What do you think of Karate?

**Choke** · Posted On: 9/28/2002 1:34am

No chokes in Karate? The grandmaster of my system of Karate wrote a book on them!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0967674816/qid=1033190262/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-9380728-7881569?v=glance&n=507846

There are so many incarnations of Karate that to judge it by your expierience of one style alone is rediculous. My style of Goju-Ryu Karate places huge emphisis on chokeholds and joint locks as well as strikes. To put all styles of Karate under one umbrella is faulty.

Cast in the name of God. Ye not guilty.

**Grappler240** · Posted On: 9/28/2002 1:23pm

karate is a joke.

don't waste your time.

G240

**HaHa** · Posted On: 9/28/2002 1:51pm

I nominate Grappler to enter a knockdown karate tournament....adn then report back from intensive care.

**bncwd** · Posted On: 9/30/2002 3:31am

Choke, by starting my post saying that I have done 4 years of Shotokan I thought it was clear that I was criticizing just the shotokan style.

I still have to see, though, karate guys who impresses me, but I admitt I have not seen all the styles (just three or four of them).
What I can say is that none of the school were Mcdojos, people trained hard and belts were not given so easily, but anyway the attitude was pretty "close minded", and the gaps in the system were still there: there was not any training on the punchbag, no paos training, no fullcontact sparring, no fullcontact application of throws, chokes etc.

This applied also to several kung fu or JJ school I saw though: my suggestion still is to have an open minded attitude and try something else.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 9/30/2002 11:44am

In the late 60's and early 70's the Honolulu Kyokushin and Shotokan dojos would get together and spar. During this period Kenneth Funakoshi (Shotokan) and Del Griffith (Kyokushin) traded the championship of the Hawaiian open back and forth for five years. (Kenneth won 3 out of 5)

Having trained in both schools, I would say at that time and place there was not alot of difference. Perhaps Kyokushin was a bit more eclectic, but both were and are schools that demand respect, fitness, and fast hard sparring.

And, yes, if you think Karate is garbage, please go win a fullcontact tournament. The "internationals" Kyokushin were in New York in July so you've missed that, but there are plenty of other chances to prove that Karate doesn't work.

**Mr. Donkeypenis** · Posted On: 10/01/2002 8:20am

I don't think that REAL karate (Kyokushin, etc.) is garbage, just the fake styles/dojos out there. You can tell these styles because...

They chamber their fists at hip level and leave their head undefended.

They teach no footwork.

They encourage deep, wide stances for striking applications.

They teach you to reach out to block attacks instead of parrying economically, catching, or clinching.

They teach you to low block with your arm against round / Thai kicks.

If your school is teaching you any of the above things mentioned, you are not learning karate, you are learning a cheap, watered down rip-off of a good martial art.

A.K.A MEAT

**Grappler240** · Posted On: 10/01/2002 11:09am

HaHa,

karate sucks, you know it, and in a No rules fight it has been PROVEN time and time again.

some karate might be okay against your average schmuck, but not for anything serious.

give it up,

G240

**TKD Boxer** · Posted On: 10/01/2002 12:09pm

It's not the art, but the person tht makes a good or bad fighter.

"The night has come and all you lived for was in the day, but with understanding the night can be a powerfull alley"

**kronos** · Posted On: 10/01/2002 1:10pm

Well, unless the karateka has some fighting experience before he learned karate, I would not vote for its effectiveness...sparring -full contact or not- doesn't count.

Karate does not teach pre-contact awareness and "intuition"...experience does. It does not matter how many times you spar, if you try to use Karate in a real fight, you will get blindsided by nasty and tricky thugs.

Karate do have joint locks and throws. I know because I have learned them. However, most of those only works against "normal" grabs...it won't work when your eyes are "grab" from behind by hands soaked with counterpain and the maniac in front of you is standing with a baseball bat...you will be blinded and become his free target practice...

**darkface** · Posted On: 10/01/2002 1:22pm

&gt;Stances are never meant to be static you should always be moving. &gt;Stance and postures are guidepost.

In all arts except Kykokushin Kai related arts, stances ar to steep and depp... andbecomes static... its very far away from a boxers footwork and very far from Muay Thai boxers fotwork. No Karate-ka wins over a boxer/thai boxer unless they train boxing themselves...

&gt;2. Nothing wrong with that. Kata are just training drills. EVERY art &gt;has some form of training drill.

Its HOW you design the drills so they dont become "dead" and static.

&gt;3. Very wrong. The biomechanics taught in karate is VERY good. They &gt;keep the same princlpes as Boxing in "throwing you hip into the &gt;punch"

It starts and ends with the hip...
Look at a gyaku tsuki performed from a zenkutchi dachi... no shoulder, no movement in the feet... just hip... its right to use the hip... but there where its ends in Karate... everything else is wrong.
Look at a boxer!

&gt;4. Depends on the system. Goju ryu is noted for soft deflecting &gt;blocks which are VERY realistic and effective.

Gojo ryu in my experience have the same Okinawan heritage as Kyokushin kai... hard locks designed to try to stop force with force and not avoid force with movement.

&gt;5. Do you know what TENSHIN is and how it applies?

Althoigh I have trained Kyokushin Kai, Wado ryu and classic shotokan... I never jheard of tenshin.

&gt;As for karate NOT working. There are TONS of pple that will disagree.

So... why dont any Karate ppl win in UFC and Pride just using Karate?
Reality check pls.