Im debating starting karate and here are my concerns. I see people encouraging 30+ year olds to join but realistically im a littl overweight and as far as physical sports go, I never had that going for me. I was the fat kid in school, tried but always failed miserably in sports and I feel like there must be some genetic factor that just makes some people really bad at sports/physical activities.

On top of that I have a fear of physical contact because ive had a lot of dental work over the years so the thought of getting hit in the face and a crown getting knocked out is a nightmare for me.

I've always admired the art of karate (and dare I say in here other arts such a jiu jitsu) and the people that have the abilities to do those. Do i have any chance at all?

Hello, at the end of October I will do my first belt test (white and yellow one after the other). I can do all the techniques and the Kata but I have quite a fear of failure. I also wanted to know if you have to memorise the exam schedule or if you are always told what to do (for example, rotation). Which are the aspects they look at? And can I fail or is it easy?
I do shotokan.

I started karate six months ago, and I have been enjoying it so far. I purchased a second gi from the official website and used a forwarding service to have it shipped here. While we have a local shop, the cost of the gi would be the same as the total price I paid for everything in the photo, including shipping.

My belt exam is scheduled for next month.

Hello, I train shotokan karate for 4 months now - first I only was there once a week but now I go twice a week. I think I got a talent for it because I was always asked to come to the others to learn new stuff or to train a kata I don‘t know yet.
How often you train at the dojo and do you also train at home? And how?

Hi! I just had my first karate class and I was wondering if maybe someone more experienced had any words for a pretty awkward, kind of shy sixteen year old who grew up being taught boxing/street fighting techniques rather than proper disciplined form and is having trouble letting loose.. I feel very out of place and I know that’ll change but Im hoping for some kind of reassurance/advice for a beginner who doesn’t know anything just yet.

Might be a bit obvious that my first class had me overthinking plenty. I think I’m looking for words of encouragement? Experienced advice? Do’s and Dont’s? 😅

Thank you in advance.

unfortunately I can't sign up now but I wanna spend some of my workout time training for when I do sign up. I'm relatively fit I'd say (been into lifting for a few years, low bf%, and am decent at cardio). is there anything in particular I even can do before I start or should I just maintain my current of fitness?

I'm in the North-East Dallas area. I am large (tall and wide; not exactly fat, but I fell off on fitness over the last year). Very strong legs, but lacking in upper.

I did grappling (Baritsu) when I was a teenager, but suffered a TBI in 2009 in a car accident. I'm worried about my coordination and possibly the risk of head shots. My doctor suggested that there's been enough time without issue that I should be safe.

Am I too old to start a new discipline? Life changing events have made me really want to be healthy and disciplined again, but also make friends with similar interests.

Any advice on getting started at this age would be appreciated. I just don't want to have the wrong expectations.

I’ve had the bad luck of loving karate for years but never being able to take consistent classes; for a long time, I could only train for a couple of months a year due to moving, family matters, and so on. I was on a good run this year, but I had to quit when I got a job. Now that I’ve been laid off, I was thinking about going back, but I’ve lost my fitness and gained a lot of weight. I’m considering hitting the gym to lose the weight before returning to karate for good (fun fact: I own at least seven gis because I was forced to buy a new one every time I re-enrolled at the dojo).

Many would say it’s better to just go back to karate, but my physical condition and weight make it difficult, and I end up falling behind. It’s not that my classmates or sensei treat me badly; it’s more about not wanting to feel stuck. That’s why I want to return in my best possible shape and fully integrate karate into my life.

SO i have done some research and i just want to know that poopel see Shotokan as effective as i don want to seem like I’m doing a fake or not Effective martial art. Eve though i don’t care about others views i just want to ensure that im doing a legit martial art or karate style.

SO what are your views on Shotokan and is it Effective at all in a fight?

So I'm a beginner in kumite, i have a hard time doing high kick especially hook kicks with my left leg and i don't have much experience, But i want to win. If you guys were me what would you do?

Have you guys had this book?

I have this book for a long time and i have read couple of times now but never get to finish it.

I want to use the techniques in this book for my training but i don't know where to start and what to do.

Can someone help me

Hi everyone,

I’m a 30F with high blood pressure and I started practicing karate about two years ago to improve my health.

The problem is that every time my Sensei has us do some sparrings, I get completely exhausted and my calves start hurting a lot. The constant hopping just wipes me out.

I try to improve my cardio by doing 10 minutes of stationary bike about four times a week, which is what I can realistically fit into my routine. But even with that, I still get extremely tired during sparring.

I’m not skinny, but I’m not overweight either.

Does anyone have tips on how to survive sparring without feeling like I’m about to die? 😅

Thanks a lot!

I am going to be starting karate in a couple of weeks. My 6 year old has been doing karate for 2 years and I have a goal of getting my black belt by 50 (I’m 42 now). I’m very nervous to start as a beginner in a class of mixed experience level adults. What are your best tips and tricks to get started?

Hi,

I recently got a pair of Tokaido pants. I've worn them a few times, but I'm finding doing a standard bowtie loop creates a pretty bulky knot that tends to loosen as the class progresses.

I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions for a knot that is more streamlined, easy to adjust, keeps tight, but can be undone without the use of a chopstick. :)

Thank you!

Hi, I’ve started doing karate 8 months ago, I’m a yellow belt and I’m 15 years old. Everybody at school was aware that I was doing martial arts, and that I’ve started since a few months. Now, one of my classmates started doing kickboxing like one week ago and after that moment he often came to me and was like: “I could easily beat you in a fight if I wanted to by the way”, like karate is worse and all of the things which were taught to me would not work in a fight (in their opinion). I don’t know what to say but I would be glad if someone could give their opinion about that. (Sorry if my English is not that good but am trying to improve it).

