What style is the “perfect” martial art?

Even the masters disagreed with each other about how to do karate.

Like many of you, I’ve often wondered where GKR Karate rates in the scheme of things. Some martial art styles are more technical than GKR and others are more aggressive or have more contact. Some offer more close up fighting solutions, and some use the legs more or train harder. Over the years, I’ve wondered to myself whether any of these styles might be better than GKR. In the past, I’ve trained in Judo, Tae Kwondo, two styles of Ju Jutsu, and at least four other styles of karate. I’ve enjoyed some of them a lot, and some of them less much, but none brings me as much pleasure as GKR. Why? Is it because GKR turns me into a killing machine, or because the katas are better? Of course not; each of these styles has many strengths and weaknesses, but I think the reasons that I keep coming back to GKR is because it’s so complete.

As sensei Joe Estrada reminded us at a recent instructor’s training session, “Make sure that you cover a little bit of everything in each class - some basics, some kata and some kumite - that way even if the students don’t like one bit, there’s plenty more that they will like.” I realise now, as I think about it, that that variety is one of the things that keeps GKR fresh for me. At times I get sick of the basics, or stances, and in the early days, I really couldn’t see the point of kata, but in general I like both now. However, because we didn’t spend our entire lesson week after week doing just punches, or stances or kata, I kept training, as I slowly came to appreciate the value of these things.

Of course, the other thing that I love about GKR, is the fact that we’re a nice club with a real sense of teamwork.

But returning to my original question: where does GKR stand; well, I’ve heard some people badmouth GKR - usually people who didn’t understand the club, but in the scheme of things, I’d say that we’re doing just fine thank you. Sure, we don’t learn a million different techniques or katas like some clubs, but I think that there’s great value in our optimised approach. I recently heard a 5th dan sensei from another style talk about the “log-jam effect”. What he was referring to was the way that those students who know too many techniques can, in times of need, find themselves being indecisive about the correct technique to use. Should they use block number 1, number 18, number 48 or whatever. Meanwhile, they’ve been boshed on the nose and it’s too late.

Those people with the luxury of training full time may be able to learn and master 1000 different techniques, but for those people who only train an hour or two or five per week, GKR’s approach provides a far greater practical benefit.

Also, whilst we’re comparing ourselves, sure, some clubs may have higher ranked instructors, but let me assure you, a 3rd or 5th dan black belt is no guarantee that the sensei can deliver an effective, valuable, coherent lesson. I’ve seen some real masters over the years, who could smoosh me into the ground in a fight with both arms tied behind their backs, but could they teach? Did they bother to prepare a lesson plan? Did they even still train? No, no, no, NO!

So, in answer to my original pondering, I don’t think that there is a perfect martial art. What I have learned is that it’s the attitude of the student, and the quality of the instructor who makes all the difference. Regularly trained, friendly, family-oriented instructors with nothing to prove are worth more than any number of belts or trophies in my book. So train hard, and let's be proud of GKR's warm, professional approach to karate, and thank goodness that we have some of the best-trained instructors in the world!