my experiences (Shotokan)

Member Name: jl_kiwi

Product:	Shotokan
Date:	19/05/02 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fitness, fun

Disadvantages: tiring, painful

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 start thinking about sparring or practicing moves. Even then only 3 in 10 of my lessons would you get a chance to spar - fight your opponent.

The karate suit you have to wear also has to be very baggy and there is a special way in which you have to tie your belt. Boys tend not to wear anything under their karate shirt, but being a girl there is the slight disadvantage where i had to wear a vest top, and at times it can get very hot!!!

During practice you tend to do repetetive things with a partner and if you are shy this can affect your overall play. If you do not enjoy it, you would be just wasting your money as the suit itself can cost a fair bit of money and if you are not intending to keep it up you would have just thrown useful money out of the window. Each lesson can cost up to £10 (varies), but some clubs have schemes where if you come with friends or siblings that they charge you half price. My lessons only cost £3 as i learnt with my brother and cousins.

In order for you to achieve the next belt you must pass your grading. The grading consists of moves, stances and most importantly the kata. The kata is a short routine (like piece) except you must know everything off my heart and return to your actual position that you started with. You must punch in the right place
depending on your height etc. You must picture an image in front of you and hit them where it hurts!

To be honest this great motivation i had slowly deterriorated within a few months. This was plainly due to lack of confidence, tiredness and painful blisters and bruises. It was nothing like it was on TV - sitting in a circle whilst people get picked out to fight against one another - thrown on mats etc. To be honest i think i lacked confidence as i hated demonstrating in front of people and at the end of the day my muscles would ache. This started to effect my school work as well as i attended classes on a night time straight after school and by the time i got home i simply had no energy left to do school work.

Although, karate was fun at first! I think it was just because i took lessons in the night it affected me worse. If you do decide to take up lessons do choose the right times and places to take them. I did enjoy doing karate overall and acheived the yellow belt and was going on to orange, but unfortunately exams were coming up and time did not permit.

It can also improve your reactions and help your self defense, which is always a good thing.

Summary: