Is Karate easy to learn? Everything you need to know

Karate is one of the oldest and most respected martial arts there is to learn. It relies heavily on timing, technique, and balance so if you can learn these three principles then you will undoubtedly progress at a good speed. However, like all good things in life you will also have to maintain discipline to stay on track and focused. As is often the case in all martial arts, newcomers are initially enthusiastic, only to quit after several months. Sadly, Karate is no different, and even though it’s not overly difficult to learn it takes a degree of self-control to stick with it.

As mentioned in a previous article, Karate should not be learned if your goal is to achieve a quick black belt. Nor should you expect to get instant results overnight. Usually, in life it takes time to gain skills that are worth learning. In other words, there’s no point pursuing a martial art if it can be mastered in months or even a few short years.

Instead, you should enjoy the process of learning over years and slowly but surely improving your technique. Because of this, Karate isn’t particularly difficult to learn but it isn’t super easy either. With this said, we will analyze whether Karate is easy to learn below as well as offering tips and tricks to speed your improvement.

Learning Karate at home

One of the great strengths of Karate is that it can be self-taught at home (to an extent). Of course, your priority should always be to learn first in the dojo under the supervision of your sensei. This is the most effective way to train as their experience will guide your progression. However, one of the ‘easier’ things about Karate is practicing kata at home.

Kata is basically the term for drilling body movements associated with Karate. Often this can involve kicks, blocks, and foot movement. It is all aimed to improve your muscle memory and retain knowledge as optimally as possible. With this in mind, it may not be especially easy, but it will fast-track your learning when you cannot train at a gym.

Due to the growth in online videos, this is easier to accomplish now compared to any previous time in history. Whilst you have to be careful the Karate video is legitimate, there are a number of great, free Youtube videos that will demonstrate kata and techniques to improve you. If you follow these videos correctly, then your Karate will definitely improve and you will see results in the dojo.

How to learn Karate easily

As mentioned in the introduction, there are several factors that will determine the ease of how quickly you pick up Karate. Amongst other things, the main trio of technique, timing, and balance are highly relevant. Basically, if you can become more athletic than before, then you will improve in all areas of your Karate. This is why most dojos have a heavy emphasis on strength and conditioning – because it gets results. Here, we will discuss each element in greater detail and how learning them can make your Karate journey much easier in terms of progress.

Technique

As touched upon, technique can be learned on your own by practicing kata in isolation. However, there are other ways to improve your technique. This mostly depends on having a good sensei. Whilst all senseis should have a good base of knowledge, this doesn’t necessarily mean they will teach you good technique. In short, communication and patience are probably the best ways for a teacher to gift knowledge to their student. If you are taught good techniques from early on, then this will lay the building blocks towards a good foundation.

Whilst athleticism certainly helps progress your Karate, understanding the fundamentals and how and why movements work is more important. For instance, you may learn how to throw a certain punch. However, more importantly, you also need to learn the correct dachi behind it to make it work. Further, you will need to learn how to combine moves together to make them as efficient as possible.

Under the guidance of a good teacher, you should progress quicker than under a poor teacher. This may sound obvious but it’s entirely true and very important. With this said, you may find Karate far easier with the correct sensei who pushes you and shows encouragement. Compared to a lazy sensei, you may struggle with learning and find the process slower. It cannot be underestimated how important a good teacher is in terms of development. Because of this, the better the teacher, the easier it is to learn.

Timing and precision

Another key part of Karate is learning timing which goes for everything. You may be able to punch, but if your timing isn’t right then it will never land and therefore be ineffective. In short, working on your timing is vital. This can help in the dojo during kumite, but also practicing with lots of kata can help too. Basically, the more you improve your timing, the more your technique and skill will pay off.

Because of this, the faster you develop timing, the easier training will become. So, this is another way in which the ease of learning Karate is dictated. For instance, someone with terrible timing may find Karate very difficult to learn. However, someone with impeccable timing may find Karate incredibly easy to learn.

The annoying thing about this is that whilst timing can be developed and taught, a lot of it is based on natural reflexes. For instance, a younger student may have better timing and sharper reflexes compared to an older student of the same skill level. The good thing is that everyone can improve their timing as long as they show enough discipline to stick things out. However, there is a real correlation with good timing and how easily you will move throughout your Karate journey.

Balance and mobility

Balance is another key element of Karate. As your stance and kicks should be fluid, you will need to have good balance to be effective. For instance, if you try hitting a Mae tobi geri you will need good balance to pull it off. Like the aforementioned, having good balance will make learning Karate a lot easier.

There are several exercises that can enhance your balancing skills such as standing on one leg and various kata that will guide you. This can be done at home and literally walking in a straight line with closed eyes is one method that will help tremendously with balance. Combined with learning fundamentally good technique and timing, these three things will make your journey through the belts much easier.

Listen, look and learn, perhaps the best way to make Karate easy

There’s a saying ‘monkey see, monkey do’. This applies in all areas of life including Karate. Basically, this is a simple yet effective idea that can make learning Karate much easier. Sometimes you may see students in the dojo daydreaming whilst a kata is being performed, and the sensei is showing a move with an uke. These people often struggle as they aren’t paying attention. Often this isn’t intentional and some people will naturally have a shorter attention span.

