How to practice karate on your own?

[Drasik]

Hi! I've been practicing for a few months with a sensei, but things are really quick there and I don't have the time to get a technique and learn it. So I started practicing myself as well but I'm still confused and find it hard to progress.

At this point I've learnt Choku Zuki pretty well, but I can't connect the hands with the hip move. And I'm not sure how to practice the hip move separately.

Also, how should I approach the punching bag?

I can hit it correctly a few times, but I don't know how to practice with it correctly and get to keeping a rhythm at least.

I want to go slowly, step by step from the basic stuff and make sure I'm doing everything right. Could anyone please advice, how it's better to practice on my own and learn the techniques from getting the basic moves to being able to get more advanced with a punching bag? Thank you!

[Wastelander]

Hi! I've been practicing for a few months with a sensei, but things are really quick there and I don't have the time to get a technique and learn it. So I started practicing myself as well but I'm still confused and find it hard to progress.

At this point I've learnt Choku Zuki pretty well, but I can't connect the hands with the hip move. And I'm not sure how to practice the hip move separately.

Also, how should I approach the punching bag?

I can hit it correctly a few times, but I don't know how to practice with it correctly and get to keeping a rhythm at least.

I want to go slowly, step by step from the basic stuff and make sure I'm doing everything right. Could anyone please advice, how it's better to practice on my own and learn the techniques from getting the basic moves to being able to get more advanced with a punching bag? Thank you!

First of all--welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you are very new to karate. My initial recommendation would be to ask your sensei, or one of your senpai, about the techniques you are having trouble learning. They should be willing and able to help you, either during class, or before/after. Practicing at home is great! Necessary, even. The trick is that you need to practice things properly, and you will have to have your sensei or senpai make sure you can do that.

For connecting the hip to the punch, I like to start people a simple stance-shifting drill. Stand in a 45 degree shiko-dachi, then drive forward with your back foot so that your back leg straightens, turning your shiko-dachi into a zenkutsu-dachi. If you have your arms relaxed, and you do the shift correctly, you should notice your back hand swings forward. Once you have a feel for how that works, you can start punching with that hand, instead of letting it swing. This drill won't magically fix everything, but it gives you something to work with, and you can start to feel how everything should move together.

As for using a heavy bag at home, you might want to just start throwing one punch at a time, focusing on kihon. I know that putting together combinations and finding a rhythm is more fun, but form can suffer when you do that. At your stage, you would probably benefit most from sticking to the basics. Throw your choku-tsuki, one at a time, against the bag, from a variety of stances and with different kinds of stepping. Once you're comfortable with that, add the second punch with the other hand.

[sensei8]

Wastelander's advice is solid, and it might help you in the long run, so, try it!!

[yamesu]

Its about willpower. Making yourself stay in format of the bag and keep going once the brain says stop. Pull that little voice from inside you that wants you to keep going and make it loud!

Personally, I do a fair amount of training at home now, but I do have a dojo set up at home, so its fairly easy for me to hook in to training once I get home.

Just keep at it. Try to emulate a whole lesson at home on your own, go through all the basics, then forms, then hit the bag for a minimum of 10-15min.

[pers]

As you are new to karate it is very important to have supervision and a proper dojo and instructor to learn from and to get corrected so you don't set in bad habits.

It is very good to practice at home to compliment what you have learned in the class , you can go over what you have been doing in the class and practice parts that you have trouble with , practice them slow and correct , doing it slow with some kime but concentrating on correct body movement and technique will improve your technique and speed will follow soon after .

Once you have done enough repetitions (100s ,1000s hopefully !) then you have sharpened your technique and speed will come with relaxation of the body once the technique become like second nature .

but you have to learn to mould your karate form the correct way from a good instructor to teach you , otherwise if you spend the next 10 years practicing at home and doing it the wrong way after 10 years you will master doing a technique incorrectly and therefore inefective or not efficient.

Body movement ,moving from A to B ,learning when to relax your muscles and when to expand and contract them ,weight distribution ,strategy ,pair work are some of the things you need to learn if you are not a born genius fighter like the rest of us .

[Drasik]

As you are new to karate it is very important to have supervision and a proper dojo and instructor to learn from and to get corrected so you don't set in bad habits.

It is very good to practice at home to compliment what you have learned in the class , you can go over what you have been doing in the class and practice parts that you have trouble with , practice them slow and correct , doing it slow with some kime but concentrating on correct body movement and technique will improve your technique and speed will follow soon after .

Once you have done enough repetitions (100s ,1000s hopefully !) then you have sharpened your technique and speed will come with relaxation of the body once the technique become like second nature .

but you have to learn to mould your karate form the correct way from a good instructor to teach you , otherwise if you spend the next 10 years practicing at home and doing it the wrong way after 10 years you will master doing a technique incorrectly and therefore inefective or not efficient.

Body movement ,moving from A to B ,learning when to relax your muscles and when to expand and contract them ,weight distribution ,strategy ,pair work are some of the things you need to learn if you are not a born genius fighter like the rest of us .

First of all--welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you are very new to karate. My initial recommendation would be to ask your sensei, or one of your senpai, about the techniques you are having trouble learning. They should be willing and able to help you, either during class, or before/after. Practicing at home is great! Necessary, even. The trick is that you need to practice things properly, and you will have to have your sensei or senpai make sure you can do that.

