Should I take Karate?

Well, I am 17 and while I am already training Wing Tsun (kung fu) I am thinking about leaving and taking a karate class.

But the problem is that I am overweight and when I see videos on youtube and stuff like that karate seems to be difficult because of the kicks. Well not that I can't kick but I don't think I will be good in karate. By the way just to tell you, I haven't been training wing tsun for long, just nearly 2 months that's all.

So what do you think, should I take Karate or train another martial arts such as judo or aikido which according to me do not involve much kicks like karate.

p.s. if i did not explain clearly in some part of this question, pls ask me and i try to rephrase since my english is not perfect.

thanking all those who respond to my question in advance.

btw my bmi is about 32, so i guess i am obese rather than overweight

 

stop thinking "should i study this style" and start thinking "should i train at this school." find the good schools around you, and then look at what they teach.

in the end, however: go learn judo.

 

Yes

Yes you should. Wing Chun and arts like it will actually help make you fat, strangely enough. I know this from personal experience, putting on over 40 lbs of fat during my 2 year Jook Lum career.

 

number one,find a good school as pauli has said .very important.
number two,the kicks will come if you work at them ..bear in mind that high kicks are just one kicking option,and often a dangeous one - the kenpo karate i study places much more emphasis on low and mid-level kicking ....athough a nice kick to the head or neck sure can hurt.....

 

thanks for your quick replies and encouragement. i will decide which style to choose or if to continue with wing tsun soon. i'm still confused with what to choose but that's a decision i have to make sooner rather than later.

the only reason why i think i'll choose karate was because i don't know i just heard bad comments (not from this site) about judo because it is good only if the opponent is sort of rushing to you and not if the enemy's approach is a careful one. i think personally as an art i will like judo better but i don't want a martial art that does not protect me when the opponent is not rushing or something like that (i hope you understood what i said )

anyone got any ideas of how to find a good school? all i did until know was to search for my nearest clubs of karate, judo and aikido and than see their websites and stuff like that. should i go and watch a particular school do a lesson and anything similar?

 

weight has absolutely no bearing on martial arts ability, it's just fat. if anything you'll get more benefits from training than a skinny dude. you should see my brother, he's about 1.63 mts tall(5' something), and weights around 90 kilograms. doesn't stop him from kicking at his own head height.

or if you need something more convincing watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SfFEf7rwTzY&feature=related

 

oh and you can always cross-train, provided you have the money . judo is an excellent complement to both karate and wing tsun training.

 

Ehhh

What on earth were you eatting? Pies, ice-cream and cookies?

 

Why don't you lose 20 lbs, then worry about MA?

 

No karate school that I have trained at promotes high kick over body kicks. Kicks to the head are seen as an opportunistic kick, that should only be used when you either severly out class your opponent, can set it up really well, or find yourself in that lucky place. You sacrifice too much by throwing you foot that high off the ground. That said thought, we always practice every kick to the highest height we can, so that we can be confident that we can use it at any height below that.

Wieght is not an issue for a white belt. Many people come to the club I train at with the sole motivation to get fit and lose weight. But like with any Martial Art, you will not lose weight by training alone, you will need to change your diet, and increase the amount of activity you get outside of training.

Also, look for a school that suits you, one that you can see yourself enjoying, because in the end you are not going to go somewhere you hate going. I don't thing style should have too much weight in your decision if you have only been training for 2 months. Once you start understanding an art then you can start to expand your understanding into other arts and how they can benefit you. It is very hard to base a decision based on limited knowledge. I was training for four years before I made a decision to dedicate myself to a school (style).

