Lost Mojo - Need inspiration to reignite MA interest

Yeah I have been there. I had a long lay off due to injury, and when I started training again it didnt really match the nostalgia. I suggest trying a different art. What is it that you liked about the art that these clubs arent doing for you? I have come to realize how bad some gyms are since reading Iains stuff, and it really makes you kind of depressed when you go somewhere and have to listen to some instructor prattle on about how reaction hands make you punch harder.

Sometimes taking time off can help. Or sometimes make it worse. I really suggset trying different schools, maybe even looking at different styles / arts.

I think we have all been there at some time or another, i would question why you have no respect for the said association, only you know this. What i find interesting also is that your Instructor has had many grievances over the years yet he remains with the association?

This is typical of some associations, members are not happy with a few issues and just leave, or stand up and say something and nothing gets done or ignored. Martial Arts is big business now, sad but true, and some who run these associations are only interested in £££££££, again sad but true.

Its a shame you have left your club/association but one must choose and follow their own path, think about what you really want from your training, is this something you could teach yourself? Im a dedicated Karate-Ka but love all the Martial Arts, i simply do not have the time to study lots of different Martial Arts, if one looks deeper enough into their style or system they will find all the answers there.

You said that you didnt respect your association but what about your Instructor? and what about Dan Grades, does your Instructor conduct them or the Governing Body grading panel who students never see or train with and come along, take the money and never see them again?

Keep doing what your doing, trying different clubs etc and you will know when you have found the right one.

Kind regards,

Jason

Thanks to both bowlie and Jason for posting on this issue.

I have deliberately with held the name of the said association to save any embassment or grief for my old instructor, you never know who is reading these forums and the potential for things to be misrepresented and reported erroneously to others could cause further issues for my previous instructor.

What do I want from my training / club / instructor?

My personal views and training focus have always been that martial arts are a system of either combat or self protection full stop. Anything else such as perfection of asthetic technique, character development, competition etc is a biproduct that may or may not be present or attained by the system or practitioner and which I have no interest in. The said association I felt was all about making money from members, their syllabus was limited to the contemporary karate philosophy of character development and perfection of technique, lacked any depth of understanding and was internal competition focus, the association was also very nepotistic.

Why did I then spend so long with the association? Because I liked and respected my instructor and enjoyed the training. However having reached and remained at 1st kyu for some time I started to want to concentrate fully on attaining my dan grade. I had been teaching regularly in my instructors absence covering the class every week for some time which I enjoyed immensely but realised this was reducing my personal training development. I would love to attain my dan grade and continue teaching.

My previous instructor is a 3rd dan but only recognised as a 2nd dan by the said association, all of his students requiring dan grading have to be graded by other instructors within the association with higher recognised grades (its all political bull^*^* really as my previous instructors 3rd dan was award by the associations originator and predesessor). So theoretically I could go back and train with my old club and instructor and just not belong to the association, arrange my own insurance etc and be graded by my previous instructor but my grade would remain unrecognised outside of the club.

As for starting again in a different style of karate such as Kyokushinkai, Goju etc at 45 years old I really would like to avoid if possible having to start again from scratch and have to progress through all the kyu grades again as that would put me nearly 50 when going for a dan grade, but if unavoidable then so be it.

When talking about problems with a current association its always best to avoid naming names as we have done here, just out of respect.

You seem really keen on teaching and setting up your own school which is great, this sounds like this may be the way forward for you. As for your grade/s not being recognised outside the club or association this is something individuals sometimes get confused with.

Grades really dont have to be recognised by an association or Governing Body so to speak, any grade is recognised as long as you have a valid signed documentation and was conducted in front of say your Instructor and say another Individual, these being Karate-Ka you continue to train with.

Its ok for any grade/s to be recognised by an association etc, but what one must remmber is that whatever grade you are it is vital and most important that you can uphold your grade, this is key as grades to a point really dont mean anything unless, as said above one can uphold that grade.

It might pay to go and see your instructor, see who else feels the same way, come to an agreement and form your own association and Governing Body. This way any grades conducted are recognised by yourself's and will also give the freedom to run the association how you see fit.

Remember, no one has the right to make your life unhappy, this applies to all things in life.

