My own motivation

[Ernst]

Hello, fellow OSS'ers! The last couple of months I have had a kind of low motivation for the karate, or should I say the karatetraining itself. The thing is, I cannot put the finger on what exactly what it is thats keeping me from the dojo, training hard as ever
A couple of years ago, I felt miserable letting a day go by without getting into my dogi and train karate at least a little bit. These days I am happy if I get one session a week, and that's not enough to maintain a certain physical karate level, in my opinion.

A few months back I started to to some training in a different, spanish martial art called KFM, to broaden my "martial horizon" and to something else than the usual shotokan karate I've done for years. And, for the first time in a long time, I felt happy with the gain of the sessions and the feeling of being a complete beginner was very refreshing! And it didn't hurt that punches vere flying around my head, warming my ears, from the first session The learning process of this, to me, new martial art/self defence class was completely different than what I am used to from karate..

I guess my question is, have you guys ever been at a crossroad where you were unsure whether continue doing what U been doing for years, or going a different direction? Or maybe the best thing is to crosstrain for a longer period of time, to see if my karatemotivation come back to me?

I am just afraid of being SO tired of karate that I become one of those who quit and never come back. Because after all, I love the karate and my club, but that darn motivation

[fujicolt]

Your dilemma is far from unique Ernst.
If I may be so bold (and i assure you sincerely that I mean no disrespect with my comments below) I would suggest that it is not a move away from Shotokan* that you require. Instead I would suggest that you be very honest with yourself and instead have a move away from the SHOTOKAN you have been receiving and therefore studying.

Invest in a weekend course with Instructors that are not still blindly following the Grading syllabus/Competition Syllabus that so many have stagnated in.

You may think you have already but I doubt it if you are so excited about 'learning something new'.

If you are truly following a full Shotokan system you would still be learning new things on a very regular basis. I'll even set you a challenge:

Either come over here as my guest or invite me over to you. If after a weekends training you can honestly say 'I didn't learn a thing' it will be free. If not the training will still be free and you would just have to cover my expenses. I am very confident I could revive your interest in Shotokan Karate.

*However, I would still recommend that you do occasionally go and train with other styles - always enlightening and fun.

If you not interested in the above challenge I will gladly direct you to several other instructors that I would deeply recommend. We DO NOT want to lose people like you! OSU!

[Ernst]

Thanks for the reply, Steve! I think you might hit the nail straight on the head right away. There IS something lacking in the direction I've been doing my karate the past years-or should I say that I have come to a point where I need to figure out what I want with my karate. I think i'm just bored of doing kihon and kata for the sake of the shapes and looks of them, in stead of thinking of their use and functionality in sparring or real life situations, for that sake.

Of course I love shotokan karate as it traditionally has been trained, and taught to me up through the years, but as you propose Steve, there might be other approaches to it Maybe its times like i'm going through now, that the deck of cards needs to be flipped over?

I see your challenge Steve, and I will certainly try my best to get over to your Friendship Course for some high quality training next year! This years calendar activities won't let me

[fujicolt]

I'll pm you with an alternative Ernst