Some great stories!
I've only been training for about six months, but am loving--as others have said--the intensity and pace of the training.
I was Googling places to train earlier in the year because I'd done both Shorinji Kempo and a koryu, Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo before my daughter was born in 2006, and I really wanted to get back into the martial arts. Something close to me was a plus! It turned out that there was a kyokushin dojo just down the road, and it had been there all the time, which sure beat travelling an hour away to the other side of the city to train.
What a surprise I was in for!
Jodo, being a weapons-based art, was relatively sedate. There was only a light cutting warmup, and while there was lots of big muscle movements in holding your jo or bokken aloft, it never really got serious in the cardio stakes. Shorinji Kempo was higher on this scale, but even then its mix of punching and kicking, goho, and throws and pins, juho, meant that there were breaks and rest periods, and the pressure wasn't constant.
Kyokushin karate was a whole different kettle of fish.
It turned out that the first class that I went to was particularly super intense because it was a grading. I couldn't believe the pace, and the strength, athleticism and grace of the instructors. I really, really wanted to be like the sempai that was taking the class: to kick as high, to move with such fluidity, and to continue with such unreserved energy.
And I'm still coming! Training twice a week (that's all the dojo offers), and coming up for my first tournament and grading soon.
|