Long time lurker, first post.

My kids were training in Shotokan for about a year and struggled to practice at home on their own. They were mostly going through the motions, not focused on Todome waza (finishing blows). I decided I’d join so I can learn and help out. This was last January.

We competed at the US Budo Karate National Championship last May and took home a few 3rd place medals 🏅 which definitely boosted their confidence.

The boys just earned their green belts, and I earned the blue. It’s been such a great experience training with them. We can’t wait to compete again this upcoming May.

The hardest thing at my age has to be flexibility. I spent most of last summer learning to stretch, working on hip flexors, and practicing roundhouse kicks. It’s definitely a work in progress but I physically feel the best I’ve ever felt.

If you’re on the fence about starting now, whatever your age is, don’t hesitate. It’s really changed my day to day life!

Hello friends. This is my first gi after 20 years of not practicing Karate. I did my 4th kyu as a child and 5th kup in Taekwondo. And now Im starting again with Shotokan JKA Karate (DJKB Germany).

Can you please help me with the fit and sizing?
This is the Shureido TK-11 in Size 4 (170cm). My hight is 170cm and I weight 72Kg.

Pics are with the gi straight out of box, not washed. Pants feel very large and a bit long. Jacket feels a bit long in the torso area. But it will shrink down afaik.

What is your advice? Does it fit well or do I need a sifferent size OR different cut of gi altogether?

Thank you! Oss

Hey Reddit !

I joined Karate last week, on Thursday, being a 17 year old plus size girl, any tips?

Karate has been something im weirdly looking forward to, even if it was not my first sport option. It’s calm, yet it makes me sweat and it doesn’t trigger my asthma which PE and most of other sports do. It teaches me how to breathe through punches and how to focus, which is amazing for me.

Tomorrow im about to have my 3rd lesson and im really excited !

On another note, WHERE DO YALL FIND PLUS SIZE GIS??? 😭 I genuinely been having a hard time finding one that doesn’t stick to my thighs and waist and it’s affordable.

Either way, thank you so much for reading this. I look forward to reading everyone’s advice:)

Hello friends! This is an update to my previous post about my first gi after not practicing Karate for many many years.

This is the fit after first wash. Ive tried a different way to tie the belt for it not to become loose. It seems to work.

The fit of the gi didnt change much after washing. Ive noticed that especially the pants are becoming loose after training my kicks. Honestly they feel like they are three sizes too large. (Im 170cm and 73Kg and ordered size 4, 170cm.)

Im considering hot washing the gi for it to shrink a bit. The jacket is ok but I feel like it too has too much fabric overall. The sides dont overlap like I feel they should.

Any advice from you guys?

Oss!

I’m wondering as someone with no knowledge or experience what would be better to learn for self defense as a woman who is not a strong or big person is there a way to have some sort of upper hand?

Do coaches usually accept teen over 13 as beginners because I feel scared to join others and like fight or something. And I’m scared it’s too late - I just like focusing on my hands and legs and I wanna go on competitions but I’m scared of how my technique is and stuff

Alright so I've been doing karate for about 7 years but the first I would say 4 years we balanced kumite and kata and the other 3 our coach basically never did kumite with us anymore so I mostly did kata until a month and a half ago when I switched to kumite only group.I know basics like yoko or ura mawashi,the pointing system, how to hold my guard, time footwork.. but still I want to get good at it quick and so far what I know I am good at my older teammate said my guard was hard to get trough and that she had to use tactics to actually score and I think Im quite decent at sparring with people a couple years older with me but now I want to get to the main question, how do I get as good as quick as possible so I can even go to competitions?I would gladly train home and I never miss my usual training 3 times a week.Also Im basically a teen and one of the younger ones there so I want to catch up with my older teammates as quick as possible and make my coach consider sending me to compete because he doesnt send just anyone.

