Join a reputable dojo for your style of interest. There is a big difference between Traditional styles of fighting which focus on Katas (Forms) and preserving the history of the art form with some minor point system sparring, these are beautiful and artful styles rich in benefits to your health and mental well-being which are to be respected, but not used in a real fight, or to be a real fighter and any honest teacher will tell you the same. Functional styles of fighting which are meant to defend yourself in life or death situations, or to take control of a given situation when necessary where you will train rigorously and to the point of physical and mental exhaustion against other people of various builds, with little to no rules other than that you respect your partner and do not injure anyone. Don't let this scare you away, the people that attend these dojos are 99.9% the nicest people you will ever meet, people like you who want to be a good fighter. You will get hurt, whoever hurt you will apologize profusely, you will recover and you will be stronger for it. If your dojo is not like this, find another dojo. The best fighters do not talk smack or disrespect one another.
Have honor and pride in your heart every time you fight. If you defeat someone in the street, you should have respect for them. Make sure they are OK and do not be sarcastic or offensive. Offer to buy them a drink or get some food, tell them about your dojo and the positive effect it has on you, suggest that they join so you can have more matches together (even if they were a pushover). As a fighter, it is important to spread respect and a positive attitude to people around you, especially your enemies and especially if you just knocked them out. Winning a fight on the street and then being a jerk about winning, will only bring you and the people you love misfortune. If you succumb to their antics, you have lost as the person you strive to be. Make them play your game, you are the stronger individual. Who knows you may save a life, or make a best friend. A fighter does not know someone until he has fought with them. So that jerk you just knocked out at the bar, might turn out to be your best friend, having a bad night. Traditional styles, if taught by a proper instructor, are very useful and can be deadly to an untrained opponent. Whatever you do, DO NOT take the fight to the ground. Styles such as JiuJitsu are only useful against one opponent in a secure area. In the street, his friends will beat down on you if you are doing some fancy choke hold. Striking arts such as Taekwondo and Karate (along with many others) are the most useful against multiple opponents or against someone with a knife. These are styles focused around conditioning your body to receive and deliver blows. This is why an average person simply cannot fight someone who trains to fight.
An excellent example of this is the Shaolin monks. Shaolin monks who showcase their amazing features of superhuman strength. The fact is, as any of them will tell you it is very simplistic rigorous conditioning done over a period of years on a schedule. Leading to things like, breaking a baseball bat with your shin kick. Breaking cement blocks with your head. Punching through a lot of wood. Any of these features will normally shatter bones, cause horrible compound fractures and trips to the hospital. Worked up to very slowly and diligently over the course of years and it is an eventuality. Keep in mind that unless you train 10-14 hours a day, you will never be as good as hardened as a Shaolin monk, who lives to preserve their teachings. DO NOT shin kick a baseball bat. Your average person on the street is on one end of the spectrum, and a Shaolin monk who spends his entire life conditioning his body to be as hard as iron is on the other end. You at your best as a fighter will fall somewhere in the middle.
Eat right! If you are training to fight on top of your everyday responsibilities you will need to consume 2 to 3 times your normal values of calories. Professional fighters consume around 6000 calories a day! If you cannot afford to eat good solid meals with lots of protein and vegetables, be very careful about the intensity of your training. Do not over-exert yourself! Try eating 4 or 5 small meals a day, instead of 3 big meals. Buy wholesale (bulk) protein/vitamin bars and drink lots of water.
Train at home. If you want to improve your karate skills at home, consult your teacher. They can give specific advice on home training according to your strengths, weaknesses, rank, and ability. Generally, you can improve karate at home by refining and fine-tuning elements of basic techniques. In karate, these fundamental techniques are called Kihon Waza. In the beginning, you can practice Kihon Waza in front of a mirror to catch mistakes and correct the form. But ultimately, you should understand the movements by feel. Run over in your head throughout the day things to improve on, where you made mistakes in your sparring or in fights you have lost outright. Think of ways to improve each angle and scenario. Shadowboxing is essential to any style and is not boxing it can be whatever your style, work on perfecting your moves. Do not be embarrassed, good shadowboxing translates to good form and style in a fight. Try to use a wall or bag you can tap (lightly) to keep an idea of your range relative to the position of your stance. Train for every possible encounter in and out of the ring. While walking around outside, consider what could be used as a weapon, what materials are around you that could aid/hinder your ability to defend yourself. Never get backed into a corner. Do not form habits of walking near ledges, curbs, or anything that could send you off balance should you be surprised.
Find a local venue! Have you been training for a few months, are now in great shape and have a good understanding of how to fight properly. It may be time to test your skills against other fighters at a local venue. Most communities have them, you will be surprised. Test your skills and learn to improve where it counts. When you lose, do not be disappointed, be happy that you found some things to work on. A good fighter would be bored if he won every match easily.
Never give up. You will experience hard times and nasty injuries in your training. Through it all though you will wake up one day to find that you are a great fighter. Never use the power you gain to control people, it is a demon you will have to fight as you become stronger than most people. You will want to be in charge and you will fail to understand why people of authority, have authority over you. Do not let people push you around, but do not go around looking for a fight either. If you succumb to this, you have failed yourself and everyone who has trained you. Be strong mentally as well as physically.
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