Questions And Answers
There is no stipulated time frame between gradings as many of our members have trained before, some members seem to fast track through the first 3 or 4 gradings. Our offline Dojo has examinations every three months, but really its all down to the individual, as people progress at different speeds.
The $19.97/month will be consistent for our current members, but this may increase in the future for new members joining.
There is no grading/testing fee, it is all included in the $19.97. We do ask our members to get their own karate uniform (gi) and belts, we are also looking at the cost of printed certificates, (please see question 4 regarding certificates).
At the moment we have downloadable certificates (example attached), but we are looking at the cost of nice gold foil printed certificates and how much they would cost to post around the world, but these will be purely optional.
We would prefer our karateka to wear Gi for testing, but this is optional and up to each member.
We are having patches designed and once our members have been with us for three months they will get one posted to the address of their choice.
All fitness levels are suitable because you train at home and only do what you feel you can handle, you are in total control, the fitter you get, the more you can put into your karate practice.
You do not need much space at all, even with the kata, we have a technique where you can practice the whole kata in a five foot square space
We have members that have injuries and they work around those injuries, we have some members that do not kick and thats fine, they focus more on upper body work.
We do like our members to video their exams in a karate uniform (gi), but this is not compulsory. We have a Dojo patch (see question 7) Other equipment is purely optional, as in a punch bag, makiwara (striking board), recommended books, etc.
This is a very good question and one of the hardest things about training at home. One of the most important concepts of karate is Ikken Hissatsu or to finish with one blow. We try and instill this concept in our members by explaining that when blocking and attacking techniques are practiced at speed, they should be executed as if your life depends on it, when you hit the makiwara a full speed, you should not just try to hit it, but break it,destroy it! (obviously after you have executed hundreds of techniques lightly.
It can accomplished quite quickly, but is entirely down to the individual and also the results can sometimes be very confusing and not make sense at all, let me explain.....If someone is practicing once per week and someone else is practicing three times per week, you would expect the person practicing three times per week to way more advanced after six months, but it depends completely on the attitude of the karateka whilst training, if someone is totally focused and applying the concept of Ikken Hissatsu with all their fast moves and train once per week, they will be way stronger and progress much faster than someone training three times per week, but simply going through the movements with no intent, so it's all down to the attitude of the karateka.
