I hear this is a very inclusive practice for all ages and body types. However, I am feeling a little bit anxious about fitting in. I know it shouldn't matter but I am desperate to add movement and lose weight all while finding my confidence again.

I would be doing the gym outside of this for strength training and I work with toddlers everyday so that is a workout in itself. I was hoping to hear from other women on here that started and were wary or nervous.

Please share your stories!

Hi everyone,

I’ve been training wado ryu karate for about six months now and recently earned my yellow belt. I really enjoy it and feel like I’m learning a lot, especially in terms of discipline, technique, and understanding the art itself. We train about three times a week in total, and one of those sessions each week is a bit different: we focus on jiujitsu, grappling, and sparring that’s more like kickboxing than traditional karate kumite. Those sessions are really intense and hands-on.

Here’s the situation: I have a friend who started MMA around the same time I started karate. He’s really into jiujitsu, grappling, and kickboxing, and his training is very physical and competitive.

Whenever we talk about martial arts, he likes to poke fun at karate. He says things like karate “never works in a street fight” or that it’s “just flashy stances and old-fashioned moves.” I get where he’s coming from, especially since MMA is very focused on practical, fight-oriented techniques, but I genuinely believe karate has value beyond what he’s giving it credit for.

The problem is, I don’t really know how to defend karate when he makes these comments. I know it’s a traditional martial art and emphasizes things like precision, timing, speed, and discipline—all of which feel useful—but I sometimes feel like I can’t explain it well enough in a way someone who trains MMA would respect.

I’d love to hear from others here: how do you respond when someone dismisses karate as ineffective? How do you explain the benefits of karate—both practical and philosophical—especially when the comparison is to MMA, jiujitsu, and other modern fighting styles?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Style: shorin ryu matsubayashi

Objective is to focus on control over power, while keeping balance. The foot in the ground must keep still on my style but I make the exception and add rotation to avoid injuries on knees. About the leg in the air, it's important to me to keep glutes, psoas, isquios well trained at the gym. After the hit, the feet must not touch the ground, or fall into the ground. These muscles must keep the knee in the air to get control. I may try another video, focusing more in power and observing how easy is to lose control and forms. Any observation or feedback will be appreciated.

Edit: I'm 6 feet tall, that may help to analyze

I live in Canada and my 2 daughters started at a local dojo. Sensei is young, but amazing with the kids and both kids are loving it. When we signed up it was $250 registration (he only charged for 1 kid cause both were signing up) we pay $300/month for both kids - unlimited classes they can do 5 a week, but we typically do 2-3.

NOW 5 months in there is a hush talk that happens when your child is selected to move to a blue uniform. You are given a piece of paper with a lump sum payment of $3000 is expected to stay in the dojo- or payment options that will triple your monthly payments along with a smaller fee, if you don’t have the money. This seems insane. Is this normal?! I only know the pricing cause all the parents are starting to talk about it and it’s super stressful for all of us.

Sensei mentioned to my 7 year old she is ready to “move up” she is excited and now I’m freaking out cause obviously we don’t have the money and I don’t want to break her heart by pulling her.

Any thoughts, comments of what to say when sensei pulls me aside and I get the dreaded piece of paper?!?

Thanks!!!

So, I’ve been doing karate now since I was 3 years old (with a break from like 13 to 16ish) and am now 18. My father is the one who run the dojo so I’ve obviously been witness to a lot of what happens behind the scenes when I comes to running a dojo, and how much time, effort, and obviously money goes into it. I’m moving out to Brisbane next year and my father seems really keen on the idea that I start and run a dojo down there whilst I study, but I don’t know how much I both A). Have the time for, obviously considering I’ll be at uni, and will have a job, and B). I don’t know how good of an instructor I’d be as firstly I am only a second kyu, and secondly a lot of the time I struggle to teach people even the basics cus I don’t know how I do the stuff I do cus I just do it, like I don’t have to think about it cus it’s been like 15 years since I learned it originally. Like even teaching people how to do my own specialty, being spinning/ flying kicks, i struggle with cus idk how I do em, for example the tornado kick, I taught myself how to do that but messing around when I was like 10 or 11, so the first time one of the Muay Thai guys asked me to teach them how to do it I took a while to figure what I was actually doing (I’ve since gotten better at it cus I’ve had to teach it to ppl so many times).
So yeah idk if I should or not considering how much I’d probably be able to put into it, and I’m not sure if my quality of instruction would be any good.

