Tonight I did my first White Belt Karate Class! I had no idea what to expect but I promised myself would try karate this month. I found a 30 minute beginner video on Youtube and knew this would have me doing some karate moves like I had seen on TV and teach me a little bit about the art. I was excited to try something different, very out of my regular routine!
What exactly is Karate?
So we’ve all seen plenty of movies and TV shows with Karate as the main focus, but did you know that Karate is a discipline of the mind and body. Karate is a Japanese martial art. The word Karate means “empty hand” meaning no weapons allowed, just hands and feet.
How did the class go?
We started the class with a bow and did a quick warmup. The Sensei, or teacher, is there to assist students in ken Shiki, “the pursuit of knowledge”. He mentioned that people who start Karate are generally not as active so it was going to be a slower paced class. The first karate move was straight punches. He didn’t quite explain that the hand rotates as you move through the punch. It look me so long to figure out that the wrist should be pointed up when next to your body, whoops!
We mixed some crunches and pushups in between our Kihon drills (punching, striking, and kicking). Thankfully, the Sensei was very helpful is showing each of the moves slowly before we picked up the speed. Each move that we did had the name added next to it with the English translation so it was easy to remember going forward. My favorite move was the Hiza-Geri or knee strikes. Anything we did with our hands I really had to think about. Each hand was doing something different with one hand usually facing up while the other was facing down. I really had to focus on the Age Uke (upper blocks) and Gedan Barai (lower blocks) because I was struggling to keep up with all of the hands twisting!
Are you officially a Karate Kid?
Overall Rating: I definitely am no Karate Kid after my first White Belt Karate class, that’s for sure! I don’t know if Karate is for me long-term, although it truly is a long-term practice. I do think everyone should take a karate class to experience it for themselves. Every move is meant to be sharp and when done properly is great for strengthening your muscles. I definitely have a lot of respect for those who do Martial Arts, it requires a lot of patience in training.
Link to your First White Belt Karate Class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWB0Xehv23A
Let me know if you do Karate or if you try it out!
xoxo
Krysta
