More Karate

Well, here I am again, blogging from my phone. I like the idea of this program I'm using, but it has some design issues and I can't upload images with it for some reason. I think I'm going to rewrite it with a more flexible design and then make it available on Code Project or something.

Anyway, I wanted to write again about my Karate experiences. I am starting school at Webwe State now and have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. As such, I am unable to attend the Adult/Teen karate classes that are also on Monday and Wednesdays. JD, the branch manager at the karate studio, has been good enough to switch my 45 minute classes for some 30 minute private lessons on the nights I don't have school. The shortage of 15 minutes balances out with the benefit of the 1-on-1 attention, so it works out geat for me.

I have been very interested in learning all I can about the kata (forms) that I need to learn to achieve my yellow belt, so I have been surfing the web trying to take in as much information as I can. I talked with JD about some of the differences I have read about compared to what he has been teaching me. So far the only major difference is that in the traditional Shotokan version of the Taikyoku Shodan, you take three step punches down the center of the I shape (I'll explain the whole kata in a later post), whereas in the Bobby Lawrence curriculum you only do one step, making the I a little squished. From what he has mentioned about Taikyoku Nidan, however, I think there is a little bigger difference. Each studio has their own styles and teaches their own variaton of the katas, so I'm not worried about being taught something wrong. I just want to know what I need to in order to progress to the next belt. The main purpose of the kata is to master certain stances and formations that will end up helping you learn the self-defence moves.