I was discussing the idea of "reptition beats intensity" with a new and older student. That is to say, a student, new to karate, but well acquainted with the world. He was concerned about his speed of learning. When you first start kata, it can seem overwhelming, as well it is. The first katas are simple, kinesthetically speaking, but they represent a different psychological approach than most people are used to. Intentional simplicity? Very confusing. But this post is not about kata, but about where one goes with one's karate. This student was intimidated by the learning curve. Yet the learning curve is not what karate is about. Sure, everyone is climbing that curve, but where you are on it, and how fast you climb, it is irrelevant, as long as you don't stop. It's hard to see that when you begin, hard to look at others and gauge the progression one will follow oneself.

The initial tekis have no real world application. Then why learn them? They are a crystalization of several ingredients which give future katas their flavor. Th flavor is too complex for the beginning student to savor, so they are broken out to be sampled a little bit at a time in an underwhelming format.

I was going through my empty hand katas today in the USF Rec Center. They had the Borg Scale (also known as Rate of Perceived Exertion) listed on one of the walls. Between forms I would glance at it, and I started thinking about how I would rate the performance of kata. Also, what should it be? If you are not familiar, the RPE is an arbitrary number indicating how hard you are working. It starts a 7 (I assume below 7 your are comatose or dead), and goes up to 20: maximal exertion. Around 10 is an easy pace.

I often find the classes I dread the most turn out to be the best. Perhaps I've had a bad day, and would like nothing more than to take the day off. Lately, I've been at the computer too much, (ah, the travesty of having a real job, too), and don't want to stress my joints too much. Almost invariably, I find the class to be good. My joints put themselves back in the right places. Class goes smoothly, or it will even be a breakthrough.