Katsu-Mi Kai Shotokan Karate Club

22/09/2026

🥋 TECHNIQUE TUESDAY — SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP

We all want our karate to be fast and powerful.

But sometimes the best way to get there is to do the exact opposite…

SLOW IT DOWN.

Try performing a technique slowly and suddenly you notice things that speed can hide.

👣 Is your foot in the right position?
⚖️ Is your weight moving correctly?
🥋 Is your stance stable throughout the movement?
👊 Are your shoulders relaxed?
🎯 Is the technique travelling along the right path?
💥 Are your hips and technique finishing together?

When we rush, momentum can sometimes carry us through mistakes.

When we slow down…

there’s nowhere for those mistakes to hide.

That applies to individual techniques, combinations and particularly kata.

Try performing a kata deliberately slowly. Don’t just move at half speed — concentrate on maintaining your posture, balance and technique throughout every transition.

Then perform it normally again.

You might be surprised by what you notice.

**CONTROL FIRST.

SPEED SECOND.
POWER FOLLOWS.**

🥋 KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

21/09/2026

🥋 MONDAY MOTIVATION — YOUR KARATE IS YOUR JOURNEY

It’s easy to look across the dojo and compare yourself with someone else.

They’re more flexible.
Their techniques look faster.
They remember kata more easily.
They’ve reached a higher grade.
They started after you and seem to be progressing quicker.

But there’s one important thing to remember:

You’re not training their karate. You’re training yours.

Everyone walks into the dojo with different strengths, different challenges and a different journey ahead of them.

The person beside you can inspire you, challenge you and help you improve — but they shouldn’t become the measure of your own progress.

Instead, compare yourself with the karateka who walked into the dojo six months ago.

🥋 Is your technique better?
🧠 Do you understand more?
👊 Are you more confident?
🎯 Have you improved something you once struggled with?

Those are the comparisons that matter.

And there will always be somebody better at something.

That’s actually one of the wonderful things about karate — there is always more to learn.

So this Monday, don’t worry about somebody else’s belt, ability or progress.

**YOUR JOURNEY.

YOUR PROGRESS.
YOUR KARATE.**

Just keep working on becoming a better version of the karateka you were yesterday. 🥋

KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

20/09/2026

🥋😂 SUNDAY DOJO LAUGH

It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for another truly terrible joke from the Katsu-Mi Kai dojo… 😬

Ready?

🥋 I have a karate addiction…

But I’m about to KICK IT! 🦵😂

We’d like to apologise to Sensei, our students and karateka everywhere for that one. 🤣

Have a fantastic Sunday everyone — and remember, while some habits are worth kicking…

Karate definitely isn’t one of them! 🥋👊

KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

19/09/2026

🥋 SATURDAY KARATE MEMORIES — DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST GRADING?
Walking into the dojo knowing today was grading day felt a little different. 😬🥋
The nerves.
Trying to remember everything you'd practised.
Watching everyone before you and wondering when your name would be called.
Checking your stances, techniques and kata in your head for the hundredth time…
And then that feeling when it was finally over. 😅
For many karateka, that first grading becomes one of those dojo memories that sticks with you.
Maybe you remember the Sensei who graded you.
Perhaps you can remember exactly where it took place.
You might even still have the certificate — or that very first belt tucked away somewhere. ❤️
So today's Saturday Karate Memory is:
👇 DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST GRADING?
🥋 Where was it?
🎓 Who graded you?
😬 Were you nervous?
🎨 What belt were you hoping to achieve?
❤️ And what do you remember most about the day?
For some of our senior karateka, we're asking you to go back quite a few years here! 😂
Share your memories in the comments — and if you've got an old grading photo hiding somewhere, we'd love to see that too. 📸
Because however far your karate journey has taken you…
There was once a day when you stood there waiting for your very first grade.
🥋 KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

18/09/2026

🥋 FRIDAY DOJO CHALLENGE — TRAIN WITH PURPOSE

At your next karate session, give yourself one small challenge:

Pick ONE technique and really pay attention to it.

Not whether it looks impressive.
Not whether you’re doing it faster than everyone else.

Actually feel what you’re doing.

🥋 Where is your weight?
👣 What are your feet doing?
⚖️ Are you balanced?
💨 Are you breathing or holding your breath?
👊 Are you relaxed before the technique?
🎯 Where is the technique actually going?

Then make one correction.

And repeat it.

Karate improvement doesn’t always require learning another kata, another combination or another technique.

