Hey Guys,

Kyokushin Karate white belt here.

How would you guys train the low kick if you don't have a bag or pads to hit at home?

Is going through motions in air enough and then apply them in sparring at training?

Also, I can do it pretty well-ish on my right leg, but I need some work with my left, how would you approach this?

Thanks so much, would love to hear what you guys do/have done :)

Thanks!

​

Has anyone here practiced Shorin Ryu Shinshunkan? It is a Brazilian Shorin-ryu school founded by the Okinawan sensei Yoshihide Shinzato. My experience: 2 years, a little disappointed because they give little emphasis to self-defense and more to presentation (like in bunkai with multiple attackers). Self-defense seems generic and not derived from the katas, with some exceptions. I also found it very sporty, unlike what Shorin Ryu at Shidokan seems to be.

I have always been fascinated by kyokushin karate, especially their low kicks and consequentive punches. However, there isn't a kyokushin dojo where I'm from. It's mostly Shotokan dojos and no disrespect to my sensei or anything, he really trains us hard and generally focuses more on the kihon to make sure that we build a solid foundation for our kimute and kata.

However, I just found kyokushin's techniques to be more interesting. Is it possible to self-teach myself some of these techniques? Obviously, I won't use them in point-sparring cause that will get me disqualified and I might hurt somebody but they're more or less for personal knowledge and curiousity.

Hello! I have just started karate some weeks ago (it's the most fun I've had in years and I can see myself doing it for ever), and as I love sewing as a hobby, I have started making my own gi. I have gathered a rough construction pattern from observing good gi from videos, because I don't have a sports shop that sells gi to look at, and I don't know the other practitioners at the dojo well enough to ask them to have a look at their pants 😅

I started with the pants and it is going ok so far, but I am a bit stumped on the gusset (that squarish part where the legs meet) and looking for info. My prototype ended up having a good shape for the legs when standing, but too tight when moving, like pulling a lot across the thigh and buttocks when lifting the knee for a maegeri.

My assumptions is that traditional gi are made with straight pieces of fabric, minimal shaping, minimal fabric waste. So the legs would be straight rectangles, and the gusset is what allows movement.

If you have a good heavy cotton traditional gi, would you mind sharing some details?

1. What's the shape of the gusset, when you spread it open? Perfect square, diamond?
2. What are the dimensions of it?
   
3. When you have the gi on, how far down the leg does the gusset start? (mid-thigh, above, below?)
4. How far down the front and back seams does it start, like how long is the straight seam between the two legs until the gusset is inserted?

I've trained in karate on and off for years and I'm now in a club I absolutely love.

My daughter turns five soon and I'd really like to get her started, but I'm wondering if five is too young?

I'm also a bit worried she'll cling to me during lessons. Would it be better to sit and watch for the first few classes or join in myself?

Karate is a big part of my life at the moment and I train four times a week. I'd absolutely love for her to enjoy it too, but I don't want to put any pressure on her. And i wouldn't expect her to train 4 times a week either.

I'd like to hear how other parents introduced their little ones to karate? and what worked best for you?

One criticism I constantly see directed at sport karate, particularly WKF-style point fighting, is that it doesn’t prepare athletes for a “real fight” because it isn’t full contact.

Okay, fair enough. Sport karate isn’t MMA, kickboxing, or a street fight. Nobody is pretending otherwise.

But here’s my question for the people constantly complaining about the lack of full contact:

Do you genuinely want to watch 12- and 13-year-old kids beat the absolute crap out of each other?

Seriously. Is that what’s missing from youth karate? More concussions? Broken noses? Knockouts? A couple of teenage girls leaving the tatami with brain injuries so someone sitting on their couch can finally acknowledge that they’re doing “real karate”?

Because I’d genuinely like to know where these critics think we should draw the line.
And the same question applies inside the dojo.

Do people really believe it’s a good idea to injure a training partner so badly that they can’t go to work or school the next day, or perhaps for several days afterward? Is that supposed to be proof of effective training? Is causing serious harm to someone who came to practice with you really the standard by which a martial artist should measure success?

Sport karate develops distance management, explosive speed, timing, footwork, reaction time, tactical awareness, and the ability to execute techniques against an opponent who is actively trying to do the same thing to you.
Those are legitimate fighting skills, and they’re incredibly difficult to master at a high level.

Does that mean a successful point fighter is automatically prepared for a full-contact fight? Of course not. But since when did being able to win a street fight become the only acceptable measurement of athletic ability?