However, it’s a great habit to get into that is focusing as much as possible when a move is taught. Here, you want to look at the key, micro-details such as specific foot movement, and listen to what is being said. This will make the learning process easier. It makes sense as this is how babies and young children learn. They may not be able to talk, but they will watch things and listen to their surroundings, picking up ideas as a result. You may even go one step further and take a notepad to the dojo. This isn’t too uncommon and if you’re forgetful then writing things down can make you digest techniques much easier.

Lastly, you could even try to befriend an experienced black belt. Typically, most Karate black belts are more than willing to teach you and will be friendly enough. In other words, you shouldn’t feel too intimidated about talking to them. If you can strike up a friendship, then this could be huge for your progression in terms of learning all sorts of tips and tricks.

Focus on the fundamentals

This works across the board for the entirety of martial arts. Basically, learning the fundamentals may seem more boring – but in doing so it will make learning much, much easier and faster. As said earlier, if you focus on the basics then everything will fall into place. Similarly, thinking in terms of concepts rather than static, fragmented moves also helps. However, in martial arts the fundamentals are often overlooked by modern practitioners.

You may have a new student join after watching Cobra Kai and want to try a crane kick or something quite advanced. Whilst most moves are fine, you may want to start by working on footwork and balance first. Often you will see students who chase flashy moves get destroyed by senpai’s during kumite. This is because they don’t understand the basics and get caught with the fundamental moves.

Remember, they’re called ‘fundamentals’ for a reason. That reason is that they’re fundamentally important and can be applied as a white belt through to black belt and beyond. A similar way to speed up learning is by thinking of things as fluid concepts instead of individual moves. For example, learning a punch may be ok in isolation. However, if you can combine it with trips and kicks then suddenly everything will fall into place quicker.

Focus on a style that you find easy

This may be the most underrated method of training on the list. As Karate has many different styles and variations, you could research these before training. For instance, Shokotan is taught in a different style compared to Shito-Ryu. Each style has certain intricacies such as a focus on lots of different kata, more kumite, more focus on feetwork etc.

In brief, find what fits your personality and try it out. For example, Kyokushin is considered as a tough form of Karate that involves full contact sparring. You may find something like Goju-Ryu more appropriate for your style if you don’t like hard kumite. With this said, your experience and ease will depend entirely on what option you choose and whether it’s a good fit for you. Whilst some, younger practitioners may aim towards a faster pace of Karate, this may not be as easy for those starting the martial art as an older student.

Learning should be fun

Too often in martial arts, people train for the sake of it instead of truly embracing it. Karate isn’t just a physical activity, it’s a lifestyle that should be enjoyed. Sometimes for instance, people will chase belts instead of having fun during the process of learning. In short, if you genuinely enjoy Karate then you will probably find it easier. For example, if you take part in a Karate competition and lose then it doesn’t matter if you enjoyed it. You will still learn from the experience and look back fondly at the memories. However, if you take it too seriously and focus on the negatives then it sucks the fun out of it. If this is the case, you’re more likely to quit or generally enjoy it less.

Because of this, if you are truly passionate about Karate then you will enjoy it and train regardless. Even during the difficult times of training such as plateaus, if you enjoy Karate then it will at least feel easier. This is the opposite of training for the sake of it, where you are more likely to quit during the hard times and also feel like your overall progress is much slower and harder than it actually is.

With this in mind, you could say that Karate is ‘easy’ to learn based on your mentality. If you feel it’s always hard and tough then you may say ‘Karate is hard to learn’, but if you love it then you may say it’s easy. This shows that its difficulty is a mental state as much as anything and the answer is entirely dependent on the individual’s interpretation of ‘hard’ and ‘easy’.

When Karate isn’t easy to learn

So far we’ve looked at how Karate can be easy to learn. However, we will now focus on times when it may not be so easy. The short answer to this is joining a poor dojo. Whilst most dojos are legit, some will not be which can harm your progression. Generally, a good way to see the quality of a dojo is by looking at online reviews, or if it’s nearby then you will get a sense of how it works from the local scene. With this said, a poor sensei can really hold you back. If they teach bad fundamentals and show little interest in teaching and encouraging you then this is a bad sign. Similarly, if their students and senpai struggle to grasp core moves or struggle in kumite then this is another bad warning sign.

If this is the case, then it may be best to shop around and look at other local dojos that offer other forms of Karate. In other words, learning under a bad teacher for 10 years could be the equivalent of learning from a good teacher for 2 years. With this said, your sensei will have a real impact on how easily you perceive Karate and the learning process.

Summary

Relatively speaking, Karate is no harder or easier to learn than any other form of martial arts. In short, it really depends on a few issues. These include the quality of your instructor, your athletic ability, timing and happiness whilst learning. Not only this but there’s no set answer or consensus when answering whether Karate is easy to learn.

Perhaps the main question should be, ‘Is Karate fun to learn?’ and if we’re answering that, then yes it is very fun to learn. With this mentality you will undoubtedly find Karate much easier than if you don’t care as much. In conclusion, Karate is like anything in life. If you enjoy it and have the right training tools and environment in place then it can be considered easy to learn. Of course, this all depends on the individual and their definition of what is easy and what isn’t.