Tag Archives: Karate

The Karate Kid

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Recently I tested and passed for my advancement to 5th kyu. Yay for me but that isn’t what I am writing about. Instead I am writing about the REAL Karate Kid.

No…not him. And not Ralph Macchio either. The real Karate Kid that I know is a 12 year old 2nd kyu (brown belt) and we’ll call her “Sammie”.

 

Sammie is from our sister-school an hour away and she came over with others to help out with grading. And right from the start I should tell you that I am somewhat biased against high ranking children as my experience is that many earn their higher belts through either pity, birthday presents, or “well, he always comes to class”. So I wouldn’t have paid much attention to her for the first hour of class even if I weren’t busy with my own training. But when it was time for the higher belts to perform kata, I then first took notice.

In a word, I was surprised. Most children, you see, simply do not have the patience nor the desire to get good at martial arts. Most kids, and I include my childhood self in this, flit from one interest to another like bumblebees, always in search of something novel and interesting. So to find a child that has obtained a high kyu rank in karate is rare. Rarer still in knockdown karate.

Her kata had begun and I watched as she moved through her sequences; after an exhausting hour of kihon she wasn’t perfect, but nor was she sloppy and all of her movements had fluidity and snap. It was a good showing and proved she at least had discipline. Still, though, among underage female martial artists in higher ranks it is fairly common to find proficiency in kata. And who of us hasn’t seen an example of a pint-sized martial artist who’s parents make her focus on something safe like forms?

 

Well I fortunately make a habit of keeping these kinds of thoughts to myself because the next stage of the test was kumite. During my eight 1-minute rounds I wasn’t able to watch, but since she is Brown Belt she had 3 more fights after my rank was told to sit down.

Sammie, very small for a 12 year old, impressed the hell out of me during kumite. She showed more spirit than probably any of us while she fought one larger and older opponent after another. She had great combos, quickness, defense, and endurance. But most impressive was how she literally kept fighting through her tears. I’ve watched older boys, and even some teenagers take a hard shot and immediately quit and begin to cry; and while I am not without sympathy, it makes Sammie’s performance all the more inspiring as she’d return a savage low inside-kick with a jab-cross-uramawashi geri combo.

 

Students like her just go to show that you can’t always judge a person’s spirit by their size.

 

 

Osu!

When Should a Student Start Sparring?

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Spend enough time with different martial arts instructors and you’ll end up having some interesting conversations. One I had recently was on the topic of when a student should begin to spar. This might, at first blush, seem like a strange question (it did for me, anyway). But let’s stop to consider the rationale behind the opinions.

(Note: For simplicity we’ll focus on the two general camps that either students should spar from nearly day one, or that students should be forbidden from contact sparring until they are a little higher ranked – such as 5th kyu).

First we’ll tackle the idea that a student should start sparring almost right away. What are some of the primary benefits?

  1. Student gains fighting experience at an early stage.
  2. Many younger students don’t have the patience to wait until they’ve advanced a few belts before they try out their skills.
  3. Impractical habits of kihon (basics) will not become ingrained – such as throwing punches from the hip during kumite (sparring) or taking deep stances in a real fight.

 

So, then, what are the benefits of preventing a student from sparring too early?

  1. There is a truism that states “A white belt is more dangerous than a black belt”. This means that the measures of control that come from well practiced techniques do not develop until later on. This was a lesson made very clear to me.
  2. Proper application of technique generally only comes after much repetition. This way you wont see two white belts flailing and wailing on each other.
  3. There is more to the martial arts than fighting and this is a good way to weed out those who are only looking to fight and aren’t interested in “The Way”.

 

In the end, I think that delaying the point at which a student begins to fight is a disservice. The mechanics of fighting are physical skills and it is these mechanics that are hindered when early sparring is forbidden. Further, for those of us who train in part because we desire the skills to keep us from harm are being placed at risk because they only have a theoretical grasp of a fight with no practical experience.

 

Drop a comment and add to this dialogue; especially those of you who are of opposite opinion. Am I missing some key factor? Can’t see the forest for the trees?

 

 

Osu!

Is Karate Good for Self Defense?

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Looks like a modified Jodan Uke, to me...

Of the many undying topics of conversation in the world of martial arts is the topic of the effectiveness of Traditional Martial Arts for a real life self defense scenario.

There are a few common threads that come up during a conversation between a Self Defense practitioner and a Traditional Martial Artist on this topic and having trained on under both schools of thought I can tell you why many people on both sides don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.

(After rereading this post I think it would do justice to examine the flip-side of this coin and talk about the areas where Traditional Martial Arts should make greater strides toward modernizing. Drop by soon for the second installment.)

