Come to Mr. Layton's "work off the Turkey" class Friday, November 27th at 11:30am.  Though no other classes will be held Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, November 29th, take advantage of his morning class the day after Turkey Day!

One of the major reasons that people take up Karate is to get a little exercise. In our electronically-powered world where the entire middle class is seemingly bolted down to a chair at work where we do little other than clickity-click with a mouse in an email program only to return home and clickity-click on a mouse in a web browser for entertainment, most of us could stand to get a little more exercise. And Karate does provide a great resource to draw upon for exercise.

One of the best reasons for taking up Karate for exercise purposes is that it is a group activity. Instead of drifting to a gym when you feel the urge, and often not drifting to the gym at all because you lack the motivation, we are able to find many workout buddies in a Karate club ready-made and waiting to both inspire us to show up and compete with them while training. As a group activity, Karate training provides more incentive to exercise, and that is probably the most important component of any exercise program. The thing that is wrong with most people's exercise routines is that they are lonely experiences which eventually demotivate.
Karate training also provides a disciplined environment where you can be pretty sure that the class will be a solid workout. When I have found a workout buddy at the gym, he's usually kept me talking so much (or I him) that we don't really get in a good workout. In a Karate club with more than two or three members, usually the pressure to keep the training going has kept Karate classes silent and intense. This sort of motivation is hard to come by in a professional gym filled with treadmills and weights.

There are two types of muscle training out there: anaerobic and aerobic. They are typically referred to by the more common jargon of strength training and cardio. Karate training is suited to both types, and a clever instructor can provide his class with low numbers of repetitions at high speeds as well as high numbers of repetitions with little rest at somewhat lower speeds to give his class whatever type of workout he might desire. Flexibility training in the form of static and dynamic stretching is also common to Karate training. Becoming more flexible over time can reduce the chance of injury and allow you to perform more and more interesting and fun physical feats of skill. A very flexible person can hop over a railing without any trouble at all, whereas a stiff person will almost kill themselves trying to go over or under it. Flexibility cannot be denied as a major benefit from any exercise program.
Resistance training can also be had in a Karate dojo or performed using Karate techniques at home. Many Karate experts enjoy training with loops of heavy-duty surgical tubing so that they can step, punch, kick, and twist against resistance. This old trick has been known in the sport of Baseball for a long time, as farmer's sons could often be seen tying an inner-tube from an old-style tire to a fence post and then practicing the Baseball pitching motion against the resistance. Other forms of resistance training in Karate exist, but they are mostly isometric, so while they do not build big muscles or necessarily increase strength, they do provide excellent tone and conditioning. Standing in deep stances, stepping around in low stances, and moving slowly with antagonist muscles contracted are all such isometric exercises. All of them can be performed without a membership in a gym.
Which brings me to another reason that Karate is such an excellent all-around tool for exercise: Karate training is extremely portable. I take my knowledge with me wherever I go, and even though with a coach I would progress in my skills faster, there is no doubt that I can work out in a small hotel room while traveling without having to get out my abdominal-exerciser or stand on a treadmill. And, while it is not exactly the most ascetic and meditative experience I have ever had, I often perform my karate techniques while watching television.
I belong to one of those huge chain gyms that have big mirrors, high ceilings, rows and rows of machines, racquetball courts, a basketball court, an indoor pool, and an open aerobics room with a wooden floor. Despite joining it to use the machines in order to improve my strength and endurance, the most satisfying time I have in there is when I go in the aerobics room during lunch and practice Karate techniques in front of the expensive mirrors on the cushioned and highly-polished wood floor. Walking on a treadmill staring at a television set only gives me endurance and fat-burning. My Karate practice provides me with that, if I want it, or speed training, if I want it, or I can get some mental sharpening in by trying to concentrate on this detail or that detail. I also reap the other benefits of Karate training, and when I am done, I don't have to panic if the gym is closed. I can just pound out some techniques at home if I want to.

For someone with a tight schedule, a long commute, and a lot on his mind, Karate training can be an efficient, all-around answer to the question of exercise.
Karate training certainly has it down-sides, as does any activity where more than two people are involved. There are problems in the world everywhere. Focusing on them will not solve anything unless we are specifically working to fix a problem or bring it to light. No matter the exercise programs I have tried, I always find myself coming back to my Shotokan Karate training and enjoying the fact that I have a gym built into my mind that I can call upon any time I want, and that I can do whatever I want with it when I am alone.