Comments on: GKR: Getting more complicated

By: Bindy

Bindy — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:09:02 +0000

wow, I go for my yellow belt grading today … I’m really nervous but at the same time, a little bit excited. I too am in my 40′s and have wanted to do this for a long time but was always a little embarassed to tell anyone. Now I’m enjoying it so much and I am so lucky I have a lovely female sensei… It’s so good to hear that there are so many other people my age going through the same thing as me all over the world.

Thank you everyone for sharing. And for those having trouble with Kata, don’t panic and rush out a buy a vid… just keep practicing, it will, all of a sudden, go “click” and you’ll wonder why you were confused.. I have the bigest problems with the combinations and were to put my stupid hands (they’re always going the wrong way) but it amazing when you look back to when you first started, you can see how far you really have come.

By: scott

scott — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:24:20 +0000

Still loving what we do… student’s, we all are.. even senseis are student’s and they remember that, which is so important to grow.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:35:28 +0000

like you i have gotten up to Seiunchin and find it a very satisfying stage,took me a little time to watch but have gotten it 80% right,,now i need to polish it up ….Empi next lol

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:45 +0000

Hi Marie,
i have been in GKR for just over a year now,find my sensies supportive and now good mates as well,as i used to study Wado Ryu a long time ago and got up to 4th kyu(purple in wado and red in Gkr),i did find it very similar in most of the basics and katas.I was approached by someone that came round and asked if i was interested,saying yes immediatly i have never regretted walking through the door to start this style up..along with improved fitness and the friendships i have now,id say it is worth all the hadr word and effort you will put in.put in 100% for basics and katas and you will be successfull.and good luck for the future with GKR

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:22:34 +0000

GKR is one best things that I have had the pleasure of being part of. I found the first 4 months to be the hardest and nearly gave up (perish the thought). I thought I’d never get it!, But you do, with training. And yes the people, are who make the club; kind and supportive.
Australia

By: scott

scott — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:19:31 +0000

It is nice to find like minded people who enjoy somthing great together. I am from newcastle uk, i am one of the self defence consultant’s who help get people into the club. I have done diffrent styles and found this to be strong in basic’s, which is out standing.

By: TONIA

TONIA — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:13:05 +0000

Hi lew YOU CAN PURCHASE DVD OF ALL THE KATAS THESE ARE USUALLY ON SALE AT GRADINGS OR OUR SENSEI CAN ORDER THEM FOR U MY SON FOUND THESE VERY USEFULL WHEN HE FIRST STARTED LEARNING THE KATAS

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:05:46 +0000

you can purchase dvd of katas to watch in your own home i found these very usefull for my son when he was first learning the katas

By: zj

zj — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:07:48 +0000

hi 1st kata can be difficult to get to grips with because you problebly havent had to learn anything like it in the past!!! keep trying and you will get their!! some people refer to it as a ‘I’ shape where as i refer to it as a ‘H’ if you think about it in tootal the kata is 20 moves but is repeated so you only have to learn the 10 and the you know it all!!!! i had difficulty learnin this but as you mental and physical co-ordination improves it will become a lot easier!!! im not upto empi and love learning the new katas!! i found with seinchin i only had to see it twice and then was performing it myself! very rewarding feeling!!

By: Darrell

Darrell — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:08:55 +0000

I’m about to attend my yellow belt grading today and have found just cruising through these posts very relaxing and helpful. I too have struggled with my first kata especially at the turns at the top of the ‘I’. I am far from having perfected it but am hopeful that they wont be too harsh in the grading and look forward to getting better at it over time.

We have a small class where I attend in Hataitai, NZ and have loads of laughs. I feel that I am getting everything I wanted from Karate and more and look forward to more fun and learning opportunities into the future.

I too am in the 40 something range but have yet to find that makes any real difference except when it comes to energy – where do kids get it from!? Doesn’t stop me from feeling comfortably beat after each session and enjoying the feeling of accomplishment as something ‘clicks’ – be it a tricky block, stance, kick (my least favourite!) or kata combination.

