Everywhere I turn these days I am inundated by “new
Ideas” or “old ways” of training that you need to be doing or you should be
teaching. I have had people come to me about learning the “old ways” or
reminding me that Karate changes and we need to keep up. Some are subtle like “hey
did you see the way that this instructor is modifying the art to be more
effective” or “this instructor teaches exactly the way that Funakoshi intended
and taught”. Its hard as a student to understand the difference between innovation
and traditional training and which is better!
The way I see it is that Karate is a lot like the phenomenon
of Diets in north America! Every month you get the newest, best and most
scientific way of eating that will change the way people live and exist. In Karate
however its much more dramatic and often violent! You hear of an instructor how made changes to
the traditionally used curriculum and talking to his supporters its life
altering and if you don’t follow suite then your Karate is somehow inferior to
the “new Karate”. As far as Diets go,
when I started noticing that they were even a thing in the 90’s I saw the “HIGH
CARB/LOW FAT” diet that swore that athletes should eat as much pasta, bread and
veggies as they could consume....fast forwards to the “HIGH PROTEIN/LOW Carb”Diet
that changed to the recent Keto focused diets of “Super high fat/super low Carb”
style diets.
The reason I compare the Diet trends to the Karate
trends is because of that word…..Trends! I have been in Karate long enough to
know what is good and what is bad Karate. I can watch a Kata being performed
and know if the person doing it is a traditional Karate person or a sport person,
I can watch two people doing Kumite and point out the style they come from and
if they are more modern or traditional.
Before I get started I want to be clear here. ALL Karate training has
benefits and even the EVIL Sport Karate can and does have some redeeming
qualities that you cannot ignore, and old style hard nosed Karate also has its benefits.
What I am looking at are the extreme trends the fads that come into Karate
training specifically and some people have sworn are the “future of Karate
training” . Here is a hint…they…are not!
Karate has change so much since the 80’s and 70’s when
I started, not only are we not wearing bell bottoms to the Dojo but the actual
training has changed. When I started my instructor was told “NO WEIGHTS” from
his instructor and we never ever did weight training, we did more “Functional
training” and lots of Karate training. Over time we began incorporating “modern”
training like weights and running and the got into plyometrics and TABATA
recently. Conditioning in the past was 10,000 kicks and punches done in a
single class. We were macho and if you did not like the break neck training and
harsh beatings you got in class….the door was that way! We were a tad nuts but we were tough! Now the students would all walk out if we did
500 front kicks or such each class…we need to entertain as much as we teach.
But that’s not what I am talking about, I am talking about content and approach……
The latest things in training are all high tech, new
age sport sciences and it’s a complete if not total abandonment of the old
ways! The new way is to go high tec!
Gone are the old canvas style Gis, now people wear floppy white PJ’s made from
silky materials and lord help you if you wear a heavy weight gi, they are
lighter than your pajamas and have special venting, smooth but ribbed patterns
to help with movement during kumite and look…..LIMP to me. I have seen the new
Adidas Gi on several people. I was told it’s the latest tech in training hear…and
to me…they hurt my soul! The hand pads,
Shin pads, chest protectors are also new to me and “newfangled” by definition.
In the old days we used a mouth guard…when we needed to and a small set of hand
pads. Now they may as well dip the students into foam so they are
protected. The outcome….people hit each
other more often and harder thinking its okay. In the old days we never did this
because we KNEW it hurt!
Training has changed in a lot of ways to. Some of
the new fangled training includes using things like and agility ladder, medicine
balls, Running parachutes, Rubber tubes, gym timers ext and so forth. ALL of
these are great, but they tend to take away from things like Kihon and Kata
training! People who spend more than 10%
of their training time on conditioning drills or foot work drills end up taking
that away from their core training! You can see the new fangled instructors
too, they call themselves “Coach” not “Sensei” and they refuse to bow or do
anything Karate like. Some teach in running suits and refuse to put on a gi,
hell some don’t even own a Gi! The other point is that style seems to be taking
a back door to the training. Meaning people who train in Goju are teaching
Shotokan students or Uechi athletes are working out with Wado coaches. Its crazy!
The other side of the coin is those that are
avoiding the scientific breakthroughs all together and are adopting a “ANCIENT
TRAINING” concept to all their classes. This normally includes some antiquated
training equipment, going over Kata in a “More traditional” way than others and
stating that their old “Hardnosed” training and abandoning any form of
scientific advancements in training.
Those are the clubs you see in dingy and beat down locations with stone
weights, makiwaras lining the walls and hard woods beaten till they were smooth
with the weight and sweat of years of training. The whole place smells like a
locker room and often harsh cleaning chemicals. The club’s members all have
thick ankles, knuckles that are rounded and covered in calloused thick pads.
