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How I Practice Karate Fights To Lose Weight
Does it hurt? Sometimes. I'm brand new at my karate dojo with about 5 months of practice. I walked in the door nearly 25 pounds heavier than I am now. Learning to kick above my knee caps without falling over was a major victory for me. Heck, learning to skip rope in the warm up with out mashing my toes was a big thing! But after a few month your cardio improves dramatically. At least mine did with 3 sessions a week. I got some basic skills, punching, kicking and blocking. So my instructor one day asked me if I wanted to join the intermediate class and do a little sparring. That class was mostly muay thai kickboxing, with a little karate thrown in for flavor. Cross-training martial arts is very common in my gym. I had on 16 ounce boxing gloves, shin pads, and a mouthguard. I got to fight a girl. Yes, I said it. My first karate fight was with a karate girl. She was from eastern Europe, her name was Olga. Nice gal, early twenties, muscular and fit. I think she worked as a corrections officer. We squared off and slowly began working on jabs, jab-cross combinations, and counters. I blocked her punches with my forearms or caught them with my hands. She would throw a few combinations and then I would do the same. We went back and forth in the drill for a few minutes. I was nervous at first. Imagine as a guy punching a girl in the head. You don't want to hurt her, but you also don't want to look like a chump. Ah, the fragile male ego at work! Suddenly I felt a pain on the right side of my face. Olga had caught me with a strong left hook flush on the button. I winced slightly, my pride more wounded than my mellon. We hadn't started working three punch combinations yet, but she jumped the gun. Rather than apologize she just grunted, and I think I caught a hint of a smirk. It was on.... We gradually increased the intensity of our practice karate fight, adding in kicks to the body, uppercuts and some clinching. I could tell she was fighting near her maximum level of both control and intensity. She was hitting me far too hard, but I let her go. She wasn't really hurting me, and I still was within my limits. We sparred a full 5 minute round at pretty close to full out. I was hitting her about half power with my punches and maybe a third with my kicks. The kicks were all she could take from a pain level, but she handled the punches well. Of course neither of us hit to the direct face. In sparring causing a black eye or a fat lip or stitches is just not worth it when everyone has to go to work on Monday. The physical exertion was intense. My cardio was better than I thought. We were both dripping with sweat and our lungs and limbs were burning with fatigue. I really enjoyed my first intermediate class, I'll be back for some more karate fights! Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Yoshi Kundagawa is a freelance journalist covering the martial arts world. Too much time at his computer eating donuts reduced him to couch potato status. He's on a quest to recapture his youth and fitness. You can read his blog at MartialArts3000.com |
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