Good luck to you all in your journey!

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:06:49 +0000

hi kirsty if your joining a gkr group ask about the offers they had a 1/2 price lifetime membership offer on when we signed jnr up,i think its normaly around Â£100 for your gold card,how did your first lesson go ? Brian jnr just completed his yellow belt grading last sunday,he loves it and the grading meetings are great when all the various dojos come together for the gradings,GKR have there own website they also have a number of groups on facebook,also check out some of the gkr vids on youtube,jnrs well on his way to orange after which point i think the grading exams become more serious and a bit more complicated

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GKR_Karate

By: Kristy

Kristy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:37:13 +0000

I just stummbled on this site, when i was looking for info on GKR. I’ve just joined and ive got my first lesson on friday.
I was wondering what it was like and everyone on here has put my mind at ease.
Ive never done anything like this before, always wanted to do Karate but never got round to it. But, form what this site says, it sounds like hard work but a lot of fun. I can’t wait!

Can someone tell me how much it costs for a full-membership?
Thanks

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:08:53 +0000

ive just signed my son up in newcastle i think 1st kata is difficult due to the amount of turns.but im breaking it down into 4 blocks of 5 so he can learn them seperatly then combine them for the grading.the GKR website has some good downloads and theres a fair few 1st kata vids on youtube

i know the lower belt grades teaching is controversial but who better to teach the lower grades than hose who have it still fresh in there minds

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:35:44 +0000

Great article, i joined GKR karate back in October 2007, i’m very happy and impressed with attitude and atmosphere of the club, everyone is very friendly, polite and helpfull despite your grade level.

I found that it took me longer to learn first kata then it did learning some of the higher ones.

Good luck with your training, regards Mike.

By: Victoria Lia

Victoria Lia — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:05:51 +0000

hey all, i just bumped into this page and found it interesting to read. how many of you are struggling with 1st kata? it dosnt matter. knacho himself still practices 1st kate everyday, it can never be perfect. the way i found that helped was to do it as slowly as possible, to the point your legs seize up with the effort. by going so slowly, you have planty of time to think exactly where each foot and hand and headturn and hip angle and knee vend should be.
i do this really often, usually as a warm up before class, it works with all other kata’s aswell, and helped me to learn kata Sepai. good luck with your learning x

By: Tim Maher-De Troyer

Tim Maher-De Troyer — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:41:30 +0000

Good site. I like the sound of your sensei using a ‘wibbly wobbly’ kata. I’ll suggest it to ours.

By: ste

ste — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:54:32 +0000

yes , its incredible when i’m doing 1st kata in dojo, i have 2 left feet,a terrible sence of direction and uncontrolable laughter, born out of frustration.(god help the person i run into down a dark alley)
but how satisfied i feel that one day it will all come together then onto next kata.hopefully by then i will of controlled my laughter.
enjoyment!!!

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:52:38 +0000

Heh, that’s a curious side effect of my Japanese translation plugin. When it sees words that it recognizes it inserts the translation, but it’s not very clever, so when it sees the “age” pronounced like “aggie” it assumes it’s Japanese so adds the “rising” translation. This is handy when describing things like “age uke”, but as illustrated above, without context the results are a little strange.

By: Lesley

Lesley — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:14:53 +0000

Hey! what’s this thing about Age = rising?
Some of us out here are 39 and holding!

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:51:27 +0000

Mandie, it’s probably got more to do with your method of learning, or your method of recalling than just “your age” Try other ways of breaking the kata down, find patterns that you remember. Tagyoku Shodan is “just two sequences that you repeat (i.e. “turn, block, punch” is used six times in total and “punch punch punch” happens twice), and you do use those two patterns whilst visiting every extremity of a big capital “I” shape just the once. Find a memory trick that works for you, then once you can practice it, it will become second nature and you’ll wonder why you found it so hard. Draw big numbers on A4 sheets and lay them out, then practice just using your legs to walk the pattern; then add just the punches – do it bit by bit and it will click into place.