GKR Karate

[Cactus_Gazz]

I've read alot of things about gkr karate and i have been doing it for a few months and i am a bit worries, Will i ever learn other strikes apaer from basics and will i learn more than four kicks? And i also dont know how to put power into a punch. Are there any GKR karate people that have any stories that would reassuse me if i got into a street fight?

 

And one last thing, are there any exersicing practeses that i can do to be more flexible?

 

Thanks for reading throuigh that and sorry for the spelling!

[Tal]

patience! all martial arts start of with the basics. you'll learn new things as you progress. i don't know that much about GKR, but i don't think its vastly different from other styles of karate. in shotokan i spend 3 months practicing 2 blocks, 1 punch and 1 stance.

 

if you persevere and keep at it, you will learn more techniques. you cannot learn advanced techniques before you master the basics.

 

4 basic kicks might not sound like a lot, but what else can you do? front kick, side kick, roundhouse, reverse roundhouse...what else is there? there's some back kicks and more difficult kicks but you won't be able to them until you master the basics. i didn't learn any kicks until about 4 months into training.

 

no one's stories can reassure you if you get into a street fight. in a street fight its your abilties that count, no one else's. karate can be effective on the street if you train to make it so. if all you do is non-contact sparring and kata without learning effective applications, it won't be that effective on the street. if you want to make your karate street-effective, i suggest you go and do some reading to find good applications of your kata. i also suggest you get the basics mastered. its the basics that work on the street because you don't have time to think about fancy techniques. i have used my karate on the street and it has worked very well. other people find that their karate does not work well on the street. its all down to the individual and the situation.

[Tal]

in shotokan, you use the hips to put power into a punch. just before you finish the punch, flick your hips so the side of your hip that is under the punching arm flicks forward. GKR might use a different way of putting power into punches. one method i found that improved the power of my strikes was breaking boards and stuff. it doesn't work for everyone but at least try it. ask your sensei about it.

[Cactus_Gazz]

Thank you very much for your help, it has been good advice, the only thing that worries me is that the yellow belts in my class do all the same as the green belts, is a normal thing in a dojo?

[Tal]

in shotokan, green belts practice an extra kata that yellow belts havn't learnt yet. other than that, there's no massive difference. when i became a green belt, we started practicing kicking a lot more. before then it we didn't do much kicking. in the dojo i currently practice at, there aren't that many people, so we train mainly in two groups; orange belts up to green belts, and purple belts up to black belts (white belts do get their own instruction). this means that green belts don't train much differently than yellow belts other than the kata, but once they get their purple belt their training takes a quantum leap. ideally you'd have the training increasing gradually but its not possible in smaller clubs.

 

remember that a green belt doesn't necessarily have a green belt because he/she knows more stuff than a yellow belt, but because he/she's better at it.

 

look at the brown and black belts in your dojo. do they do more stuff than the yellow belts? its easier to spot bigger differences, so you might be able to see a difference between yourself and a black belt but not yourself and a green belt.

 

finally, 'belts are there to hold your pants up' as bruce lee said. divisions by belt are very artificial. don't pay too much attention to them.

[GrrrArg]

The club is very focused on basics, because without good basics you can't do kata properly and you can't spar properly.

 

The green belts will be learning kata saifa which you probably won't be doing yet.

 

I've been with the club for five years and my training has served me well.

 

Tal: the four kicks we do are front kick, side kick, roundhouse, and a simple knee level back kick. Cresent kicks get introduced when learning Bassai-dai at Blue belt level, and then more stuff is introduced at Brown belt level.

 

As far as strikes and blocks go there are some more advanced open-handed stuff that you will probably start doing soon.

 

There are a few people on the forums who train with GKR, Valithor is in Australia as well so he might have something to say to you if he notices the thread.

 

Train hard and have fun. Good luck.

[Gino]

Hang in there.Karate is a very slow process but it will be with you for life if you aproach it the right way.You can never stop learning in karate.

 

I don't think you said how long you've been training in your style of Karate,but if it's only a very short time please take the time to find out about other styles and arts.Go and have a look at them, if theres something you see that you really like and suits you then go for it, then dedicate yourself to it properly.To reep the benifits of martial arts it takes blood and sweat and there are ups and downs but only perserverance will take you to where you want to be.

[Mole78]

Kihon in GKR is limited to only a few moves and you will be introduced to all of them at Yellow belt. After that pay attention to the Kata (taken from Gojuryu and Shotokan) which contain further techniques.

[Valithor]

Hi all,

 

Hi Cactus-Gazz, glad to hear you've recently started in the martial arts. GKR is based on Shotokan and Goju, so much of what you read about them will apply as well.

 

Tal, your first post was excellent. CG, that's a pretty good summary.

 

In terms of different types of strikes, there are several techniques contained in the kata that are not practiced in the basics. In terms of self-defence, I think you will find that the punches and elbow strikes are likely to be the most effective. You don't need fancy frills to be effective.

 

The same pretty much applies to the kicks, you'll learn spinning kicks and hook kicks etc, when you have trained for a bit longer.

 

There are a few discussion on this board about how to put power into techniques. Although I would first learn the technique the way your Sensei teaches it before you try to modify/improve it.

 

There are also quite a few stretching tips elsewhere on this board. I recommend frequency over intensity.

 

In terms of reassuring stories, I avoid getting in streetfights. But I have had a large degree of success in all-style tournaments, and feel confident in my ability to defend myself.

 

You'll get out of it whatever you put into it. The same would apply to TKD or BJJ. There is no free lunch.

 

All the best with your training! Btw, which GKR region do you train in?

[Cactus_Gazz]

Wow, never in my life have i stumbled into a group of people like yourself, i left a post last night i come back to check the night after and you've all answered my questions!, thank you very much you have all been most helpfull!!!!!

 

PS: Valithor, i train in the eastern suburbs of melbourne, and i am fortunate to be going to see and train with shihan stacy soon!