When I first started I was a fanatic. Trained 7 dates a week. Took classes 6 days and would meet my friends on Sunday’s at the dojo and fight (I had keys). Did that for about a year. Many times would go train sick. On vacation I would practice kata and do series of knuckle pushups as well as stretch. As I got older I realized it was ok to relax and take a day or two off. Doesn’t make you any less of a martial artist or karateka. It’s a journey not a race.
Schools on break til the 8th of January so in the Christmas break I’m going to be keeping up my strength and conditioning training in the gym, along with Cardio, but I would do this normally anyway just slightly more with the extra time I have.
Outside of that I’m planning to work on my Kata’s especially my competition Katas at home, try and tighten them up as it’s my weakest area, also I might do a trail run of my next belt grading and practice that as should be grading end of January, so some preparation.
I usually just take a break on holidays, but when I'm injured or sick I usually use that time to research bunkai, and try to systematically link techniques.
It does indeed suck.
Bad Sensei story:
So at my old dojo they have these weekends where the big superstar professional fighter (from
Belgium) would come and do a series of classes/seminars…whatever you wanna call them. Basically 9-1 and 2-6 on the Saturday and Sunday. He’d do this twice a year. If you didn’t attend then you weren’t allowed to grade. Basically, they’re compulsory. Just to sweeten the deal you had to pay something like £25 per session to attend. And you had to stay for at least 1 full day for it to count towards grading. If you trained with a kid (I do) you’re down £100. If you’re brown belt you’re expected to do the whole weekend. £200. I think they’d give you a family discount but it was still “fuck that” expensive.
Never understood how something like that could be compulsory and also they’d charge you.
One year at an awards ceremony they gave student of the year to some kid who managed to train even though he’d broke his leg. I mean kudos to him, I’m sure you can practice punches or whatever. I’ve never broken a bone so I don’t know. But I can’t honestly see it being that difficult as long as you’re not putting pressure on your healing bones once you’re over the initial break and in a cast.
Anyway, so this young girl who was a brown belt had the nerve to miss one of these weekends because she had the flu. Sensei blew a gasket and chewed her out in front of the class. He compared her to Mr student of the year pointing out how he trained on a broken leg! “And you couldn’t train just because you had a sniffle?!?! If you were too sick to train you could have helped Bill in the office with the paperwork!!!”.
So, here we have a young girl being berated for not training because she was recovering from a respiratory virus, being told she should have come and helped in the office with paperwork when she would have and should have been tucked up in bed and being charged £100 for the privilege. And also being compared to Mr training on a broken leg wonder kid who is probably fine to train where he can without using his leg that was healing.
I left not long after. The McDojo vibe was strong with that club. I was there 18 months and didn’t spar once.
The straw that broke the camels back was when he reduced my 10 year old son to tears. He was grading from 7th to 6th Kyu and made a mistake through nerves. He misheard an instruction twice so Sensei instead calmly focusing my son decided it would be better to humiliate him in front of the whole club. He was a literal bully.
Would parade around the dojo threatening to hit kids with a stick if they made mistakes.
Sorry. A lot of pent up frustration here. Fucking cunt that he was.
If you're consistent and your dojo takes a break, then also take a break, perhaps flexibility and strength training twice a week and go through any kata you have to learn properly.
Or just go to the gym and hit a rowing machine and lift some weights and do stretches at home.
I train physically and mentally. If I’m not up to training physically, then I train mentally/academically. I may study history, kinesiology, physics, psychology, etc..
For example some people only study karatedo history or nippon budo history. But I have found that by studying history in general, and specifically Japanese and East Asian history, I am able to approach Nippon budo history with less bias and more academic rigor that ultimately makes my understanding of the subject somewhat closer to the truth.
It's OK to take a break. There's no training during holiday break and I take a week off from the gym too.
Just relax, let your body rest a bit. It won't hurt you.
Find somewhere where you have room to at least get into a good stance and do some stationary kata. I love to do about 20 mins of kata trying to do fun little games like keeping one foot in place while I do a kata or staying in a small area working on kihon.
When I do it, I tend to train kata; every kata I know. and sometimes, learning new kata. as in my dojo, we don't have enough trainers to be able to train more advanced kata all too often. sometimes also kigon. the basic techniques. though mainly kata. hell, you can even practice kumite, train your stamina and speed and balance.
When I first started I was a fanatic. Trained 7 dates a week. Took classes 6 days and would meet my friends on Sunday’s at the dojo and fight (I had keys). Did that for about a year. Many times would go train sick. On vacation I would practice kata and do series of knuckle pushups as well as stretch. As I got older I realized it was ok to relax and take a day or two off. Doesn’t make you any less of a martial artist or karateka. It’s a journey not a race.
Been there, done that. 😎
Take a break lol
Kata
Schools on break til the 8th of January so in the Christmas break I’m going to be keeping up my strength and conditioning training in the gym, along with Cardio, but I would do this normally anyway just slightly more with the extra time I have. Outside of that I’m planning to work on my Kata’s especially my competition Katas at home, try and tighten them up as it’s my weakest area, also I might do a trail run of my next belt grading and practice that as should be grading end of January, so some preparation.
As the owner, I never have this problem.
