Would it be OK to train for the fitness alone?

[DWx]

People train for different reasons and it's ok not to want to train for combat or self defense. If you enjoy going and enjoy the work out, that's a good enough reason to go.

Though on the whole it sounds like you are disillusioned with the school more than the style.

[JazzKicker]

As long as you keep paying, I doubt your instructor will care what your reason for training is!

If you decide you're just in it for fitness, that's perfectly valid, and with WTSDA style, that's probably the best thing you can get out of it (besides the social factor you enjoy).

Truthfully, there are better, more efficient ways to stay fit if you just want to burn calories, do cardio, keep flexible, and build muscle strength.

The thing I end up missing is, nothing else also engages the mind, coordination, and range of motion like punching, kicking, forms.

[JR 137]

The thing I end up missing is, nothing else also engages the mind, coordination, and range of motion like punching, kicking, forms.

That’s a huge thing for me, in a sense. If I absolutely had to narrow down one reason alone for restarting karate and staying with it, it would be for the stress relief. When I’m there, the outside world doesn’t exist for an hour and a half. Going through the movements, I can’t think about anything but what I’m doing right then and there. And if I could let the outside world in, it would end during sparring. There’s no time to think about work when someone’s punching at your stomach. There’s no time to think of family issues when someone’s kicking at your head.

It’s moving meditation. It’s inner peace through violence

[OneKickWonder]

The thing I end up missing is, nothing else also engages the mind, coordination, and range of motion like punching, kicking, forms.

That’s a huge thing for me, in a sense. If I absolutely had to narrow down one reason alone for restarting karate and staying with it, it would be for the stress relief. When I’m there, the outside world doesn’t exist for an hour and a half. Going through the movements, I can’t think about anything but what I’m doing right then and there. And if I could let the outside world in, it would end during sparring. There’s no time to think about work when someone’s punching at your stomach. There’s no time to think of family issues when someone’s kicking at your head.

It’s moving meditation. It’s inner peace through violence

Very well put. That's exactly how I see it.

[RW]

I've done a lot of soul searching lately. I currently practice a style that is not real world practical, and has such ridiculous sparring rules that it's just cardio.

I've decided I'm either too old or grown too disinterested to pursue more real styles, such as the wado I miss so much ( do I miss wado? Or do I miss being young and athletic, I don't know).

But I love the club and the people in it.

Would I be in some way insulting my instructor if I train just for the fitness and fun?

What's you style again? Still TSD? TKD?

I have a feeling that most traditional martial arts aren't that geared towards self defense. You learn how to drive by driving. You learn how to swim by swimming. You learn how to fight by... fighting.

The problem is you also learn how to get brain damage, broken noses and black eyes by fighting, so it's a bad payoff.

Some people will get as close as they can to the real deal in order to be good fighters: We're talking full contact boxing or muay thai or MMA here.

Some will want to be a bit further from that, perhaps something like Kyokushin Karate (which has no face shots).

Some of us will be even further away from that, by practicing something like other non-full contact karate styles.

Then some people may veer even further away from that and go the TKD or traditional kung fu route.

You've gone through the same mental process I've gone with my art (kempo), even though I do expect to get some self defense benefits as a bonus (sort of like how "wax on, wax off" was actually practicing blocks LOL).

I think most TMA instructors fully expect to have a number of students that are only practicing their art for fitness or recreational purposes, and they'd not get upset about it unless the practitioner is being disrespectful or not taking the art seriously.

[RW]

The thing I end up missing is, nothing else also engages the mind, coordination, and range of motion like punching, kicking, forms.

That’s a huge thing for me, in a sense. If I absolutely had to narrow down one reason alone for restarting karate and staying with it, it would be for the stress relief. When I’m there, the outside world doesn’t exist for an hour and a half. Going through the movements, I can’t think about anything but what I’m doing right then and there. And if I could let the outside world in, it would end during sparring. There’s no time to think about work when someone’s punching at your stomach. There’s no time to think of family issues when someone’s kicking at your head.

It’s moving meditation. It’s inner peace through violence

This is probably my favorite part of karate... a well practiced kata truly is like moving meditation