Hello, I'm fairly new to this art and I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post my request but here goes I have been learning something that was advertised as Kickboxing at my local gym but actually turns out to be called kick karate . The main difference I can see, from having absolutely no knowledge, is that its karate without the kata and we also have contact sparring with gloves and feet pads each session. Anyway, if this is a form of karate I though a good way to improve my technique would be to practice the basic karate kicks and punches in private. However, I don't want to spend my time learning something incorrectly so I was wondering if there is any good instruction manual available that demonstrates the basic moves using lots of pictures so that I can check myself in a mirror? BTW, I am UK based if this makes any difference! Thanks, Sam.
Loads mate! If you want good solid traditional basics anything by Funakoshi is good - they are also interesting from a purely historical perspective. As for "non-traditional"...well Alfie Lewis's "The Winning Edge" is OK (and he was pretty good at the Freestyle thing) and there is also a back by Jeff (note thats J-E-F-F not Geoff) Thomson called "Karate - the pursuit of excellence". Benny Urquidez wrote a book years ago as well - I forget what it was called but I remember it being pretty good. Basically, have a look in the library or shops to see which books tickle your fancy - with Karate/Kickboxing there is an abundance. Good luck and happy training
Dynamic Karate by M. Nakayama is an excellent step by step approach to basic shotokan techniques. Budo.
Traditional goju-ryu by Don Warrener gives instructions on all main techniques of goju, Im sure some of the kicks and strikes are similar to yours. It also shows how to do all of the katas.
