“One must try every day to expand one’s limits.”
— Mas Oyama
One of the things I’ve always respected about Mas Oyama was that he never seemed satisfied with comfort, stagnation, or limitation.
That mindset is one of the reasons Kyokushin became what it did.
Oyama didn’t create Kyokushin by staying comfortable. He created it by testing himself constantly. Harder training. Harder conditioning. Harder fights. More realism. More pressure. More honesty.
And honestly, I think that mindset is something the martial arts world desperately needs today.
Too often, martial arts become frozen in time. People become more concerned with preserving systems exactly as they were taught instead of asking an important question:
“Does this still prepare people for reality?”
Now don’t misunderstand me. Tradition matters. Kata matters. Discipline matters. Respect matters.
But the old masters themselves were constantly evolving.
Gichin Funakoshi changed karate.
Chojun Miyagi changed karate.
Hironori Ōtsuka changed karate.
Mas Oyama changed karate.
None of them simply copied what came before them without question.
They sought improvement.
That idea has become more and more important to me over the years.
When I first started martial arts, I viewed styles almost like separate tribes. But after years of Kyokushin, Combat Kenpo, Shinko Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and self-defense training, I began realizing something:
Truth matters more than tradition.
If something works, we should understand it.
If something is missing, we should improve it.
If a weakness exists, we should address it honestly.
That doesn’t dishonor the old masters.
In many ways, I believe that honors their spirit far more than blind preservation ever could.
I remember after some of my early MMA experiences, especially fighting under pressure against resisting opponents, it changed the way I looked at training forever. There’s a difference between practicing techniques and proving you can apply them when things become chaotic, painful, exhausting, and unpredictable.
Pressure exposes truth.
And sometimes truth forces growth.
That’s one reason our approach to training has evolved over time at Impact Martial Arts. We still deeply respect Kyokushin and the philosophy of Mas Oyama, but we also believe martial artists should continue expanding their limits. That includes learning how to deal with clinching, takedowns, groundwork, head movement, realistic self-defense situations, and pressure testing.
Not because tradition failed.
But because growth never stops.
Oyama’s quote wasn’t just about fighting tougher opponents.
It was about refusing to become stagnant.
Expanding your limits might mean:
- pushing harder physically,
- becoming mentally stronger,
- facing fear,
- learning new skills,
- improving weaknesses,
- or even challenging long-held assumptions.
Growth is uncomfortable.
But stagnation is dangerous.
The moment a martial artist believes they have nothing left to learn, they stop growing.
And honestly, that applies far beyond martial arts.
As instructors, parents, leaders, husbands, wives, and human beings, we should all continue trying to expand our limits every single day.
Osu,
Sensei Brian