Blog - Page 2 of 5 - Orillia Academy of Karate

November 30, 2021November 30, 2021

Practising Karate at Home

Practising karate at home will help you make tremendous improvements in your training. You’ll find that just taking a few minutes here and there in between classes will make a big difference. We learn the how-to’s in class, but we all need to practise at home to improve. And while you may not have the luxury of practising on a beach at sunset, even a small space in your kitchen will suffice!

Here are a few words of advice:

I’ve always been in the habit of making notes when I learn a new kata, so bringing a notebook with you to class is highly recommended. As you are in the process of writing things down, you’re also helping yourself understand things better. Then when you’re practising at home, you’ll have your notes to fall back on if you forget.

Practising should be done slowly and precisely with proper techniques, stances and focus. Precision and focus are more important than speed. Just remember your basics, and don’t change them because you are doing kata. Then, when you learn the proper turns and which move comes next, you can speed it up a bit.

You will probably find you will make some mistakes. Now slow it down again and get it right.

Don’t just practice your kata at home – you can never do enough basics. Remember, kata is basic techniques put in a different order as we move in different directions. If your basics are good, then you only need to learn the pattern. After a while, you’ll find that your basic techniques will become muscle memory.

Karate is just like any other sport or activity. The more you practise, the better you’ll become!

To help you with your katas, click on the link below to see Dogday’s katas on Youtube – you should be able to find the one you’re currently working on.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPqQqqL96WASN5C-uQfaZ_w

Practising karate at home – Orillia Academy of Karate

October 27, 2021

Why The Basics Are So Important In Karate

As the pandemic drags on, we have to make a few concessions to our training methods. Not being able to spar or practice self-defense with a partner means that we’re spending a lot more time on the basics.

It’s a good opportunity for all of us. There are many reasons why the basics are so important in karate.

“Do I have to practice this again? I know how to do it already. Why can I not learn the next punch and the next form? Do I still have to do the things that WHITE BELTS do?!?”

Have you ever felt agitated with me as your instructor for having you drill basics when you already “know” them? You are not alone. “Basics again?” is a common question asked by karate students. In fact, you could probably handle some of the more advanced techniques, but slow down; there are good reasons for drilling on basics.

After all, who doesn’t remember the classic scene in the movie The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi has Daniel-san “wax on and wax off” for hours on end to the point of frustration? Daniel-san is made to polish cars and paint fences until he can’t take it anymore. At this point, Mr. Miyagi steps in to ‘enlighten’ Daniel-san as to the value of what the young apprentice has just been practicing. Suddenly Daniel-san understands the value of basic training and fundamentals!

Think about building a house. If we had all four walls already measured out and put together and we rested one wall against the other securing each in place we could make other people think that our house was secure. Until the first strong wind came. Suddenly the house is blown down and nothing is left. What do we do? We leave and move somewhere else and try to rebuild.

This whole scenario is much like the karate student who neglects basics and thinks they know it all. They stay with one club for a while and then they move on to another club, looking for the latest “silver bullet” technique.

So what should we do with our house? First, it is essential to lay the foundations; then build the walls, add the roof, paint it, furnish it, make the outside look good and then live in it. Sometimes we live in our house before any of the inside and outside necessities are done.

In the same way, karate practice must begin with basics. With basics, we lay the foundations of our practice. Through consistent practice and hard work, we add the roof so that we have a more sturdy structure for our house (our karate). Then we paint the house and furnish it (we make our karate look good). Then we make the outside of the house look good (we further polish our karate and iron out the inevitable kinks).

Finally, we live in our house and begin to appreciate its beauty and its value in our lives (now we are able to enjoy and apply the knowledge that we have gained through our training).

Hopefully, we live in our house for a long time and we gradually feel more and more “at home” and more and more comfortable with our surroundings (now we are beginning to have a deeper understanding of karate and its application to our lives).

I hope that you live in your house for many years to come, or if you move, I hope that you appreciate the time and effort it takes to build a house. Building your karate is the same! It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of practice of basics to make it strong.

October 27, 2021

Karate Training During COVID: What to Expect

karate training during COVID

Karate training during COVID means that we’ve had to make a few adjustments to the way we normally train …

We are finally up and running at the new Orillia Recreation Centre, which is an incredible relief after being forced to settle for Karate via Zoom for over a year. Wonderful as it is to be doing real, in-person training, however, we’re still having to adhere to the rules and regulations set by the province and the facility itself.

This means that, for now, we’re not allowed to spar or perform self-defence drills with a partner, because we have to keep 6 feet away from each other. As a result, we’re spending more time on basic techniques, which really isn’t a bad thing.

Basics are the foundation of our program. In my opinion, if your basics are strong, then it follows that your kata, sparring and self–defence techniques will look after themselves.

Think of it this way: if the foundation of your house is weak , it will fall down or crumble. The same is true with karate as with most other things in life. By practising our basics, we are staying strong and active in our training. Once the basics become natural to you, they will be instinctive, and you will react to a situation instead of thinking.

After all, in a real-life situation when you’re forced to defend yourself, you don’t have time to think – only time to react.

So even though the pandemic has somewhat limited our training, we are still staying active and improving our skills.

Keep practising!