Karate training outside the dōjō: a holistic effect

Message of the illustration "Karate in everyday life":
If you wash your face in the morning, you can maintain an upright posture and keep your back straight. This relieves the lumbar spine and strengthens the muscles.

Integrating karate training easily into everyday life

Regular karate training can lead to positive physical and mental results. The type of instruction and the intensity of the training are crucial. The more often a subject is treated properly and in detail, the faster the results will be visible. The practical thing is, the training sessions can be easily integrated into one's everyday life without neglecting other activities and commitments.

As a rule, we always have more time available than we think and in this post I would like to elaborate on this.

Saving time by considering two aspects

In order to practice specific elements of karate outside of the Dōjō, we do not need to invest more time. This is because it is possible to train during other activities that do not require full concentration. There are two important aspects to keep in mind:

First, we can integrate training into everyday habits. For example, while brushing our teeth, we can do isometric exercises or, meanwhile, improve our posture in zenkutsu dachi (extend leg, control balance). Breathing exercises can be done while walking or during ordinary routine activities such as setting the table. Even getting up from sitting or bed can be considered a karate exercise.

Second, it is important to consciously time the exercises so that they are not perceived as another chore or burden and consequently neglected or even abandoned completely. It is important that the training is easily doable in everyday life and that a continuity is maintained through the realistically chosen duration.

Only in this way can we effectively integrate karate training into our daily lives without spending additional time.

The training locations outside the Dōjō.

Karate training can take place in various places outside the Dōjō, be it in the basement, living room, hallway, bathroom, garden, waiting room, car, during a walk or while shopping - practically anywhere.

In places where the environment permits, the complete techniques can be performed without restriction. Elsewhere, alternatively, unobtrusive elements such as breathing, muscle tension and relaxation, presence, and centering can be practiced.

The purpose of this variety of training is to create new neural connections in the brain. Because once these patterns are automated we can recall them reflexively.

Continuity shapes the master

This unconventional way of training in everyday life complements regular training in the Dōjō and produces the desired results. The key is continuity.

One training session per week usually results in maintaining the existing level.

As little as two training sessions per week will begin to show improvements.

Daily training, focused on a specific aspect of the discipline, allows a particular development, even selective but above all sustainable.

The decisive factor is the will to want to integrate the training into one's daily life until a fixed habit develops from it. The daily occupation with karate and thus with oneself, then occurs automatically. An integrated habit or routine is when the practice is seamlessly integrated into everyday life. The training effect is then continuously visible and noticeable and karate itself becomes more present in all actions. The goal is to positively change one's actions and thinking in various everyday situations.

Talent and routine

Talent is always a good, especially very helpful basis on the way to success. Continuous training on the other hand, always leads to excellent and sustainable results. Training requires motivation and discipline, which are qualities that often become a matter of course for experienced karateka over time. To tackle the additional training in everyday life requires motivation. The constant repetition of movements and techniques requires discipline. Likewise, loosening up, coordination and strengthening, as well as memorizing kata, defense and attack sequences, combinations and combat exercises, requires discipline.

A realization

The realization at the point, then, is that a karateka never arrives at the destination. The true goal is reached when the desire to develop and the inquisitiveness remain even after the initial successes.

Imperceptibly, over time, the karateka's attitude toward consistency changes. Constant repetition becomes automatic and even small movements eventually show progress, even if it is not always immediately apparent after long practice. Thanks to this development, the techniques learned in the basic training can now be deepened.

Transfer to everyday life and increase in quality of life

This approach is automatically transferred to everyday life: over time, tasks and duties are no longer seen as burdens or obstacles, but are perceived as challenges to be mastered. With this newly acquired mental attitude, they are from now on systematically approached and mastered with more composure.

A form of quality of life, because the disciplined mastery of demanding tasks that is learned contributes over time to a more relaxed state of mind. In addition, one's own performance increases without having to make any particular effort. If the progress achieved is also noticed externally, for example by colleagues, friends or family, this often increases motivation.

How attention is focused

The ability to focus on seemingly small or unimportant things opens up a new horizon and can lead to great results.

It's the details that make the difference.

The holistic physical and mental practice of karate in and out of the Dōjō fosters this very ability to focus.

Training in the Dōjō ensures that complex movements can be mastered and properly coordinated. Once this solid technical foundation is established, the fine-tuning follows, which is critical to progressing to the master grade. For example, this may be a hip that is not fully rotated or an inharmonious rhythm, which slows down the entire sequence. These details can be corrected by focusing on the individual parts of the movement. This is the only way to find out which mechanisms need to be synchronized in order to achieve a more harmonious overall picture. In this way, the mental ability is developed to focus full attention on individual details and to block out incidentals, at least temporarily.

The learned ability to concentrate

The learned concentration skill in karate training is also useful outside the sport. It can serve as a tool to see unconsciously lived habits, to question them and to change them if necessary. The approach is the same. By focusing on a specific detail within a larger task, it becomes easier to address the entire task. By focusing on that detail, the overall effort is reduced. Step by step, more details can then be mastered until finally the entire task is accomplished.

CONCLUSION

The bottom line and the great secret in karate training and beyond is to develop a passion for the cause. This dedication drives us to go beyond the norm and inevitably leads to extraordinary results. Those who act normally achieve normal results. Only those who are extremely dedicated achieve outstanding results.