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The Complete Guide to GKR Karate |
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TRAINING FREQUENCY
You’ll be surprised to find out that the average worked out to be about 1 (in fact, the actual number came in at 0.9!). That is, on average, the GKR student trains 1 time per week! This came as a surprise to all of our senior instructors. When I saw this statistic I was quite shocked! I then remembered the countless number of times that I’d get asked by students ‘how can I improve my karate?’ Some students would confide in me that they did not feel like they would get any better I could only guess that with proper training and focused training they’d improve. ‘You cannot train and not improve’ was my motto. Maybe I was wrong. I can’t recall if I asked these students how often they trained per week. Perhaps I could have been a little more helpful if I did ask them, and if their answer was ‘once per week’, at least I could talk to them about their training habits! I can remember my training habits when I was just starting out in karate. The training took place 2 times per week, and that was not negotiable. Whenever a tournament was looming, the training was extended to 3 or 4 times per week. So from my early days of training I can say that I trained a minimum (or average) of 2 times per week. Now I can see why so many students ‘may not’ be improving at a desired rate. I believe that we may not be encouraging or more the point guiding our students to train often enough. Not because we have not cared about our students, but perhaps because we assume that everyone knows how many classes they should be doing. Maybe we have not stipulated clearly enough just how many classes a karate student should be doing per week. Let me give you an example. If you were going to join a gym with a goal of either building muscle, toning up or losing weight, you’d need to make a commitment to train a minimum of 3 times per week, right? You would not assume that to reach any fitness goal all you’d need to do is get to the gym 1 time per week. To gain the benefits of a gym routine, the standard commitment that most gyms recommend is 3 times per week. This is not assumed, but actually spoken about! In terms of karate, to develop the skills, reflexes, fitness and overall ability the student should commit to a minimum of 2 classes per week. Based on my experience, 2 sessions per week will provide the foundation to develop the karate skills that the student is aiming to achieve. Until next time – enjoy your training!
Shihan Stacey
Karetsian
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A few months ago we started conducting a survey to determine how many
classes the ‘average’ GKR student trained in per week.