Another Kyokushin thread

[big maclol]

I don't see much talk about Kyokushin here so I figured I start it out!
for those that don't know me I'm Big maclol, former troll of bullshido. I am now a Pro MMA fighter who is currently training at AKA. I finally gave Kyokushin a taste thanks to my friend and bullshido member Eve!

Kyokushin fighters are the most humble and street people I've met, The sensei I met was a bit Cobra Kai but his techniques actually helped me in sparring against other fighters. Of course there is an extreme lack of head movement (no punches to head allowed) but the punishment these guys can take is super awesome. Fighting with bare hands? bad ass. The 100 man kumite test? bad ass. The variety of kicks they use? bad ass.

I also had a lot of fun with the body conditioning, breathing techniques, and some kicks they taught me the few times I was there. I actually kinda am in love with it and definitely need to do it again!

Even the culture surrounding this style is intriguing. Any full contact Karate peeps here? anyone know of any Kyokushin near Santa Cruz in California? that is where I'm moving. It doesn't have to be in Santa Cruz but any neighboring towns is good enough.

Also, the community in Kyokushin is super small... Even smaller than BJJ. I look forward to one day having a Kyokushin black belt!

[Evergrey]

Have to consistently train in a Kyokushin dojo to get a black belt, hah!

Eh, I have a friend who does knockdown, has done Kyokushin, World Oyama, that whole knockdown family. He is in San Jose, has been focusing on other stuff but I think is getting back to teaching again. Massive dude, has fought in the sabaki challenge, want me to hook you up with him?

We've have some bob and weave classes, believe it or not, lol. And we have boxing gloves in the back. Been punched in the face plenty in kumite, but I can't take head shots any more, personally, because of my neck injuries. (lame.)

I think it's an excellent base, and while I'm biased, I think it's good to do in combination with something that does some face punches, and a grappling style.

Don't forget that we head kick though. :p

[BJMills]

When I was younger, and both boxing and kickboxing, I though kyokushin was kind of stupid because of it's lack of head punches. Now than I'm older and see the toll head trauma has taken on so many athletes I place a lot more value in trying to avoid it. Nowadays I think of kyokushin sparring as kind of like rolling in bjj, yes there are things that will get you hurt in MMA if you don't adapt your game, but I can see a lot of value in training that game to a high level and then adapting it.

Plus it's karate, and deep down inside, who doesn't love karate?!

[Moenstah]

Now than I'm older and see the toll head trauma has taken on so many athletes I place a lot more value in trying to avoid it.
(...)

Plus it's karate, and deep down inside, who doesn't love karate?!

That was the reason I decided to train ashihara karate (a kyokushin spin off) to the side. I earn my money with my brain after all. It was a nice tough club with great sense of camaraderie (beating eachother up and then go for drinks). Taught me a lot about keeping moving about, as I am really tiny compared to my countrymen, dealing with taking hits, and not to sulk and give up like a little bitch.

Last bit was really handy when I came down with a very very grave illness: I could skip the 'why me' phase almost immediately and proceed to the 'let's win this' phase.

I learned some nice details about low kicks, and some other nice kicks. Particularly nasty with ashihara was that, in contrast to kyokushin, you could grab your opponent and keep kneeing/kicking/punching.

We trained regularly with kyokushin people, what I really liked was that there was hardly any shitty attitude that you can see with other karate styles.

Fuck I love karate!

[BJMills]

The group I train with mostly just keeps it really light to the head for sparring, we make contact but really pull out punches, but body and legs are fair game.

But again that’s more because I’ve always trained with head punches. I see the value of not throwing them altogether.

[crappler]

I have a couple of permanent injuries as a result of the training. I don't know that I would do it again. I discovered how to absorb blows, if nothing else. There are some things you would rather have done than be doing. But I'm not much of a tough guy, really.