(Sorry for the ramble thanks sm if u got through it tho)

Since our school started training again after COVID, we have grown quiet a bit. We went from 4 members to 60 in a few years. We are non profit and all volunteers in a small town. In those years there where a few girls at the kids classes who joined but never alot. They always disappear around the age of 15. Adult women never join, we dont even see them at trial lessons and dont ever get an email asking for information or something. If we go to tournaments all schools are represented by men and women alike.

For all the ladies on here, what is it that draws you to martial arts? Is there something you are looking for in a school? Its not that i want women to train with but i do want our school to grow further and think there is a lot to gain when women join our school as well.

Edit: thank you all for the reactions! More are welcome obviously. I do think its a cycle that needs to be broken. There are no women, so women wont join. Its a tough one to get done but it should be possible. For now getting mothers to join i think is the easiest way. Next to that hopefully the girls in the kids classes can bring some friends so the ratio male female will be evened.

I'm a 3rd kyu and ever since starting I've been thinking a lot about doing another karate style in addition to Goju-Ryu- either Shotokan or Kyokushin...

But I don't know if that's too taboo?

I know it's best to focus on one style and then do something like Judo,

but I only have one life and I like kata.

If I cannot do two karate styles I'll probably get into Shaolin kung fu after getting to shodan.

I'm not really interested in Judo, BJJ, Muay Thai or the like.

I know I won't be the best fighter but that's not my goal.

For my next grading, I have to create my own kata. The only conditions were that it had to start and finish in the same spot as well as go for 1 minute. I've created the kata and i really like it. I just have no clue on what to name it however I do want the name to be in English.

I just wanted to know how some of you guys went about this

edit: my kata has a lot if circular movements.

I know there's a bit of debate over whether it's appropriate to use "osu" the way a lot of non Japanese kyokushin karateka use it, saying it very frequently for a lot of different uses. But, hey, it's what we do.

My question is more:

1. Is it used like this among Japanese kyokushin karateka? In a lot of Japanese pop culture, I often see "the karate guy" use "osu" a lot, but idk if that's just a pop culture exaggeration. I also know it's a casual greeting used by Japanese guys these days, and I wonder if it's a semi-ironic use stemming from martial arts culture.

2. Do other styles of karate use it as much as we do?

3. What about other martial arts? I know a lot of non-Japanese BJJ practitioners do it, but IDK if that's more of a bit of pop-cultural diffusion if you know what i mean, considering how much more informal BJJ culture usually is. Do judoka, kendoka, or aikidoka use it?

4. I'm ethnically korean so I'm curious about practitioners in korea as well. of course given the painful history between korea and Japan, there's often a bit of emotional tension within the hearts of korean practitioners of japanese martial arts, i kind of feel it myself too. so maybe the use of "osu" is a little unpopular in korea especially considering its military origins. any karateka from korea have any insight?

5. secondary to that last question, do korean kyokushin karateka use the pronunciation "kyokushin" (which is obviously a japanese word but is easy for korean speakers to pronounce fully) or the korean pronunciation of the same chinese characters "keukjin"?

none of this is super important i think. im just very curious, especially as an ethnic korean who happens to be more passionate about japanese martial arts than korean ones. (i still have a lot of affection for tkd though as it was my first martial art.)

So I train goju ryu and had my grading recently going for my black belt. I had been training goju ryu for about 5 years now and train a heap outside of the club. Unfortunately I have a really big issues with nerves as soon as I am the focus at gradings i just fall apart and i fully dropped the ball due to nerves at my grading and not due to not knowing stuff. The issue I have right now is that the organisation my dojo is part of has black belt gradings once a year.

I am wondering how do I keep the motivation up to keep training when I failed my grading not due to lack of knowledge, conditioning or skill but just nerves getting the better of me?

I was judging at a tournament today and I was judging 16-17 BB and it was the grand champs, and there were 3 competitors. I automatically knew who got last place but I couldn’t decide on who to get first place.

i ended up choosing the competitor who had crisper yells, but after talking to the center and other side judge they saw other stuff that lead them to giving a higher score to the other competitor.

i didnt give much thought of until reflecting back at the side eyes I got from the crowd and the fact that after looking the competitor up he is a NASKA world champion.

should I dread my mistake or just move on and call it a day.

Hi,

I've been training for around 1.5 years, and have reached 2nd kyu, with consistent training for the most part, some time off here and there due to injuries and illnesses, but mostly consistent. Training twice a week up until 3rd kyu, now three times a week. One thing I've had little progress in is my body conditioning and overall athleticism. We don't do conditioning work every session, but when we do we're asked to do things like 40 pushups, 50 abs crunches, long plank holds, etc, but I find I'm still not able to do anywhere near the volume sensei asks of us, and even those exercises aside I feel I'm still quite weak and slow, and I'd also like to be able to do the jumps in kata, aswell as the jumping kicks we're asked to do on rare occasions.

At the moment I can do about 20 pushups at a push, maybe about 13 lying leg raises, and can't do ab crunches. I can't do pull ups either, and can't skip, and both are things I'd like to improve. I've started adding plyometrics to my external training regime but haven't seen any improvement to my leg explosiveness or jump speed yet. I've got what feels like a fairly decent stretching routine, albeit it's all static holds, but I've seen some improvement in that area, currently feel a bit stuck regarding getting the splits, but I feel close at the same time. I do cardio on the treadmill three times a week, doing interval work, with a rest speed of 7km/h and a working speed of 10.6 km/h, 1 minute rest 30s working, for just over 10 mins, with the aim of increasing the working speed over time and eventually reaching sprinting speeds. I also can't currently balance for long, and can't keep my kicks up for more than a few seconds even when I'm able to balance well. I also lift weights three times a week, doing full body, and lift 13kg per hand for most exercises. The exercises are bench press, bent over rows, lateral raises, overhead tricep extensions (with one dumbell), bicep curls, reverse lunges, deep squats, and SLD's (Straight Leg Deadlifts). Essentially I'd like any advice on how to better condition myself, if there's something I need to do more of, or in a different way, any recommendations on how to get from here to where I want to be. I do make sure to get sufficient protein, and I've gained some fat in that time, so I don't thinkbul I'm undereating.

Oss!

This is a long rant, my bad.

I recently turned 23. I started training karate when I was 9, Japanese Goju Ryu in a small dojo in my home town. Still a brown belt. I took my examination for brown belt in 2018.

I hit a set back when I was 15, in 2019, because I had to temporarily dedicate every night to practicing for a big concert, as I used to be in orchestra when I was in middle school. After this, I came back to train at 16 years old, but had to change dojos because my original sensei (let’s call him Sensei A, the one I was most attached to) got accused of a serious crime and arrested. He was my most complete mentor in every sense. Despite my introverted personality and the fact I’ve never been physically big, he pushed me far and always gave me opportunities to prove my worth and skill, albeit pushing me to my limits emotionally and physically. This was its own grief by itself, this dojo closing and losing this mentor.

At 19 years old, college sophomore, after a long search, I found and began practicing under Sensei B. I had known sensei B since I was a kid. He used to teach with sensei A’s dojo when I was little, but he left when I was about 11 due to a disagreement he got into with Sensei A. I never really knew what the disagreement was about, but they separated and Sensei B opened up his own dojo I only found out about that year. His personality was completely different, more outgoing and performing, and in many senses less harsh than Sensei A when it came to punishments, but I always thought of him as a good teacher when it came to technique.

When I joined his dojo as a college student, obviously most students were younger than me, they were the age I was when I started. And some of them are really good, I applaud them, and I like practicing with them, even if they’re younger than me.

But I feel like Sensei B doesn’t really care about me like Sensei A at all. He was more hung up on other people that are more active in the dojo, which I understand, but I had completely different responsibilities as a college student, and I don’t rely on my parents anymore for anything. If anything I take myself everywhere and make time for it, I also pay for everything. I studied engineering in a city that was 1 hour away from where this dojo was. I still drove the 2 hours there and back, 3 times a week just to practice for an hour, while still keeping up with the demanding degree.

