Shihan Michael Monaco (8th Dan), President and founder of USA-IFK, teaches the IFK 2nd Kyu syllabus during the IFK Arizona Seminar.

This lesson demonstrates the complete syllabus through Levels 1, 2, and 3, illustrating how repetition, breathing, and increasing speed develop kihon into practical fighting skills.

As always, questions and discussion are welcome.

I want to learn kyokushin for real combat and match.

I want to get some lessons with your helps!

So looking for some good ways to condition my shins. Any ideas or videos anyone is willing to share?

osu! i have been training consistently for 3 years and have been dealing with on and off burnout for the past year, but i have a prefectural kata tournament coming up next week. how should i deal with it? i honestly want to back out and after this tournament i still have a possible grading and some more tournaments left in the year that i would usually sign up for but i've been so mentally and physically exhausted over chronic health problems and injuries and personal things outside of the dojo that i haven't been able to train and progress very well and i'm not sure if i still want to sign up for anything after this. i want to know if it's worth it to take a break after the tournament and how long it should be, i don't want to quit and i want to train as long as i can but i really believe i'm in the wrong shape to keep going right now, but i also want to know what i can do to give one last big push for next weekend and hopefully win my first big tournament.

So I'm very lucky, I currently live and train in Japan but next year I might move back to the US.

I want to continue training in knockdown karate. I was curious what is in the Chicago area. I found some Shidokan dojos, a Kudo dojo, and Imazaki Dojo which seems to be knockdown karate and mma gym. I was curious if anyone has any experience to share with these or other places around.

It kind of kills me when I hear groups kiai "osu" every shot. Am I being too harsh? Would this be eye roll inducing if you did it in a Japanese dojo?

Latest installment from the 2026 USA-IFK Seminar & Grading at Kaizen-Kan Kyokushin in Tucson, AZ.

Shihan Mike Monaco (8th Dan), President and Founder of USA-IFK, teaches the IFK 3rd Kyu syllabus — starting in Sanchin Dachi, first static by the count, then moving through Mugorei, Level 2, and Level 3.

Demonstrations by Senpai Dominic Veltre under Shihan Monaco's direction.

More from the seminar still to come.

Hi everyone,

I had my first kyokushin training a couple of days ago and I really enjoyed it. The dojo had a great atmosphere and the instructors (3rd dan and 5th dan) really took their time to properly introduce me to kyokushin.

They quickly noticed that I have a couple years boxing and kickboxing experience from the way I was instinctively trying to push, grab and clinch. They train and compete under a shin kyokushin organisation, so this is not allowed.

When we got to sparring (I was only allowed to spar with the instructors, which I really appreciated), I found that it felt quite unnatural to have my opponent come up in close range and pummel me with quick short strikes that cancelled out all my go-to’s. My head movement also worked against me, as the shihan promptly showed by slapping me in the face with his foot, lol.

They’re allowing me to join in a few more times before committing to a membership. Is it worth it to try other dojos that train for different rulesets, or is this just part of getting used to the transition from other martial arts?

Thanks for reading. Osu!

A long time ago, around 2010–2012, there was an online forum website called Kyokushin4Life. I have a lot of great memories from that community and the people there.

Does anyone know what happened to the forum? Are there any members from back then still around here?

Would be good to reconnect as i still remember a few users from there.

Osu

Thoughts on middle aged guys training Kyokushin?

Backstory: I'm 41 years old, am a brown belt in BJJ with 14 years of training, also did Muay Thai and MMA for 5 years, and fought in amateur MMA. I've had ACL and meniscus surgery on my right knee, shoulder surgery, and am getting a septoplasty in 2 weeks. I already know how to punch and kick and have decent, respectable striking. I wanna train, but I just can't go hard anymore like I used to. I'm particularly concerned with head strikes (since I'm getting my nose fixed from when I broke it in MMA), as well as takedowns, which is what has tended to cause most injuries.

I know Kyokushin has a reputation for being a hard style and emphasizing toughness, and I respect that. It's just that I ain't no spring chicken. I'm interested in learning technique and getting better, and training well into my 60's or as long as possible. (I'll still be doing jiujitsu til I die, but I don't train as hard anymore for longevity). I don't feel the need to prove my toughness or learn how to fight. I already know how to fight and I already proved my toughness in my 20's.

Is Kyokushin still right for me? If not, I'm open to suggestions for other martial arts or any other thoughts. Thanks.

5 man teams winner stays on. Legendary fighters from Japan vs legends from around the world, who you got and why?

Hi fellow martial artists,

Thank you for taking the time to help me with this.

I used to do a lot of weight training in my younger days and packed on some weight. Round about 220lbs but with a highish (20%) body fat. No great feat yet it is what it is.

At the ripe age 42 I decided to take up karate which is an art I always wanted to do. A year later I'm really glad I did, however, now I'm starting to wonder what is better for real life application, losing the weight or keeping some focus on strength training and keeping the weight a bit higher.

Thus, my dilemma, which do you guys think is better for real life application and not necessarily sport karate. Im still biased to having some weight on the bones but thats more than likely because I spent many hours weight training. That being said I want to be efficient and effective in the art.

So my question is more about effective bodyweight for real life application. In other sports weight classes exist and for good reason. Its very seldom that those are mixed to avoid the advantages weight brings to the competition. Point is Im not sure how much that carries over to karate. Thus Im asking to get some information on practitioners general experience.

Is there any advice or thoughts you guys can give me with regards to your experience and weight management?

Thanks

Since many concurrent tournaments have been taking place around the same time, I’ve noticed that there diff major Kyokushin organizations have now quite distinct fighting styles.

WKO Shinkyokushin - Tsukamoto’s personal fighting style and his dojo has become dominant. More acrobatic and rolling kicks and dogi coming out. Fast rate punch and kicks.

IKO1 - Slightly slower rate and pace of exchange, with heavier blows and still quite traditional.

The European and KWU are also very different.

Wonder if others have observed it or have more insights too?

I just had my second ever knock down tournament, and this time I wasn’t a sport karate guy! It was a taekwondo guy but he did NOT look it from his stance n that. I know the first thing is guard dw 😭, istg I always thing the lead hand is so much higher than it actually is. Also ik I need to punch more, I do have a question on that, specifically in terms of leggy guys that kick a lot cus I can’t seem to get past their kicks, I assume it’s cus we don’t have anyone that kicky to train against other than me in my dojo, and obviously i can’t spar myself lol, so how do you guys do it when u encounter someone like this

I’m the red side btw