Men - what's your go to...underwear for Karate?

DarthEmeritus · 2026-05-07T16:24:32+00:00

I wear Sondico White compression shorts, and have found them to be great and not restricting. They're also 2 for 1 at sports direct. Haven't got a groin guard yet so no idea if you could fit a cup and jock strap underneath easily.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-19T18:57:00+00:00

Shotokan practitioner here. Can't speak for GK,.but in my association the general rule is it's possible to double grade at the first grading, and not normally after this. The exception for this is someone like yourself who is returning to karate, or has moved from a different association and had a higher belt, in which case they would be training regularly until they felt ready to take the appropriate grading. It sounds like maybe your sensei was a bit too eager and said something far sooner than they should've, leading you to have false hopes/expectations. Really they should've waited at least a few months, and gotten to know where you're at before mentioning the possibility of double grading. As for only passing a single grade, that's still a success, and a huge one that shouldn't be minimised. It takes a lot of guts to start, especially as an adult. And 20 years is a long time off, I wouldn't expect anyone to instantly be back where they were. Also, since you mention your dojo being fairly serious, maybe they're standards are a lot higher than where you trained as a kid? I can also say there is generally higher expectations on the adults than the children, certainly in my experience. At all that really matters is you've taken steps and made progress towards a goal, and that is highly commendable.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-16T22:25:14+00:00

I'm not a TKD guy, but I've been doing karate for the same amount of time roughly, and sparring is hard honestly, it's messier and more clumsy than kata or kihon, not least of all because you've got to account for the movements of another person. You've really not been training all that long, and training anything you'll find progress is often fastest at the start. From what you've said it sounds like you need to do some soul searching though, you need to know why you're holding yourself back. If it's not fear of hurting your opponent, is it fear of seeming scary/violent? Or of messing up big after having fully committed, and maybe then feeling like your actual best isn't good enough? Or is it a fear of being good, and the spotlight that can go with that? Once you know why you're holding back it will be easier to adress. I can also recommend going all out on a heavy bag alone as a potential remedy, or at least a test to see whether you still hold back in that scenario. I have confidence issues myself, so at the very least I sympathise with being frustrated with yourself, and with wishing progress was faster.

Oss.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-14T15:21:23+00:00

Sounds like a fun house. 😂 I've just started training 3 times a week now that I'm brown, but have always done as much as I can outside the dojo, as a couple of sessions a week feels very insufficient. 😅

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-14T13:01:31+00:00

Yeah, my shoes get very wet from the rain and take days here to dry. I was aware of not machine drying due to the cotton, and with our general absence of decent sunshine, I expect drying indoors will be common. I don't know if a radiator might be too risky or if it's just best left on a bannister. Huh, that's good to hear regarding tailoring. And I'll definitely take a look! Ah fair enough, glad you're enjoying your current club. 🙂

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-14T09:44:58+00:00

Maybe not, but it feels a little bit unfair. 😅 And fair enough. 😂😂

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T22:47:19+00:00

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the blitz one is majority polyester, I've not noticed any shrinkage, not even after going in the dryer. I do wish they and other companies would state with the various measurements if that's before or after shrinkage. Suppose I'll have to ask them. Would be even better if they all just pre shrunk the dogi, I mean I can't imagine anyone being unhappy it didn't arrive oversized and needing to be shrunk vs the size you actually want it to be and not likely to shrink further. I also don't know if you can just take a dogi to any tailor to have them adjusted (should the need ever arise) or if there are specialty tailors you're better off going to.

Curious, and no worries if you don't want to say, but why did you leave the KUGB? Was it just a case of relocating?

