Interested to see what people think about the last 40 years of Karate?
From what I've discussed with people training in the 60's and 70's it seems like a "golden age" of extremely hard training, discipline and a percieved tougher calibre of karate v.s. today.
Does anyone think this to be true? Is it that there are more McDojo's prevalent that don't even come close to Mas Oyama style mountain training?
I've even noticed that the way I was trained 22 years ago seemed to be a much harder / disciplined format than today - I've had some students comment that I train "old school style" when I help teach a class etc....I'm passing along the way I was instructed not really anything different that I can think of...
The players of the 60's and 70's were definitely tougher however I note from film footage that I've viewed the best of today compared to the best of yesteryear are more accurate in their kumite techniques but could never take the punch of our predecessors when they were at their best.
I have very liitle frame of reference in this, however, why is this so? Why were they tougher? Is something missing in our training today? Any ideas or rationales?
I started training in the mid 70's and to your point I believe that yes the training was harder, more disciplined and intense then than it is today, in many instances. The fighters I knew, sparred and trained with were without question ( in my mind anyway) tougher than many of the fighters I see today. Though it is important to note that the environment then was significantly different that it is today in most dojo's. Sparring class was bare hand, bare foot, a cup if you had time to put it on and thats it.. you fought hard and were stopped only when it got out of control or there was real danger of someone getting hurt. Bloody noses, black eyes, full sweeps and take downs were par for the course.. that was the sparring/training environment.. not to imply that it was without discipline or control.. just hard.
Strength and conditioning drills were also demanding and intense, again more so that I see today. As a point of comparison though.. this level of intensity is not the norm I have experienced in Okinawa, not to suggest that training was not hard.. just not the day in day out level that I grew up through the ranks experiencing. Is this an american thing????
To their credit thought.. I acknowledge todays fighters are more agile, probably as a group faster and without question more acrobatic in their techniques. is this wrong? I think not.. I think it is a new generation of players in the game.. and the rules have changed to provide more opportunity for success for the dojo's which are now more than ever a true business run by business men that happen to do karate as opposed to the " golden days" when there were karate guys who happened to have a business
Though.. thats just my 2 cents worth.....
A differnece that i see, it that less schools have a warmup with class. The schools that I come across, have someone show you how to warm up once, then you are on your own. It makes for shorter classes, and the ability to squeeze more classes in. In my opinion, this takes away a conditioning element from those who are lazy.
I was trained by my father, who trained during the 60s. He tried to run his classes as he was taught. Very hard training. Very rough kumite. Yet nobody gets hurt if it is controlled properly.
However there seems to be alot more cross training nowadays. Instead of tough physical conditioning in class, a student that is serious about fitness is more likely to crosstrain .....l lift weights, jog, hike etc.
I agree with Brian as far as conditioning. When I started training we had a lot of conditioning. We still do quite a bit at the dojo I'm at now but i have seen others that did some warm ups and streches, say abut 10 min in all and right on to kata or whatever. Even now i think I should probab;y join a gym for more cardio and strength training. As far as 40 years ago. I was on;y watching classes somtimes at a dojo in my area. These guys fought hard. Nothing like the training I went through. Mine was hard as far as I was concerned but WOW,,,,, the guys from the past would blow us away today. My opinion, it has to do with money. That old dojo wouldn't even talk to you about training till you where 16 years old or so. Now days, 4 and 5 year olds, dayjo's (day care dojo).
Edited by Haze on 13-07-2006 10:25
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