The classes are 1 hour of Kata, drills for an hour and the most brutal kumite
you can imagine. The instructors tend to be really gruff and traditional, they avoid
anything new and they push for ONLY the old ways! Growth and development or
adaptability is unheard of and in fact it is not just frowned upon but down
right banned!
Some times you get the OLD training repackaged as
NEW training as well. I once was told about this ancient training tool that you
could buy online and have delivered to your home. It was a frame that was assembled
and had two bars on it that you could drape bags filled with sand over. It was
a modern makiwara. Also, some people
will call Katas by new names, or introduce old ideas as new. Its all
repackaging tradition as new!
The other alternative is adding to the old ways….in
a traditional and old way. What I mean by this is adding traditional looking
Kata to the syllabus like Asai sensei did. Some new age groups will throw “Musical
Kata” into the mix or they just simply make one up with acrobatics in it….this
is not what I am talking about. Asai Sensei studied an art that was older than
the Shotokan tradition he was taught, he then worked with the principles of
both Shotokan and the older Crane art and crated the style he taught. Now this
is fantastic from some points of view…HORRIFIC for others. Personally, I have
always found them fascinating but only so much as they taught new ideas, not
that I wanted to incorporate them into my training daily. Some of the New/Old
Age groups will do this, even Kase Sensei’s students created new Kata out of
some of the principles he taught and then incorporated them into their
training. Honestly the addition of new kata leaves me dry. I have never ever
said “I Know all 26 Shotokan Kata and don’t have to worry about being board”. I
always find Kata to work on or things to build up and fix up. I don’t see value
in adding 9-100 other Kata to my training when I have so much to work on with the
original 26.
Then you have the WKF and the changes they make to
traditional Karate. I am kinda sick of the old argument that the WKF is not changing
Karate its just a sport rule set. Its also changing the style of Karate…or homogenizing
it. You enter the WKF as a traditional (Add style her) and then start to train
in the new system which first changes your kumite to be more Tae Kwon Do like.
You start standing sideways and bouncing, then you keep your hands high up and
throw fancy kicks that will put you off balance. You do 50% or more of your training
on drills for speed and how to strike faster in ways that earn you more points,
your defense changes from blocking and striking with precision to just slapping
away at techniques. Then you find you are not throwing any kicks to waste level
because….well its less points! The
Kumite changes start to add up and next thing you know your Gyaka zuki is
replaced with a dash in Uraken and a long Oi zuki used only to feed your hook
kick or round kick to the face. You don’t really focus on sweeps but you will
do them if it can be followed by a technique that will garner points. Your
movement set is fixed as a bounce with your legs almost straight and prsto
changeo you look and move like TKD! Oh, and
the kata….
So you study and study and you get your purple belt,
you only know up to Heian Godan actually and you then transition into “Sport
training” or “High performance” training and your coach says “For you….Unsu…Cuz
its fast and exciting and will garner points” and you set about studying the
new DANCEMOVES because you will never understand the moves from your current point
of view. You try your best to understand the Kata but you are basically put
with a choreographer who teaches you how to look the part and you go for it.
Your training is replaced with “Dance lessons” and you go through your
competition years learning new routines but not learning the depth of the Katas.
The ranking also gets tossed as the rank belt is
replaced with a Red and Blue belt that means basically what side of the ring
you will be stationed at, hell your safety gear matches too! But you come out of years of competition and
someone hands you a Black belt and says “you did great, lots of medals, you get
a black belt” yet you don’t understand anything outside of this new system of
sport training and how to pass this on. You cant really defend yourself and you
have never contemplated anything like the Dojo kun or learned the Kata Bunkai,
and all your bouncy bouncy kumite is no good in real life on ice or uneven
ground…but screw it that black belt is a beauty! The scary part is I know of at
least two “Black belts” who earned their Dan ranking in KUMITE and don’t know a
Kata at all! That’s new age!
Now, having said all that…There is NOTHING wrong
with the way Karate is presented and trained in 99% of the clubs out there,
this includes the WKF clubs. Its all in what you want out of Karate, having
realistic goals and understandable focus. Each of us can decide what they want
out of Karate. The fun thing about Karate is that it is for everyone! Training
in Karate is varied, you have sports oriented clubs and members, traditionalists,
weekend warriors, spiritualists, scientists, Leftists, conservatives, men and
women, ditch diggers and doctors. Its for everyone and has some benefits for
everyone. The only qualitative things that you need to understand are that
Karate…..good Karate should have a syllabus that you stick to, be grounded in
solid basics and needs to concern itself with the students, the individuals who
are training and not be some kind of recruitment for a cult!
In the end Karate has changed, stayed the same,
advanced, regressed and become something new and old again and again. It will
continue to evolve, and devolve over time and those of us who train in it will
continue to find things we like and even love in training.