I use the WKF as an example because it has become the international standard for competitive karate.

I agree that its ruleset has flaws and deserves criticism; I’m not claiming it is perfect. But criticizing WKF scoring, officiating, or competition rules is different from dismissing controlled-contact karate as illegitimate.

Karate does not have to be full contact to have value. Full-contact and controlled-contact karate both have a place, and recognizing one should not require rejecting the other.

But WKF provides something I think is incredibly valuable: a standardized international competitive structure with a clear development pathway.

It rewards technical precision, speed, timing, distance management, and controlled execution rather than simply rewarding whoever can inflict the most damage.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. The scoring system has flaws, officiating can be inconsistent, and athletes sometimes exploit the rules. Those are legitimate criticisms worth discussing.

And here’s something that apparently needs to be said:

Being able to control a technique doesn’t mean you’re incapable of delivering it with power.

There’s a difference between lacking the ability to hit someone and having the discipline not to.

That distinction matters in the dojo as much as it does in competition. Training partners are not disposable targets. They are people who have trusted you to help them improve, and you have a responsibility to help them leave practice healthy enough to return to work, school, family, and training the next day.

More importantly, the controlled-contact approach allows children and teenagers to compete seriously, develop their abilities, and pursue high-performance athletics without making repeated heavy head contact an expectation of participation.
Does that eliminate injuries? Obviously not. It’s still a combat sport.

But maybe, just maybe, minimizing unnecessary head trauma while maintaining meaningful technical competition is a good thing. Maybe avoiding injuries severe enough to keep someone out of work or school is not weakness, but basic responsibility.
Full-contact karate has its place. Kickboxing has its place. MMA has its place. And sport karate has its place.
They don’t all need to become the same sport.

Here’s a radical idea: perhaps the purpose of youth martial arts is to develop capable, disciplined, technically proficient athletes, not to find out how much punishment a child can absorb before their brain is fully developed.

And perhaps the purpose of dojo training is not to prove that you can hurt your partner badly enough that they cannot function the next day. A martial artist should be developing control, judgment, and respect, not treating serious injury as evidence of authenticity.

And before someone inevitably comments that point fighting wouldn’t work in a street fight, congratulations. You’ve discovered that a sport with rules is different from an uncontrolled physical confrontation.

Groundbreaking stuff.

So here’s my genuine question for the people who constantly dismiss sport karate as unrealistic or too soft:
What exactly would you change about the rules for 12- and 13-year-old competitors?

Would you allow full-power techniques to the head? Knockouts? Continue fighting after someone gets rocked? Where exactly is the line between legitimate karate and something you consider too watered down?

And outside competition, what exactly do you think should happen in the dojo? Should a training partner be injured so badly that they cannot go to work or school the next day? If not, why should that level of damage suddenly become acceptable merely because it happens in a tournament?

Because if your argument is that sport karate needs more contact to earn your respect, I think it’s fair to ask just how much punishment you expect children and training partners to take for that respect.

Thank you for reading my rant.

First post, first question.

Is this normal for a membership fee for Karate????
Membership options

Option 1 Best:
$2999 down 1-time payment.
82500 Oct 15
Plus, a continual month to month payment of $100.
The monthly fee is guaranteed will to stay the same for as long as you are actively training. This fee can be canceled 30 days out. If students STOP, but returns within one year - they do not have to pay initial fee again - they simply restart the current BBC monthly fee.
Total investment for 2 years is: $5400. ($2700 per year)
Option 2 is the same as option 1. The difference: If the family cannot do the lumpsum - make 12 × 250
payments plus the monthly fee. Total initial fee $3000 = $250 for 12 months + $100 per month.
Total cost 2 years $5400. (2700 per year)
Option 3:
$500 initial + 24 payments of $199. Not month to month.
Total cost for 2 years is $5276 (2518 per year)
Why is option 1-2 better than 3? It is the best for you over the long term. Martial arts training: Is something that you can do year-round and for your whole life. It takes, on average 5 to 7 years to get earn your first probationary Black Belt. Most dedicated students are training for more than 10 years.
Here is a break down over 5 years of training:

Option 1 $8999
Option 3 $13190

All programs do not include 5% gst. Program includes 1 new uniform blue uniform, 1 set of sparring gear.
Extra cost:
Orange to Brown belt test fee. • Black Belt test fee
Outside events EG tournaments, seminars. Camps
There is no refunds.

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.

hey everybody! i’ve been a part of this subreddit for a while in my personal original account. i’ve come here today to tell my story about working at a kyokushin dojo. i made a new user to tell my story since i don’t want this traced back to me in any sort of way since i’m not looking for any kind of trouble. i’m just looking to tell my story and my personal experience.

i (22F) worked at a kyokushin dojo. i won’t mention which one or which organization i was in. but to give you some context, it’s a really big kyokushin school with more than 100 students. my boss (i refuse to call him sensei because he never taught me anything) lives in another country. so he left his high ranked students in charge. they would organize themselves for the week since there are around 8-9 groups of students.

i started back in 2021. when i first came to the dojo i instantly fell in love with it and the art of kyokushin karate. the teachers were great! a few years later and all of us are very close friends. but in total they were six teachers.

late 2022 came and i would come to the dojo early to help out during the classes because i loved being in that environment with my friend. before i started coming to assist during class i became friends with another student (and he’s now my boyfriend we’ll call him peter) who ended up getting hired before me. so in total there were seven in the staff (excluding me since i was underage and not officially hired.)

anyways, 2023 came and i was officially hired. i won’t lie, it was very fun being around my friends and helping throughout class. during this time i held an intermediate belt since in this academy they would skip students who showed good effort and work during class. but throughout all of this, whenever my boss came to our country to “supervise” the operation i would constantly witness him treating my friends/co-workers bad. example: humiliating the highest ranked belt student (who was shodan at the time and we’ll call sensei jim for story telling purposes) during class because some students were not performing certain techniques or kata the way my boss demanded. so he would tell sensei jim that he was a terrible teacher and a terrible karateca in front of everyone.

he would also do this thing where he would evaluate our technique or kata and if it wasn’t up to his standard he would lower our salary, something that is illegal in our country. oh and btw throughout all of this we were all hired without work contracts (something highly illegal.)

in 2024, sensei jim decided he had enough and he left the dojo. then after sensei jim we were left with the next high rank belt student which we’ll call supervisor walter. supervisor walter was around 19-20. and as you’d expect, he was extremely immature. sometimes he would tell my friends to cover his class while he went to the bathroom to play games on his phone or talk to his friends. now, supervisor walter constantly participates in kumite whenever there’s a tournament. so there was a need within him to prove to all of us in the staff and students that he was the best fighter the dojo had. and i won’t lie, he is a good fighter. but he’s the typical teacher that won’t teach you anything good unless you’re a pretty girl and he’s interested in you.

there were many incidents around this workplace its too much for me to resume in this post. but i’ll get to the end now. this brings me to sensei gray and sensei james. sensei gray is father to sensei james. sensei gray had been my boss’ friends since childhood and he was also in charge of running errands for him, administration and giving class. this year they were fed uo and decided to quit and leave the dojo.

my boss went ape shit when he saw sensei jim, sensei gray, sensei james and another one of my friend who we’ll call sensei ron opened their own kyokushin dojo with another organization. he even called us all to a meeting to give us an opportunity to talk shit about them and validate his feelings. all my boyfriend and i said was, “well they’re our friends and we hope they find great success.” something to which my boss didn’t reply anything to.

i decided at this point i wanted to leave the dojo at the end of the year. but because my friends opened up their own dojo and my boss was intimidated by this he said we would all sign work contracts. i refused to sign this contract and said that i would keep doing my work but i would not sign this contract. he called me trying to convince me to sign this contract and said i couldn’t work in his dojo without a contract so i put in my resignation notice and said this [august] would be my last month working there.

after putting my notice he called me the next day. for context i did my shodan belt test on may (after sensei gray and sensei james quit) the belts and certificates had already arrived. my boss called me and told me because i would continue as a student (i mentioned in my resignation notice i wouldn’t teach anymore but i would be a student, which was a lie since i had all the intentions to switch to the other dojo) that i would have to wait two more years for the belt and repeat the exam since they gave me the opportunity to do it sooner because i was a member of this staff. this was extremely weird to me, i knew he did it to get under my skin but i didn’t care.

i just replied “oh yeah of course i understand. i’ve been studying kyokushin only five years and i understand it’s seven to get your belt, so it makes sense why i would have to wait two more years.”

anyways, at the start of the following week he called us all into a meeting where he forced me to sign a resignation letter. as soon as i signed it he dropped his mask and started insulting me, my friends and talking shit about all of us. he even said, “you’re lucky i’m not there in person because if i was that would be another story.”

i was fed up, i stood up and grabbed the phone where we were all having a meeting and said, “alright, thank you for the opportunity i really appreciate but i’m not going to sit around and listen to these words anymore.” then his mom (because she also works administration) tried to snatch my phone away and i left. i had enough.

