Shotokan

I'd always fancied myself as a martial artist and stumbled into a karate class one summer evening when I was 17, feeling more than a little nervous. Surrounded by a sea of people clad in white pyjamas and making loud noises whilst thumping each other, I was tempted to just run for the door, but somehow I managed to convince myself to stay and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. There are many different styles of karate, but the chances are, if there is a karate club in your area, its probably going to be a Shotokan class. Modern day Shotokan was founded by Gichin Funakoshi and was only introduced to the western world relatively ...  Read the complete review

You may not find this opinion useful but here goes as these are my personal experiences in karate. At first i had a great motivation to start karate. I thought that it would be great for fitness and whenever anyone would ask if i actually did any sports outside of school i could say, yeah karate! which was kind of fun in a way. Karate is not about fun though, during my time at the karate club i received many bruises and painful blisters. It is not just about doing round house kicks and punching people. My karate lessons lasted for 2 hours each time and within these 2 hours at least one of them is spent warming up, which tires you out before you even ...  Read the complete review

For those of you with children lacking in confidence have you ever thought of Shotokan Karate? Oss. My 9 year old daughter is bright, intelligent and doing very well academically at school. Out of school she lacks confidence. The other kids in the road tend to dominate her when they are playing outside. As a (responsible) parent I felt that I needed to do something to help (apart from dropping a daisy cutter bomb on the other kids...yeah, seems extreme). So....3 months ago I enrolled her in a karate class at the local leisure centre. Karate is typical of most eastern martial arts ...  Read the complete review

I have been practicing Shotokan for about a year now, and although that might not sound too long (it isn't for a martial art) it has given me time to realize how realistic and effective Karate is. I believe it is one of the best martial arts to learn if you want to get tough. The aim of Shotokan Karate is to make your punches as near to perfection as possible so you can hopefully knock your opponents down in 1 punch. Obviously this is an extremely difficult thing to do, that is why the shotokan student (and most karate students) will be forced to line up and go over their punches, blocks and kicks for hours. Lots of people get mixed up when ...  Read the complete review

One of my greatest regrets now that I am an adult is quitting my Shotokan Karate classes. At the time it was no big deal to me and although I did usually enjoy the classes it was only the thrill of aiming for a new belt which truly kept me motivated. This meant that when I received my black belt at he age of thirteen, I felt I had acomplished all there was to acomplish in the field. Boy was I wrong. I knew it was still possible to improve my belt and upgrade to a second Dan black belt, but I was not prepared to put in the time and effort required as there would be large amounts of travelling involved. I can understand my lack of motivation to improve my ...  Read the complete review