Sometimes it’s about taking something you already know and understanding it a little better.

So that’s your challenge for the weekend:

**ONE TECHNIQUE.

ONE CORRECTION.
LOTS OF REPETITION.**

Don’t try to fix everything at once.

Find one thing. Make it better. 👊

What technique would you choose?

🥋 KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

17/09/2026

🥋 THURSDAY THOUGHT — THE PERSON BESIDE YOU MATTERS

Karate might sometimes look like an individual pursuit.

Your kata.
Your grading.
Your technique.
Your progress.

But very little of it is actually achieved alone.

Think about the people standing beside you in the dojo.

🤝 The training partner who lets you practise a technique again… and again… and again.

🥋 The senior grade who quietly helps when you’re struggling.

👊 The person holding the pad while you work on your technique.

😊 The friend who makes training enjoyable on the nights when you’re tired.

🎓 And the instructors who give their time and experience to help you develop.

Even when we’re practising kata individually, we’re surrounded by people who are helping us become better karateka.

And there’s another side to that…

You’re doing exactly the same for them.

Every time you partner someone, encourage a junior grade, listen respectfully, help someone understand something or simply turn up and train alongside them, you contribute to their karate journey too.

So tonight’s thought is a simple one:

**Your progress may be personal.

But the journey is shared.**

Perhaps at your next session, take a moment to appreciate the people standing beside you. 🥋❤️

KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

16/09/2026

🥋 WEDNESDAY DOJO QUESTION

YOU CAN ONLY KEEP ONE KATA… WHICH ONE ARE YOU CHOOSING?

Imagine every kata you’ve ever learned suddenly disappears.

You’re allowed to save just ONE. 😱

Which one are you keeping?

It could be the kata you enjoy performing most, the one you’ve spent years studying, the one whose bunkai interests you most, or simply the kata that has a special meaning to you.

There’s only one rule…

You only get ONE! 👀

And we’d really like to know why you’ve chosen it.

Maybe it’s one of the Heian kata. Perhaps Tekki Shodan. Bassai Dai? Kanku Dai? Empi? Jion? Or something you’ve encountered much later in your karate journey?

🥋 Sensei and senior grades — you’re playing too!

👇 Tell us your ONE kata in the comments and, if you can, tell us why.

And no cheating by saying “I consider all 26 Shotokan kata to be one very long kata.” 😂

KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

15/09/2026

🥋 TUESDAY KARATE KNOWLEDGE — WHY DO WE BOW?

We bow every time we enter and leave the dojo.

We bow to our Sensei.

We bow to our training partners.

We bow at the beginning and end of kata.

For something we do so often in karate, it can be easy for the bow to become something we perform automatically.

But Rei (礼) is much more than simply following dojo etiquette.

🥋 Respect — for our instructors, training partners and the art we practise.

🤝 Trust — particularly when training with a partner who is allowing us to practise techniques safely.

🧠 Focus — a moment to leave distractions behind and concentrate on our training.

🙏 Gratitude — recognising the people who teach us and those who help us learn.

👊 Control — reminding ourselves that karate is practised with discipline and responsibility.

When two karateka bow to one another, grade doesn’t change the meaning.

Both are acknowledging the person standing in front of them and the responsibility they share while training together.

And when we bow as we leave the dojo, perhaps it’s also worth asking ourselves:

“Did I leave the dojo a little better than when I entered it?”

The bow may only take a second.

What it represents should last much longer.

🥋 KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

14/09/2026

🥋 MONDAY MOTIVATION — NOT EVERY SESSION WILL BE YOUR BEST

Some days you walk out of the dojo feeling like everything clicked.

Your techniques felt sharp.
Your kata flowed.
Your timing was right.
You felt like you’d made real progress. 👊

And then there are the other days… 😅

The technique you’ve practised hundreds of times suddenly feels awkward. You forget part of a kata you know. Your balance disappears. Nothing seems to work quite as it should.

Those sessions matter too.

Karate isn’t about being at your best every time you step into the dojo.

It’s about turning up anyway.

🥋 Train when it feels easy.
👊 Train when it feels difficult.
🧠 Learn from the mistakes.
🌱 Accept the frustrating sessions.
➡️ Come back and try again.

Because sometimes the session where you struggle teaches you far more than the session where everything went perfectly.

So if training hasn’t gone quite how you wanted recently, don’t judge your progress by one difficult session.

Turn up. Train. Learn. Return.

That’s how we improve.

🥋 KATSU-MI KAI
To overcome your weaknesses.

13/09/2026