Recently got my 8th kyu Blue belt in Kyokushin karate, been nonstop working on not only improving my martial arts, but also my mind and body.
At gym, been working on my Strength in weights and Calisthenics, finally increasing lean muscle, building good character, facing fears and remembering my purpose in this life. I know I can achieve my goals.. also been working on nutrition, not giving into temptation and staying away from high sugar processed foods and cutting down on fried foods.
For sure I will be making some more posts. Stay Strong OSU!
If a gold medal is your goal in life, no matter at what level, then being able to train hard and long, and regularly is one thing you need to be able to do. Use these 5 tips to be able to train tougher, longer and better.
1. Improve Sprinting Endurance
Having great fitness is more than essential for sport, not just Kyokushin. A lot of people believe Kyokushin is all about endurance, when in fact it’s all about sprint and being able to kick fast. Running for hours on end doesn’t help your Kyokushin training as much as if you spent time working on sprint training instead. Sprints like 100m, 200m and 400m will increase your kicking speed and power, not just your overall fitness. As you get more proficient with sprinting, your bodyfat drops, your fitness increases a lot and the speed of your kicks goes up dramatically too. These are definitely an advantage to have when competing in Kyokushin Karate.
2. Increase Protein
Taking protein, either in the form of meat or in a protein shake, is necessary for all Kyokushin athletes. Protein is the building blocks for muscle. Training breaks down our muscles and to train for longer and harder, you have to recuperate and repair your muscles fast. Protein shakes after any training is great for this. Having good Kyokushin nutrition and eating a high protein meal within 2 hours of training also helps the recovery process. You have to make sure you have enough protein in your system so that your body can use it to repair itself. Not having enough protein will mean that you won’t recover properly.
3. Improve Flexiblity
Now this might seem a bit obvious for Kyokushin athletes, but many do not realize the importance that Kyokushin stretching has for recuperation. When stretching, you get blood into the muscles that help get away all the damaged cells, etc. Not only that, it also helps to get the vital protein and nutrients into your muscles that speed up recovery. Having short muscles that are tight and inflexible take longer to recuperate from training. By lengthening them, you are helping to recover faster.
4. Vsualizing Yourself Fitter
If you haven’t visualized or used meditation, this may seem a bit out there, but it’s actually been proven to increase success in sports. Visualizing at night tells your subconscious mind what it needs to do while you are sleeping. This helps accelerate the recuperation process so that you are ready to train hard and long the following day. Visualizing winning a tournament puts your mind on the path that it know what it has got to do to be able to achieve that and will help your body recover quicker in the process.
5. Sleeping Well
Everyone needs sleep. During sleep we recuperate from training. It’s vital for your success in the sport. We over train if we don’t recover properly, which isn’t great for our performance. With quality sleep, we help our body get what it needs to recover so we can then go and train harder than we have done before. Visualization before sleeping accelerates this. Using these combined increases the effects too. The better your sleep, the less you need. This means you have more time in the day to do more and you are refreshed when you wake in the morning. Having quality sleep makes us happy, which is a great side effect.
Using these 5 simple steps you can improve your training and success a lot. They will help with showing what you can do to help improve your performance.
I was jogging to the dojo and thinking about the clothes I was wearing and why the tradition of wearing the gi in the dojo is such a strong one. I already had some ideas about this such as the symbolism of the colour white. It’s blank and empty and this is how the mind should be when approaching training and when fighting. No thoughts or feelings, just harmony. It also relates to the first belt we don, the white belt, and its a reminder to train every day as if we are still white belts. To look upon the world with the eyes of children, but to learn from the wisdom of our elders. As Sensei Orlando from martialways.blogspot.com said white is the hardest colour to maintain and so it requires extra diligence on the part of the student, developing habits of good health and hygiene as well as discipline. I asked my sensei about it tonight after training and his answer struck the best chord with me as his answers almost always do. First of all they show respect to the teachers that founded the art. This was how they wanted the art to be taught and we should respect that since they spent their whole lives developing the art for our benefit and those who come after us. The second reason was that it distinguishes us from the kickboxers down the street and the ufc nuts at the local octagon. Over there you get chicks with tight leggings and men with nothing on but tiny shorts so they can show off their muscles. Not only would this be a distraction for other students but it also feeds the ego and vanity. On the walk home tonight I kept reflecting on what is probably my favorite line in the dojo kun, “we will cultivate a spirit of self-denial”. This means that we not only refine our bodies but our entire beings. The fires of hard training refine the spirit and purge the impurities such as vanity and desire. The dogi is just one way that this is done.
