I believe an essential part of karate is discipline. To reach a high level of performance within karate you must be prepared to discipline yourself. By discipline, I mean sticking to a training regime.

When people first start training they are often full of enthusiasm, rarely missing a session. They often have a real thirst for knowledge. This enthusiasm tends to continue through the initial gradings, with each examination bringing a new belt to wear, helping to keep enthusiasm high.

Often around 3^rd kyu level, some students experience difficulties in motivation as the jump from brown belt to black belt level can be quite daunting. Here is where many students give up their training. The stop is often gradual, missing a lesson here and there, slowly reducing the training schedule until a stop is reached. More often than not the student will convince themselves that they are stopping simply due to other reasons such as school, work, family commitments and injury, always saying that they will be back training in a couple of weeks – but these students rarely are.

Of course, if the student is experiencing really extreme pressure making it impossible to train, then fair enough. But when you find yourself in this position you should ask yourself whether you are really skipping the training due to these pressures or is your discipline waning. An example of this would be coming home from work/school after a hard stress-filled day, fairly tired and grumpy. You sit down in front of the television and start thinking to yourself how you could do with a relaxing evening in. Here is where your discipline must come into play. If you stay in front of the television your discipline has failed! Your stress levels will more than likely stay the same and before you know it you are back at work/school the next day. If your discipline is strong and you get up and go training, by the end of the session it is likely that the stress will have lifted and you feel pleased with yourself for not being lazy. (All forms of physical exercise are proven to reduce stress levels.)

Everybody at some stage during their training will experience lack of motivation. Here you must discipline yourself and fight the effects of laziness.

When I, as an instructor meet ex-pupils of my dojo, more often than not they tell me they are planning to come back to training in the next few weeks. They rarely ever do, as their discipline for training has gone. If they do return, often full of enthusiasm, they soon find they are not as good as they once were. Often they find karateka in the dojo, who they were once superior to, have now overtaken them. They then lack the self-discipline to get stuck into the training and build their level back up, so after a few lessons they disappear again. One thing all the ex-pupils say to me is that they wish they’d never given up. Some even go as far as to tell me how good they would be now and what grade they would be at!

New black belts can also suffer a fall in motivation. After all the hard training with the Dan grading in mind, the once seemingly unobtainable black belt suddenly becomes theirs. Some new black belts now feel they have nothing left to strive for and the motivation wanes. This attitude shows a lack of understanding of karate. Karate must be about constant self-improvement. Gaining your black belt is purely an external sign that you have reached a required level. When you have reached that required level you must discipline yourself to strive for a higher level. If you are content with only having a new belt and not continually improving, you will soon give up. One way to keep motivated is to constantly set yourself goals. If you are a tournament competitor you can set yourself the goal to perform better than you did in your last tournament. You can mentally set the date for your next Dan grading and work with that in mind. You can ask your instructor for some pointers in your kata/kumite/kihon to work on. You can try and place yourself next to a hard trainer in the class line (as long as you’re not breaking any dojo rules or putting noses out of joint by lining up out of grade order) and keep pace with them throughout the lesson, or even try to push yourself harder than them. This type of training can be infectious, with everybody trying to move faster, stronger and with better form and attitude than those around them.

People often ask me what they can do to improve their karate. The answer is fairly straight forward – there is no magic secret. Keep your self-discipline and keep training hard.

Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of modern karate, said in one of his 20 precepts of karate:

“karate is like boiling water – if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool”.

You often find that the more naturally talented student who starts their training with natural flair will not reach the top. These students can lack the self-discipline as they rarely need to get stuck into the training as everything comes quite easily to them. They then reach a level where real commitment is needed and are unwilling or do not know how to give it. A less naturally talented student who from day one has to work for all improvements will often become a quality karateka. They have the necessary discipline to work through times of low motivation and to get stuck into the training when an increased level of commitment is required.

One way to keep your discipline is to ensure you always stick to your chosen amount of training sessions a week. The minimum required training to progress through your kyu gradings is 2 lessons a week. It is important that, even in your early stages of karate training, you discipline yourself to stick to this (health permitting). If you are unable to attend one of your usual lessons you should ensure you attend another to make up for the missed one. If this is impossible, due to say there being no extra lessons you can attend at your club, you should make yourself train at home to keep up your required training.

In 1994 I badly injured my right hip and was forced to rest from training for about 8 months. During this time I was determined not to fall out of the habit of training. I would go and watch every training session that I would have attended had I been able, including all the KUGB kata and kumite squad sessions I missed. This way, when I was able to restart my training there was no disruption to my normal weekly plan. My time watching also kept my mind active with karate. I was constantly seeing things I could work on upon my return. Watching lesson after lesson like this obviously became frustrating and sometimes dull, but I was determined not to fall out of the habit of training, to keep my discipline levels high.

These days, being a full time karate instructor and competitor, I am fortunate to have plenty of time to train. I am constantly trying to improve all aspects of my karate. I train with people who, like me, are highly motivated and highly disciplined. I will often plan my week’s training at the start of the week and write the upcoming sessions in my diary. When I get to an appointed session I will do it and not put it off.

I force myself to go running every week to improve my fitness levels, but more importantly it’s an exercise in discipline, as I hate running but I know it’s good for me.

Obviously, mastering self-discipline will help you throughout you life, not just in your karate training. It will help you in your studies and work life, teaching you to get things done to deadlines and not become a quitter.

Self-discipline will improve your quality of life.

Sitting at home watching television with your feet up whilst eating crisps and drinking coke may be nice for a change, but would you like to do that every day? I know I wouldn’t and couldn’t.

The days you feel like staying at home with your feet up, but you go training, are the days that make a difference. These are the days that will make you and your training move up to a higher level. If you want to be average, stay at home. If you want to be the best you can, be disciplined and go training!

Matt Price
5th Dan Shotokan karate

Register today for 30 days free subscription which will give you full access to the Warrior Class video training archive. Once you’ve sampled the advanced training methods within this site why not take advantage of the introductory offer price of only £20 for a whole years worth of access!