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with sparring. Despite my skill, my small build made me struggle when I got set up against people twice my weight and height in tournaments. This got worse as my age increased. I trained hard to simply be able to move around these types of people in point fights.

I went to one of my first tournaments after not competing for a very long time (since I was 14) at 20 years old. It felt terrible, I was placed in the 18-45 year olds category, and I couldn’t even handle the fights well when Sensei B placed me in the black belt category (to try it out, he said, although I received no coaching for these fights and had returned to karate only 6 months prior). Of course I was scared, I’d never fought black belt category. And my opponents were so much bigger than me, that I felt like I was fighting to survive, not for sport. During one minute I got punched so hard my helmet literally ripped apart. This sincerely really discouraged me from fighting. I felt so weak and like I didn’t belong there, despite having a temporary black belt on my waist and years of training at that point.

Also, there’s this 14 year old kid that basically runs the dojo and is a junior black belt and Sensei B just lets him. Not that this is wrong, the kid truly deserves it. He’s trained hard, and I have to give it to him. Especially at that age. I try to be as humble as I can when it comes to age gaps. But I’m not an attention seeker at heart, I’m not competing with anyone else to “lead” the dojo. Which isn’t even my interest. I’ll help students in need, but I don’t do shows for leadership. It’s not in my nature. When he’s not around, is when I actually get a chance to teach or help. With this other sensei too, let’s call him Sensei C, he has been the only one to advocate and believe in me at this point in regards to the black belt thing, or adding dans to my brown belt. He’s known me since I was training with Sensei A as well.

Point is, Sensei B gave me like two chances to teach when I first started with his dojo and because I haven’t been loud or up in center about it, now he just always takes over or let’s the kid do it. It just doesn’t feel as fair. The other day I was helping while he took a call and when he got off the call, he just took over what I was doing and didn’t let me continue.

Fast forward, I trained in this dojo since 2023 until this year. However I graduated college this summer and moved to a new country a month ago for a new job and master’s degree program that was the opportunity of my life and I worked very hard countless nights to get into.

I said goodbye to this dojo about a month and a half ago. Sensei C was sad about the news. Sensei B, who knew since May about the move, started talking to me about the test date all of a sudden. He’d never even made plans with me for an examination during all these years. I told him this was my last class and I was flying out the country the following week. I’ve been there since 2023…busting my ass off while doing undergraduate studies and driving the 2 hrs back and forth. It’s 2026. Why bring the test up now…? Why not give me the chance before? I know I wasn’t big on tournaments but I still kept showing up to classes, despite all that pushed me to leave this for good. It left me feeling confused and upset. I said my goodbyes and Sensei B told me I could come back whenever I was visiting.

I’m in the new country now at the new job. In my office, earlier, I got a group text of group examinations this Saturday. Sure I’m happy for the kids, but there were a few names in there of people that were my rank way after me. And had way less attendance/persistence in training than me.

Why did they get the chance and I didn’t? Just because I didn’t act tough and like younger students owed me something?

How come people who were my rank newly a year and a half ago got the chance to examinate themselves, but I didn’t, in three years.

It indignates me and hurts me. Honestly, as terrible of a feeling it is. At this point, I’m feeling like just finding another dojo here even if it’s not the same style and I need to wear white on my waist. Does it even matter at this point if I stayed my rank for years on end with no chances? Might as well forget about the color. Seems like I had more chances starting over somewhere than continuing this damn 14 year old rank.

I’m not sure what to do. I’m not the most outgoing, and starting over again feels daunting…even just showing up somewhere to ask for classes. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I believe I’m a patient person. Hell, I’ve been a brown belt for a longer time than it took me to get from white to brown at this point. But this just hurts.

I don’t understand. I’ve been at this dream for the same lifespan these kids have been alive. I’ve had to leave against my will more than once, and still have found the courage against all odds to come back and keep coming back. Disregarding all the embarrassment and set backs.

