How To Learn Karate At Home

Anyone can learn Karate, at any age.

Many people are home more often, in front of a computer more often, or are still practicing social distancing. To be honest, it really hurt local Karate schools and forced many of them to either go online or close their doors permanently.

I'm going to teach you exactly how you can learn karate at home in this article.

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Learn Karate By Watching Videos

The Easiest Way to Learn Karate at home, is going at your own pace and taking time to learn and master the basics. Once you've mastered the basics and stances, you'll be able to start talking the talk and walking the ... well... karate walk so to speak.

Karate involves lots of intricate movements and precise stances. Once you learn these basics, a teacher can guide you onto learning more advanced techniques as well as correcting any flaws in your form.

I actually created a beginners program that has walk through videos on how to do every single move, stance and kata. It took me over 5000 hours and I'm constantly updating it.

I suggest watching the tutorial videos that are step by step explanations first. Then follow along with just the demonstration videos.

Actually here's a free sample so you can see what I'm talking about.

Learn Karate At Home by Tutorial Video

In this video, Hanshi Bill Woodard guides beginners through how to do basic stances and techniques. It can feel boring to watch instructional videos, kinda like when your high school teacher pulled out the good old overhead projector. The videos are a little older but still contain fantastic content from a 9th Degree Black Belt Master.

Learn Karate At Home by Demonstration Video

The Short Demonstration Videos are separated into each single technique for Karate and for Kobudo per weapon. This is a great way to watch and practice Karate at home, or remember a technique quickly if you've forgotten it. Some Karate instructors actually use our site just to pull inspiration for their lesson plans.

Learning Karate at Home by watching videos can be hard but these simple tips will help you figure it out.

3 Tips for learning Karate at home by watching videos

1. Learn to "Mirror" the techniques.

This can be a very confusing part initially. Slow down and watch several times, realizing that the left arm in the video is corresponding to your right arm etc. You'll need to have great spacial awareness as you learn this way. Nice work out for your mind.

2. Slow Down

Try practicing the techniques very slowly until you have them memorized. Then gradually speed them up as you train at home.

3. Be Patient and Clear Your Mind

For me, I have a hard time learning from videos because my prior knowledge often frustrates me. I want to skip ahead to the good parts, or the parts that I think I need. As a Karate student (I've been training for 28 Years), you have to learn Mushin or "No Mind", clear your preconceived notions of Karate and absorb the material like a sponge.

If you feel like you already know something, be patient and open your mind and ears to listen and augment your current skills.

Becoming someone who can learn and adapt is key on your Karate journey. Actually, did you know that the word Ninja literally means Patient Person? "Non" Patient and "Ji" Person. Makes sense.

Watch YouTube Karate Classes

There are actually a TON of free resources for learning Karate at Home.

Here our our favorite free karate lesson channels to practice with.

Youtube does get a bit annoying at times due to the nature of Ad breaks etc. We get it Sensei, you need to put food on the table but cmon I'm trying to enjoy this content!

Take a break to hydrate and stretch during the ads, your health is important!

Learn Karate at Home with Private Skype Lessons

Some teachers offer private lessons via Skype which can be an awesome way to improve your Karate beyond the basics.

Olympic Medalist Ariel Torres teaches Private Karate Lessons Online like this as his full time job to fund his lifestyle and tournament travels and competitions.

You can reach him on his instagram here.

Just call your local dojo or your favorite Karate school and ask if they have a program like this.

Hopefully this short guide has helped you!