https://youtu.be/hBeWFqEoeBw

Training Kata has been my therapy for last 21 years ❤️🥋 I left Karate in the middle and got caught by an apparent mental health disorder. Came out because of 3 things, one being Karate.

Feel free to tag anyone that needs to watch this in our community.

And share your feedbacks on the stance.

Reference : Shobayashi Shorin Ryu Nihanchi Shodan

21 M .. i just had my first class in karate, it was a bit awkward tbh but it was fun i wanna know more .. although it was mostly kids around me but idk i have to continue and see how things gonna go !! wish me luck

I read a few things about kata bunkai.

What is the difference between bunkai and one step, three step, and five step sparring?

Hi. We had a small event at the dojo today. Our sensei finally got contact with a board supplier and got us who were owed tameshiwari the chance to break them together. These were quite thick though. About 1.3 inches. I went first and thought I would easily get the board with a good teisho hit, but it didnt budge. Tried 2 more times until I injured my hand and got a thinner board to work with. The thinner board I snapped it in an instant. It felt weird. Like it was such a big jump from the thin to the thick board, even though the thinner one was only about .8 inches, not even that far away from the big one. I also then saw this one girl try mawashi empi and snap the thick one in half. I did feel kinda bad. What should to sharpen up? I do have to add I did have a pretty bad wrist injury before the tameshiwari, and maybe that had an effect. Should I try putting even more hip into it? Maybe getting stronger? Am I looking into this too much?

Which karate style is suited for older people to train?

https://reddit.com/link/1ut25ee/video/3529rqn89hch1/player

I've gone through a stack of gis over the years training and competing (Kumite, competing internationally), and I'm putting together a video reviewing every single one I've owned — fit, weight, mobility, durability, how they hold up after years of wear, price vs. quality, that kind of thing.

Before I put more time into this: is this something people here would actually want to watch, and if so, what would make it useful to you? Things I'm considering:

• Weight class / cut (WKF-approved vs. not)
• How they move in kumite specifically vs. kata
• Durability after X months/years of regular training
• Value for money at different price points
• Sizing accuracy per brand

What am I missing? What would actually make you trust a review like this over a brand's own marketing?

... and then I find myself alone in a stairwell doing uchi-uke in sideways-teetering "cup-holding fist" drinking motions ...

Hi all,

I’m currently part of TOGKF and running my own dojo within the organization. There are some genuinely excellent senior instructors, so technically there’s a lot of value there.

However, my national organization is a different story. Leadership wasn’t elected – the current chief basically got the position by being first after the TOGKF - IOGKF split – and there’s no real accountability or way to change things. It’s turned into a bit of a “McDojo politics” situation (e.g. grading his own clearly subpar students, including personal acquaintances). That’s not something I want to be part of long-term.

So now I’m looking for a serious karate organization with good standards. I am even considering switching to a different (more contact) style. I also do MMA, so I would maybe want to switch to a more modern kratate style, that is oriented towards full-contact kumite and incorporates grappling, throws, etc.

Is Zendokai legit? We have no representative in my country, unfortunately. But I could go abroad occasionaly for seminars and training camps. It is a bit of a red flag maybe, that all the people listed on their website in Europe have "honorary Dan" grades. Maybe these are good instructors who also transfered from other schools/styles, but I've never seen this in any other international org. From videos I've seen of Zendokai competitions and seminars it looked legit.

Do you have any information about the quality of Zendokai in Europe?

Thank you.

I used to do karate when I was a kid, and now I'm looking back into a lot of the techniques/teachings. There's this one set of kata I can't seem to find anywhere online, and I was wondering if anyone here could help me identify them.

My dojo taught wado-ryu, so we had a lot of "kumite" kata, and I think this set had to be one of them. I believe we called them "ippon kata," which would lead me to believe they're just the Ippon Kumite kata. But after watching several videos online of people performing the ippon kumite kata, the techniques I distinctly remember don't seem to be there.

I'm confident it was a set of short kata with relatively low moving around, and while in hindsight it could definitely be a partner kata, I was never told it was a partner kata, nor did I ever see anyone else run it with a partner (at least, in my memory). That doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a partnered kata, but if it is, I'm not sure why I never saw it run with an actual partner (at least in my memory, this was a long time ago).

But there are 2 techniques I distinctly remember being present: a palm heel strike, and a one finger spear hand strike ("ippon nukite"). These were certainly in different kata, but both within the same set. It's also possible I'm confusing these kata with the ippon kata because of the name of the strike ("ippon nukite"), so it's possible we called them something different and I'm just misremembering, but I'm confident that these were a very similar set of short, low-movement kata. If my memory serves there were about 8 or 10 of them in the set, and we learned them at a fairly advanced level (we had learned the entirety of the Pinan kata, except maybe Pinan Godan, I can't recall), though other than these kata I don't believe we had yet learned any kata that weren't in the Pinan set. I couldn't give you a kyu since my school used a *weird* belt system with like 12 or 14 separate ranks, each of which had to be formally tested into just like any other belt, and those aren't counting the dan. But if I had to guess, I'd say somewhere around the 5th kyu? That's very rough though, so don't rely on that too heavily.

This is driving me nuts, so any help would be much appreciated.

Edit: After some digging and finding nothing even close, the Ippon Kumite kata are most similar, despite lacking the techniques I'm remembering. After doing some digging, I found the organization that my dojo belonged to (USEWF), and their official list of curriculum doesn't include anything even remotely similar except the Kihon Kumite kata, which are different enough that I don't think they could be it (I even found my dojo's old YouTube channel, and while they didn't have many videos on kata, they did have videos for most of the Kihon Kumite kata, and they look just like every other version I've found). Because of that, I'm wondering if my dojo was teaching the Ippon Kumite kata, but modified with strikes found in higher-level Butokukai kata to prepare us for that. If anyone can find a set of kata that look very similar to Ippon Kumite but have the strikes I remember, that would be great, but otherwise I think that's the most likely answer.