Why didn’t I get a chance? Why wasn’t I considered for it? I know how this seems. I’m 23, double the age of these kids that are half my age and winning more medals than I could ever possibly imagine after that one tournament. But why am I constantly getting demoted in groups. All I faced was embarrassment after embarrassment. Taking orders and scoldings from people that were born when I got into the sport. I know how it sounds, like I’m comparing myself to some kids and sulking. Which maybe I am. But I’m tired of holding it all inside of myself. I genuinely tried my best to hold my head up high for a long time, trying to learn from anyone regardless of where I was in my martial art career and where they were. Part of being a martial artist is discipline, perseverance, humbleness. But this is genuinely such an awful ache that I can’t vent to anyone about.

I keep coming back and back and back to always the same place, the same position the same spot, sometimes even a lower position as everyone around me moves up and I don’t. I don’t think I’ve ever known pain like this. I don’t know if I’m spiraling or I was just never cut out to be a black belt/ martial artist?

I guess I just wanted some advice, from anyone who has any.

Thanks for reading the long rant if you made it up to here.

Últimamente ya no soporto a un compañero de trabajo que me andaba molestando, y cuando la paciencia ya me llegó al límite después de ignorarlo, le pregunté directamente que qué quería. Acto seguido, comenzó a amenazarme que me saque de su vista, que no anda con pleitos conmigo

(Irónico viniendo del buscapleitos)

Aunque realmente no quiero buscar problemas con él, pero si llega la ocasión, me gustaría defenderme y para que deje de romper las bolas. Ya literalmente es insostenible trabajar con él.

Y por si preguntan: si, ya hablé con mis superiores y dijeron que ya no había problema si ya no me sigue molestando. Lo cual ya es ridículo, aunque decidí quedarme callado. Aún no puedo perder mi trabajo.

For context, I am a bit weak and slow. I have a high high reaction time .

But I want to learn karate . That's why Im asking can weak people not learn karate do we already need something in us????

Edit: I work daily I try to improve myslef daily. I am trying my best to make my body more flexible

I have started to eat more to increase my wieght

I am trying my best and I want to leanr it. It took me 6 months to convince my parents to enroll me. Karate is my dream

But people around me dint support at all, nor my seniors, nor my parents

My dojo has a image of one of the best in the country. It is surrounded by golden trophies and the senpai has won like 3 of them

This is embarassing but I'm a goju ryu brown belt and I've been working on my shikodachi for quite some time. SOMETIMES I can do it really well for certain periods of time,

and then sometimes I suddenly can't do it at all.

Which leads me to believe that at some point I just lose track of what makes shikodachi work, rather than me being unable to do it.

I have a kata tournament where I'll be doing seiyunchin coming up this month, so I need to be able to do shikodachi proper by then.

May I ask for cheats/tips and tricks for how to do proper shikodachi- or at least, proper looking shikodachi fast?

... I'm probably physically able to do it, I just don't know what it is I do when I do it right which is why I revert to being completely unable to do it.

Sorry for the weird/pompuous question.

Learning from the start so no conditioning, no ingrained movement, only the current mindset (which is still a lot)

For instructors who may have experience accepting students from other martial arts systems: if a student joins your school with an established rank from a different system, how do you normally handle their rank? For example, if a Shotokan student comes to a Tang Soo Do school as a brown belt, would you ever place them at a comparable rank in your system, such as red belt, or would you normally have them start at a bottom rank/white belt and earn their way through your system? I am legit curious. I have seen it done twice in a karate studio. One of such student went straight to test for a black belt only tested with two advanced forms and two intermediate forms. Yes he got the black belt. What do you normally do, and what do you think of what I witnessed.

Context; I know nothing about karate.

I found this on Facebook and I was curious if there's a difference and as to possibly why the one on the left has fewer belts than the one on the right?

Could someone explain in easy terms?

I'm a relative beginner (8th kyu, half a year of training) in Shotokan. When practicing my Kata, specifically ones with long rotations like the Heian Nidan Nukite to Shuto transition, I feel like I cannot really rotate. It becomes rather "ballistic" with very little control.

