Is karate suitable for women or is it a man’s sport after all? We investigate this question and question the suitability of the martial art for women. On the one hand, whether the exercise makes sense, but also whether the sport can be used by women for self-defense.
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Videos of karate women
If you want to see for yourself that karate for women is best suited for self-defense, you can watch the following videos. They come from competitions or were uploaded by private people.
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Answers to common questions
Is karate a brutal sport?
The fact that karate is considered by the public, through movies on TV, to be an extremely brutal and ruthless martial art, discourages some women from learning it.
However, this is complete nonsense, because no serious club in Germany trains the way we know it from Hollywood movies. Rather, in training, the highest value is placed on ensuring that all karateka leave the dojo unharmed.
How does the karate training for women work?
Furthermore, the intensity of the training is determined, among other things, by which partner each individual trains with. An example: no trainer will let a lanky woman, who just started training four weeks ago, fight against a heavy man with a black belt. Here it would be preprogrammed that the woman despairs because she has no chance and that the black belt is downright bored because there is no challenge for him.
The trainer will rather look for a training partner who is more suitable in terms of experience and body stature. So from this perspective, karate is just as suitable for women as it is for men.
Do you need a lot of strength for karate?
Another aspect that often raises concerns is the usually lower strength of women.
- However, this is not a problem at all, since it does not play a role in fulfilling the requirements for the next belt. Only the execution of the technique and the overall body control have an influence on the evaluation. The evaluation of pure strength does not take place in any examination program, not even in higher grades.
- However, it can be clearly stated that other martial arts require less strength than karate due to their principle. Judo, for example, is also recommended for women, since it operates on the principle of “maximum effect, with minimum effort”. However, this should not prevent any woman from learning karate. In athletic competition, however, women compete exclusively against women, and additional weight classes are formed to minimize physical disadvantages.
- In addition, a woman who masters karate is absolutely capable of deflecting blows (this is more about technique than strength). In addition, experienced karate women know where and how to incapacitate an attacker. Because here a targeted blow is necessary, of course, strength also plays a role, but not the leading one.
Should you pause karate during pregnancy?
The only point at which karate is unsuitable for women is during pregnancy. The extreme stresses combined with the risk of affecting the abdomen through direct hits or other concussions can be dangerous for the child. Therefore, karate should be refrained from during pregnancy.
Conclusion: Karate is very well suited
Ultimately, the question mentioned at the beginning “is karate suitable for women?” must be considered in several facets:
- Fitness: Karate is very well suited to increase the fitness of both men and women. In addition to defense and attack techniques, fitness is also trained.
- Coordination: your body will listen to you better and coordination skills will be improved through training.
- Defense: Karate training is not just about defending against attacks, there are special self-defense classes for that. Nevertheless, common defense techniques against kicks and punches or the attack with weapons. Also attack techniques with fists and feet are taught. Therefore, you will definitely know how to respond to one or more attackers than without the training.