The real World...Fact or Fiction...

Impact training, body/joint conditioning whatever you wish to call it (rarely done in club karate) is painful. The sensations attached to it unpleasant, to begin with at least, but never the less, in this Karatekas opinion, very necessary.

Ude Kitae...the toughest of teachers...

Having gotten a couple of years of this type of training under your belt, facing the problems it presents becomes a little more bearable. When training, the mind, instead of focussing on the severe feelings, can begin to wander......

After a typical session

Half way through my standard set the other day facing the Ude Kitae, I began to think about
' experience ' and what it means to have it, and once you've got it, what do you do with it?

I've have been schooled, grew up on the streets of Birmingham, had a small roll in security for a while (door control) played Basketball at premier league level, studied music and had two fantastic careers ( still enjoying my second one )
besides my martial art background.
All this adds up to factual experience. Experience that encompasses lots of different things and situations.

My Fighting Fish 'Anderson'
Actually knows nothing
of fighting.

I find it ironic that some people who try to teach life lessons, guide us, council us and decide what we need or indeed don't need, actually have little experience of that of which they purport.
They know of school, and learning, books and other people's ideas, but in my
' experience ' don't know much of the real world or of what it takes to live in it well and is the reason they regularly quote others, or relate other people's experiences in their conversations.

Real world experiences are what help shape us, and whether at the time we realise it or not, help us cope better with life's difficulties as we move from day to day.

Using the word
 ' experience ' throughout the blog is something I will do regularly, for this is what the blog is based upon. My experiences and my own thoughts that have arisen from these experiences.

More fore knuckle training
More experience....

So, keep you karate real.
It's not a good idea to be sucked in by those who have little knowledge of what they speak.... like the karateka teaching kumite, who has in fact, never stepped on to a competition mat. Or the Sensei who speaks of self defence, who has never had to defend themselves.
Or those who talk of karate tools with little understanding of them or know how they are used.....

If you recognise people in your club or Dojo like this then maybe it's time to move on. Even in other areas of your life, like work for example. It might be time to start questioning that which is presented to you, as people like this certainly aren't doing you any favours. All they are in fact doing is filling your head with unsubstantiated personal ideas based on nothing.