Training camps have long been a feature of Kyokushin training, and many a veteran of the Japanese Honbu days will probably be happy to tell you about how tough camps were were in the old days! Reminiscences aside though, training camps are a very useful way of spending a few days focusing just on karate training, and give students a chance to immerse themselves in karate with like-minded people.

The IFKKA also runs summer camps, sometimes jointly with the Kempo Ryu Karate organisation, run by Shihan Peter Mylonas. In these camps, we work on things that we don't have the opportunity to do while in the dojo, and we also get to know the members of the other dojo as well as our peers in Kempo Ryu.

The 2003 IFKKA/Kempo Ryu camp attendees.

The International Federation of Karate also runs several successful camps internationally. These are usually on a country by country basis, but sometimes are big enough to accommodate visitors from all around the world. Some of the larger camps take place in Switzerland, Norway, and Russia, to name a few and people from all over the world are encouraged to attend..

While the summer camps focus heavily on fitness and training, and can be attended by all grades, the IFK has so far also run two very successful international Black Belt Camps (both in Switzerland), where the emphasis was on ensuring that the IFK black belts from all over the world have a high degree of consistency in their techniques and kata, but also to help them with methods of improving and enhancing their teaching methods.

Some of the participants in the 2004 Black Belt camp in Switzerland.