Karate is an excellent way to improve your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. In addition, you will learn a variety of self-defense methods that will help you keep your body healthy and flexible and develop physical strength. So, what are exactly karate’s advantages and disadvantages?
Here are karate’s advantages and disadvantages:
Karate advantages
- You Will Learn To Defend Yourself
- Karate Is a Total Body Workout
- Karate Improves Strength And Power
- Karate Promotes Weight Loss
- Karate Is a Stress Reliever
Karate advantages and disadvantages
- It Can Be Expensive
- Risk of Injury
- Karate is Physically And Mentally Exhausting
- Karate Can Lead You to Missing Out on Other Opportunities
- Karate Can Affect Your Social Life
- Overconfidence in One’s Ability When It Comes To a Real-Life-Threatening Situation
Read on to find out all the pros and cons of practicing karate. You might also enjoy reading: 16 Best Ways That Karate Will Get You In the Best Shape.
Check out a video summarizing this article that we have uploaded to our YouTube channel.
Table of Contents
What Are the Advantages of Karate?
Practicing karate will strengthen the mind and improve composure and self-confidence. Additionally, karate will improve your coordination, build stamina, and strengthen your reflexes. Here are the main advantages of practicing karate.
1- Practicing Karate Will Give You a Total Body Workout
Karate is a full-body sport focusing on improving your cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and muscle tone.
Also, karate is undeniably one of the greatest total-body conditioning available. While burning extra fat, it combines cardio, muscle toning, and endurance training. Karate training is excellent not just for its effectiveness in self-defense but also for how quickly it transforms your whole body.
Imagine spending one hour of constant grappling, kicking, swinging, blocking, shifting, and evading.
See also: Is BJJ Actually Hard For Beginners? (Here’s the truth!)
2- Karate Will Teach You How To Defend Yourself
Karate training, like other styles of martial arts, equips you with fundamental skills and techniques that might potentially save your life when the moment comes.
Karate will teach you chocking, punching, blocking, kicking, dodging, submitting (your opponent), and evasion techniques that will turn your whole body into a lethal weapon from a practical and technical standpoint.
In addition, karate gives you the senses to respond efficiently and swiftly in serious danger or life-threatening situations, preparing you to protect yourself and your loved ones against potential aggressors.
See also: Crossfit Vs. Gym: Which One Should You Choose?
3- Karate Is An Excellent Stress Reliever
Regularly exercising has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, but being able to practice it in the company of a friendly and supportive group – like the dojo where you practice and meet new friends – may help you relax and reduce stress after a long day of work even more.
In other words, team sports athletes are potentially less likely to suffer depression or anxiety than individuals practicing sports alone.
A study concluded that depression and anxiety are more common among adolescent athletes in those who practice individual sports than those who practice team sports.
Additionally, in Karate, stress management is displayed through different training techniques and methods, including relaxation and breathing techniques.
According to experts, these drills may assist to relieve anxiety and tension. Karate training involves deep breathing exercises similar to yoga techniques and has a soothing impact.
4- Karate Promotes Strength And Power
Karate training not only strengthens your muscle but also improves your muscular endurance, cardiovascular strength, and stamina in a manner that few other workouts can’t.
Pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, crunches, and various other body-weight exercises are generally used by karate practitioners to develop greater physical strength, but it is their striking practice that pays off in the long term.
Furthermore, karate is based on constant and repetitive physical training, so if you want to get thin and tone your body while also building your power and strength, karate could be a good fit for you. Furthermore, it will help in muscle endurance, building up the energy you need for a healthy lifestyle.
See also: Top 6 Best Gym And CrossFit Gloves
5- Karate Promotes Greater Weight Loss
If you want to improve your health, lose weight, and burn a few inches off your waistline, karate training is for you. Every class torches a huge amount of calories due to the total-body nature of practicing karate.
In addition, karate uses demanding motions to engage the entire body and increase speed and develop both the arms and legs. Each stroke will activate your core upper body and give an excellent full-body workout as you use your hands, knees, feet, and elbows.
