I joined a Shotokan Karate club when I started uni last October and I'm enjoying it a lot. Just graded up to 7th kyu :) Great overall workout as well as learning self defence and most of all it's a lot of fun and great way to release stress! Sure a lot of the stuff you learn isn't applicable in real fights straight away, but you're building core body strength.
I used to work full time, sat on my ass in front of PC for 10 hours a day but now I cycle to lectures every day and do Karate about times a week so my fitness has improved a lot.
I also did a bit of Aikido when I was little, for about 2 years, but got bored of it and quit. I wish I kept it up now.
Isn't Leeds Uni Shotokan the current Dojo of Sensei Ray Wilson and his son ? I studied under him in Armley back in the 70s.
I've no idea about that. I train with Cambridge Uni Karate Club. I do keep hearing about this Matt Price Sensei from Leeds though. I'll probably go train there few times during the holiday. Didn't know you did karate as well Derek thought you just did weight lifting.
Hiya Kaz . :)
I must apologise for my initial oversight, as I did not realise you were 'A Cambridge Man' :) - but should have guessed , as your manner. grace and intellect seemed to merit such.
I haven't practiced ( Shotokan ) Karate since the late 70's , albeit getting a chance to occasionally meet practitioners of Wing Chun - and other styles in the 80s. Back in the 70's , my all time favourite club, was a Shotokan club which met at an old church hall in Bradford, under the remarkable Sensei Walter Legge. Remarkable in that he was not only very adept, but also a very nice and ego - less guy. His physical appearance and mannerisms being somewhere between T.V. Detective 'Columbo' - and the craggy solidity of actor Charles Bronson. As a middle aged man, he was very tightly muscled . 'ripped' - and vigorous in his stride ; yet with this gentle and polite way of pushing you very hard. After that, many clubs became too commercial for my tastes - and much of the old 'true' spirit of Shotokan - and Karate-Do in general ( as exemplified by the example and wishes of Master Gichin Funakoshi ) seemed to erode fast.
The weightlifting (or any other physical condtioning I have since done )
still is carried out in the attitude of the Dojo and remains an extension of Karate skills and ethics. As martial artists everywhere will appreciate, you never 'forget' what you learn, nor does the spirit of your 'past art' ever leave you.
The reason I like weightlifting / strength training ( as opposed to my long past interests in Bodybuilding ) as an extension of that Dojo , is an ethos of absolute ( albeit relaxed ) concentration,
NO dramatic shouts and grunts, beyond pressuring and releasing the 'air' in the abdomen , treating the body as one 'flowing' piece - and certainly
NO dropping Deadlifts ! :lol: It's the same spirit as the Dojo, - for if I had to drop a Deadlift, then I had either not set my starting posture correctly ; or gone for a weight dictated by ego - that I could not truly control. Then there is the functional simplicity of squeezing every drop out of my 'Holy Trinity' of Deadlifts , Deep squats , Clean and press. One also 'practices' - not 'works out'. But one practices daily. Two sets of five reps or 3 x 3 being more the norm.
As all of it ( for me ) is an
extension and expression of the Warrior spirit, I 'practice' little and often - and always in street clothes and barefoot or flat soled shoes. I do not go to failure in daily practice , but instead practice often
and sustainably . To be more 'effective' than one appears , without outward 'show' - and resolve to continue developing that quality of lifting / striking power that comes from the exquisite balancing of tension and relaxation.
You can leave the Dojo, but if your heart is correctly orientated - the Dojo never leaves you. :)
