tekki

I tried it once. I think it could be fiarly challenging and a good workout for the generla public, but not all that strenuous for the accomplished martial artist. Certainly not a good way to learn self defense or how to fight, though.

I statrted when I was a 19 year old freshman. I am now 26, and haven't let up yet.

Training in SOMETHING is almost always better than training in NOTHING, IMHO.

Twelve minute miles being Olympic calibre? No way! People in the 1800s would be in better shape than that simply by leading lives of manual labor, like farming. When we ran the mile in PE for our fitness tests, there were people who were not into sports who could run it faster than that. They were able to run it often because they did not lead sedentary lives.

I always admired the martial arts, but only briefly considered training for a while late in middle school. It never got off the ground because the nearest reputable school was 20 miles from my house and I was involved in a lot of stuff at school anyhow. I got into my main style, Shotokan because I went away to college and I had nothing else to do for a sport. Martial arts came right to mind as the obvious choice. The Shotokan club was the first MA class on campus that both looked appealing and wasn't a PE class for which it was too late to get a spot in. I now train at a dojo that blends Shotokan with Goju Ryu. After college I moved to Syracuse, couldn't find a Shotokan club, and went without for a short while. I eventually noticed in the window of a dojo that I would walk by fairly regularly that they people who trained there looked like they were learning good technique and were having a great time too. Moreover, I recognized some (but not all) of the katas from my Shotokan training. I assumed that this was a style that was partially derived from Shotokan (like Shito Ryu, or something) I finally decided that if I couldn't get more Shotokan, that this would probably do just fine. When I went in to explain my situation to the instructor, he said it WAS Shotokan, but there was also Goju-Ryu kata taught. Mentally preparing myself to start back at white belt as part of the cost of training at a place I might like, I was also suprised to learn that after a month or so I would be given the opportunity to test into their sytem as a brown belt. (I left my college Shotokan club 2nd kyu) In fact, after about 10 months at this dojo, incorporating and adpating to the differences, I graded to Shodan.

My karate classes are about 1 hour long, but about half the time they do not end on time. Even when they do, most people stay after for between 10 to 30 minutes to train more on their own. Sometimes, I and some others come 1/2 hour or more earlier and work out while waiting in the wings for the last kids' class to wind up. Thus I probably spend about 1.25 to 1.5 h on training every dojo visit.