 

Stances:

One criticism Self Defense guys have about martial arts is it’s reliance on training in deep stances and that they are useless in a fight. Well, setting aside the fact that this kid would disagree, this is a bit of a moot point for two reasons: first, no one (sane) uses deep stances in earnest whether it be competitive, sparring, or a real self defense situation. And second, in most martial arts the higher one is in rank the higher one stands in fighting. This does, however, lead into the second point often made in critique of Traditional systems.

 

It takes too long to learn:

On this one I’ll agree. One big flaw I find in most martial arts systems is that they do have a long learning curve. True that a novice who connects with one solid strike to a vulnerable area with the proper technique can bring down an assailant, but who wants to rely on being lucky?

This will be discussed further in future posts, but one must understand one of the primary reasons why martial arts retain a longer learning curve: it was a requirement to do so. With arts that are focused on “jutsu” (combative techniques), such as Kenjutsu or Jiu Jitsu, soldiers in a lord’s standing army must train constantly and, ideally, keep in good physical condition because they could be called upon to perform their duties at any time. It would not do for soldiers of a standing army to learn 10 quick and basic techniques over the course of 6 weeks and then slack off.

For arts centered on “do“, such as Karate-do or Hapkido, these often have elements that are meant to impart changes in character that will allow the individual to become a better person/ reach enlightenment/ etc. – no one becomes a better person in just a few weeks. Further, they were very often employed by law enforcement agencies dealing with a multitude of situations, from murderers to simple drunks; so not only was constantly honing their skills a job requirement but they needed many different techniques to deal with real life scenarios. An Okinawan “ufusaji” (street cop) wouldn’t reverse punch a drunk in the throat and kick in his skull just because he got a little rowdy – diverse techniques were required for him to perform his duties and it takes time to polish each one. (If you’d like to read more about the fascinating history of some of Karate’s first professional users, Matt wrote an amazing article which expands further on this and I highly recommend you stop by…after you’re finished reading this one, of course!)

 

Traditional Arts are stagnant:

As part of their marketing efforts, some of the more fervent proponents of Reality Based Self Defense will criticize Traditional arts because they do not keep up with modern weapons and modern scenarios. After all, when was the last time you were attending a tea ceremony and were attacked by an assailant wielding a naginata?

To see the weakness of this argument let’s imagine ourselves 300 years in the future when everyone will have lightsabers and rocket boots. When our Jedi descendents discuss the primitive fighting styles of the early 21st century they say that “traditional” systems like Reality Based Self Defense have not kept up with technology. And the future “traditionalists” of Reality Based Self Defense will say that while it is true that their arts were born when projectile based weapons were the deadliest and commonest of dangers, their art has evolved and adapted to lightsaber technology and is now completely Jedi-proof.

The same rationale is applicable to nearly every Traditional system in our present time. If the keepers of the art are dedicated to it being a “living art” then in addition to passing on ancient techniques, they have added curriculum which deals with modern threats.

 

The Dojo isn’t the Street:

When I hear this it is usually elaborated that on the street there are no referees, no rules, and if you end up in a fight it wont be barefoot and on the padding of your dojo. And all this is true!

But again, this type of statement is usually made as part of a marketing pitch to try to distance their “product” from others. Lets face it, if you are training in Reality Based Self Defense there will certainly be differences. But you will still be training in a special room, wearing unrestricting clothes, and when you spar there will be rules, padding, and someone to stop the fight in case of injury or accident.

That isn’t to say that Traditional Systems can’t learn something from their Reality Based Self Defense brothers. I have heard of some schools using loud music and special lights to simulate dance club environments. I’ve also read about the use of extreme verbal abuse (something like this guy) to familiarize students to certain alpha-male confrontation scenarios. This kind of confrontation training is especially useful in deescalation exercises and Traditionalists would do well to add this to their training.

 

This list can go on and on but I believe the point is made. What is sad is that the world of fighting arts has fallen victim to its own marketing and subdivided itself into Traditional Arts, Sport Arts, and Reality Based Arts. This is a sin of the worst kind because a system of fighting needs to incorporate all these aspects in order to optimized and tested. Stagnation and death begin only after the keepers of the arts buy in to the notion that they are their own label.

 

 

Osu!

My Next Style

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There comes a time in every martial artists career when he starts to wonder what else is out there, what else the world of martial arts can show him and where he might look to make himself a more complete fighter.

As for me, I am years before that cross road. I want to be at least San-Dan in Kyokushin before I consider training in another style full time. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t started thinking about where I’d like to go and what I’d like to learn. I’ve identified four broad areas of my training that I want to improve: hand striking, grappling, self defense, and flexibility and these are my thoughts about improving each one of them.

