Doing karate but at home - Do you have this problem?

[FightingFox]

A slightly over exaggerated video I made 😅 But it does show some real stuggles of doing kata while at home. Have you ran into this problem? How do you over come it?

[sensei8]

Welcome to KF, FightingFox; glad that you're here!!

Your video wasn't over exaggerated, imho; humorous and solid about a real issue, and in your case, not having enough adequate space to properly train. I'm quite sure that many here have encountered available landscape one time or another.

I ran into it a lot when I was a kid, and not being in a position to create an adequate training space without having mom reminding me that she's the CI of the house, and with that being said, I was sequestered to my room for training. To train within my bedroom, created dilemma's; what, if anything, I can get rid of, seeing I grew quite attached to my stuff, no matter how trivia. My room was akin to the size of what's shown in your video; quaint but size-challenged.

So, Kata and Kumite aren't designed to be practiced in ones tiny bedroom. Challenging, yes, impossible, no!! One quick note, mom would kill me and my training partner if she ever caught us sparring inside of the house, and that fight isn't even worth any consideration. Kihon was super easy in the confinements of my bedroom.

Kata?? No chance of that being executed in my bedroom unless I wanted to experience what your video pointed out effectively. No, so what did I do?? I executed any said Kata completely by STAYING IN ONE SPOT THE ENTIRE TIME; kind of like visualizing many techniques at their exacting moment, no matter what was next. Honestly, movements, other than arms, are not necessary.

I do this with my student daily. Executing said Kata while standing inside of a literal box. This drill also allows the student to memorize through visualization of the next technique, with ONLY arm movements being allowed as they'd be within any said Kata.

I still train like that to keep my memories sharp. This is what I did when I was at home in my bedroom as a kid. It helped me learn and memorize said Kata. I even did that at tournaments not because of space limitations but because what said Kata(s) I was going to execute was no ones business, especially my fellow competitor.

This type of training, with only limited available space, became far more of a positive than a negative; one has to make do with what's available.

Imho!!

[The Pred]

I think the video is great, if anything it teaches you how to fight in close tight spaces.

[Zaine]

I did a lot of this while in college and felt embarrassed to go outside and do it. I have less shame now and realize that no one really cares in the long run so I go to the park.

What I ended up doing was making it an exercise on how do do kata in place. How can I improve my footwork in a single space? How can I use my space as efficiently as possible? When I ended up being able to return to a dojo it definitely helped in sparing.

[Spartacus Maximus]

If your martial art has forms, it is always possible to practise shorter parts and sequences or individual techniques that only require a couple of steps in any direction. You can also just switch sides while remaining in place to replace/simulate a step forward or back depending on the size of the floor you have to work with. If it can be done in a tiny business hotel room, it can work practically anywhere. The idea is to pick anything from your martial art that can be done with the least amount of room to move around.

[bushido_man96]

Back in my ATA days, we used to do a variation of forms practice called "form in a phone booth." Yeah, I was teaching classes when that analogy actually worked. I mean, they weren't really around, but people still knew what they were...

Anyways, it was a fun variation on the forms, forcing students to really work on adjusting their footwork to still generate power, all the while completing the form in about a 4 foot square space.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Welcome to the Forum!

Yeah I used to do that all the time! but then I realised that I can just train outside and has way more space

[Himokiri Karate]

please tell me your fan of Steve Fox

If you are then you do what boxers used to do and that is fighting in the phone booth.

[Miick 11]

A slightly over exaggerated video I made 😅 But it does show some real stuggles of doing kata while at home. Have you ran into this problem? How do you over come it?

Wall in the way ? I punch hole in wall . I kick the bed .... it goes flying out the window .

Disturbing phone call ? They wouldn't dare !

Lego blocks ? I sleep naked on them !

..... have you considered outdoor training ?

( You left out a major one in your little film - swiping the neon light tube with the tip of your bokken ! )

[Miick 11]

Welcome to the Forum!

Yeah I used to do that all the time! but then I realised that I can just train outside and has way more space

I am fortunate enough to have a lot of land . I made a level spot out the front of the house with the tractor , so its fairly large ( no Mum or Wife to complain about carving up the garden ) it soon got covered with grass . Now I call it ' The Circle of Death '

The last 12 years , our 'club training ' on the weekend has been in a public park in town . It seems to have become popular , now the local aikido club trains there on the same day .

Outside training is the go ! Much more to offer ; being aware of a much larger 'field' / environment , yet not being distracted by it , uneven ground and correct footwork ( for outdoors, that is - dont try doing what you learned to do on a smooth gym floor when outdoors ) , tactics (like maneuvering another into uneven ground , or so they have the sun in their eyes, etc ) . Weather can be an issue , sometimes we evacuated the park and went and trained in a nearby covered car park .