The usefulness of kata.

Angus · Black Belt

I think i'l just rely on my natural inventiveness.

Angus

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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Tim Greer · Orange Belt

Forms are not a bad thing, just don't rely on them and remain dymanic and adapt to the situation and elements. I don't think many people would argue that. Definitely, much of it can come down to how fast you can react, think and execute a technique. Sometimes you will be required to execute a technique you've never thought about and you definitely can't just plan things in a fight.

A lot of techniques/forms will help you attack or counter attack based on what the opposing party is doing and can be all you need. Often though, it's better to build off of them, which is the point to forms -- as they are to be the basis, not some static technique. It gets you used to moving in certain manners so when you do build off of them or when you do need to adapt in a real fight, that it will be more natural and you can get more power and effectiveness from your moves -- since a lot of forms are based on keeping you balanced, while allowing you to use a lot of power and gets you used to positioning yourself into another smart position.

Of course, this isn't something you can't figure out a lot of yourself if you study the body and pay attention and develop it, but there are some good ideas, outright explained or not, that do help develop a lot of things that can be a great advantage to use, work off of and incorporate into a real righting system and used in a real fight -- after all, these have been developed and perfected over thousands of years for a reason. (If nothing else, to at least get a good idea and basis of what other people that might be trained could do and prepare yourself to deal with it/them.) Still, it often will (if you fight someone with talent) come down to how inventive, fast and able you are.

Speaking of slopes, hills, corners, halls, walls, gravel, pavement, grass, etc. How many people here train on different surfaces? I have basically every surface in and around my home. My back yard is basically a field, it has hills, slopes, flat areas, sand, rocks, etc. I have grass, gravel, cement, etc. as well. Of course, I have walls, halls, corners, etc. as well as open areas both inside and definitely outside. I try and take advantage of this and get accustomed to fighting in different environments both in the day and night.

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Valn · Orange Belt

Kata are useful as they help improve the karateka skills

Now, if you want to be good in a the street kata is the wrong thing to do. To be good in the street one must practice hard the basics often.

Iron Arahat · Red Belt

Forms are mearly an "encyclopedia" of moves, and by repitition you are just stengthening the link between knowng a move and being able to execute it.

Sometime the problem lies in not knowing the practical application of the moves you have learned.

Not everyone has a training partner, and it is just a way to practice, just like shadow boxing. The difference though is that it forces the student to practice techniques regardless, while with something like shadowboxing a person can sluff harder techniques or one's they dont feel comfortable with yet.

Valn · Orange Belt

I think one of the sad part about kata is when the interpretation of the move is lost.

Prodigy-Child · Green Belt

im gonna have to go with Ken and Angus on this one

Kata is pretty useless.........and will not help you be a better fighter in a street fight

like ken said its just a bunch of robotic movements practiced in a static motion

another thing is that kata is primarily striking techniques.....in a street fight people are going to grab by the neck......by the hair , ears whatever and in that situation kata becomes useless

Valn · Orange Belt

Kata have their benefit, but not when it comes to street fighting.

thaiboxerken · Black Belt

But not when it comes to street fighting.... uhm, what other reason is there to train in martial arts aside from learning how to fight?
Sure we do it to get in-shape, build "discipline" and all that other mumbo-jumbo, but when it comes down to it, if we are doing things that don't benefit fighting, then it probably isn't a good training method and is wasting time.

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Just kick 'em, they'll understand.- Me
Apprentice Instructor under Guro Inosanto in Jun Fan Gung Fu and Filipinno Martial arts.
Certified Instructor of Frank Cucci's Linxx system of martial arts.

BlueDragon · Orange Belt

Here is an idea for making Katas more challenging. Take a group of people and place them in the center of the room. Then point them in a random direction. Now make them do a kata or pion(I don't think that's spelled right) making sure they keep in rythem with each other. It's challenging to do crisp movements while not walking straight into a person. It teachs awareness while encouraging inventivness in style and technique.

unDertow · Yellow Belt

The only good thing i have found about kata is they help beginer students with coordination.

And the best offence is a good offence.

The only way to learn to fight is to fight. kata won't help ans neither will 1 step or point sparring.

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