 

Hand Striking: Boxing? or Muay Thai? Kyokushin training would lend more naturally to Muay Thai, but I think boxing would serve me better for two reasons. First, it is entirely hand striking – so this kind of training would be concentrated where I want to improve. And secondly, boxing involves a great deal of punching to the face and this is one area of my Kyokushin training that is lacking, IMO.

For those of you wondering, “Why, the hell, don’t Kyokushin fighters punch to the face?”, the answer is found in the early years after the style was formalized. Since Kyokushin is a full-contact knockdown style of Karate, it resulted in far too many injuries to both the attacker and defender when face strikes were used in tournament fighting. As such, the rules were changed to ban punches to the face (while paradoxically encouraging brutal kick to the head!).

 

Grappling: Here I think I would prefer Jiu jutsu or Judo. Why these two and not Brazilian Jiu jutsu? Well I like that classical Jiu Jutsu includes strikes to accompany its grappling – including face strikes – and it is not sport oriented (no slight intended). This has the third benefit of not strictly being MMA, which, to my experience, seems to attract the type of fighter I like to avoid (the ‘something to prove’ type). Fortunately, as the fan base of MMA expands and its exponents diversify, this will become less of a problem.

Judo, while sport oriented, has very solid throwing techniques (which for a guy my size may have a greater chance of immediately ending a fight than a strike) and is fully usable on a resisting opponent. It also has excellent real-world principles like “don’t be on your back”.

 

Self Defense: For this I’d look towards RBSD, also known as “Reality Based Self Defense”. One thing that every martial artist should recognize is that no one system can give everything he needs to protect himself in all situations. Karate, for example is primarily an empty handed style (for the uninitiated “kara-te” means “empty hand”), so what if I found myself in gladiatorial combat armed with only a spear and my wits? I’m joking, of course, but you get the idea. What I want from this kind of training isn’t so much the over-the-top ‘how to disarm a hand grenade wielding terrorist’ stuff but awareness, pre-conflict and post-conflict familiarity, using techniques in spaces that aren’t as wide open as my dojo, and how to operate under psychological stress, etc.

 

Flexibility: This, as I’ve written before, is a pain point for me. I know that I am being a little over simplistic here, but I just don’t feel like much of a karateka when my chudan (middle) yoko geri looks a little more gedan (lower) than I’d like. Fortunately, I’ve got a plan.

If you want certain results then you need to emulate certain behaviors. With this in mind I’ve begun researching the training methods of gymnasts. I want to know how guys closer to my own age maintain the flexibility that seems to elude me so well. And I can couple this with yoga. Best part is I don’t have wait to start this training.

 

What about you? Where were you in your martial arts career when you started to consider where you would go next?

 

 

Osu!

 

 

 

Karate, It’s Good for What Ails You

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Ask a licensed physician (which I am not) how to treat an infection and you’ll likely get a prescription for pharmaceutical medication. Ask the same to an “herbalist” and you’ll probably get a tincture of powdered garlic or eye-of-newt or something similar.

As for me, I have realized that nearly 100% of the time when I hear someone stating they have an ailment of some kind, my immediate thought is “Some Karate will clear that right up”. It has gotten to the point where my wife mocks me, saying Karate is my cure for everything.

Now, I am a pretty rational guy; so how the hell does an idea like that become so engrained? And what really shocks me is that it almost never matters what the ailment is:

  • Depression?
  • A cold?
  • Low self esteem?
  • Obesity?
  • Osteoporosis?
  • Bad Grades?
  • Hardened arteries?
  • Arthritis?
  • Cardiac arrest? (just kidding)

Just take two kicks and call me in the morning!

 

Jokes aside, the notion that martial arts training will help, reduce, or cure health troubles is as old as the martial arts itself – nothing ground breaking, here. But what surprises me is that beliefs like this are usually the result of spiritual training in the martial arts – of which I have had none. And it isn’t as if I got these ideas through osmosis either; in my dojo the furthest a conversation of medicine ever went was the best kind of knee brace or the most effective groin cup!

 

So, how did I come to these notions? I can only conclude that these ideas have collected in my mind, like ocean sediment, though my own experience. Since beginning my training I have severely reduced the number of incidents of illness, any time I am feeling “the blah’s” I will go through my kata and those feelings will go away, and karate training has helped me stay fit and trim.

Now that I think about it, when it is put together like this it is more surprising that EVERYONE on Earth doesn’t feel this way about Karate (an martial arts in general)!

 

What about you? How has your ideas of health, medicine, and martial arts changed over the years?

 

 

Osu!

Fear and Courage in the Dojo

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"The Exorcist", copyright Warner Bros.

