Kyokushin Practitioner !

[Safroot]

Does anyone know why most of kyokushin practitioner are males ?

In my dojo there are 20 members only 1 lady (2nd Dan & she is one of the best and the most aggressive instructors in terms of training) and 19 men!!

Anyone has noticed this or has any explanation ??!

[Karate_John]

simply put most practitioners of martial arts are male, like contact sports it sadly considered part of the male domain... I honesty wish more women and girls would take an interest, as they would benefit.

Personally in my Goju dojo our kids program only has about 3 girls out of around 30 kids. The adult program has 3 active female practitioners as well.

From observation some of the main problems seem to be:

1. Some girls and women are put off with working with guys.

2. Some are afraid or just dislike contact, hitting or being hit.

3. Teasing/Peer Pressure as it's not considered a girl thing.

[sensei8]

It's just that way!! Albeit, female students are on the rise in the MA. There's even schools of the MA that cater only to female students.

The ratio will eventually pan out, but I doubt that it'll happen in my life time.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Before i start my post i wish to apologise in advance if anyone is offended by this post. I tried my best not to come across as sexist or against anyone learning martial arts.

MA are still considered a 'masculine' thing so females wouldn't want to do it because they may fear losing their feminity. But that fear is unjustified as MA can be feminine aswell (Goju for instance majority of techniques you do can be done both hard and)

Many of the girls i train with are the sweatest most kind girls you'll ever meet but when they are on the mat they have that fighting spirit that drives them to work hard.

I respect any female that does MA and that does take their training seriously, if they don't take training seriously i lose respect for them. I only lose my respect for them because i don't want to see them get hurt on the street if they do have to use it but if they have to and they stuff techniques up and get hurt then they are going to be blaming others for getting hurt. They're the ones that slack off in class not giving 100% to learn the techniques and how to apply them effectively.

Even when we train many of the girls are still aprehensive about getting hit (both hard and soft). Even if we are doing light contact for drills they still whine about getting hit. I once had a girl that complained that i hit "too hard" even though i just touched. Then others girls i'll hit fairly hard and they go "come on hit me harder, you hit like a girl" which shows me that they can have me go full pelt at them and also that i can work at my absolute hardest to get better.

I'm a Goju practitioner so it is different to Kyokushin, but i suspect that for kyokushin in particular females are under the impression that you'll get hurt if you do it or that guys will go easier on them just because their a female.

Honestly when i train i don't care if they are male or female, I work them equally as hard when i'm an instructor or i'm training. The ONLY times i go easier on someone is if they have a legit physical issue (ie injury, physically disability) or the belt they have around their hips. I'm not going to make a white or yellow belt do 'light' kumite which involves heavier contact than 'awase' kumite (thats soft and slow) or 'point' kumite, purely because they don't have the experience or the knowledge of kumite itself and haven't trained for long enough.

I would be extremely happy to see more females to train in the MA because there has been an increase in assaults against females, especially here in australia (we had a high profile case where a man killed a lady called Jill Meagher). So I believe females should learn how to defend themselves.

I understand the rise for female-only classes but imho they should also train with males to be able to become comfortable with that perceived extra pressure. As physiologically males are stronger than females, so some things that you would want to learn even in a self defense class would be a smart idea to do with a guy to be able to see the difference in strength and size between guys and girls.

[Safroot]

Before i start my post i wish to apologise in advance if anyone is offended by this post. I tried my best not to come across as sexist or against anyone learning martial arts.

MA are still considered a 'masculine' thing so females wouldn't want to do it because they may fear losing their feminity. But that fear is unjustified as MA can be feminine aswell (Goju for instance majority of techniques you do can be done both hard and)

Many of the girls i train with are the sweatest most kind girls you'll ever meet but when they are on the mat they have that fighting spirit that drives them to work hard.