Hi! So I’m a white belt in wado-ryu style karate. I just started about a month and a half ago. I came across a video by Jesse Enkamp talking about how kicks like the roundhouse/high kicks were not originally in karate. He said it was adapted from the French and what came into modern day sports karate. So this made me think what were all the kicks in karate before sports karate?

Hey everyone, I’m 28 years old and I’m obese since i was a kid, I suffered a lot cause of that mentality and physically I’m 135kg and my height is 1.82 meters. I’m finally moving to another city and I’m thinking to start a new life change my habits and stuff like that, I aways admired karate but I’m really insecure about my body. I’m afraid I’ll ruin the train for everybody or that people will make fun of me cause of my weight. So what do you guys think should I try to practice karate even being super obese or should I lose weight before start ?

Honestly not to sure why I'm writing this, if I want advice or reassurance or just to vent my thoughts but here we go . . .

So I'm 41, over 300lbs

And at the start of my karate journey, I've got recent experience in lifting and because of this I have a genuinely decent strength base and engine.

But my mobility sucks, I struggle with getting down on my knees to bow, I find the basics and line work ok. I'm no stranger to squats, olympic lifts etc etc. so I'm finding learning the basic kicks ok

But I'm not light on my feet, I don't bounce etc etc

I look at the rest of the class and the higher grades and there is a part of me that just thinks physically it's impossible for me to get there. At the moment my Gi jacket doesn't even close.

I'm determined to stick it out, but it's slowly dawning on me what an uphill battle I've got.

If anyone out there overcome the same I'd love to hear about it

🎉 After 35 Years… I finally passed my first karate grading

I first began training in October 1990 at University, attending twice a week until Christmas that year and really enjoyed it. Sadly however when the Officer Training Corps (my other passion at the time) switched its training night from Thursday to Tuesday at the start of the next term, the clash meant I had to make a choice.

Reluctantly… I gave up karate after only one term and before having had the chance to grade.

After Uni I was married, had kids, travelled with work etc.

Fast-forward to age 53, and I decided to start again with my local shotokan karate club. I went to last night’s grading hoping simply to give up my white belt and move up to orange.

Instead, I was told I’d done so well that I skipped orange entirely and jumped straight to a red belt!

Sharing as a reminder that it really is never too late to start, or to resume, a new hobby. 🥋✨

I'm also especially happy that my wife has taken up karate with me, although she didn't grade last night because she hasn't done enough lessons yet. She's enjoying it too. As the only adult white belts we're often paired together for kumite drills and we finish each drill smiling.

Anyone else out there started karate over 50 with their other half?

Tomorrow is going to be my first karate competition. I’ve been training for only 2 months, and my sensei told me she just wants me to go so I can get over my competition nerves. However, I really want to do a decent Taikyoku Shodan. My biggest problem? I lose my balance and stumble. How can I fix this before tomorrow

So I bought a gi two weeks ago, arrived today; supposed to be for my size: 1,75 cm (5′8). But for some reason my gi seems to be actually pretty long, I'm a bit dissapointed. It's 4 or 6 centimeters away from reaching my knees.

¿It's ok? ¿Shall I hot wash it?

PD: It is a store that claims to be traditional, in the Okinawan style, which is why the 3/4 sleeves

PD2: The style I'm at the moment is shorin-ryu. Just in case.

Are used to karate my younger years but then life got in the way so I’ve started again. White belt as a middle aged man. This time with my daughter.

And I love it! We love it!

But I was wondering if there are any other people here to started at around the same age? How has it been as you progressed, especially at the higher belts? What about your flexibility? Reactions? I’m curious to hear from other people around my age or older, as this is a journey I’m embarking on myself - and very much looking forward to it!

Also do y’all like the terminator pinball machine in the bg

When I was in Japan a long time ago I studied Goju-ryu at the Meibukan dojo under Yagi Meitetsu Sensei for a few months (roughly 5). Because of this I have an attachment to Goju-ryu specifically. Moving back to the states i only had access to Uechi-ryu. Similar enough. I'm now possibly moving to an area where I'll only have access to Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu.

