Kyokushinkai Karate........opinions

Freedomfighter

Hi all,
Am thinking of trying Kyokushinkai karate out. Have studied Kenpo and am wondering has anyone any experience or knowledge in this form of martial art. What are the main aspects to the art.
Or does anyone know of any martial arts in the swords area. Just moved in and am trying to get myself into something fast with out alot of travel.
Cheers

Millionaire

I did a little bit of Kyokushinkai karate from Shane Tomas in www.mma-ireland.com which is based in Dublin (east wall, not far from connolly station).

That was in oct nov 2005 before I moved to thailand.

As I have plenty of MA experience, we skipped the basics, and went into the more pratical training, with plenty of sparring. It is a no BS style and is my miles the best and most realistic form of karate... the training is not for the faint hearted (well IMO at least... Shane may advise different).

The sparring was very realistic, and we sparred hard enough, which was a briliant experience... the conditioning exercise were something else! LOL! you will find out if you go and try it out.

I am not really qualifed to talk much about what happens down there as I was only there for a short while, but if you want REAL Karate training this is the best place in Ireland, and also you will learn MMA grappling and ground work. (i've been around MA a long time... so I can say that with certainty).

Kenpo Dave who posts here still trains there and he is real dedicated and we trained a little together before I left ireland, and he is a top bloke and will fill you in (literally...just joking..sorry could not resist)..he can tell you more about the training.

Shane the instructor is one of the most dedicated MA people I ever came across in over 20 years, and is a good fighter and a top instructor. also he is not in it for the money...and when I was there he did not charge a penny, and he paid for all hall rental out of this own pocket which is a show of his passion and dedication. Though i think now there is a low fee which the lads use to fund judo matts and gear for the club.

Highly Recommended!

kenpo_dave

Hey Gerry, thanks for the plug .
Freedomfighter, I actually still train in Kenpo with Paul Dowling down in Taney Parish (www.rathdownkenpo.com) aswel as train in Kyokushin. If you go to the downloads section of www.kyokushinbudokai.org theres a 129 page Kyokushin manual written by my instructor which will provide all the information you'll need about the style. Also look on Youtube to see some highlights of fights.

Heres a few samples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bjEP0uE_A

http://forum.mmaireland.com/viewtopic.php?t=257

Good Luck,

Dave.

kenpo_dave

I came across this clip on Youtube while getting the sample for my last post. Quite interesting. Its some form of Kenpo vs Kyokushin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkC35VbWGvw

Odd that theres no knees or elbows from the Kyokushin guys, perhaps it was agreed upon as a rule. Not the best Kyokushin Ive seen to be honest.

OSU.

JohnMc1

I enjoyed Kyokushin when I took it years ago. Too bad there is none near me here.

OT question. But does anyone know how far the clubs are from the Heuston St station?

HammerHeadGym

A luas down to connoly and a bus from accross the road could have you there in 20 - mins depending on the time of day. Prolly quicker to get out at busarus and walk round the corner.

JohnMc1

HammerHeadGym wrote:

A luas down to connoly and a bus from accross the road could have you there in 20 - mins depending on the time of day. Prolly quicker to get out at busarus and walk round the corner.

Thanks. There's a few gyms I was interested in going to. Once I get some money [Since gyms here don't have classes throughout the day I would have to get private training if available]

HammerHeadGym

Sure. No worries. Bridgestone is closer to Heuston. No direct public transport though so, time to get there would be about the same.

OldBloke

Freedomfighter - I have just opened a new Kyokushin Dojo in Swords - its in Fingallainas GAA club on Thursday Nights from 7.00-8.30. Its only a month old and we are still finidng our feet but you are more than welcome to come along.

If not go and train with Shane - hes a good bloke - tell him the other Kyokushin Shane sent you.

JohnMc1

HammerHeadGym wrote:

Sure. No worries. Bridgestone is closer to Heuston. No direct public transport though so, time to get there would be about the same.

Thanks again HHG. Bridgestone was actually one of the gyms I was interested in.

Freedomfighter

OldBloke wrote:

Freedomfighter - I have just opened a new Kyokushin Dojo in Swords - its in Fingallainas GAA club on Thursday Nights from 7.00-8.30. Its only a month old and we are still finidng our feet but you are more than welcome to come along.

If not go and train with Shane - hes a good bloke - tell him the other Kyokushin Shane sent you.

Hey Oldbloke. I think i seen an advert in a shop around applewood. Id be very interested in coming down but have no idea where the place is. My email address is gunnersmad@gmail.com. Can you email me with the details. I take it once the classes get more turning up you will start more days during the week.

Jimkel

Tough Martial art, develpoped by a Korean student of Shotokan founder Gichen Funikoshi. Only prob is the strange rules in tournement. You can kick to the head but not punch!! As a result the guard is usually non existant but as long as you dont fall into that bad habit and remember people WILL try to punch you in the head in real life id say Kyokoshinkai is an excellent martial art to get into, mixing traditional Karate aspects with a more modern "Knock out" approach.

connie00

From watching the K1 I notice a good few of the kickboxers come from Kyokushinkai backgrounds. Is this a coincidence I wonder or does the tough physical conditioning and knockdown etc. make them more suitable for kickboxing that other styles of Karate. ??

OldBloke

Jimkel - all tournament rules are strange (there are no boxing gloves in real life either or a referee) but the point is well taken. I dont think the guard is non existant especially due to the headkicks but thats only in Knockdown rules. We do teach headwork in the dojo. The reason for no headpunches is due to it being bare knuckle and most people just cant afford that kind of injury in an amatuer arena.

As for K1 that could well be true but it may also be that the founder of K1 came from Kyokushin and stilll has ties with them.