Thinking Of Starting A Martial Art?

For anybody considering joining a martial arts club (of any style or kind), there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. First and foremost, why do you want to learn martial arts? For self-defense, perhaps? Fitness? It’s cool because your next-door neighbour does something and thinks it’s cool. In the second place, do you really possess the amount of devotion required to be a successful martial artist? Finally, what are your objectives, given that you really want to learn martial arts and practise them?

Read On…

Take, for example, point No. 1. As a Shotokan Karate instructor for more than 30 years, I have experienced a wide range of people who have come into my dojo. There have been both young and elderly people, as well as males and females. When asked why they want to train, virtually all of them indicate it is for self-defense, fitness, or a combination of the two. However, when they believe they haven’t progressed (since they can’t do what Bruce Lee does!!) after a few weeks of basic training, and it’s back to the same old boring fundamentals, they grow disillusioned with karate and begin to skip sessions, eventually giving up completely.

This gets me neatly to the second point I’d want to make. To achieve success in the martial arts, it is necessary to put in months or years of focused practise. No, I don’t mean the type of club that advertises itself as “quick fix, just opened last night, we are the best, give us your money.” I’m talking about a well-established club with a good Sensei/Instructor who has the skill and dedication in his/her own right to be able to pass on knowledge in such a way that develops a student’s all-round abilities through a structured training syllabus. “You only receive out what you are willing to put in,” says the author. There have never been more accurate words said, particularly when it comes to martial arts. If you are thinking about joining a club, I would encourage that you participate in regular training since you will progress much more quickly and you never know what you could be missing! In certain cases, your teacher may opt to spend the whole night’s training on one specific kata, a kata that you are interested in learning. You decide not to go on that particular night (since England is on television), and as a result, you lose out on all of the information. No, the most important thing is to show there on time.

What Are Your Goals Once You Have Joined A Club?

Finally, what are your goals once you have joined a club? Do you want to achieve a black belt/sash? Do you think you would have “arrived” once you achieve Dan’s grade? I ask this question because many of my students in the past, who got to 1st Dan, simply fell by the wayside. “There’s a disco on down the local youth club tonight”. “I’ve recently started courting and my boy/girlfriend says training is silly”. “I would rather be anywhere than in a dojo now. I’ve outgrown training???!!! “These are just some of the answers I have had when I have met ex-students in the street and, after trying to avoid me, then realizing they can’t, they make up some excuse why they no longer wish to train. Their choice, after all, is a free country.

My advice is to find a good, well-established club with the knowledgeable instructor(s). Whatever style you are interested in, stick with it for at least a year, by which time you will have achieved a few grades and will have a clearer indication of which direction you wish to go in your training. Fitness will come as a by-product of training, the levels of which, again, are governed by how much effort you put in. Self-defense techniques will also be an integral part of your instruction and will be ingrained as a matter of course.

Stick with your chosen Sensei/instructor and really listen to what he/she has to say. Remember, good, bona fide instructors have been through their chosen system and are constantly researching ways to make their own training better/ more effective, etc. which they will readily pass on to you.

Training

Finally, if you do ever reach Dan’s grade, be aware that your training is ONLY JUST BEGINNING! More intense training, more effort, greater enthusiasm and much more will be asked of you by your sensei because you are now a Dan grade and should be an example to the latest batch of beginners that are looking up to you. Make time to pass on your knowledge to the lower grades. Ask your sensei if you may teach the “beginners class” I’m sure he/she would be grateful. Watch beginners grow as a result of your efforts and blossom themselves into capable martial artists. Then ask yourself, I am a dan grade now, IS my career really over, or just beginning? It’s up to you to find the answer.

My style is Shotokan karate and I have been training for over 35 years. I am currently ranked at 6th Dan and am also the chief instructor of the “Elite school of Japanese Karate”. Anyone interested in training at my dojo van contacts me.

Written by Ajay, 6th Dan Shotokan Karate and chief instructor of the “Elite school of Japanese Karate”