Some of the Things Wrong with Classical Karate Training

By Al Case

You know, Karate sometimes gets a bad rap these days. You see all the MMA guys trashing their opponents, and you wonder why, if Karate is so good, you don't see it in the octagon. The reason, of course, is the problem with Classical Karate training methods.

In traditional karate classes students are put in rows, and they kick and punch and do everything together. This is a good method, for beginners. The unfortunate fact, however, is that a student rapidly progresses from being a beginner, and then needs to have a better teaching method.

Class exercises are fine to warm up, but there is no real exchange of information going on between teacher and student. Oh, you think that everything is in the forms, that you just need to do the forms and enlightenment will burst upon you? Well, true to a certain extent, but there is also the fact that if you hold to this opinion too hard you are saying that karate is for stupid people.

Oh, I'm serious. Look, Karate, be it goju or shotokan or uechi ryu or whatever, depends on physics. And, once a person has mastered the first set of physics, there is a second set of physics pertinent to the mind and the spirit. But, because of antiquated training methods, methods that were used to control unruly children (not teach them) nobody in the martial arts really knows what the second set of physics is.

Let me take one instance and play with it a bit. I ran into a student who demonstrated terrible form, and he had taken a year of traditional martial arts classes. He was terrible, but-smile in the eyes of his instructor-he was extremely stiff and rigid.

So his shoulders leaned too much, his body was always rotated wrong, his punches wouldn't hurt an eight year old girl, but he was considered good because he was rigid. All his muscles locked into place at the extension point of his moves. And, you can see this same characteristic on any number of youtube Karate videos, done by any number of 'masters.'

Now, one of the first concepts of real fighting is, 'a sitting duck is a dead duck.' Heck, the reason that gangster told you to hold still when he's talking to you was because he wanted a motionless target. This goes against the true karate somebody would learn if they could get past the stiff, no data teaching that is prevalent in nearly every karate class on the planet.

Real Karate is liquid, and the focus points are so short they can't be perceived, and the karateka is able to move in any direction without preparation or telegraphing. True Karate is like a whip, and only the fist tightens, and that momentarily when it smacks through some fool's face. Karate is a study in motion, not in rigidity, and that is just one of the problems with Classical Karate Training.

About the Author:

If you want to learn some great karate, you should head on over to my Temple Karate DVD. I've been doing classical karate for over four decades, but I've still got some liquid left in me. There are 11 kata, complete with all the self defense techniques.