my boyfriend also quit at the end of that month and btw my boss did not pay him what he was owed because my boyfriend stayed and he did work until the end of the month. we both switched dojos, found other jobs and we are so much happier than we ever were in that place.

that is my story. now, i would like to talk about the state of that place.

that academy apart from teaching kyokushin karate also hired instructors to teach jiu-jitsu and boxing/kickboxing. the partner of the jiu-jitsu instructor said that she also wanted to learn karate. but i’ll be honest. whenever someone told my boss “i want to learn karate” all he understood and heard was “i want to work in karate.” so what did he do? he gave her a blue belt in kyokushin karate just because she was a blue belt in jiu-jitsu.

another one of the girls in jiu-jitsu (we’ll call her amy) also said she wanted to learn karate. she started in white but because she learned katas from taikyoku sono ichi to pinan sono ni she was given a blue belt again.

after we left, they had a seminar with a shihan who i won’t mention. this shihan and my boss gave these girl a green belt. which in our organization means you’re only 3-4 belts away from a shodan belt. these girls did a whole kyokushin trajectory that would normally take a person 5-6 years in less than a year. many students were mad about this.

he also hired a black belt from shito ryu and said he would give him a black belt in kyokushin karate because “shito ryu and karate are the same thing.” when he was literally talking shit a few months ago about another shinkyokushin teacher that did shito ryu and when he did an equivalence exam he wasn’t even able to reach brown belt.

they also started giving MMA classes with an MMA instructor, i won’t lie he is a pretty good teacher and a great MMA fighter. but they did the same thing where they gave him a blue belt. it’s pretty sad, he has a baby girl on the way and i know my ex-boss did this as a way to take advantage of the fact that he needs something stable for his family.

now i come to you, kyokushin redditors to ask all of you what do you think about this? i’m open to reading all your comments, opinions and/or answering any questions.

I started karate last year as someone who was completely new to it with a younger who was purple belt. I was really excited at first and tried my best in everything, but then this new girl came along and after our grading, she was orange belt while I was yellow belt. I felt the sensei’s and higher belts treated her better than they did with others, like they saw “potential” in her and always helped her more. I felt invisible, i need help too. I felt they were much friendlier to her, and there was one particular black belt who was mean to me and im not sure what I even did. but yeah everyone is super nice to her and she’s literally a blue belt now while im just an orange belt. we had a tournament too, it was our first tournament ever. I did so horribly and won nothing, i was trembling when doing kata and just had zero confidence. i felt I was better at kumite but I lost terribly and I didn’t win anything and she won third place. I was so shaken up after the tournament and felt really bad. I felt like a loser.

I feel like im comparing myself to her too much but I actually can’t help it. and the unfair treatment makes it worse. i told my mum today that im not sure if I want to continue karate and that i didnt want to waste their money if i suddenly just didn’t wanna do it. my mum got angry and told me to just quit everything altogether because im a quitter in everything. She’s pissed at me right now:( I don’t know what to do and I feel emotionally numb doing karate and I don’t feel joy in doing karate anymore. I mean I did just start karate because of my mom and my sister being in it. I just feel like a loser in the dojo and that I suck.

How popular is this style? Always wanted to learn it, apparently it's a form of kyokushin karate that's built for "competing in the ring" and eventually it morphed into K-1 Kickboxing

I’m on a quest to be more accomplished and have just done shotokan karate for 5 years. I don’t know what to do now, any ideas?

Hello all, I did traditional Japanese karate as a kid when I was a teenager for 3 years. I stopped training when I was in high school because life got busy. I’m in my 20s now and I wanted to go back to that same dojo but when I called and asked to see if I could come back the business person/ assistant to the sensei (not the owner of the dojo) said people who leave are not welcome back. I was also told by others who later tried to join the same dojo say that those who study other forms of martial arts aren’t allowed to study at this dojo. Is this common?

Hi everyone,

I've been experiencing groin pain for quite a while, especially when doing certain kicks. The pain is mainly there at the beginning of training and usually gets better or disappears once I've warmed up. However, some kicks can still cause mild pain.

Recently, I've also noticed an unusual sound when I kick with my leg. It sounds a bit like a ball dropping. It's difficult to describe.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? What could be causing this, and how did you deal with it?

Thanks!😃

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.

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.

