Tournament Preparation 1 Month Prior

[u/Dazzling_Archer2225]

Does anyone have a good guide to prepare for a tournament that is coming up in 1 month ( Kata + Kumite)

[u/geenexotics]

I’ve won several karate shotokan tournaments. My preparation for me personally was to drop my weight a bit so my “fighting” weight where I feel fast, agile, quick and light footed is about 88kgs, I’m 6’1-6’2 so a month or so before I drop a bit of weight by eating a bit better.

I also in that time do more cardio, not much, but a little bit more. I hate running, horrible fitness and you don’t HAVE to run, ignore the runners they’re weird 😜 so I’d do walking on incline, I’d do skipping, box jumps, cycling ie spin (not in a class)

Then I’d carry on with weights, I do calisthenics so I do pull ups, dips, push ups etc.

The main thing you want to feel is alert, you want to be fast, get in and get out if it’s point scoring. Back fists, reverse punches are always going to be faster than kicks. By the time I see a kick coming I’m either out the way most of the time or ready to close the gap and get a reverse punch in.

BUT as I say to a lot of people the best advice is to not overthink it, if you overthink it you’ll stress yourself out which makes you fatigued which makes you slow which makes you lose. Stay calm, focus on breathing and take your time and do what you’re good at.

For me I’m quick and my reach is good, I have a good right roundhouse kick and I can sit on my back foot and get forward covering distance quick. But im not so strong on my left side, it’s still dangerous but I’m faster with right hand/kick so I’ll practice on that. A coach once said to me “if you’re good on your right side but not so good on your left then why waste time practicing your left to get to a good level when you can practice on your right and get even better” and that stuck with me.

Confidence and believe in yourself

OSS

[u/Dazzling_Archer2225 → u/geenexotics]

Thank you for your good advice