Yakusoku bother

[OrthoPeach]

I am a purple belt trying desperately to grade for brown. I have been training altogether for around 15 years with big gaps (and club changes) inbetween.

I've finally come back to karate after another 4 year gap and was able to retain my purple belt. However, I'm starting to think I'll never gain my next belt!

Basics I'm ok with.

Kata (Kushanku) I'm ok with (it's not great but I know how to make it better, it will just take practice).

Ohyo and Kihon will take work but I'm not overly concerned about ...

Yakusoku however is like a brick wall to me. I just can't seem to improvise my own defenses on the spot like is required. Fighting does not come naturally to me so already instinct is against me - how do I get over this?? I just seem to freeze whenever an attack comes at me.

[JR 137]

Train, then train, then train some more. There's no substitute for experience. Sounds like a cop out on my part, but it's genuinely not. The only way to make something that makes you nervous and anxious is to desensitize yourself to the situation. Constantly putting yourself in that situation (under controlled circumstances) will help you get used to it. The adrenaline dump and fight or flight response is a natural instinct. The more exposure you have to this, the more you learn to control the response. The more control you have over the response, the easier it become to stay calm and focus on what you're doing when the time comes to react.

If you're constantly being used as a full-contact punching bag and are getting no feedback from your teacher, that's another story all together.

[sensei8]

Train hard, and train well! Not for ranks, but for your MA betterment across the board. Brown belt's not going anywhere, and it'll still be there when the time is appropriate, and not anytime sooner!!

Continue to be attacked, and IN TIME, that fear, that tendency to freeze will evaporate with the more you're facing that which is challenging you the most.

I'll have been on the floor 51 years this October, and trust me, I've faced my brick walls more than I care to remember, and thought that I'd NEVER EVER overcome it...but in time, I did exactly that...I overcame it, but not without any trails and tribulations.

Imho, the trials and tribulations are natural parts of training in the MA, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but you ALWAYS find a way to overcome it.

Hang in there; you'll be just fine!!

[Kusotare]

You say Yakusoku?

That is, pre-arranged sparing (pair-work)?

Or do you mean Jiyu Kumite (free fighting)?

Either way, as others have said, practice. Build up to it, and ask your sensei if there are any drills he/she could recommend to work on with a partner.

K.

[DaveB]

Your problem is common in martial arts. You haven't been taught how to fight.

Options:

1. lots of pre-arranged drills. They will ingrain patterns and options into your body. Repetition is the key here. Note this is still a training step and much different from what you need to do to fight in a ring or in self defence.

2. Take up a combat sport. A good school will teach you to fight and a less good school will still expose you enough to people trying to hit you that you will get an idea how to react.

Note: whatever you do the answer is based in repetition. Practice not study.

[Judodad_karateson]

Spar, Spar, and then spar some more. Sign of for a few boxing and or kick boxing classes to get some extra sparring with different styles in, spar with classmates outside of class. Spar like Chuck Norris is coming to beat the tar out of you in a week. I think everyone else covered this, but it sounds like you are just lacking in combat experience. All the knowledge is the world is useless if you've never had to use any of it.

[sensei8]

Want to learn how to defend oneself? Then spar more than the next person, and against different styles; allow the time one spends sparring as a major proponent in ones training.

Imho!!