Kyokushin Ottawa

**Vieux Normand** · Posted On: 6/14/2007 11:27pm

Posting from a noob here, so if anything's out of line, I'm sure it'll get moderated. It was suggested that I post a review, but I must warn everyone that this concerns visits to a club several years ago, so some things may have changed, but the man running it, Laurier Goudreault, is the same and he's consistent enough: friendly, helpful and approachable, but also pragmatic and no-nonsense, just like the dojo he runs.

As my hand-to-hand training has mostly been in-house and job-related (mixture of practical stuff), I've not often stepped out into the dojo world. I'd heard that Kyokushin karate was one of the more effective varieties of gi-wearing martial arts (the kind I'd always been suspicious of). As soon as I moved to a city with a Kyokushin dojo, I went to check it out. First off, the school's advertising avoids the make-you-into-a-streetfighting-god BS one often gets. It speaks of fitness, awareness and confidence (NOT overconfidence) as benefits of Kyokushin. Very unassuming otherwise and no wild claims are made. Fees were very reasonable, and anyone wishing to watch a class and/or try it out a couple of times were welcome, free of charge.

The dojo itself was a school gym, no mats. Much of the workout was cardio: lots of running, climbing the chinup bars, no rest: just straight into the next phase, whether it was abs or squat-kick combos. Minimum of sets of anything was fifty reps and then straight into something else, no breathers. Fair bit of partner-work (wheelbarrow-pushups, crunch-resistance, squats while carrying partner, that sort of thing). Some pain-endurance was also included, such as shin-desensitizion with bats. A good, intense, HR-elevated hour before the technical stuff--not bad for participants who aren't professional fighters.

Striking was all full-contact, whether partner-drills with target-pads (timed combos) or the knockdown sparring (protective equipment optional). I wasn't cool with the no-headhunting rule of Kyokushin, nor with the almost total lack of grappling other than sweeps from the clinch. However, the participants--including some kickboxers who trained with the sensei--put in their share of sweat equity for that kind of club.

Not a lot of philosophizing happened (actually, I don't recall any at all), but the conditioning alone gave participants a can-do attitude. Even though the club made no specific claims regarding self-defense, it did turn out people who would not likely be going down without a fight. Now if they'd just add some ground-game and some work upstairs...

Good full-contact workout, no BS claims. For traditional stuff, you could do far worse.

**Rob_101** · Posted On: 7/03/2007 11:51am

Whats the name of this club and where is it?

**Vieux Normand** · Posted On: 7/03/2007 7:55pm

Greetings Rob 101,

When I went it was at Brookfield School's main gym. That was a few years ago. The present address is as follows:

Kyokushin Ottawa Karate,
Le Patro Community Centre
40 Cobourg Street, Room A-1-16
Ottawa, Ontario

PS--Why did those numerical ratings appear again next to my reply? What'd I do?

**Jaric** · Posted On: 10/25/2007 8:29pm

Im trying a class on monday. Ill let you know if anything has changed. The class currently though is 3 black belts, and 1 brown belt. Im like chum in the water to these people...