Kind regards,

Jason

I agree that teaching might be an option. If there isnt a club near by that you like, set it up! If you feel there is nothing that caters to the needs of a group of martial artists you could try and provide it. My other suggestion is to consider changing art compeletely. If all the karate clubs are focused on maing money, and not training combatants, you could try out something like boxing. You may like it, you may not, but from my experience there are really good boxing / kickboxing gyms that arent done for money and they are brutaly effective at turning people into fighting machines. Now this isnt perfect, because self defense is differnet to fighting, but its better than the alternative.

lcpljones_dontpanic

Sir;

You might benefit from looking at what your belt actually means. This is nicely discussed at the following site: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2009/12/13/karate-ranks-transfer-value/

You might also consider starting your own club (NOT school) as described as the Jefferson Karate Club at: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/11/10/the-jefferson-karate-club/

Geoff Thompson address this very well:-

LACK OF ENJOYMENT

Lack of enjoyment in training is brothers with boredom. Another feeble excuse. Enjoyment in training comes and goes; nobody enjoys it all of the time. The real enjoyment comes from the fruits of training rather than the actual training itself. After all, to become proficient we must push ourselves through the pain of a gruelling training session. Who in their right mind enjoys pain? (My profuse apologies to all you masochists out there!)

If you are going through a bad patch of not enjoying your training, stick with it and try to treat the training as a mundane task that has to be done, the enjoyment will return. It's unrealistic to expect enjoyment all the time out of something so physically and mentally demanding. When the enjoyment is there, make the best of it, when it isn't, cope. It's all part of the character building process.

Hello gents many thanks for your responses so far which i would like to take the opportunity to respond to individually on this open forum.
 
Jason it is a personal thing but my view is that I would rather get a dan grade that is respected by those I respect first. Additionally students have a right to expect that their instructors have demonstrated and level of proficiency and this is widely held to be a black belt amongst the uninitiated. I know you are not recommending that I do so but yes I could go and buy a black belt and set up a school perhaps knock up some dodgy certificates with fancy kanj characters but that’s gladly not my style. I hear what you are saying regarding the recognition of grades and being able to consistently uphold such and am in complete agreement with this view.

I know for a fact my old instructor would not split with the association. Could I go back and be graded by him and another that I respect without re-joining the association and being graded by the association? Possibly and something worthy of consideration. Could I train under more than one instructor to obtain different things? Again possibly after all this practice was conducted prior to Funakoshi’s departure for mainland Japan.

BowlieI did some boxing in the army, enjoyable but restrictive i found. I prefer to incorporate the basics and elements into my own training. I have also done Jujitsu previously and progressed to an intermediate grade in this many years ago but the club closed down after I had started karate as Jujitsu class was only one night a week. Yes there are other jujitsu clubs in my area but their training ethos left me unimpressed.Kyokushinkai, Wado and Goju as I originally stated I have dabbled in. Goju and Kyokushinkai I liked, the Wado left me unimpressed but it was a new club and mainly full of kids with myself and another adult female (one of the kids mums I think) being the only adults in the class. I have tried Kung fu styles but the whole qi, yin and yang and animal stuff just was’nt for me.More recently and right up my garden path I was training in Urban Krav Maga which I have to say was very similar to my Jujitsu class that closed down. However this class is a late evening class miles from where I live meaning I get home well past midnight even though I have to be up for work at 04:30 the following morning and so I do this class twice a month only as I am effectively a zombie for the remaining week:) 

Michael, thanks for both the articles, they are very interesting and thought provoking. The Jefferson article made me recall the situation at my old club when the instructor was unable to make it to class each Tuesday because of his day job. Myself and two or three of the 1st kyu / 1st dan’s would undertake the teaching and coaching sometimes with a guide from our instructor to concentrate on a particular theme if say gradings were coming up but mostly left to our own devices. If I was teaching I focused on either kata bunkai or RBSD type training. Each of us tasked to do the teaching and coaching had different approaches, views, philosophies on karate and martial arts practice. However I ended up doing the vast majority of the teaching which as I say I really enjoyed.

Paul I do understand that life isn’t roses all the time and that we must take the rough with the smooth. However as for the issue of enjoyment coming and going and boredom etc, I have to point out that unless one is the type of person who has bought into the whole eastern cultural philosophy and ideal and tries to live their life wholly like some Buddhist monk or TV kung fu master (not that I am criticising those that do if that is how they wish to live all power to them and good luck) then we need to accept that martial arts for most people are a HOBBY, an activity we do for enjoyment in our spare time. We pay money for the privelidge, we give up time with loved ones to undertake our hobby and not all because the lady loves milk tray but because we ENJOY it. If we therefore stop enjoying the activity for whatever reason we will naturally veer away from doing it, that’s simple human nature. Having said all of this, as I said in my original post I do miss it and do want to get back into training.