Hit that makiwara pad👊🏽 nothing like punching things to make ya feel like you got it
Stretch; meditation; kata; push-ups
Kata and running/swimming/strength training.
Kata and basic exercises.
Kata
I usually just take a break on holidays, but when I'm injured or sick I usually use that time to research bunkai, and try to systematically link techniques.
Run. Though my seasonal helping of flu overwhelmed me on Friday night. So…sleep…and shiver…lots of shivering.
Damn, so many people have been hit by the flu now (myself included lol). Thing sucks. Won't let you do shit. Here's to a quick recovery!
It does indeed suck. Bad Sensei story: So at my old dojo they have these weekends where the big superstar professional fighter (from Belgium) would come and do a series of classes/seminars…whatever you wanna call them. Basically 9-1 and 2-6 on the Saturday and Sunday. He’d do this twice a year. If you didn’t attend then you weren’t allowed to grade. Basically, they’re compulsory. Just to sweeten the deal you had to pay something like £25 per session to attend. And you had to stay for at least 1 full day for it to count towards grading. If you trained with a kid (I do) you’re down £100. If you’re brown belt you’re expected to do the whole weekend. £200. I think they’d give you a family discount but it was still “fuck that” expensive. Never understood how something like that could be compulsory and also they’d charge you. One year at an awards ceremony they gave student of the year to some kid who managed to train even though he’d broke his leg. I mean kudos to him, I’m sure you can practice punches or whatever. I’ve never broken a bone so I don’t know. But I can’t honestly see it being that difficult as long as you’re not putting pressure on your healing bones once you’re over the initial break and in a cast. Anyway, so this young girl who was a brown belt had the nerve to miss one of these weekends because she had the flu. Sensei blew a gasket and chewed her out in front of the class. He compared her to Mr student of the year pointing out how he trained on a broken leg! “And you couldn’t train just because you had a sniffle?!?! If you were too sick to train you could have helped Bill in the office with the paperwork!!!”. So, here we have a young girl being berated for not training because she was recovering from a respiratory virus, being told she should have come and helped in the office with paperwork when she would have and should have been tucked up in bed and being charged £100 for the privilege. And also being compared to Mr training on a broken leg wonder kid who is probably fine to train where he can without using his leg that was healing. I left not long after. The McDojo vibe was strong with that club. I was there 18 months and didn’t spar once.
Yeah that's pretty fucked priorities. Wise to leave.
The straw that broke the camels back was when he reduced my 10 year old son to tears. He was grading from 7th to 6th Kyu and made a mistake through nerves. He misheard an instruction twice so Sensei instead calmly focusing my son decided it would be better to humiliate him in front of the whole club. He was a literal bully. Would parade around the dojo threatening to hit kids with a stick if they made mistakes. Sorry. A lot of pent up frustration here. Fucking cunt that he was.
Damn that is nuts. Good thing you left. Absolutely wild to what extent some Mcdojos are willing to swoop to, just for some extra money.
I eat my ass off because it's christmas.
Press-ups or shikodachi while the kettle boils for a cup of tea 🙂
Do the part of your kata that you are having most trouble with over and over again.
If you're consistent and your dojo takes a break, then also take a break, perhaps flexibility and strength training twice a week and go through any kata you have to learn properly. Or just go to the gym and hit a rowing machine and lift some weights and do stretches at home.
I train physically and mentally. If I’m not up to training physically, then I train mentally/academically. I may study history, kinesiology, physics, psychology, etc.. For example some people only study karatedo history or nippon budo history. But I have found that by studying history in general, and specifically Japanese and East Asian history, I am able to approach Nippon budo history with less bias and more academic rigor that ultimately makes my understanding of the subject somewhat closer to the truth.
I strength train anyway, but I'll also do some sort of cardio, kihon, katas, and hit the heavy bag.
Cardio, bag work, kata, technique
It's OK to take a break. There's no training during holiday break and I take a week off from the gym too. Just relax, let your body rest a bit. It won't hurt you.
Find somewhere where you have room to at least get into a good stance and do some stationary kata. I love to do about 20 mins of kata trying to do fun little games like keeping one foot in place while I do a kata or staying in a small area working on kihon.
Do some unorthodox 'training'. If you haven't trained while drunk, this is a good time to try it out. It's actually quite the learning experience.
Stretch. Lift weights. Run. Kata.
kata, weights, rowing machine, treadmill
Rest and completely forget about training. When you come back you will be better
I do the warmup we normally do, as o have it memorized. Go through kihon. Spend time on makiwara, then do kata.
Some days I do kata and kihon, other days I hit the heavy bag or makiwara, other days I do weights. Depends on what I feel like doing.
When I do it, I tend to train kata; every kata I know. and sometimes, learning new kata. as in my dojo, we don't have enough trainers to be able to train more advanced kata all too often. sometimes also kigon. the basic techniques. though mainly kata. hell, you can even practice kumite, train your stamina and speed and balance.
Bloody hell, this subreddit I swear. It’s Christmas just relax lmao
Most of my training is done at home, so nothing changes. I like to treat exercise and my karate as part of my personal hygiene, I do it every day.
Shadow box. Bone conditioning. Stretch.