Hi all, first time post. I'm fairly new to karate, having started just last week. As a kid I loved Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon and Karate Kid. My parents wouldn't let me train because of the "violent nature" of martial arts. When I moved out of home, I joined a class for a couple of lessons but didn't commit at the time due to uni. For the last couple of years I've been focusing on weight training and was working toward strength and body building but lost interest because of the superficiality of it all. Toward the end of last year I got into a fight at a pub and lost badly. It was depressing. No matter how fit, how strong, how big I became, I still don't know how to defend myself. So at 33, I found myself a good local Shotokan dojo and am focusing my training more on power, agility and focus as opposed to just lifting weight. I'm looking forward to the ongoing journey.