I must be one of those masochists you mentioned as I have always enjoyed the harder more gruelling sessions, how often have I laughed when subjected to a particularly painful technique or seen stars flying around my head (or is this some character defect I haveJ). This is partly why I am not so enthused with the current club I occasionally attend as it is much less intense and I rarely come out of the class with a sweat on.

Lastly you mentioned about making the best of it when the enjoyment isn’t there as this is part of the character building process. As I mentioned in my secondary post “My personal views and training focus have always been that martial arts are a system of either combat or self protection FULL STOP. Anything else such as perfection of asthetic technique, character development, competition etc is a biproduct that may or may not be present or attained by the system or practitioner and which I have no interest in. Combative functionality and practicality is the name of the game I wish to play. trying to achieve a perfect gyaku zuki in my mind is pointless if it is good strong and powerful enough to drop an opponent / assailant. Martial arts is the practice application of violence, it's not supposed to be pretty. As for character development we all have a our faults and foibles and none of us will ever be perfect. I am a good person regardless of practicing martial arts and so I do not go in for the that aspect of martial arts practice or eastern zen mumbo jumbo (no offence meant to anyone that does just my opinion). Lastly competition, I have been in a few ABA boxing, Jujitsu and Karate and had some small successes. To a degree I enjoyed these activities but they were more of a giggle than anything else and certainly not something I place any great significance upon.

I hope I have not offended anyone as that is never my intent. I thank you again for your advice and views which I am the the richer for and hope to read any responses you may feel worthy of making.

all the best

Your in a tricky one. Same position I was in. All I can say is keep looking for a gym that you like. That has a syllabus you agree with, and teachers you respect. also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ

If folks don't mind a relative beginner giving a suggestion...

Not knowing the specifics, and taking into account your age, rank (brown belt), and the fact that nothing seems to spark an interest...I'd suggest you look into training with an adult group of advanced students. If willing to give up, and learn all over again, it does sound as if you have come to some realization that sticking with the current class in the long run won't satify you. 'Boredom', or lack of challenge and definable goals...that is a major reason for BB attrition. You can bring freshness to training, and whole new horizon, if you get out of your box...and you won't get that in the beginner's class anywhere.

Well having started off this thread and got the responses posted and spoken to Iain I returned to training last night with a clear idea of where I am headed and how to get there.

My training regime from now on will be geared towards my personal requirements, obtaining the required elements of training from various sources with a view to combining it all into a syllabus that once approved and validated externally can be used to assess and grade for my 1st dan.

I have identified the relevant sources and formulated a weekly timetable of training and am now in the process of constructing the syllabus which will be SP / RBSD based karate incoporating elements of Shotokan, Kyokushinkai and Ju jitsu. This is still very much in the embryonic stage but once the syllabus is finalised and validated I anticipate being ready to grade for 1st dan in 12-18 months.

I again wish to thank you all for your time and advice which has been a great help.

Oss

Ahhh you found the secret. Learn what you want and do your own thing! Associations are good for cheap licences and insurance, other than that the world is there for the taking.

lcpljones_dontpanic wrote:

Well having started off this thread and got the responses posted and spoken to Iain I returned to training last night with a clear idea of where I am headed and how to get there.

My training regime from now on will be geared towards my personal requirements, obtaining the required elements of training from various sources with a view to combining it all into a syllabus that once approved and validated externally can be used to assess and grade for my 1st dan.

I have identified the relevant sources and formulated a weekly timetable of training and am now in the process of constructing the syllabus which will be SP / RBSD based karate incoporating elements of Shotokan, Kyokushinkai and Ju jitsu. This is still very much in the embryonic stage but once the syllabus is finalised and validated I anticipate being ready to grade for 1st dan in 12-18 months.

I again wish to thank you all for your time and advice which has been a great help.

Oss

awesome, keep us updated

No offence taken at all, we are all here to help each other and progress our own study of the martial arts.

all the best and hope you find what you are looking for.

Kind regards,

Jason