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Hi,

Ive recently took an interest in martial arts and UFC. I started Shotokan Karate classes around a month a go and Im quite enjoying it. However after lurking around these forums for a while I see that karate isnt all that popular or should I rephrase that - Karate isnt really taken seriously.

Im just wondering should I stick with the karate or move onto something else?

Thanks

easyG

Personally I would stick with Karate for at least a couple of years - it gives you a solid foundation into martial arts and to be honest I truly believe it to be a truely effective fighting style if trained correctly

Splinter

Karate in the US is usually bad. To be honest, you should drop it, and spend the money on a better art.

Try finding a Hapkido instructor. Hapkido, I believe, is a korean form of karate. They are very similar in their striking form and aggressiveness, so you should feel right at home.

UFCTUBEBLOG

Judo! But my views slightly biased. Look around and try a few "taster" course's thats my usual suggestion.

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Diggler

Um...I guess, I smashed many guys after training in a style comprised of Chitoryu and Shotokan for 9 yrs. Loved every minute of it...but it all depends who your instructor is, etc...

My sensei was trained by the original Masamai Tsuoroka who brought Karate to Canada, so he was pretty strict about things. The best thing my sensei ever said to me was the fact that as whatever you do can't be looked at as a sport, in order to succeed in whatever you do, it has to be a way of life - regardless of which martial art you're involved in.

Karate was great for understanding a lot about balance and conditioning. It also helpled with focused striking.

I think the fact that Karate and Tae Kwon Do aren't really taken seriously in North America is due to the fact of the teaching, handing out Black Belts, etc before age 18, skipping levels too quickly. My sensei wouldn't even hand out a BB before you reached an age where you could BEGIN your training which was usually 18 and up, so he knew you were serious.

For arts that are typically traced back 2000 years, I'm suprised that people would feel that Karate and Tae Kwon Do are inferior arts.

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Silat101

Excelent answer. Karate is a very underrated martial art. Its just that there are to many phonies in the US that didnt train corectly and dont know the truth behind the art and when they try to teach it, it becomes uneffective. They think that once they get their black belt they know everything and could beat anyone. When the truth is, the real learning begins once you get your black belt.

klrkain

if you are near a good judo school i recommend switching to that.judo makes you stronger and physically tougher.plus you become familiar with the ground game.now if you find a hapkido school that teaches grappling then i would train in that because they teach all forms of striking as well.

DNGRTOMISLF

Well lets keep things in perspective first. Are you planning on competing in mma? If so then you'll want to round out your arsenal with a number of arts. If not then who cares just because you love mma dosen't mean you have to train like a fighter. Especially if there are no mma schools near you(I guess everything does come down to location dosen't it). Now if you do plan on competing in mma some day here are some suggestions. First for your striking skills I would go with Muai Thai, unless there are no Muai Thai instructors near you go with kickboxing. And if there are no kickboxing schools near you stick with what you're learning now. At the very least if you want more striking skills and there aren't any Muai Thai/kickboxing school in your area look into a boxing gym and a Tae Kwon Do school. Now Judo is a sadly underlooked art when it comes to mma. After all if most fights end up on the ground don't you want to be the guy who put your opponent on the ground in the first place? Judo will give you the throwing skill to get your adversary on the ground. Wrestling is another art to seriously look into. Judo will get your opponent on the ground and give you some submissions but wrestling helps in the transitions. Really thats all wrestling is about how to transition to the optimum position on the ground to dominate your opponent. Look at how easily the mma fighters with wrestling backgrounds transition from gaurd to side control to mount. BJJ or Jiu-jitsu, although Judo does teach submissions it does not offer the wide variety that Jiu-jitsu does. So many wrestlers really could use some good BJJ trainin after all you got the guy on the ground so now what do you do with them. Regardless of your reasons remember the martial arts are designed to help you defend yourself from aggressors. We tend to forget that in the shadow of mma, and thats comming from someone who does train at an mma school.

MuayThai4Life

I agree a lot with what danger said there. Wrestling is a MUST in MMA, BJJ is also a must have, if you trian those two well, your already a force to be wreckoned with, but Karate is also a good art. GSP's main discipline is karate and I don't think anyone will say he's not a very dominant striker. I personally feel that striking is harder to pick up than wrestling or BJJ. So I wouldn't back out of what ever striking you can get. I'm most partial to Muay Thai but thats also because thats what I stricly train and only Muay Thai. It really is in my oppinion the best there is for a stand up martial arts, but I wouldn't discredit Karate at all.

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DNGRTOMISLF

I wouldn't discredit any Karate styles either. If you look closely at a lot of the kicks being thrown by fighters you'll see many are the snap kicks common to various Karate styles. So you can tell a sizeable majority of mma fighters got their start with "traditional martial arts".