Originally Posted by
Wood Dragon
Train as you fight.
because:
You fight like you train.
IOW, if your training program does not include sparring/randori against a resisting opponent, you are going to have problems fighting against an opponent who wants to beat you.
This includes the "shock effect" of being struck. Boxers, Kyokushin Fighters, Thaiboxers and MMA practitioners are struck regularly in their training and competition. This serves as both a body-hardening (to an extent, YMMV) process and a mental acclimatization to being hurt.
Light gloves and head protection, then fight. If you aren't having any real success against a buddy, why would you expect any better result against someone who wants to harm/conquer you?
Lastly, a basic level of athletic capability is required. If you aren't strong or fast enough to pull off techniques on a resisting opponent, you are wasting your time. Fat Ninja? No!
Get a basic strength and endurance program together, and start losing excess weight (helps you gain much more agility).
Martial Arts practitioners with years invested in training get dominated by persons with high school wrestling, boxing or a smaller length of time in BJJ, not because any given Martial Art is deficient, but because that practioner's training is deficient.
Look at how much time (per week), in practical applications, against resisting opponents, the average high school wrestler puts in. Compare it with the number of hours (per week) the average karateka or kung fu practitioner puts in (all up, including warmups*, lion dancing and weapons stuff). That's why they win.
Form follows function, your core (of course, the techniques will be different) KF/karate training program should not be fundamentally different from a MMA practitioner or wrestler. If it is, you probably aren't doing something important.
Disclosure: I've been a karateka (Kyokushin and Daido Juku) for the last 13 years, and am also a shodan in Kodokan Judo. I am also a Level III MAC (Modern Army Combatives) instructor, on Active Duty (Staff monkey, atm).
*-warmups are not PT. Your physical training time is seperate (unless you follow the Army/USMC pedagogical method, where MAC/MCMAP is usually taught at the end of a PT evolution). 30 pushups and 2 minutes running in place does not a fighter make.