Our dojo has a regular school gym floor (Linoleum or something like that) and I tend to get somewhat sweaty feet during training.

It really feels like my soles are stuck to the floor. I'm being told rotation should happen on the ball of the foot, but that's really like super glued to the floor. Rotating on the heel feels at least possible, but I don't have any balance or control that way.

Someone suggested unloading the pivoting foot, but unless I go for a real jump, lifting off entirely from the floor, I don't feel much of a difference.

Interestingly when going from front stance to front stance during the rotation (like Heian Nidan Morote Uke to Gedan Barai transition), it feels a bit easier.

Also, at home, with socks it also feels a lot easier.

Any advice is highly appreciated!

So many people hate on Shotokan karate because of point fighting but I‘d like to keep an open mind.

the combat I’m talking about is a broad term for a continuous kickboxing fight/sparring

what do you guys think?

​

I am writing a thesis/essay for my upcoming grading, and hoping this lovely group can help me refine my core question.

I am intrigued by a question posed in a class a few months ago that asked if bunkai should be unchanged, or if it should adjust based on the culture or who is studying the art. I'm just not sure how to frame this or a similar idea into a thesis vs. an opinion.

So, I'd love to hear your perspectives, your suggestions for authors or books or journals to review, or other ideas related to a thesis that explores the evolution of bunkai.

I started practicing Shotokan Karate a year ago, and over time, I've been thinking about picking a single advanced kata to start practicing on my own, outside of my regular dojo training.

The idea is to work on something different, since we've only been doing the Heian katas. While I know they are part of our development path, I’d also like to break out of the routine a bit so I don't get bored.

What do you think about this?

Could it be a good idea, or might I lose focus on the Heian katas?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to start karate and have already tried a few classes at different dojos. At the moment, I’m having a hard time choosing between Shorin-ryu and Uechi-ryu.

I’ve attended several training sessions in both styles, and I really like both the instructors and the atmosphere at the dojos.

Honestly, I’d be quite interested in training both styles at the same time, but I’m not sure whether that would be a good idea, especially as a beginner.

Would training both simultaneously cause any problems or make learning more difficult? Are there any good reasons for or against it?

I’d be interested to hear your experiences and opinions.

Thanks for taking the time to read this — I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences you can share.

I (25f) have been training karate with the same sensei since I was 13 years old, in the same dojo. My sensei is a strict 55 yo man with a military past, and he's kind of a paternal figure to me. He can be weird and awkward sometimes, and he made me cry more than once in class, but ultimately he's a good sensei, now approaching retirement. Last year he was in a hospital for almost the whole year because of cancer, and he says he almost died and that traumatized him. Since he came back, his character changed a lot, in a way that both worries me and freaks me out.

He was always secretive and restrained, but now he loves to chat. He insists on bringing me home by car (I live a 10 minute walk from the dojo, we're in a small walkable town). He wants to hang out outside of class, invite us to dinner or to additional training at his place. He usually invites other black belts, but especially insists with me for some reason. I enjoy our talks in the car when he brings me home, even though I'm not tired, but I don't think I want to hang out with him outside of class. Not alone for sure, but idk how to tell him that. Other students aren't available usually... I really think he means well and is probably just lonely, but my spidey senses are tickling, and I really really don't want our relationship to become weird.

He has 3 kids, the youngest is my age. They all live far away and he's divorced, his parents are on a different continent... Surely he's just lonely. But still, going with him alone to "eat some ice cream" to a place that can only be accessed by car... I just don't feel comfortable doing that, I'm not sure why. Today as he was dropping me off, he decided to make a little detour through the town next to us "to show it to me" (I know this town pretty well), and it made me uncomfortable, I just wanted to go home.

Maybe my autism is preventing me from seeing what he's trying to do exactly, idk. My mom says that now that I'm a 25 yo woman, I'm attractive and I should be wary of men trying to get alone time with me. I don't want to think of my sensei that way, he knew me as a kid... Should I be careful? I don't want to be mean to my sensei, but I can't keep on evading by pretending that all my weekends are booked already. I don't want to hurt him, what if he's indeed just lonely and craving some socializing with his favorite students? He did go though a near-death experience just a year ago.