| If you are learning karate at home, or practice | | | | punch) |
| karate at home, alongside your regular dojo | | | | 20 fast kizamizuki |
| practice, having a good training routine is a must. | | | | 20 slow gyakuzuki (reverse punch) |
| Now I am older, I tend to train mainly at the | | | | 20 fast gyakuzukietc, etc. |
| dojo, but here are a few tips that helped me | | | | I would do this for many karate techniques and I |
| tremendously when training at home. | | | | would practice them on and off a punch bag. |
| 1. A good warm up and stretch! I used to do a | | | | Sometimes I would do fewer karate moves, but |
| three mile run, then immediately onto an | | | | practice many more reps and other times I would |
| exercycle for 5 miles, the first seven tenths of | | | | do many different moves, but lower reps. Once I |
| each mile, I would push fast, then the last three | | | | finished a set, I would cross them off my training |
| tenths of each mile, I would sprint. I would repeat | | | | list. |
| this for four miles, then sprint the last mile. A | | | | 3. I used to train in my parents attic, it was very |
| great warm up and on it's own an excellent work | | | | lonely, very cold in the winter and very hot in the |
| out. | | | | summer. My training at home, would start at 7pm |
| I would then stretch for twenty minutes, | | | | and finish at about 11pm (ish), sometimes I would |
| sometimes longer. I would hold each stretch for | | | | still be there after midnight (I must have been |
| at least thirty seconds, which is not very long, but | | | | nuts!). Every night I wasn't at the dojo, I was in |
| after a warm up like that, it was more than | | | | 'the loft'. |
| enough to give a really good stretch. If you are | | | | I look back and although I used to train for 4+ |
| not very flexible, try holding for longer, but do not | | | | hours, If you really condensed the training down, |
| try to hard, or you will end up fighting your own | | | | it was more like 2 hours solid training. |
| body! | | | | Now, you may laugh at this, but I would often |
| You may do a completely different warm up, | | | | find myself talking and mumbling incoherently to |
| today, I simply do a slow two or three mile jog | | | | myself. I believe the one thing that stopped me |
| as my warm up. You may like to swim, walk or | | | | going completely crazy, was music! If you are |
| other form of exercise, just make sure you | | | | learning karate at home, put some of your |
| enjoy the warm up and always start slowly. | | | | favourite music on, especially when you are really |
| 2. Know what you are going to practice! I would | | | | going for it. |
| spend four days at the dojo and three days | | | | But the most important tip I can give you, is |
| practicing karate at home. I would write | | | | please, enjoy your karate training, life is short! |
| everything down,eg. 20 slow kizamizuki (jabbing | | | | |