🥋Why Traditional Karate Must Evolve (Part 3): The Problem of Instructors Who Stop Learning - By Sensei Liam Musiak

In Part 1, I explained how the ranking system punishes outliers instead of recognising them.

In Part 2, I showed how unrealistic training leaves students unprepared for real violence.

Now we come to the third major issue weakening traditional Karate in the modern era:

instructors who stop training, stop learning, stop evolving — and yet still hold complete authority over those who do.

This is not about every instructor, and certainly not a criticism of all Wado Ryu teachers.

Wado Ryu has incredible senseis worldwide and some of the most technical martial artists I’ve ever seen.

But it is a criticism of a mindset that exists in traditional Karate — a mindset I have personally witnessed.

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When Instructors Stop Training, Karate Stops Evolving

In far too many dojos, instructors reach a certain rank or certain age and quietly make a decision that they never say aloud:

“I’ve trained enough. Now I just teach.”

From that moment forward, their own growth stops.

They stop sparring.

They stop pressure-testing.

They stop drilling techniques properly.

They stop learning from other martial artists.

They stop refining their own body mechanics.

They stop sweating with their students.

They stop being students themselves.

Their teaching becomes a repetition of whatever they learned decades ago — unchanged, untested, unchallenged.

Meanwhile, younger martial artists around them study harder, train harder, learn faster, and innovate more — yet are kept below them because of age and hierarchy.

This is the structural problem that holds Karate back.

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The Exact Excuse I Heard — Word for Word

To show how deep this mindset can go, I need to share something I heard personally from a Wado Ryu sensei.

Again, this is NOT a criticism of Wado Ryu as a whole — just this one individual experience.

He said to me:

“I’ve put on weight now because I teach. When you teach karate, what you really do is stand at the front and shout a lot. You don’t get much chance to do it yourself anymore.”

That was the statement.

Exact.

Unedited.

Word for word.

And it stunned me.

Because if an instructor sees teaching as “standing at the front and shouting,”

then what exactly are the students learning?

If an instructor believes they “don’t get much chance to do Karate themselves,”

then how are they demonstrating principles correctly?

How are they showing proper movement?

Proper footwork?

Proper angles?

Proper use of hips?

Proper timing?

Proper distancing?

Proper evasions?

Proper spirit?

How are they embodying the art they are teaching?

This kind of excuse didn’t make sense to me — because to me, this isn’t teaching.

It’s supervising.

Teaching karate means doing karate.

Not occasionally, not halfway, not verbally — but physically, constantly, alongside your students.

That statement I heard wasn’t just one instructor’s excuse.

It represents a much bigger problem:

the belief that teaching replaces training.

It doesn’t.

It never has.

And it never will.

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Time Served Does Not Mean Growth Achieved

One of the biggest flaws in traditional martial culture is the belief that “time automatically equals wisdom.”

A sensei who trained intensely 20 years ago can completely stop pushing themselves today and yet still rise in rank simply because of years passed.

Meanwhile, younger martial artists who train more in one year than that instructor trains in a decade are expected to wait quietly, obey hierarchy, and not question anything.

This creates a broken system where:

• the least active people hold the highest authority

• the most active people are stuck at the bottom

• ability becomes irrelevant

• innovation becomes unwelcome

• stagnation becomes normal

• excellence gets delayed or ignored

No modern sport, profession, or discipline rewards inactivity — except traditional martial arts.

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The Best Instructors Never Stop Being Students

A true sensei never stops training.

They train with their students.

They challenge themselves.

They sweat.

They spar.

They study.

They explore new knowledge.

They pressure-test what they teach.

They refine what they demonstrate.

They remain humble enough to learn.

These are the instructors who keep Karate alive.

These are the instructors who keep Karate relevant.

These are the instructors who pass on a living art — not a preserved museum piece.

Karate ceases to grow when its instructors cease to grow.

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Final Thoughts

This issue completes the trilogy of the three biggest problems holding karate back today:

• Part 1 — a rank system that punishes outliers.

• Part 2 — unrealistic training that doesn’t reflect real violence.

• Part 3 — instructors who stop learning, stop training, and stop evolving.

Karate must move forward.

Not by abandoning tradition, but by honouring it properly.

The true spirit of karate has always been about personal growth.

Not stopping.

Not stagnating.

Not hiding behind a belt.

Karate thrives when instructors lead from the front, not from a chair.

Karate grows when instructors train harder than their students.

Karate evolves when its teachers stay lifelong students.

That is how we preserve the art.

That is how we protect its future.

That is how Karate survives the next century — not through tradition alone, but through continuous growth.