I respect any female that does MA and that does take their training seriously, if they don't take training seriously i lose respect for them. I only lose my respect for them because i don't want to see them get hurt on the street if they do have to use it but if they have to and they stuff techniques up and get hurt then they are going to be blaming others for getting hurt. They're the ones that slack off in class not giving 100% to learn the techniques and how to apply them effectively.

Even when we train many of the girls are still aprehensive about getting hit (both hard and soft). Even if we are doing light contact for drills they still whine about getting hit. I once had a girl that complained that i hit "too hard" even though i just touched. Then others girls i'll hit fairly hard and they go "come on hit me harder, you hit like a girl" which shows me that they can have me go full pelt at them and also that i can work at my absolute hardest to get better.

I'm a Goju practitioner so it is different to Kyokushin, but i suspect that for kyokushin in particular females are under the impression that you'll get hurt if you do it or that guys will go easier on them just because their a female.

Honestly when i train i don't care if they are male or female, I work them equally as hard when i'm an instructor or i'm training. The ONLY times i go easier on someone is if they have a legit physical issue (ie injury, physically disability) or the belt they have around their hips. I'm not going to make a white or yellow belt do 'light' kumite which involves heavier contact than 'awase' kumite (thats soft and slow) or 'point' kumite, purely because they don't have the experience or the knowledge of kumite itself and haven't trained for long enough.

I would be extremely happy to see more females to train in the MA because there has been an increase in assaults against females, especially here in australia (we had a high profile case where a man killed a lady called Jill Meagher). So I believe females should learn how to defend themselves.

I understand the rise for female-only classes but imho they should also train with males to be able to become comfortable with that perceived extra pressure. As physiologically males are stronger than females, so some things that you would want to learn even in a self defense class would be a smart idea to do with a guy to be able to see the difference in strength and size between guys and girls.

Solid post mate

[SteyrAUG]

Probably for similar reasons that most people who do spin class or step aerobics are female.

[Canadian77]

Speaking from a female perspective - I'm not sure if there are fewer kyokushin female practitioners than other forms. I haven't seen enough to tell you if that's just your dojo or if there is something to that. But as to MA in general, probably part of it is the commitment. Family and other things do tend to take over. I personally feel like it may be a bit of an undiscovered secret though - it's such a great de-stressor for me, and I feel as though more women could benefit from that. I've been trying to convince a lot of my friends to give it a try though - no success yet lol.

As to getting hit - - personally I am not afraid of pain, just injury. Females are pretty tough. I've gone through childbirth twice, a painful hit doesn't bother me! Honestly I'm a lot more afraid of looking silly that getting hurt, lol. I don't feel ready for full-on sparring, but that just because I don't feel my skills are there yet.

You'll be pleased to know I'm one of five women who started at my dojo within the last few months. And we have plenty of young girls as well - which will likely include my daughter in a few months (she is eager to start, we are holding off until another limited-time activity she is doing finishes before starting this commitment). So there you go!

[Safroot]

But as to MA in general, probably part of it is the commitment. Family and other things do tend to take over

That's a good point of view

IMO ... The main reason may be that Kyokushin is a solid style with full contact and it's actually bit more physically demanding than other styles ! not sure may be this is a reason

[brickshooter]

A broken nose, chip tooth and black eye can make the prettiest girl look less lovely. Hence the MA is less desirable. Also, walking into a male dominated MA room is probably as intimidating as a guy walking into a female dominated Zumba class.

[Wastelander]

This is, quite honestly, a very complicated and touchy subject. Since I am a man, I can only make educated guesses and pass along what I've been told by female martial artists. There seem to be two primary reasons that more women aren't involved in martial arts:

1. They have been conditioned all their lives to believe that hitting/wrestling/fighting/sweating/etc. isn't feminine, and therefore isn't something they should be doing.

2. When they do decide to try doing those things, they are made to feel uncomfortable about it by men and women, alike--even those that they train with.

Both of these are societal issues, really, but I feel it's vitally important that every individual that is aware of it should be working to change their behavior. One person at a time, this is something that can be changed.