How much training is enough?

The answer to this question really is: it depends.  It depends on your age, experience level and your reasons for training.   We only meet formally twice a week.  For new students starting out, this is probably enough to get by on.  However, as you progress and the learning curve flattens out, you will probably find that training twice a week n a class setting is just notenough.  In fact, it may even be detrimental to your progress.  Like any other classroom situation, the instructor can only teach to the norm or average.  It is difficult for the instructor of a mixed class to sufficiently challenge the gifted students and at the same time offer enough assistance for the students who are having problems.  Furthermore, each one of us is making this journey for our own self improvement.  Therefore, we
should take time outside of class to explore various different areas of the art we are interested in.  The answer to this is self training.  Dr. Farid Amin from the Shotokan Karate Club of MD published an excellent article in Shotokan Karate Magazine in which he suggests that self training is the panacea for everyone's karate development.  The idea of self training is not a new one.  Sensei Okazaki has always been a big proponent of self training. Furthermore, in the Karate-Do Kyohan, Funakoshi recommends daily self training and suggests that 10 minutes a day is sufficient.  His reasoning was that most of the kata can be performed in a minute or less and therefore 10 minutes was sufficient time to practice your kata several times.  Good logic, but I doubt that any modern day practitioners take such a laid back approach to self training.  If you polled Shotokan enthusiasts, I think you would find that most would take 10 minutes to stretch and warm up before even executing a single karate technique. 
     So, you are still probably asking how much is enough and what should I work on?  Again it depends.  Designing your own self training program is really up to you.  I can only offer you guidelines.  Since we meet only twice a week, I would suggest that you set aside an hour at least one other day during the week for self training.  Twice a week would be even better for a total of 3-4 training sessions per week including your class time. More than that may be overkill.  Remember, too much training can be as detrimental to your progress as not enough training.
      What should you work on?  Again, it's up to you to determine what your goals are and you what to accomplish with your training program.  As a general guideline, pick some aspect of karate  in which you need toimprovement - something your are not good at.  I usually let you know what those are and make suggestions during class.  Then set a goal for what you want to accomplish by working on that area needing improvement. Additionally, pick  some aspect of karate that you are good at or enjoy doing to help keep it fun.  Practicing kata is an excellent form of self training.  If space is a problem, break out the sequences and practice them individually.  For kihon training, remember that from time to time I introduce drills that can be performed in a tight space.  Keep those in mind for when you are at home or on the road and don't have much space.
    In addition to karate training on your own, I would also recommend that you take 1-2 days per week to work on strength training and conditioning. There was a time when karate enthusiasts questioned the value of lifting weights as part of your training program.  However, other sports have pretty much proven that a proper strength training program is beneficial to performance.  Furthermore, muscle mass can be added without loss of flexibility as long you use full range of motion, stretch and train antagonistic muscles equally. An added benefit of strength training is adding muscle mass helps you maintain your weight by raising your metabolism.   For strength training, I would recommend consulting a trainer to design a program for you.

references:

Funakoshi, Gichin; Karate-Do Kyohan : The Master Text

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