Hawkeye

Hi and welcome. Lots of good stuff to read here and I look forward to seeing your posts.

Hi and welcome to KF. I started martial arts in my thirties. Trust me it is NOT to late to start. The trick is to just start.

Congratulations! Good luck on the competition team.

Hey, Disarm. If you were any more uncoordinated than I was during my first couple of months of classes, then I hope you are taping them as you could make money selling them on EBay. It gets better. Your physical conditioning will improve. Your concentration will improve. Your confidence will grow as you become familiar with the moves. I started Karate in my early thirties so I can sympathize with the "not getting any younger" thing. Pretty soon, you will be practising moves everywhere and loving it. Good luck !

Good luck! Post after your test and let us know how nice the new belt looks.

I subscribe to BB Magazine and I haven't been disappointed with it yet. There are a lot of ads but I guess that just comes with the territory - no ad revenue, no magazine. It covers quite a bit of ground style-wise, so you don't get a tremendous amount of depth in the articles, but you do get introduced to things that might trigger the urge to look up more information elsewhere,... like in a online forum.

As my Sensei says, invariably you will meet the funniest person you will ever meet or catch a major cold soon after you break a rib. A fellow I train with had a rib broken at a tournament. He took about a month off, then came back slowly, not wanting to reinjure himself and be laid up even longer. That strategy worked well for him. Here's to hoping you have a quick recovery.

Hey KK1975. Good luck with that surgery. I hope all goes well. As for mental exercises, try visualizing every move of every kata you have learned. Start at the beginning and picture yourself doing every move ideally and in sequence. Perhaps write out your kata as well, including foot position, what your hands are doing, where your head is turned, etc. Also, rent every cool martial arts movie you can lay your hands on just for fun.

Hi, Meguro - lol !! Hi, Shogeri. Do you do or take anything to help reduce the inflammation? I've been on fairly hefty daily doses of anti-inflammatories but they have only shown negligible results.

It sounds like you know your stuff. Just keep training, work on that cardio and don't forget that you are doing this for fun. When the big day arrives, give it your best shot. If you leave it all out there on the mat, you will feel good about yourself and chances are very good that you will pass your test. Good luck!

Hi, Meguro. I would imagine that age and weight probably factored into the equation as I'm in my thirties and am 6' 1", 223 pounds, but the doctor didn't specify a particular cause beyond "overuse".

Forget about the "SPECIAL DIET"! (Unless you have a medical condition that calls for one.) Eat well, stay hydrated, get your rest and stay active. Try different activities and see which ones are the most fun. If you are doing activities that are fun, you are more likely to stick with them. Doing these things go a long way in keeping your body (and mind) in good shape.

I have been diagnosed with bursitis in my knee. Ouch! I'm into my fifth week of limited use and though it is slowly getting better, I still can't use my knee the way I used to. Grrrr! There. Complain-fest over. For all you athletes out there, don't completely ignore joint pain. Rest and ice those painful joints when you notice them to control inflammation and don't skimp on the warm up and stretching before your activities. Hopefully you can minimize debilitating injuries. Good luck in your training.

Hi! Welcome to the forum.

Hi, Jane Doe. Welcome to the forum.