Karate chat

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Anyone do karate?

Shotokan here 🙂

Shotokan too, although I used to do Shotokai which I much preferred. No clubs locally for that though.
I’m only red belt - really not enjoying sparring although I love everything else.

What is it about the sparring you're not enjoying? (it varies so much from club to club)

I really like practising application of moves, and it’s fine when we increase the speed and challenge. But when we do sparring (continuous sparring), it just feels like a free for all and I don’t know how to time anything or how to judge what to do.

It’s only usually a small part of each practice, except when a tournament is coming up (which I don’t do).

There are a lot of children in our club and I think the sparring is probably to keep them interested.

Hi, I was just searching through to see if there was a karate thread. I had my first class on Monday and was hoping to get some advice for a complete novice in terms of reading, YouTube stars to give me tips, home practice or anything else. How long have you both been doing it?

Hi there. I started learning shotokan in the new year and loving it so far. It's a very relaxed club which suits me. I find watching kata videos on YouTube really helpful. It takes me a while and lots of repetition to get them in my head. We don't do a huge amount of sparring but I think that will change moving up the grades. Currently a yellow belt. The thing I like least is my gi! At some point I will treat myself to a lighter one that hopefully fits better!