching these days and found a few Kyokushin dojos. I pmed the instructor of one (all dojos in same federation) and found that they practice by tournament rules aka no punches to the head. I'm dissapointed really. I guess I'll stay with Shotokan until Xmas and see.

[brickshooter]

I did some searching these days and found a few Kyokushin dojos. I pmed the instructor of one (all dojos in same federation) and found that they practice by tournament rules aka no punches to the head. I'm dissapointed really. I guess I'll stay with Shotokan until Xmas and see.

No one is crazy enough to go bareknuckles to the head. You're going to have to find an organization that gears up for sparing.

I don't know how popular it is where you live, but look up Daido Juku. You can find videos of what they do on youtube. It's basically Kyokushin + Judo. You do gear up with bubble masks to protect your face. It's a new organization. But with better popularity in Europe.

There is another school from Japan that does full contact. They wear what looks like Kendo masks and breastplates. But its popularity is limited to the South Eastern Asian countries.

[darksoul]

I don't think any modern organization does bareknuckle. We do full contact at but we wear headgear, gloves, foot pads, cups for the males, and mouth guards.

[Kuma]

I did some searching these days and found a few Kyokushin dojos. I pmed the instructor of one (all dojos in same federation) and found that they practice by tournament rules aka no punches to the head. I'm dissapointed really. I guess I'll stay with Shotokan until Xmas and see.

If they only practice for tournaments I can understand your hesitation. Many knockdown dojo do train with gloves and allow head shots in dojo sparring nowadays.

[JohnnyB]

I did some searching these days and found a few Kyokushin dojos. I pmed the instructor of one (all dojos in same federation) and found that they practice by tournament rules aka no punches to the head. I'm dissapointed really. I guess I'll stay with Shotokan until Xmas and see.

If they only practice for tournaments I can understand your hesitation. Many knockdown dojo do train with gloves and allow head shots in dojo sparring nowadays.

I don't think any modern organization does bareknuckle. We do full contact at but we wear headgear, gloves, foot pads, cups for the males, and mouth guards.

Yes, that's what i'm looking for, full contact sparring with sparring gloves and headgear. Even in the one step kumite drills we do at my kyu rank we don't wear any sparring gear. How will I ever commit to do a full contact attack to my sparring partner like this? This situation is killing kumite aliveness and is a waste of time instead of skill improvement.

I find it very frustrating that only Kick Boxing, Muai Thai and ''MMA'' gyms practice full contact sparring with protective gear. Why? It's mid 2012 and sparring gear is available everywhere, why not use it to enhance your training?

'If your Dojo is teaching you to fight according to tourney rules ask them for your Happy Meal you've got a McDojo.'

[pers]

I did some searching these days and found a few Kyokushin dojos. I pmed the instructor of one (all dojos in same federation) and found that they practice by tournament rules aka no punches to the head. I'm dissapointed really. I guess I'll stay with Shotokan until Xmas and see.

If they only practice for tournaments I can understand your hesitation. Many knockdown dojo do train with gloves and allow head shots in dojo sparring nowadays.

I don't think any modern organization does bareknuckle. We do full contact at but we wear headgear, gloves, foot pads, cups for the males, and mouth guards.

Yes, that's what i'm looking for, full contact sparring with sparring gloves and headgear. Even in the one step kumite drills we do at my kyu rank we don't wear any sparring gear. How will I ever commit to do a full contact attack to my sparring partner like this? This situation is killing kumite aliveness and is a waste of time instead of skill improvement.

I find it very frustrating that only Kick Boxing, Muai Thai and ''MMA'' gyms practice full contact sparring with protective gear. Why? It's mid 2012 and sparring gear is available everywhere, why not use it to enhance your training?

'If your Dojo is teaching you to fight according to tourney rules ask them for your Happy Meal you've got a McDojo.'