By the way all you tall handsome and gorgeous people reading this, these tips might annihilate your enemies as well.
I am doing great in my karate, I am focused, I am nailing those kata and techniques! But there was always that one tiny problem~
My sensei are just as Dutch as I am, men and at least 1.80m (or 5,9″ in the U.S.) which leaves me with quite some neck pain at the dojo from looking up all the time!
After hitting puberty everyone flew up to the clouds and I was left on earth here with my 1.60m (or 5,3″). This basically left me for years like this:
Well at least I’d make a cute Pikachu.
Sounds familiar? Sadly my first few (shorter) Sensei left before the kumite sparring got real (and everyone outgrew me) and I was left for a couple of years with only tall Sensei. I am very grateful for their teachings but they never had the same problems being so Eiffeltower-y tall!
Now don’t you worry my fellow member of the allegiance of tiny people who are secretly really awesome.
ANSWERING YOUR PRAYERS:
#1 NEVER back out.
Look going back is a great movement to immediately go to the frontal attack again, but let’s face it:
It’s
Not
Happening.
As much as we’d like to, we need to take a huge step back to evade that huge leg swinging our way but we cannot cover the distance that has made between you and that tall son of beach!
This will most likely still be the reality for us then…
#2 Nagasu/Inasu (inasu is similar)
So what the fridge are you supposed to do?!
Nagasu
Means parrying, or moving with the attack, to evade a blow, often while countering. The body is moved slightly off of the line of attack so that the attacking technique is evaded, but at a close enough angle that the power of the opponent’s attack can be used to increase the force of the counterattack.
Get out of the way of that incoming train! Sidestep, left, right, just MOVEyour pretty butt out off the way!
#3 Alright, I moved now what -> SEN
You got out of the way right? Congratulations! You took your first step in releasing your punching bag status! Now this next one is great:
Sen It means attacking simultaneously with the opponent as in nagashizuki. It implies that the ‘defender’ will be able to complete his attack first, and/or displace the opponent’s attack.
You want to attack me? Sure, but you’ll regret it.
Hey if it works with a KATANA then a leg or arm should be no problem, right? Sensei Õtsuka Hironori II (R.I.P. 2015) and his son Sensei Õtsuka Kazutaka which I had the privilege of training under in several seminars.
More options? HECK YEAH!
#4 Sensen no Sen
This means to attack when the opponent’s intent to attack is perceived, thus pre empting the opponent’s attack and catching him/her off guard.
Stretch your arms out around you, make a circle with them. That my friend, is your personal bubble, your space.The trick is to attack as soon as someone is wanting to burst that bubble. Don’t be shy, but timing is crucial. It is definitely tricky to master, but if you do, your sparring partners will start hating you in a very good way.
#5 Hold your guard up high
This is a golden tip for our very punch-able heads. Keep your guard up a little higher than you’re used to. In Wado, we tend to keep our firsts not higher than chudan height which is great: if you don’t have a head to defend. Our faces are chudan height for our tall sparring partners making us vulnerable to their punches.
It won’t expose our lower areas because that is not relevant for our opponents!
And THAT, is how you made your Pikachu into this:
That is one badass ushiro-iron-tail!
Karate, as many as our fellow martial arts came from Japan and China.
…
They were basically MADE for us small people! And don’t forget: bigger limbs mean less speed. They need to travel longer than ours! There is no ultimate karate-ka body figure, everything has pros and cons, figure out how to use those pros of yours!
