“Karate Goes Beyond The Dojo”

As Master Funakoshi wrote, karate training is not just for a training hall, it can be practised anywhere and at any time. Obviously you’re not going to take a five minute break at work surrounded by your colleagues and begin intensive training out of the blue. The virus we are all dealing with around the world has rendered the majority of us shut away at home. We can’t go to our usual training sessions. We might not even be able to practise with other people. Obviously this is a necessity in the study of martial techniques, but we have many methods that enable continued effective training when no one is available for pairwork. Individual kata is one plain example, as well as weighted training and iron-body conditioning, for instance. Provided you train with seriousness and visualise that you are actually in a fight, the methods will provide progression regardless of a lack of training partner. And of course the great part about our boxing arts in this scenario is that they are designed to enable individual secretive training with effective results for real fighting. It really all comes down to intensity, though with respect to the mind rather than thinking that the body must necessarily be exhausted during every session. Strength is important, but the development of the mind is more vital as the mind controls the body. Training the physique is actually a vehicle to developing the mind as well as the spirit. And as Master Funakoshi wrote, “Spirit and mentality first, technique later.”