At some point people started to believe that the fear of public speaking is greater than the fear of death.

This is absolute BS.

Fear, however, is a very real thing and it is something that every martial artist struggles with. I, myself, still have to work very hard to quiet the fear so that I can let the Way come through. But I had an experience that I would like to share that I think will be familiar to many fighters.

 

At my last belt advancement test I was put into the ring with senior and equivalent students several times and the last round being against my instructor. He was unkind. Pummeling the same spot of my left thigh until it could bare my weight no longer and buckled. On “all 3′s” I struggled to stand and finally succeeded, only to be beaten down again under his blows.

It wasn’t until after class was finished and I was at home, reliving the experience, that I realized something significant: I fought all four opponents without fear! I can’t be sure if it was merely my focus that allowed me to suppress the butterflies or, as Daniele Bolelli puts in in his excellent book, “On the Warrior’s Path” if I am beginning to become inoculated against fear.

This shouldn’t imply that I wouldn’t feel fear were I sparring with someone like Kimbo Slice or Lyoto Machida (in other words, people who did not have a natural avoidance to break me in half), or that I think I am some kind of Karate-superman. All that this experience said to me was that I have reached a point where I no longer feel fear or anxiety where I once felt it. And I think this is an important milestone for any martial artist.

When did you start to loose the fear?

And for another (and probably better) take on fear in the martial arts, I would highly recommend hopping over to Martial Views and taking a peek yourself.

 

 

Osu!

The Cost of Martial Arts Training

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If you Google “cost of martial arts training” you will find pages and pages discussing the monetary fees associated with dojo training. But the costs go much further than that and they are much more important that just money. And it is one of those in particular that will be the topic of this post.

The emotional costs of MA training, for some, might seem a little nebulous – particularly for the younger readers – so let me tell you a little story…

Recently I had learned that there would be a belt advancement test in 4 weeks; a belt test for which I was NOT ready. I had been away from the dojo for a few months and had been lax in my home training – by which I mean almost zero training other than weights and running. So, to get prepared for this test I began waking up early to practice my Kata, then I’d stretch and try to gain back the flexibility I had lost. After work I would head right to class from 6pm to 8 or 8:30pm. After all that I was exhausted most evenings and I’d pass out before 10. And all this before my weekend training.  Needless to say, I did not see much of my wife in this time

This went on for an entire month and my I am not too proud to admit that I allowed myself to neglect most of my around-the-house responsibilities. Being an understanding spouse she knew why there was a change and she rolled with it for about three weeks before she piped up and told me that not only am I ignoring my chores but I have been ignoring HER.

It was true, too. I hadn’t taken her out for a date all month long and even the evenings when I would be home I’d usually be too tired to do anything but sleep. It isn’t like I was unaware, though. I justified this by saying that the extra training I was putting in was short term and I would shortly return to normal scheduling. This rationality, however, did not sway her and she spoke her mind on the matter.

I’m going to do my best to remember that old quote from Benjamin Franklin, “All things in moderation”.

 

Osu!

Osu!

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Who am I?

Well this being my first post I should probably introduce myself. My name is Brett, I’m in my late 20′s, I’m married to a beautiful woman named Sara and I have been a karateka for a little over two years. I’ve been training sporadically since my late teens and I am currently training in the Kyokushin style of karate at a local dojo – and for all the uninitiated, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia which summarizes my style pretty well:

Kyokushin kaikan is a style of stand-up, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by Korean-Japanese karate master, Masutatsu Oyama who was born under the name Choi Young-Eui. Kyokushinkai is Japanese for “the society of the ultimate truth“. Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training.

But, I dunno, that seems a little inadequate when I consider the following:

So, why am I blogging?

It’s often been said that the best way to understand something is to talk about it with others. And since writing is something I enjoy this seemed like a natural extension of my training. Besides this will allow me to further my training both in and out of the dojo.

What can you expect to see here?

I’ll be talking about a myriad of topics all around the central theme of martial arts and martial arts training. Some things I see on the horizon are training tips, reviews of MA related books, movies, and video games, random musings and training induced hallucinations. And maybe a nugget or two about pushing one’s self past preconceived limits.

How can you participate?

This is the important part. I like to think of this blog as my dojo away from dojo and that means I need people to train with; people who can challenge me, call me on my BS, etc. I WANT you all to come here with divergent opinions and passion. All that said, in this dojo the most important thing you bring with you is respect. Disagreements and passion are important, but no one likes a flame war. So if you’re the type that can’t have a respectful discussion, then just slide over to someplace else. I am also amenable to topic suggestions or if you’ve just got a question. I mean, I’m only ever a learner, but I’ve got a couple good neurons between my ears so give me a shout.

 

Osu!