Im asking you this because one of the kids I sometimes train, wants(well, his father wants him to) do karate instead of taekwondo. His father sais that taekwondo is too dangerous and also that in karate, you do your move (a kick or a punch) but you dont really hit each other. Is this real? Also, the first thing i noticed is that you dont have protections, but in a fight I saw something under your uniform (gi?). What is that? Thank you for all answers, Im very intrested also in Karate and I think that I could take it up
It varies from club to club but I think in general, in karate, you don't wear protective equipment but you don't train by punching each other at full power either. Worth noting that there are pretty much no martial arts where you trade full power strikes in the course of training as that would not make for safe training. However the styles of karate that derive from kyokushinkaikan karate do have a kumite format that involves hitting each other at full power. All martial arts have a trade-off between level of contract and amount of protective equipment worn.
yeah, it generally varies too much for a uniform answer. keep in mind also that most people have absolutely no notion of what it means to be hit and can't differentiate an accidental tap from a full contact attack.
If you want to get to be a bad mother karateka, you gotta eat a few hits. It's ok, you get used to them, or you don't and you decide you just want to be a chill BJJ'er instead. :]
I agree with you all (TKD WTF isn't a piece of cake either) I just wanted to be sure, because I see no point in changing MA only cause one could be less violent than another.
No point in doing a MA if you don't get hit, or know what it feels like to be hit. The first time he does get hit outside of the dojo will be a massive shock and won't help him when his body shuts down with fear. Even if not going in full power, it's worth knowing what a reasonably powered punch feels like without knocking each other out.
yes.... if you ever want to be taken seriously when you claim to have taken karate. I heard that it was law or something.
In our Dojo we do Wado Ryu Karate and even as beginners we experience at the very least light taps. We are told to wear hand and foot pads for sparring and at my level this is probably needed as my control in stopping the full force of my 'taps' is perhaps not so well versed as the more senior grades and maybe everyone has a different idea of what a 'tap' is? I know I've taken some 'taps' that I've felt for some minutes afterwards, and unfortunately I know I've dolled a few out (accidentally). Also, you can be dropped onto the mat and though it isn't meant to be a 'hard landing' it takes some getting used to - not keen on it yet - I've also heard talk of accidental bloodied noses in some competition bouts at a high level. So I think it is wrong to suggest that you won't/shouldn't get hit in karate.
At tournament, you should expect it. However, you should expect not to be hit so hard that you are in pain or need to forfeit. If this happens, the opponent is given a warning for contact, which basically means they need to watch their control a little more. I've taken a few hard whacks from lower grades who felt they knew it all but didn't. Sure, they can hit hard but that doesn't make you a good karate-ka. As a higher grade, I expect contact to be made when I spar a higher grade. I have always been wary of kumite, as its not my favorite thing to do. One of the hardest strikes I have gotten was from a Sensei who doesn't know how strong she is - her strike nearly crippled me. One thing you should expect is to get injured. Be it a broken finger, bruises, pulled muscles, torn ligaments, you will get injured. Its all part of it. But the more control you have, the less likely you are to have a serious injury.
No, you shouldn't expect anything more than bruises from sparring IMO. I'd certainly be wary of a gym where fighters were constantly injured. Accidents can happen - as in any other sport - but they musn't be the norm. Even full contact ring fighters don't get that kind of injuries from sparring, so I don't see why a beginner should.
To me, that's poor control. If she's a sensei, she should know exactly how strong she is. I've got no problem being hit so that it hurts, but I do have a problem with people who aren't self-aware enough to be able to control their strikes. That suggests that they haven't spent long enough doing basic training before they started doing freestyle. The ability to judge the power of your strikes to be able to train safely is what your first bunch of coloured belts are all about. The really good instructors should be able to clip you and make you go ouch but not do any real damage, regardless of the circumstances. Aside from bruises, which are normal, I disagree. I've had all of those injuries and many more from karate, but it's definitely not an integral part of learning karate. It's the kind of nasty accident that can happen when you're taking part in an interactive sport, but they shouldn't be brushed off as part and parcel of training.
In the Dojo they seem really focussed on teaching us novices this control in our punches. In fact we deliberately did an exercise the other week with punches where we were expressly told to stop the movement before we made contact and we didn't wear pads. This certainly reinforced the not-connecting aspect as it would have hurt both the opponent and us to have connected with bare hands, we also paid a forfeit if we even accidentally connected. It was a very useful exercise.
In my club, lower grades are not permitted to make contact as they don't yet have the proper control Higher grades are allowed to make contact - but not full force. Even in tournament, while contact is expected, its never full force, so will not cause someone injury.
It will vary wildly from dojo to dojo. My training group hits eachother (in varying manners based on the context and gear), but I'm from a kyokushin background. I've seen plenty of karateka who've been in for years who've never taken a shot. Depends what the goals of your dojo are (the actual goals of the dojo, not just the goals they state).