I barely had the time to try and understand the styles I practiced, but I would like to know what exactly the differences are. Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu were fairly similar, but it sounds like Shorin-ryu is an entirely different branch of Okinawan karate? Asking cause I'm a bit attached to the Naha-te styles and have a little reluctance to start a different branch.. almost feels like a betrayal haha

TL;DR: What are the differences between the two branches? Do you prefer one over the other for any reason? Help me be more open minded to the idea of changing branches.

Edit: thank you, everyone, for the incredibly informative responses! There's way more going on than I originally thought. If anyone has good book recommendations on the subject I would appreciate it!

Hi, I’ve been practicing karate since a year ago and today a new guy joined the adults course, he’s 15 years old, which is the minimum age that you should be, and he’s a black belt 💀. I wasn’t sure about that being normal so I asked him when he started and apparently he did when he was 7 years old, in 2017 so those are 8 years practicing karate, it does still sound strange to me so lemme know if it’s THAT common, maybe I’m worrying too much about that but it’s just that I care about the credibility of the course, thank you. (Also excuse me for my English which is not that good but I’m trying to learn it so if I made mistakes I’d be glad if someone could correct me).

Coming from a kickboxing background I was sceptical about karate, starting with the seemingly weird white belt punch where the hand pulls back to the hip. No one does that in a fight, so I figured why waste time on it?

Then I read a kyokushin's explanation about it teaching hip movements for power etc. I figured maybe it makes some sense but didn't see how. I imagined maybe being in a close space where you can't pull your hand back, so maybe it could make sense. Then later I read another explanation that you can use that movement to pull someone's shirt/ sleeve and now punch with the other hand. Holy cow! I never even thought about such a thing, since in kickboxing you're wearing boxing gloves. And this is just a white belt move.

I also viewed an adult class full of black belts who were going through some obscure common side kick where you raise your knee and kick sideways-down at a 45 degree angle into the shin. I really never thought about it, I just think of simple kicks.

So karate seems like it's a vast encyclopedia of fighting knowledge and I really respect it now. The main challenge will be finding a place where it's taught effectively, as there's some seriously cool stuff in it if people learn what it's actually about.

So for context I have social anxiety and autism on top of that I'm 20 years old.

I recently started goju ryu karate about a month ago, and ive been enjoying the lessons; I'm learning alot; but I can't lie I'm worried about how I come off to my peers and sensei and weather or not I show enough interest.

I struggle to talk to them(sometimes I'm to afraid) like I can just barely ask my sensei a question and when I started a month ago i wasn't to worried because I'm new but I'm starting to worry that this might affect my relationship with them long term.

I understand that a month isn't enough to becone life long mates with everyone but it's still something I worry about, especially because it's starting to become more daunting than actual doing and practicing karate. So any advice tips on how to overcome this is much appreciated.

Hi all, small background in judo and hema. I had an easy time finding a club for each of those (not many options in my city) just by searching "San Antonio Judo/HEMA" but karate is a struggle because the name is so popular. Is there some kind of national dojo finder or similar I can look through? I'm in San Antonio, Texas, USA and struggling to find stuff relevant to me in the sea of kids classes.

There's a shito-ryu place near me I briefly attended but I got tired of being mixed in with the kiddos and I'm not fond of the cost per training time mixed with 6 month contracts. The only place I found that seems affordable and with adult classes is a JKA shotokan place but I don't think I would enjoy that very much (and they require 80% attendance to do belt tests and I doubt I could attend that regularly).

Help with methods for finding a dojo, or recommendations for places if anyone's in SA, would be appreciated.

I know the answer is whatever is right for me to memorize them but I'm wondering how often you realistically do your katas?

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Also do you do them in your home?

I use gloves but I always end up getting bruises on my pinkie knuckles, I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong :(