Advice for middle age student

[Tiger1962]

Update Oct 07:

Hello Everyone and thank you for all your responses. I have now been studying karate for about 10 months and have my third belt. My passion for karate has only grown over the past 10 months and I have improved significantly since starting.

Generally, I have not been injured in karate, except for a brusied toe that was my fault and some bruised ribs when a fellow student missed the kick shield. I have suffered a couple of accidents around the house that set me back, but I managed to catch up with my fellow students and have not lost significant time.

My advice to all the senior beginners, in addition to the excellent advice in this thread is:

1. Stretch and warm up before every class.

2. Be careful in class and at home because the body injures more easily as you age.

3. If you get injured, take the time to heal. Don't rush it and heal completely.

4. Be careful around the house, the house is much more dangerous than a dojo!

Since resuming my karate career, I have a few observations:

1. Some of my felllow students are not serious about their training. Maybe my age makes me more serious as I realize I don't have a lot of time left to be healthy. Funny, the young don't appreciate being young and fit. Remember the old saying: "Youth is wasted on the young."

2. Karate is a journey of one. While my ultimate goal would be a black belt, I accept my limitations and focus on the next belt and next tests. If I make it to black belt, then great, but I am going to enjoy and learn everything possible out of all my training and be proud of every belt I achieve.

3. I am honestly surprised at what I can do. I have a lot of trouble with jump kicks, but my spining kicks are better than some of my teenage classmates. Interestingly, my excellent balance and some of my old wrestling experience have not been lost. I was amazed to have remembered a few moves from over 40 years ago.

Now at the tender age of 53, I am the most "senior" student in the dojo. Yet in my few sparing matches I have generally kept up with much younger students. Nothing makes an old guy happier than besting a much younger opponent.

Be careful, be patient, and enjoy the journey.

Congratulations to you! I found everything you write to be SOO true !!! Speaking as a fellow middle-aged practitioner, I agree with the injury comments also. I also think that someone in our age range should not compare themselves and their efficiency to someone in their 20's.

Our bodies behave and react differently and as you said we also heal at a different rate. That doesn't mean we can't kick some serious butt. Although I started my training back in my late 30's, I've progressed further than I expected and could not be more pleased. The way I see it, I've already reached beyond my intended goal, so from this point on, anything else that I achieve is gift ! LOL

[Minx]

I'm mid forties and I've just started Shotokan again after 25 years off. (where did those years go?!) Agree with posts above. I am now realising that my days of accurate jodan mawashigeris are over and instead of the speed and flexibilty I used to have, now I have to focus more on technique and power. A bit like life I guess!

[sperki]

Minx, welcome to the forum and welcome back to karate. The beauty of getting older is that you can appreciate the intricacies of better form. And you still get all the other health benefits!

[Norskman]

I too am returning to Karate after 15 years off. I used to practice Shorin Ryu Karate in my youth and teenage years. I'm now in my early thirties and starting back up from white in Shito Ryu.

I'm very excited to be back doing Karate. Traditional Karate dojos have been hard to find here in Washington, but I found a private dojo of Shito Ryu where the focus is on technique before speed/power so I'm able to slowly make the transition from Shorin Ryu to Shito Ryu.

My mind still thinks it can do everything I did as a young buck, but my body is saying otherwise. I haven't been very active with sports in the last 15 years so I have a lot to make up for and weight to lose.

I did discover that my natural kiai has gotten a lot louder and more ferocious.

[white owl]

Welcome back the MA NorskMan and Minx just listen to your body, with being older it takes us a little longer to recover than it did in our teens. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.