🥋 How Often Do I Really Need to Practice?

People ask me all the time: “How often should I train?”

My answer is always the same: It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

If your goal is to learn, get some experience, and have some fun — once a week is enough.

You’ll still grow, move, and walk out feeling better than you walked in.

But if your goal is to earn a black belt — to refine every detail and find out what your body, mind, and spirit can really do — then even seven days a week might not feel like enough.

There’s an ebb and flow to training.

Sometimes a student will train more.

Sometimes less.

Who cares?

Progress isn’t linear. Growth doesn’t happen on a clock.

The important thing is that you don’t stop showing up.

Consistency beats intensity every time.

It’s not about how many hours you spend in the dojo — it’s about how honest you are when you’re here.

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Not everyone can live in the karate bubble.

Teachers sometimes forget this, because most of us rarely step out of it — and even when we do, our minds are still in the dojo.

We don’t always understand why anyone would think of anything else.

But karate, like any discipline, is only enhanced when you can put it down for a while.

Engage in other interests. Travel. Read. Play. Work. Build. Love.

Then, when Wednesday night comes around — it’s time to focus.

You don’t have to eat, live, and breathe karate the way the slogans say.

Those slogans are meant to celebrate our obsession — to poke fun at our passion and have a chuckle, not to consume us.

How can anyone live a full life being so singularly focused?

You get better not through obsession, but through enthusiasm.

And obsession is not the same as enthusiasm.

Obsession leads to burnout, doubt, and frustration.

Enthusiasm keeps you curious, engaged, and open to growth.

Train with enthusiasm.

Rest with purpose.

Live fully.

Because karate isn’t supposed to take over your life — it’s supposed to make your life better.

Kyoshi Eric Vinagreiro, BA BEd

Northern Karate Markham