Correct me if I am wrong but in the WKF Mens Kata competitions we tend to find shorter Karatekas win. I am 6ft and looking to compete but I feel when watching my Katas back the movements just dont look right! Even the basics movements and transitions such moving in Cat Stance and basic blocks dont look right. This makes me wonder do taller Kata have any success in the national and international circuits? Any examples of success kata athletes that are 6ft tall? What katas would a taller athlete go for and or stay away from? And would they need to compensate by going lower in stances ect? Would love to hear all your opinions regarding this!!

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

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

Has anyone ever seen this move in Chinte kata before?

So ive made a post before saying I'm a plus size girl. Well sadly I am pretty large and 8 size pant doesn't fit. I know what I am and im joining to be healthier and going to gym and work all day with toddlers and do 10k steps a day. I am truly focused on the journey ya know?

(My top fits and the belt fits, I just have large hips and butt)

I searched everywhere online in Canada and literally no one has my size in pants. Only an American only shipping company. That being said I'm not losing faith and am thinking of going to a seamstress to extend my current pants maybe add some fabric?? To just make do for the first while as I drop the weight.

So is this a crazy thing to do? I feel so angry at myself for letting myself go the last few years. I have lost over 100lbs before and I know I am capable but its embarrassing. My sensei was kind and said to find an alternative for next week's class. I just cant right now. Even that one company people have shared for plus size women is always sold out so im limited.

Thanks im advance for the advice!

Is it worth going to a Karate seminar?

I have been training Shotokan Karate for several months and I train quite regularly, partly also daily. I try to improve myself additionally outside of my normal club training.

Now I have the opportunity to take part in a Karate seminar. The seminar lasts one day. As far as I know, there are supposed to be very experienced instructors there who have high Dan grades. I wanted to ask whether it is already worth going there at my current level or whether such seminars are generally worth going to.

I would be happy to receive your feedback and experiences.😃

I practiced Kajukenbo for several years as a child and really enjoyed it. I remember that the classes I took were heavily focused on self-defense. We did some light sparring but the contact and intensity increased with your level - I remember watching a black belt promotion exam where the examinee had to defend themselves against several attackers at once and thinking it was very cool and impressive. I also enjoyed the "forms" in addition to the more practical elements of the classes. 

I got busy as a teenager and dropped karate for other activities but now as an adult I'm interested in going back. I can't find any Kajukenbo classes near me. There are several karate and martial arts schools in my city and as far as I can tell it looks like my options are Shotokan, Shorin-ryu, or other types of martial arts entirely like jiu-jitsu.

I am wondering which of those styles is the most similar to Kajukenbo with a similar emphasis on self-defense and actual combat but with some of the more dance-like, performance-based elements as well. Has anyone practiced multiple of these styles and can offer some comparison?

People in Delhi, especially female athletes looking for genuine martial arts progression, need to know the reality behind a Fityard MMA gym based in Delhi, Prashant Vihar

I joined this facility for serious MMA training, but the classes completely lack structure and progression. Techniques are taught randomly, making it entirely unsuitable for anyone looking for professional athletic development. However, the most glaring issue is the discrepancy between their "women’s empowerment" marketing and the actual reality on the mats.

I was excluded from training twice simply because there was no other female student present. The male instructor flatly refused to demonstrate techniques with me, resulting in disrespectful and unprofessional behaviour where I was forced to stand aside and watch the entire class train instead of participating.

When I challenged this blatant denial of the service I paid for, co-owner Sonal defended the exclusion, asking: “What if something happens? Who will take responsibility?”

This admission is highly alarming. By stating that men must only train with men to prevent "something happening," management is openly acknowledging that their own male staff lack the professional standards and athletic boundaries required to safely train female members. If hired coaches do not know how to teach without losing control, it highlights a serious internal failure in operational accountability.

This highlights Deficiency of Service & Unfair Trade Practice by the Gym: Gender-based exclusion from training mats due to staff boundary failures.

As equal partners and founders, Sonal, Rocco, and Jatin should not sell memberships to women under the guise of self-defence if their own operational model assumes their staff cannot guarantee basic safety and boundaries on the mats. Paying female members should not have to sacrifice their training opportunities or tolerate disrespectful treatment because the gym's personnel lack the training to function professionally.

Ultimately, this facility is structured to sell an aesthetic rather than actual capability. If you just want a superficial workout to feel productive and buy the identity of being an MMA learner without gaining real, street-practical self-defence skills, go here. But for anyone looking for authentic martial arts progression, the flawed rules enforced by this partnership make it a complete failure.

Avoid this place if you value your time, money, and dignity as an athlete.