Building a session

KYOKUSHIN COACHING Reading time : 8 min Updated September 7, 2026
Contents
The IKO syllabus publishes a model class plan: warm-up and stretching, line kihon, ido geiko, kata, yakusoku kumite, light or free kumite, conditioning, cool-down. A good dojo session is not a string of drills — it is that balance of the three pillars (kihon, kata, kumite), dosed by category and its contact gate.

The class outline the IKO publishes

The IKO Technical Syllabus (2011, p. 16) runs the class in this order:

  1. Warm-up + stretching — mobility, the traditional junbi undō;
  2. Line kihon — stances, tsuki, uke, geri on the count (Sanchin, Kiba);
  3. Ido geiko — the same techniques moving;
  4. Kata — the grade's form, by segments;
  5. Yakusoku kumite — the pre-arranged bridge (uke-kaeshi), light or no contact;
  6. Light / jiyu kumite — within the age and grade gate;
  7. Conditioning — push-ups, squats, core, the syllabus's graded ladder;
  8. Stretching + cool-down.

The three pillars, never flattened

Kihon, kata and kumite are three different jobs under one art — the same discipline as kyorugi/poomsae in taekwondo. A kumite rule ("no fist to the face") is never a kata fact: hand strikes to the head exist in kihon, kata and self-defence, not in fighting. An honest weekly plan gives each pillar its place — kata is roughly half the grading program (see "The grade-by-grade program").

The five minuted blocks

The hub's generator — and the one in the app — composes the session in five blocks from the eight themes:

BlockThemes drawnExample (60 min)
Warm-upFlexibility & mobility · ido geiko · physical (never high intensity)10′ — junbi undō, dynamic mobility
Main 1The chosen focus (kihon, kicks, kata, kumite, physical)16′ — line kihon on the count
Main 2The same focus, second drill16′ — ido geiko in zenkutsu
Kumite gameSituational knockdown kumite — within the age gate14′ — distance game, conditioned rounds
Cool-down—4′ — stretching, mokuso

Three construction traps

  • Kicks do not warm up on the pad. Power work on the shield is high intensity — it belongs in the mains, never the warm-up. The kyokushin warm-up is mobility, junbi undō and footwork.
  • The youngest band's kumite game is a game, not a bout. For the ≤8s the "kumite game" block fills with distance games, shield rounds and evasion — no organisation has this age fight (see "Fundamentals by age").
  • A session = a grade as much as an age. The dojo also plans by belt ("from 4th kyu", black-belt class) — drills carry their grade anchor wherever the syllabus states one.

Frequently asked questions

How much session time should kata get?
The IKO plan places it mid-class, after ido geiko — and the grading program gives it roughly half the examined content. A kata-focus session spends both mains on it; a general session keeps its slot after the basics.
Does conditioning replace the warm-up?
No — the IKO plan separates them: the warm-up opens the class (mobility, stretching), conditioning closes it (push-ups, squats, core — the syllabus's numbered ladder, dosed by age). Mixing them fatigues the class before the technical work.

Sources

IKO Kyokushinkaikan — Technical Syllabus (April 2011), class plan p. 16 + the per-grade conditioning ladder. IKKU (Arneil/IFK lineage) — Grading Syllabus, the correction ladder and the sanbon/ippon kumite bridge. Paak kyokushin corpus, files 00 and 03. Content verified September 2026.

Last updated: September 7, 2026