I was discussing the idea of "reptition beats intensity" with a new and older student. That is to say, a student, new to karate, but well acquainted with the world. He was concerned about his speed of learning. When you first start kata, it can seem overwhelming, as well it is. The first katas are simple, kinesthetically speaking, but they represent a different psychological approach than most people are used to. Intentional simplicity? Very confusing. But this post is not about kata, but about where one goes with one's karate. This student was intimidated by the learning curve. Yet the learning curve is not what karate is about. Sure, everyone is climbing that curve, but where you are on it, and how fast you climb, it is irrelevant, as long as you don't stop. It's hard to see that when you begin, hard to look at others and gauge the progression one will follow oneself. I said "You'll be surprised at what you can do five years from now," and he laughed, unsure if he'd be here five years from now, let alone punching and kicking. That's irrelevant. At every point in life's path, one came make an argument about age.

• I've heard kids (!) who look at another kid, and wish they'd started younger.
• I know teens who feel like they missed their opportunity, since the large number of new students are in that 6-10 age range.
• College students have told me they are out of shape who want to get into shape, but they can't get past the mental obstacle of what they seen on TV.
• I know working adults in their who wish they'd started in college, when they had more free time.
• I know athletes who are past their peak of physical shape who feel that sticking to a physical lifestyle is pointless, that the only direction to go is downhill.
• Many a middle aged parent pushes their child into karate, living vicariously a little bit, but shaking their heads vigorously at the idea of joining an adults' class. They actually say, "Let me start exercising a bit, then I'll join"!
• Retirees with free time tell me that there isn't enough time left for them to become experts.

The point of all this is, the time to start is now. The time to quit is never. What others do is not important. I think older students have a more accurate perspective here. When you realize your mortality, you realize it's now or never. We frequently forget that life has a finite duration and put things off indefinitely. If one must consider time, ask how much was wasted, not how much is left. Ideally, don't ask that question at all, just live in the moment, learn in the moment, and continue down the path of the karateka. You will progress. You will be more than you once were.

The initial tekis have no real world application. Then why learn them? They are a crystalization of several ingredients which give future katas their flavor. Th flavor is too complex for the beginning student to savor, so they are broken out to be sampled a little bit at a time in an underwhelming format. This creates a minor difficulty, in that the student does not start by learning a practical kata. Aside from the concept of "block-punch", it's hard to tell exactly what's going on. This difficulty is mitigated by the non-kata areas of training. Those latter areas: kumite, kihon, self defense, etc., provide context. That context engages the student, but that engagement also creates a distraction. The beginner katas are context-free. They focus on the bare minimum to make a kata:

• visualization
• body positioning
• hand, foot and eye coordination

That's really all there is to it. Sure you could add more, but that would take away from the education these katas provide. The developers of these katas were practicing the virtue We shall always discard the bad when they put beginner katas together. Those three concepts are alien, and very difficult to master, but without those three, there is no groundwork for developing a martial artist.

I was going through my empty hand katas today in the USF Rec Center. They had the Borg Scale (also known as Rate of Perceived Exertion) listed on one of the walls. Between forms I would glance at it, and I started thinking about how I would rate the performance of kata. Also, what should it be? If you are not familiar, the RPE is an arbitrary number indicating how hard you are working. It starts a 7 (I assume below 7 your are comatose or dead), and goes up to 20: maximal exertion. Around 10 is an easy pace. Kata is definitely anaerobic. It is a true fight, and a true fight must tax your body. If you are doing cardio, you are pacing yourself. If you can pace yourself against your opponent, then you should be running away, this person isn't really trying to kill you. I'm not talking about boxing or sparring here. Kata should be an enactment of the life or death situation. It is a simulation. Ideally, kata should be 19 or 20 on the scale. Realistically, I think its hard to hit that level every time. You probably do in competitions, that's one of the good things about them. I think I was doing 15 or 16 today. I also note on the CDC's page that there is a rough correspondence between the RPE*10 and heart rate. I was unaware of that, but it matches with the heart rate testing that I've done in the past with kata. I believe 150 bpm is actually a bit low, since it's hard for me to measure in the middle of performing (I can't exactly look at my watch). And it goes from a resting heartrate to that 150 value in the course of the form, which isn't a very long time. Neat. I should aim to have someone else hold the watch and analyze heart rate some time. RPE is very handy though. I suggest you consider it at intervals during different types of training. How is it during sparring? How about on the punching bag?

I often find the classes I dread the most turn out to be the best. Perhaps I've had a bad day, and would like nothing more than to take the day off. Lately, I've been at the computer too much, (ah, the travesty of having a real job, too), and don't want to stress my joints too much. Almost invariably, I find the class to be good. My joints put themselves back in the right places. Class goes smoothly, or it will even be a breakthrough. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the classes that I go into expecting to go excellently deliver my ego a blow. This includes teaching and learning. As with many things in karate, this seems counter to logic. If I'm psyched up, focused, shouldn't class go well? If karate did work logically like that, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't strengthen your weakest link, as it is designed to. That's the great thing about karate vs many other less wholistic forms of exercise. Exercise adherence is actually a research topic in my some physical education programs. Like dieting, it's one of those things that people try for a little while, and stop. lirinfae discusses some of the reasons people quit karate, but I actually think adherence is alot better in martial arts due to the above mentioned reason.. among others, but that's a topic for another blog entry. Think of someone you know who has attained some rank in the martial arts. Now think of people you know in other disciplines who have continued with that kind of longevity. I am hard pressed to think of people in other areas who continue their physical exertions with that kind of longevity. The reasons for quitting karate are many, but these obstactes are the reason one comes to karate in the first place. Sure, burnout happens. In karate and in real life. Surmount that obstactle, strengthen that link. Injury? Health is probably one of the reasons for starting karate. Learn to not get injured! Strengthen that link. Politics? Also real life. Use the microcosm of the dojo to discover how to handle these issues elsewhere. Other commitment is a hard one, but ask yourself, can you meet these commitments to other people, if you can not meet a commitment to yourself? Viewed from the other angle, learning to keep commitments to yourself will discipline you to meet them with other people. Strengthen that link. So, next time you feel like stopping, look for the weak link. It doesn't take heroic effort, it just takes a small thing, insignificant. Get up. Go. You made it. now go home. rest. repeat.