Is karate for me?

[Adamantis]

Hey everyone!

I´ve been thinking about joining a karate dojo in my city (shito-ryu), and was looking for some opinions from you experienced karatekas.

I´m 23 years old and I´ve been doing aikido for about a year. I find it very interesting and have no plans to stop. However, it is complicated and difficult, and will probably take a lifetime to master. Also, we have several instructors in a rotation system, and let´s just say that not all types of aikido are for me. I prefer training with realism and intensity, and my aikido dojo doesn´t always give me that.

I´ve been thinking about taking up one more martial art to train alongside aikido, something that´s different and involves more striking.

Karate looks practical and effective, and I´m very interested in joining a dojo here, that seem to have some very good instructors.

So... is it too early for me to "cross-train"?

Can aikido and karate be trained at the same time? I may not have time to prioritize karate as much as aikido, so I´ll probably be training it 1-2 times a week.

Given how complicated aikido is, will I learn karate faster? Is it possible to learn karate without being 100% focused on karate only?

If anyone has experience with combining karate and aikido I would be very interested to hear. To me it seems like they would be perfect together for self defense training, as they are so different - karate strikes would make openings for aikido throws and locks, and vice versa. Also, karate looks like a lot of fun, we don¨t do much sparring in aikido.

Looking forward to learning more.

[Wastelander]

Welcome to the forum, Adamantis!

Aikido and karate are certainly quite different from each other, and can blend well together, but there is also a lot that could conflict. Karate employs joint locks that can be very similar to Aikido, but they tend to be used differently and that could cause some confusion. The footwork may also mix you up. I have also found that Aikido people sometimes have a very unusual idea of how a strike or kick should be done because of the way they do attacks in that art.

I think that, after a year of Aikido, you will probably be able to cross-train in karate and benefit from it. That said, it will be important for you to go into the karate dojo with shoshin--a beginner's mind. Forget Aikido while you are in the karate dojo. Approach your karate training as if you have never done a martial art before. Then, when you are back in your Aikido dojo, you can experiment with incorporating karate into what you do. Later, as you become more comfortable with karate, you will be able to bring your Aikido into your karate training. Over time, they may even blend together entirely.

Enjoy your training!

[Adamantis]

Welcome to the forum, Adamantis!

Aikido and karate are certainly quite different from each other, and can blend well together, but there is also a lot that could conflict. Karate employs joint locks that can be very similar to Aikido, but they tend to be used differently and that could cause some confusion. The footwork may also mix you up. I have also found that Aikido people sometimes have a very unusual idea of how a strike or kick should be done because of the way they do attacks in that art.

I think that, after a year of Aikido, you will probably be able to cross-train in karate and benefit from it. That said, it will be important for you to go into the karate dojo with shoshin--a beginner's mind. Forget Aikido while you are in the karate dojo. Approach your karate training as if you have never done a martial art before. Then, when you are back in your Aikido dojo, you can experiment with incorporating karate into what you do. Later, as you become more comfortable with karate, you will be able to bring your Aikido into your karate training. Over time, they may even blend together entirely.

Enjoy your training!

Thanks a lot for your response, Wastelander!

I agree with what you said, a lot of aikidokas have unrealistic ideas of attacks. However, the longer we train, the better we will be at performing techniques with more realism and intensity. But it takes time to get there, and not all instructors encourage that kind of training. Sadly some instructors only think of aikido like some sort of dance. I respect that most aikidokas don´t want to fight, but in a self defence situation against an aggressive attacker, you may not have a choice.

Until now, we haven´t practiced much strikes or kicks at all, but we´ve learned to defend from a lot of holds (shirt grabbing, restraining, etc) that seem useful.

I hope learning karate will make my aikido attacks more convincing and complement what aikido is missing.

I´ve noticed karate footwork etc is different, but would you say different in a way that makes them easy to tell them apart, or too similar , making it likely to confuse them?

Also, I should say I have terrible flexibility - I can´t even imagine being able to perform those high kicks. Would that be a problem in karate?

Since starting aikido (where flexibility is important also) I´ve been working a lot on it, but progressing very very slowly.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Hey mate,

yes you can (as you put it) "Cross Train".

For me, I do both Brazillian Jujitsu (i've done since 2008 through school and then on/off since 2010) and have been doing Goju-Ryu Karate since 2001 (recently became a Shodan Level Black Belt). And I have found that by doing Jujitsu it has greatly helped my standing fight game along with the groundwork.

But for Aikido and karate they can go hand in hand so they work quite well. you will understand both martial arts at a deeper level. But you will want to practice at home for karate.