Karate is a Japanese word that means ‘Empty Hands’. Karate is one of the most known martial arts around the world today.

You’ve probably seen Karate in movies and feel like it’s something you want to try?

Great! But before you hop on, here are 6 tips you should know as a Karate beginner:

Understand the art

You must understand the art behind Karate before you start to practice this martial art. As you may have already known, every martial art has deep meaning, beliefs, philosophy, and practices to it, and you have to gain a better understanding of those for you to appreciate Karate.

Then, you have to learn the basic of Karate. How does it work? What basic skills do you need to master? What physical preparation you need to have? etc.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Respect is one of the cornerstones of Karate. You have to instill that into your mind and heart that you always treat everyone with respect.

You have to address your teacher as Sir, Ma’am, or Sensei and treat your fellow students with the same respect.

Do some stretching

Stretching is very crucial for you to do before you start practicing Karate as it is obviously a physical activity and you need to prepare your body for the work as well as help prevent injuries.

Although stretching is part of your daily class, it would be better that you also do your own stretching before the start of your class just to prepare your body a little more.

Remember to do your stretching before and after your session.

Learn to meditate

As with most martial arts, meditation is a significant practice they apply. If you want to learn and master Karate, you also have to master meditation.

By practicing meditation, you teach yourself to approach everything calmly, understand your thoughts, either positive or negative, manage them and always put them in perspective.

It takes time to practice meditation and as you learn Karate, you’ll also learn more about meditation.

Practice and work hard

Expect that learning Karate will not be easy. So, you’re also expected to work hard and continue to practice in or out of your class. Karate is a skill and so it needs constant practice, dedication and lots of hard work to master it.

There’s always more to learn with the art of Karate and so always striving to learn is something you should do.

So, there you have it! Our top 5 tips for Karate beginners like you. Remember, you don’t need to know everything upfront to become good at Karate. It’s a learning process. You just have to be willing to learn, practice and improve yourself at what you do.

Good luck!