I first fell in love with kyokushin, but sadly the only dojo is 1 hour away, I have a family and I don’t feel comfortable being 1 hour away driving distance in case of an emergency, which honestly REALLY bums me out, but there’s a shotokan dojo 20 minutes from where I live, and that’s good for me. Thing is, I don’t know much about it, is it practical like kyokushin? Is it hard on the body like kyokushin?

I know everything depends on the independent dojo and instructor, but I want to have a general idea.

I want to learn karate for kumite(match), real situation(school violence), and etc.

I want to get lessons with your help :)

Warning ⚠️: YAPPING

Hey people, so I recently (3-4ish months ago) started training karate. I tried to do a lot of research about what I'm getting myself into when signing up for karate. So I research it's effectivness, application and organisations and associations. I chose this dojo close by to where I live. It is registered with the JKA/DJKB, and according to what I learned about these things, it's the real deal. My instructor also is a 5th Dan and is a certified chairman, or something like that. When I firat started he told me to be patient with karate, I am, but I wanna know are these things I'm learning, Kihon, Kata and some one step kumite gonna help me?

The way how the dojo works is that we always start with some warm ups and stretches, then we move onto basics, always left foot forward, press hard into it, gedan barai. Then we do more basics, then move onto kata, some lessons we also do kumite but without crazy contact of course. We don't train on punching bags. However there are some occasions where a punching bag is brought out and we practice mawashi Geri on it. But nevertheless punching bags aren't that commonly used. So are pads. However I looked at a couple of videos of the dojos tournaments, they got some pretty respectable stuff, they took part in a European tournament in Czechia I think. I asked this one brown belt, he told me you start sparring around brown belt. There is also a competition next week and another for Christmas. And I think around Christmas, I can get my yellow belt. Something about the JKA/DJKB is that they're Hella strict on gradings and belt examinations is it definitely takes a while to advance to a new belt.

Something I don't talk a lot about is the fact that I train with kids. I'm getting into my late teens and around 167cm tall. The other kids in my group are 9-10 years old on average. However my practitioner told me that I can train with both groups (small kids/beginners and intermediate to a​dvanced with some mixed aged kids, going from a 7ish year old boy to old experienced black belts). That makes up in total 2 hours of training, however due to a change in scheduling and maintenance, both groups are training together until December, so that's around one hour of training for two times a week.

Also speaking of kids, when I train with them, in-between Kata and kihon we play a bunch of physical activity games like jump rope, tag, or running around. For training with the intermediate to advanced group we start with a playful warm up sometimes then move onto more kata, kihon and sometimes kumite.

I know this is a lot of yapping, but based off of what I said, is this dojo legit? Somethings lead to say yes. But I want to know what you guys may be thinking. I do feel like we're sometimes stuck training kata and kihon but some other lessons we also train more in depth. There is another branch in the city and there it's definitely more designed to be like a dojo. Over there, there are resistance band trainings for fast punching, punching bags, and basically the same training but a little bit more in depth. I saw this all from some Facebook posts. For my dojo, it's in a sports hall which the dojo reserves for our lessons. Btw for this dojo it's about 20 bucks a month. When comparing it to other dojos, the pricing isn't really that bad. Well... What do you karatekas think? Writing things out helped me process things even better. I appreciate any replies.

:)

Hello

I am 50 year old man wanting to learn how to defend myself

Karate seems the most popular martial art around me but am worried that I will break a bone or get hurt

I am fit and slim, though not very flexible

Should I look to learn karate

Hello,

My son has recently started Karate and is absolutely loving it.

I've been half thinking of joining as well, but I work every second week away, so I'll only be able to train twice every two weeks.

Is Karate something I'm able to progress with relatively well with only two lessons every two weeks? Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated.

Thanks in advance ☺️

Edit: so I'll look to sign up at the same dojo where my son trains and I'll start my journey!

I’m an adult in my 20s wanting to get into martial arts after doing a few clubs at college. I’m ready to get serious about it. These are the 2 schools I’m always seeing in my area but I don’t have the experience to know if one is clearly the right choice to join or not. I appreciate any help or advice.

School 1’s website

https://www.martialartsschoolrichmondva.com/

School 2’s website

https://masterchotkd.com/

Hi, I'm looking to begin learning Karate once I move to the Central Valley region ( Fresno and Clovis area specifically) in the coming months.

I was wondering if anybody on this subreddit lives there or knows of any dojos or teachers that are open to teaching adult beginners.

I mentioned Okinawan styles particularly because I gravitate towards the more natural stances and motions as its a preference of mine in accordance with my height.

So far I have been unable to find any Shorin Ryu, Isshin Ryu, or Goju Ryu etc. dojos listed in the area. I came to ask here just on the off chance that someone familiar with the region might know somebody who knows somebody that teaches Okinawan Karate in the area.

If not, I'll be content and happy to sign up for a SKIF Shotokan School I've found there. Appreciate any help or recommendations and cheers.

Hello, I'd like to ask a question from a place of complete ignorance. I've always been interested in martial arts, especially karate, but where I live there isn't a single karate school for miles around, so I'd like to ask, can I learn on my own? it is possible for me to reach a decent level even if i don't have a master?, i know what karate implies, the self improvement and the discipline, but since i can't have a master due to money and distance issues, i would love to hear some advice from some of you people that are more informed than me, thank you : )

I’ve been having some trouble with board breaking in class and was overly hard on myself I couldn’t break a pine board during testing. My instructor said my problem was I’m stopping when I strike the board but I can’t get past this barrier even with some practice. I can break a yellow board but having some problems with the blue one

I started Uechi Ryu recently. I've never done any martial art before and I thought it'd be useful to write stuff down.