For connecting the hip to the punch, I like to start people a simple stance-shifting drill. Stand in a 45 degree shiko-dachi, then drive forward with your back foot so that your back leg straightens, turning your shiko-dachi into a zenkutsu-dachi. If you have your arms relaxed, and you do the shift correctly, you should notice your back hand swings forward. Once you have a feel for how that works, you can start punching with that hand, instead of letting it swing. This drill won't magically fix everything, but it gives you something to work with, and you can start to feel how everything should move together.

As for using a heavy bag at home, you might want to just start throwing one punch at a time, focusing on kihon. I know that putting together combinations and finding a rhythm is more fun, but form can suffer when you do that. At your stage, you would probably benefit most from sticking to the basics. Throw your choku-tsuki, one at a time, against the bag, from a variety of stances and with different kinds of stepping. Once you're comfortable with that, add the second punch with the other hand.

Thanks a lot

[Davis]

Solo training should take up 70 per cent of your karate. Instruction is the other bit! You take lessons then practice what you have learned.

My advice is to approach your instructor and ask them what to do. Tell them you wish to practice between classes to improve and what things you should concentrate on. This is what I do now, my teacher gives me a quick lesson and then sends me out on my own for a few months to train what he showed me. I have been training for 30 years with him and he knows how to "read me", to identify the area that is holding me back. Your instructor will do the same, he can see your movements and advise you on the right focus.

When I was first learning I did everything of course, and didn't follow this advice. I read books, I learned ideas, I did weightlifting, I tried to figure out how to fight 2 on 1, 2 on 3, 3 vs 2. I ran around like crazy experimenting to motivate myself. We all need to go through that stage too, open learning. Its unavoidable.

Whatever you do, stick with it. Things don't start to come around for the first 2 years, in the 3rd year it starts to look decent. After that its wood shedding the basics. Don't quit after a year, like most do. Just making it past green belt is huge. Green belt is a decisive time, usually 1 year. Green belts in karate tournaments are easy to spot. They are the one's holding ice packs over a black eye! The power is developing, but there is no control. Its the worst tournament bracket for injuries I swear!

[Shotokannon]

Here's what I do;

We're issued with a book at my dojo, detailing grading criteria, I make a solid choice on whether to practise basics, kata or both and focus on areas I've been told in lessons I need to improve on.

To help with this, after EVERY lesson without fail I write an account of the lesson in a diary and when I train at home, I consult my Diary for points to be emphasized upon, I occasionally use Youtube Videos to aid with this (especially in kata).

If you have a large mirror, this definitely helps; you can see yourself slouching, or not sitting deeply in your stances (I'm shotokan, so this may not apply to you), this for me is the biggest motivator because if you can see yourself doing it right, you can show everyone else you're doing it right too.

Hope this helps!

[sensei8]

Here's what I do;

We're issued with a book at my dojo, detailing grading criteria, I make a solid choice on whether to practise basics, kata or both and focus on areas I've been told in lessons I need to improve on.

To help with this, after EVERY lesson without fail I write an account of the lesson in a diary and when I train at home, I consult my Diary for points to be emphasized upon, I occasionally use Youtube Videos to aid with this (especially in kata).

If you have a large mirror, this definitely helps; you can see yourself slouching, or not sitting deeply in your stances (I'm shotokan, so this may not apply to you), this for me is the biggest motivator because if you can see yourself doing it right, you can show everyone else you're doing it right too.

Hope this helps!

A lot of good ideas here!!

To the bold type above...

Paul A. Walker did just that! Then, over some time, he kept an intense diary. Then turned those notes into a best-selling book: Lessons With The Master: 279 Shotokan Karate Lessons with Master Hirokazu Kanazawa A quite valuable asset, and not just for Shotokan practitioners, but for all MA. Speak about wanting to be that fly on the wall!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

Here's what I do;

We're issued with a book at my dojo, detailing grading criteria, I make a solid choice on whether to practise basics, kata or both and focus on areas I've been told in lessons I need to improve on.

To help with this, after EVERY lesson without fail I write an account of the lesson in a diary and when I train at home, I consult my Diary for points to be emphasized upon, I occasionally use Youtube Videos to aid with this (especially in kata).

If you have a large mirror, this definitely helps; you can see yourself slouching, or not sitting deeply in your stances (I'm shotokan, so this may not apply to you), this for me is the biggest motivator because if you can see yourself doing it right, you can show everyone else you're doing it right too.

Hope this helps!

Same my old dojo had issued a book on what we need to know for grading which is greatly helpful. But my sensei can't issue the same formatting because the CI of the old dojo had placed a copyright on it. So my sensei has to modify how he is going to format and present our syllabus book.

I don't write down in a diary of what we have covered as we cover 1 or 2 things every lesson. But when it is important or i know that I suck at remembering it (ie Bunkai) i will write it down.

I have found training on my own over the years I will focus on the important things that I know my sensei has told me to work on. For instance for the last few days I have been focusing on remembering Bassai Dai as I recently learnt that kata in class (even if not in my style of karate).