Benefits and limitations of karate training

Studying karate will bring all sorts of physical benefits, as well as mental benefits. It shouldn't be used as a means of self defence. Read below to see why not.

• As a student of Shotokan, Kung Fu, or Tae Kwon Do, you will be subjected to a rigorous curriculum of calisthenics, drills, gruelling sets of strength building exercises, and sparring. These will include jumping jacks, squat thrusts, push ups, sit ups, punching bag work, focus mitt strikes, and one to three minute rounds of controlled fighting. The culmination of doing all of the above week in and week out, for months and years, will give you excellent endurance and circulation.

• Isometric and static stretching will preface every workout and are necessary in order to execute punches, kicks, jumps, and sweeps without getting injured.
• Most beginners start off quite stiff due to the limited range of motion in everyday life. The intention is to introduce a path to flexibility to be realized over a gradual period, not to just drop into the splits on the first day.
• After a continuous regimen, you will be able to easily throw high kicks and reverse spinning strikes without pulling or tearing muscles.

• Target focus, memorization of intricate movements, and overcoming physical limitations have a profound effect on a karate student's mental landscape. A Kata is an extended series of movements somewhat similar to a dance routine. Many of these must be learned and performed to perfection across the arc of a student's experience.
• The neural pathways created in the brain during this part of studying give way to greater capacity for understanding complex systems and ideas. A lifelong student may memorize dozens if not hundreds of katas from several systems.

• Many of the so-called self-defence principles taught in traditional karate are not practical in a street fighting scenario. Students are taught to poke at the eyes, chop at the throat, and block attacks with open-hand circular movements.
• Hitting such a precise target, like the Adam's apple, is difficult, if not impossible, when under the duress of physical attack. Kicking someone in the face or head presents a very serious danger to the kicker of being thrown off balance and winding up on the ground, a very bad place to be in a street fight.
• Trying to block a punch or the thrust of a weapon with an arching circular motion and your fingers extended is a good way to sustain serious injury.
• Street attacks are best defended by meeting the attacker head on or "attacking the attack" and punching with a tightly closed fist to the face, liver, and groin. No kick in a street fight should be thrown any higher than waist level, and blocks should not extend past the plane of the shoulder, lest vital organs be exposed.
• In short: use karate to get in shape and to develop coordination and focus. If you want to learn to survive in the street, look to Krav Maga, boxing, or another fighting system developed specifically to address the issue of self preservation from human attackers.