Karate for Fat Bastards

[Please note that I'm  using the term "Fat Bastards" in the most affectionate tone possible. And also note that I count myself as absolutely a member of that group!]

What's a Fat Bastard? For the sake of this post, I'm talking about anybody who is thickly built. Stocky, big boned, actually fat, or even lean but with a lot of muscle. Anybody who couldn't be called lanky. And I don't mean to exclude women, but the term 'Fat Bitch" doesn't have the same playful connotation (at least in American English), so I'm going to avoid it.

Why am I writing about thickly built people? Because in many ways karate is designed to favor the lanky, the scrawny, the width challenged individual. Karate is easier for skinny people.

Now you're probably thinking, "Surely this is overstating things, Joe?" No, it's not. It starts even before the class begins, as soon as you put on a gi. Why do we wear a jacket that wraps a double layer around our midsection? Who looks good in this? Only skinny people. If you are already wide through the torso, a gi just makes you look fatter and blockier. If you're very skinny, it gives some substance.

Second: point fighting. Point fighting is combat designed to strip away all the advantages of solidity and mass. In a full contact fight, solidly built people have some advantages - being able to absorb bigger impacts without falling, generally being able to hit harder. Point fighting is made to take away those advantages and make frail, skinny people look more effective than they are. Don't agree? Find someone your height but 25 kg heavier and similarly skilled to you. Stand toe to toe and trade full contact left hooks to the body with them. Then do 2 rounds of point fighting. See who 'wins' each phase.

Third: jumping techniques. I promise you the first person who decided to try a spinning jumping kick did not weigh over 100 kg. How good you are at getting into the air has a lot to do with different kinds of strength, but weighing more is always going to make it harder.

What should the thickly build karateka do? Well, if you're carrying a lot of extra fat, you should probably try to get rid of some of it, for health reasons (remember, having extra fat isn't particularly healthy, but neither are some of the methods people use to lose fat, so be sensible. If you can safely remove some fat, great, but don't starve to death or shoot your stress levels through the roof to get skinnier). At some point, though, many of us will have realize that even with reasonable efforts in that direction we're still thickly built; either big boned or heavily muscled or carrying stubborn fat or some combination of those.

My first instinct is to tell the thickly built karateka to sort of focus on the aspects of karate that work well for the thick and focus less on those that don't. For example, focus on clean technique, rooted stances, fighting from up close and with greater contact. Worry less about anything with jumping and spinning. Work to break lots of boards in a stack, and not to break a board flipped up into the air with some kind of jumping technique. Get really strong. Make sure you are training a style that does some contact!

But the more I thought about it the less I liked this answer.

The truth is this: If you're thick, you're at a disadvantage developing those kinds of skills (jumping, spinning, speed-based stuff). You'll probably never be truly elite in those areas. But if you really love that stuff, you can also definitely get much, much better at them than you are now.

So if you love that type of karate, you have a decision to make: either focus on those skills knowing that you'll never be quite as good at them as people who are better suited to them (and also work hard) OR shift your attention to the type of karate that your body is 'designed' for.

And really, neither answer is wrong.

I personally know that I would find focusing on skills that don't suit my body too demoralizing - for me. I personally couldn't sustain that kind of martial arts practice over a lifetime. I, instead, focus on being able to hit the heavy bag as hard as possible, and focus on strategies in kumite that get my opponents closer to me. I'll never be truly elite at anything in martial arts, but I can be pretty good at those sort of things.

But if I loved the jumping stuff enough, I'm sure I could work on it and get much better at it than I am now, even if I could never be great.

And the more I think about this, the more I feel it's true for other types of limitations.

If your'e genetically suited for endurance rather than speed, you'll never be a great sprinter. So if you're trying to compete in the Olympics, you'd better train for marathons and not the 100m. But if you're just a recreational runner who loves sprints, and you can handle the idea of working on sprints your whole life without ever becoming really great at sprinting, then go for it! But go for it with open eyes.

Find a way to train that YOU will love, then do it. There is no right or wrong beyond that.