An hour of moderate level Karate practice will burn up to 720 calories on average, depending on the person’s weight.
Calories Burned in 1 hour Of Practicing Karate
| Activity | 125-pound (56.70 Kg) Individual | 155-pound (70.30 kg) individual | 185-pound (83.92 Kg) individual |
| Karate | 300 | 360 | 420 |
What Are The Disadvantages of Karate?
6- Cost of Practice Karate Can Add Up
Practicing Karate may be a good idea until you realize how much each lesson costs. For sure, you will have to practice karate in a class many times each week, which may add up quickly.
The cost of classes differs by institution and location, but they usually range from around $100 to $150 each week. Aside from the lessons, there is also the expense of the karategi, which is the karate uniform worn in every training and competition.
In addition, you may pay about $30 to participate in competitions. Karate may not be an ideal choice, particularly if you are looking for an “affordable” pastime or activity.
7- Karate Can Lead You to Missing Out on Other Social Experiences
When someone commits to practicing and studying Karate, they are really and truly dedicating themselves.
Karate is a thought-intensive and time-consuming activity making it challenging to devote much attention to anything else, and you might miss out on other things in life.
8- Practice Karate May Lead to a Potential Risk of Injury
There is a potential for vital injury when practicing karate, particularly in your early years. Bruises, broken limbs, bashes, wounds, and other vital injuries can result from a single bad hit, kick, or tumble.
The risk of injury is very high in tae kwon do compare to Shotokan karate, revealed a study. And the study concluded that martial arts may be safe for young athletes, particularly those at beginner or intermediate levels.
If you really don’t want to be harmed when practicing Karate, then be cautious.
See also: Is Actually BJJ Hard For Beginners? (Here’s the truth!)
9- Karate Can Be Mentally And Physically Exhausting
Karate is a physically demanding sport. It exhausts and empties the physique and the mind. In addition, Karate can be suitable for those who are mindful, intellectually aware, and thoughtful.
You may anticipate being physically and emotionally fatigued if you practice karate regularly.
10- Karate Might Affect Your Social Life
In advanced karate lessons, you can see that the students are pretty serious about martial art. The reason is karate takes up so much of their time and energy that they don’t have time to socialize or do the activities that other people do.
When you regularly practice karate, your emotional intelligence (AKA your child’s social abilities) may deteriorate. And generally, it also takes time to learn and train for karate competitions.
11- Overconfidence in Your Ability When It Comes To a Real Life-Threatening Situation
After taking a few karate classes, you become overconfident and overestimate your abilities in a real-life threatening situation.
It is necessary to learn to gauge your own ability accurately and know the practicality and limitations of any martial art you have learned, including BJJ and karate.
12- Karate Might Start To Dictate Your Life
When you start taking your karate practice seriously and compete in local and international championships on a constant schedule, you will need to adjust your lifestyle to support your high-intensity, physically demanding training.
This means you will require to consume a diet that meets your physical demands, work on your fitness, drink enough water, and gets adequate sleep. To the regular person, none of this will make sense, but you will be required to make some sacrifices in the long run.
See also: What Are The Most Used Muscles in BJJ? (Including the best exercises for BJJ)
Does Karate Affect Height?
While your genes will eventually determine how tall you are, karate can nevertheless help you grow a little taller. This is due to it developing your posture, exhausting you so you sleep more, assisting hormone release, and strengthening your bones.
As you can see, the benefits of practicing karate overweight its drawbacks. Start learning karate today and enjoy its multiple benefits.
Wrapping Up
Like anything in life, karate has both advantages and disadvantages; however, as you can see, the benefits gained from practicing karate overweight its drawbacks.
Another great thing about karate (and any other martial arts) is that it is accessible to anyone looking to stay active.
Additionally, karate can expose you to Japanese culture and the possibility of learning to speak the Japanese language.