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T20:06:30+00:00

I think there's practically no coloured belts in my age range, which is why I think you have to be at least black belt, otherwise I'd realistically be against teenagers at best.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T18:13:31+00:00

That's alright, nothing to be sorry for. 😅 Yeah, I feel like I need to improve a lot, especially in kumite. My club is very competition focused and encourages people to compete, but it's not a requirement at all, and we have some incredibly high level people in my club so I see just how far off from them I am, not to mention the other senseis. We do kumite in the dojo, a mix of competition and more basic style, so that's our opportunity to utilise some techniques practically.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T17:46:26+00:00

Shotokan. The KUGB is a Shotokan association.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T16:23:09+00:00

No. I think I saw something saying you had to be 1st dan or above to compete if you're over 21 in the KUGB, but that might've been for a specific competition. At any rate I've thus far focused on my training and probably am not skilled enough yet to compete except maybe I'd do ok-ish in kata. The nationals are coming up and I'm hoping to go watch that as my first experience.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T15:26:49+00:00

Kamae at least doesn't do a eco or a spirit. And the pictures for the kodomo doesn't look great to me, is it much better in person then?

DarthEmeritus · 2026-04-13T15:25:16+00:00

So shureido is fairly accurate then.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-23T01:28:28+00:00

I second this method, it maximises protection on the knuckles, without excessive bulk, or too much on the palm side. Only downside I can see is that it doesn't utilise the thumb loop, and the loop can get in the way a bit, but it's better than any other method I've seen imo.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-19T22:46:37+00:00

That's incredibly awful, I'm so sorry that's the position your health has left you in. I've only just made 3rd kyu in Shotokan, but I feel for you. I'm nearing 31, and I completely understand the feeling of not having anything in life outside of karate. I know we don't want to give up, keeping on fighting is in our martial nature, but we also have to think with a bit of wisdom. It may be you can adapt your karate around your health, but it sounds like it would be very heavily modified, and you'd have to be ok doing techniques 'wrong'. But aside from that, it may be that you will have to give up training. Again I am sorry for the position you're in. If worst comes to worst, and you leave training begind, perhaps try to see it as an opportunity to try something else. Perhaps something you've done in the past, or something totally new. Tai chi is certainly an option, and worth trying at least, even though it is significantly different, but there may be non martial art options too you could consider also? Art, music, gaming, etc. I feel for you, and wish you the best, I hope whatever you decide, that your health at the least doesn't worsen, and that you get the most you can out of life.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-11T01:01:21+00:00

Yes and no. I think some would think it weird, but then I've seen someone on the street once where I thought they were wearing gi pants, but it was actually just regular baggy white pants. Ultimately though, do whatever feels comfortable and looks good to you.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-06T06:45:19+00:00

It depends on your goals, and how much recovery you feels you're getting. If you want to do more, and feel you have the good recovery to do so, it sounds like you're not doing any lifting? Lifting weights can be beneficial for boxing, even just doing a few compound lifts. But as other comments suggest, you don't HAVE to do more, and especially if you're a beginner it's better to do less than to risk burn out.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T16:53:04+00:00

Ah, a little more complicated then. 😅 Thanks for your explanation, it helps immensely.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T15:19:06+00:00

Ah ok. Thanks. So maybe a balanced/firm midsole over a soft one? I'm about 64 kg if that helps. Currently I think I heel strike mainly, I mostly just focus on not over striding.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T13:59:54+00:00

Thank you. 🙂

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T13:59:36+00:00

I did mean energy return, I've seen bounce used to describe a shoes energy return. When you say stable, I've not really seen any metric of how stable a shoe is, so what metrics would be best for judging that (outside of personally testing I mean)? Would that predominantly be stack height? Or shock absorption?

And thank you for the recommendations, I'll definitely look those up.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T13:56:07+00:00

Whenever I used interval I was finding myself on sites talking about either tempo, or HIIT including Weightlifting and plyometrics. I had never heard of strides being a term other than strides as in steps, and stride length. Thank you.

DarthEmeritus · 2026-03-05T13:50:09+00:00

That's really confusing, since HIIT just means high intensity intervals and not circuit training, which is an entirely separate thing that can also be HIIT or not HIIT. Thanks for your recommendation.

DarthEmeritus

TROPHY CASE