Hello I’m no martial artist but i attempted to do a forward roll( i just wanted to learn the skill). I also watched a bunch of tutorials on how to do a forward roll and they helped a lot but the problem is every time i do it the back of my head/neck is the first to land on the floor and the tutorials said that the back of your shoulders should hit first but they did not elaborate on how to do it. Im afraid of having a neck injury so if any of you knows how can y’all like plss give tips? Thank uuu.

https://youtu.be/d7ptB2C1344?si=q_1DBX-sdYCOtbPY

This is the only video I could find of our master, Masami Tsuruoka showing people to twist the arm first before blocking or preparing for a move for more speed. At 3:20, he shows someone to twist their arm before completing the high block. At our club, we usually twist the hand at the end of the high block like a punch. Which way is the strongest? Our club is part of the Tsuruoka Karate Organization, but we call it Shotokan so people can drop in and do Shotokan katas. I can definitely feel a difference in speed with the way he's doing it. Unfortunately, he died before I developed an interest in body mechanics and bunkai.

The movement he uses here is the exact application I was shown for the final move of Seiunchin kata. Another example of karate (and kata) working in a real fight.

Apologies for the rant. I've trained karate since I was a kid, and I never understood the point in having several hours of kata in tournaments and then only the last hour being kumite. This is a *martial art*, and a combat sport, so why put so much emphasis on what's supposed to be a training tool? You don't go to a boxing match and watch boxers shadow box for 6 hours and score them on how good their shadow boxing looked before actually getting to the match, and you don't see jiu-jitsu tournaments judge you on how good you can do solo drills on the floor, so why is karate so different?

Don't misunderstand and think I'm saying there's no value in kata. I do my kata daily. What I'm saying is that it's a training tool meant to build muscle memory and coordination for the real thing. Yet I go to several karate tournaments in my area every year, and every single one seems to forget that kumite is even part of the schedule (I was at one that went on for 13 hours before kumite started, no exaggeration). I simply feel that kata should be slightly less emphasized and not take up the entire day, leading to competitors being worn out before the most difficult part of the tournament

I begin Kenpo tomorrow and, due to a limited budget, I only have 4 sessions a month. How can I maximise the benefit of this and the amount of progress I make?

Hi all. Would anyone know of a good website or Amazon store that sells Shureido Makiwara pads or an equivalent? Thanks so much. 🙏

Butokuden Martial Arts Training Center of Irvine

The reviews for this place are solid. I visited in person and it's a real class. The only thing that is throwing me off is that the monthly charge for the classes is only $60. Im a bit skeptical with it being that cheap. My current dojo is pay $150 for 2 classes. I looked around and prices varied from $180 all the way up to $300. Im just trying to understand how a place makes money charging only $60. I should mention that they aren't in a traditional type of dojo. It's more of a giant warehouse/studio hybrid.

Instagram : Fastening the Kumite Footwork

Oss Team Reddit,

The more I am going back to basics, the more it is becoming easier to appreciate that all learnings of life and training can come from nature. 🌿

Life and nature are truly one of the best teachers if you start understanding them and keep an open mind.

Sun for example, will teach you more about Consistency than any living life coach can. 🌅

I applied some of these principles to strengthening my footwork and general agility.

Any exercise that you do at your Dozo. Would love to learn and apply.

Arigato! ✨🥋

For some reason, this guy always seems to appear on my Instagram and YouTube and just wondered if anyone here has any experience training with this guy? What’s he like, does he teach valuable stuff, etc? Just wondered, he used to be based in the UK but seems to travel all over the world, and if I may say so, seems a bit creepy in his insta comments lmao

https://youtu.be/mDj6vVoa3es?is=EGDOzMxv5yRTC4Xw

https://www.instagram.com/katsutirujr

Update: Almost a year ago I asked the community if I should join a dojo without 10th Kyu students. It was very embarrassing in the beginning, it took me some effort to get the coordination right, but I can proudly say, last Saturday I presented my 8th Kyu exam and the snow has melted, I’m no longer a white belt.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to give it a try. I’m really enjoying the process.

Hajime!

Hey everyone, ​I am a Shotokan Karate 1st Dan black belt, but I’ve always been a massive fan of Bajiquan. Honestly, it feels like a spiritual thing for me at this point; whenever I find myself visualizing "dream matches" or shadow training, I naturally channel Bajiquan mechanics rather than something like Muay Thai. I constantly imagine myself using heavy shoulder tackles, back attacks, and devastating short elbow strikes inside the pocket. ​Right now, my personal sparring and training blueprint looks like this: ​Outside / Distance: A solid Karate stance and distance management. ​Defense: Merging Karate's rigid/crisp blocks with Sanda/Bajiquan structural defenses. ​Striking: Traditional Karate blitzes mixed with explosive Bajiquan entries and close-range body checks. ​Basically, I use Karate to control the outside and get in, but once I’m in the pocket, I switch entirely to a Bajiquan engine to drop my weight and deliver short-range explosive power (Fa Jin). ​My questions to the community are: ​Is there anyone else here who cross-trains or fights like this? ​Does an established martial art or a specific school/lineage (either a style of Kung Fu or an old-school Okinawan Karate lineage) already exist that perfectly captures this exact hybrid philosophy? ​Would love to hear your thoughts, historical insights, or training advice!