Johny , the best way to practice full contact is on a punch bag , in the dojo you learn how to strike on a partner wherter he is stationary or moving acoarding to the type of kumite you are doing , we always aim to hit but with control to the face ,for example when doing one step I always do my best to land a jodan zuki to my opponents jaw with speed and power but pulling back a couple of centimeters to avoid injury ,

and outside the class you find some time to practice those techniques full force with nothing to spare against a punch bag and thuse improve the effectiveness of our technique and see if it would work for real .

so in my opinion in a karate class we learn how to do it ..distance ,timing and efficiency to deliver a good technique to the target and outside of class we can train and test the power of our technique against targets like a punch bag .

There is no need to knock out your club mates to find out if your technique is good enough ! a punch bag can tell you that too .

It's one thing having a strong punch or be naturally very flexiable and could do a nice jodan mawashi geri ...its another thing to actualy hit someone with it .

How many people do you know that have a massive God given hand and could hit like a hammer but they lack the abilty to a deliver that and reach their target , I hope I am making sense ...

You know that Oi Zuki in Hian shodan ? that technique goes a long way up to senior dan grades ...it just changes shape a bit over the years but all the pricipals stay the same ,still senior dan grades try to polish and improve it .

Like a fighter plane that goes through upgrades so does the technique ,part of that is hitting the bag or makiwara regulary ,

either with a partner or on your own ,you will soon improve and know which strike was good or not ,the bag will tell you .

[bushido_man96]

'If your Dojo is teaching you to fight according to tourney rules ask them for your Happy Meal you've got a McDojo.'

I disagree here. Lots of styles practice for "tourney" rules. Boxing, Wrestling, even MMA and Thai all train according to the rules they fight for. I think what you are getting at is point sparring. But, just because schools train for point sparring, doesn't make them a McDojo, either. Anymore, that term gets thrown around a bit too much, in my opinion.

Go to an MMA gym, or a Thai gym, or a Boxing gym, and I can guarantee you won't see a whole lot of full contact action going on. You lose training partners if you give them all concussions. But, what you will see, is a lot of pad work and sparring with gear on so that certain targets can be struck at higher, yet still controlled levels, of contact, based off the rule set they fight with.

Commercial schools also have things to deal with like insurance and the like. That's why ATA schools have added chest protectors and helmets with visors to their sparring requirements. It didn't always used to be that way, but things change from time to time, and in order to have their schools covered by insurance, that's what they have to do. I'm sure that the ATA isn't the only organization that does things like that, either.

I guess to sum up, I wouldn't be so harsh as to judge schools that don't do full contact, knockdown, in your face, Cobra Kai Martial Arts. If you want a higher level of contact, then I don't blame you for looking into Kyokushin or something like that. But don't shelve all the other styles for the lack of it, though.

[JohnnyB]

Hi guys its been some time since I wrote.

I found and joined a new dojo that focuses entirely on kumite and I trained there 2 times already.

They use sparring gear and go free sparring (jiyu kumite) from white belt to black belt.

Kata training exists but only for passing exams. The training is always very intense and always 1.5hour long.

Pretty much exactly the opposite that I was getting in my old dojo.

This is a big change for me and I am very happy about it. I was troubled about my karate training ever since I got 6th Kyu.

[Zaine]

Kata training exists but only for passing exams. The training is always very intense and always 1.5hour long.

I've said it before and I say it again, I think kata should take a bigger precedence then that. There are a lot of very useful things to be learned in kata.

That being said, I'm glad that you found a dojo that fits your training preferences and that you can be happy in. Congrats!

[bushido_man96]

Kata training exists but only for passing exams. The training is always very intense and always 1.5hour long.

I've said it before and I say it again, I think kata should take a bigger precedence then that. There are a lot of very useful things to be learned in kata.

That being said, I'm glad that you found a dojo that fits your training preferences and that you can be happy in. Congrats!

I agree with you. If its only done for gradings, then I don't see the point. Just get rid of them, and find some other grading criteria that relates more to what it is you spend your time doing.