 

What everybody else said,you have to be happy with the teacher and the people you train with,look at this first,THEN the style.For me judo will get you fit if thats what you want to do,I do Bujinkan and it works for me,but so would judo, jujitsu or to a slightly lesser degree aikido(unless you find an "active school")
Just find a class you like and train OFTEN-simple really mate!
Good luck

 

Personally i'd stay where you are for another year or 2 then switch to another style . Every martial art has something for you to learn and the more you do ,the better and more well rounded you become

 

the only reason why unfortunately i thought about leaving wing tsun after just 2 months is because of financial reasons, since when i compare the prices (price per lesson & exam grading) the wing tsun club is pretty expensive and that is why i am thinking about leaving and taking another art.

i will inform you when i decide which art i will take but yes i will make my decision on whether i like the school and not if it is karate or judo or whatever.

thanks for ur replies, you have made my decision easier since i didn't know where to begin with

i'll be searching for karate and judo schools throughout this week and decide upon which school seems to be a good and friendly place to learn.

 

Haha! yes economy of motion = laziness = taking elevator instead of stairs

 

sry to ask a question again but i got to know a good school of ju-jitsu (samurai ju-jitsu, not brazilian). shall i try to train in it or try to look for a good karate or judo class?

btw is ju-jitsu tougher and has a higher risk of injury than karate and judo? what does it focus mostly on; striking or throws?


eagerly awaiting your responses,

dragonhead

 

Hi Dragonhead--

I don't have the great martial arts experience and skill of the other posters to your thread. But I do have some experience with being over-weight. At the moment I'm in the maintenance phase of a medically-supervised weight loss program. I joined the program because my family Doctor described all of the horrors that can occur with obesity. One of the more colorful explanations he used was this: "How many eighty-year old fat people have you seen? Basically none--because they either lose the weight or they die." So I started the plan and have thus far lost about 15%of my body weight--I'm 6"2and weigh 290 pounds, down from a high of 337. So I'm about halfway to my goal weight of 240. (I'm large-framed and weighed 235-240 in college.) I'm losing 2-3 pounds a week.

I'm also 54 years old and have a pathetic right knee and a chronic lower back problem. When I started looking for a martial art, I posted here and got the excellent advice you are getting--go and observe a lesson and participate if possible. I ended up with combat hapkido. I have a great instructor who sort of specializes in training people who have physical problems. I've been encouraged and inspired by the other students! One of the reasons I like CH is that it doesn't require acrobatic kicks. Also, the joint locks can be accomplished by anyone given training. I have trouble doing even the low kicks, but I see improvement everytime I try (posters here--Bruce Simms and Thomas, gave me some extra kicking exercise to do at home).

Please understand that I'm not advocating any specific art or school for you. Just want to assure you that you can do martial arts and you can lose the weight as you go if you find the right school and teacher. I also swim laps and lift weights two or three times a week. My food plan is sensible and rewarding: clean protein and vegetables, and as little as humanly possible of refined sugar and white flour.

CH provides support and gives me that feeling of being "in training" that is so helpful when I make food choices. "Expensive" is different for everyone. But I can't afford not to lose the weight at my age, so I commited the $$$ for the YMCA and CH. If you don't have your health, you don't have anything.

Hang in there and look. The right door will open for you.

 

thanks for the encouragement jeff. i think i'll try this ju jitsu class and see what it offers but it seems it is going to be tough anyway since my cousin attended some classes in the same school and they had very difficult warming up sessions and stuff like that.

he told me that warm up was like 10 push-ups than run, 10 push-ups than run for some minutes that 10 sit-ups and run and so on. well i don't know if i can do push-ups properly but i will try to attend a class a see what i can still do.

anyway thanks again jeff for your comments , hopefully i find a martial art that i like soon! :turtle:

 

if you can't do pushups then the solution is simple. keep goig to class and doing as many as you can. if you keep it consistent i can guarantee you you'll be able to do at the very least one extra pushup per week. that's the secret to training, you give it all you got and keep at it. an overweight man who strains to do twenty pushups is doing more exercise than a buff dude doing thirty and stopping.

 

i'll take ur advice and take this class. after all some push ups and sit ups would be good for me.

one thing that worries me: is jiu jitsu dangerous or has a higher risk or injury than any other martial arts?