4 important karate safety tips

Karate is a great sport through which you can learn discipline, fitness and flexibility. It's also a demanding sport and can be intense for both body and mind. However, here are four important tips to follow to ensure everyone at karate stays safe.

Whether you're a young kid or an adult, it's important to have a physical evaluation before beginning karate training.

A physical evaluation can ensure that being physically active won't put you at risk of a serious injury or health problem.

Tell the doctor you're seeing that you're planning to learn karate, and make sure he gives you clearance to train before you start.

Before you start a training session in karate, it's important to warm up your body.

Get your heart pumping and blood flowing with some cardio exercises like jumping jacks or high-knees, then stretch using dynamic stretching exercises like toe-touches.

Especially when you're kicking, it's easy to pull or tear a muscle if you don't warm up your body, so make sure you take the time to stretch before you start.

Another way to ensure your safety while training, is to always wear proper equipment.

For example, people should always wear headgear while sparring to avoid concussions or brain injuries, and they should also wear cups to protect the groin area.

Other essential equipment to wear includes chest protectors, hand and foot guards, shin guards and mouth guards. Using the proper equipment protects both you and all the people training around you.

Particularly when you're first learning karate, you should only practise, train or spar when you're in the right environment. So wait until you're in the dojo to go over moves or techniques you've learned.

This ensures that you're practising in a well-padded area in case you fall or bump into something. It also ensures that you have clear surroundings and only people around you who are aware that they are in the vicinity of someone training in the martial arts.

Training only at the dojo also ensures that you're under the supervision of a real professional, who can let you know if you're doing something wrong or something that might injure yourself or any of the other people that are around you.

Following these four essential safety tips during your karate training will help keep you in the sport, and help keep those around you safe as well.