Anyone take Martial Arts when they were out of shape?

[SonGoku92]

Hello, I'm new to here but I thought it would be a good place to ask this, considering I am thinking A LOT about taking Karate classes.

I'm 23 years old and 215 lbs and I'm thinking about taking a Martial Arts class. Maybe Karate or Kickboxing or Japanese Shitoryu Karate. But the problem is, I'm out of shape. Now I'm not obese or anything like that, but I am a little overweight. I know that it'll get me in shape and show me how to defend myself if something was to happen, and that's exactly what I want to do.

The thing that's holding me back right now is that I'm just a little self conscious. I don't want to go in there and be the biggest guy in there or something because if that was to happen, it'll just make things worse. It would be great to have some friends here that would go with me, but I moved away from the city that had all my friends so there's no way I can go with anyone that I know. I'm pretty confident in myself when doing my job, or doing my own workout, or doing whatever it is, but if I'm with a group of people and we're doing physical training or anything that requires me to do heavy physical or a lot of running etc with people I don't know or am comfortable around.

So, has anyone been in this predicament? And if so, what did you do to conquer it? Did you just tell yourself, "don't be a lil biotch" and just sign up? Were there other people there that were overweight or older individuals? And if you can give me any more suggestions and just tell me how it went, I'd appreciate it.

I started out In my style, Goju keno only about 3 months ago. and so far Ive dropped 2 pants sizes and I feel great. Its really all about what ind of place it is. some schools will have mercy on the less-than-athletic, and some tend to have a more sour attitude. you have to get a feel for the people there first. but after that just go for it. you gotta have the guts to jump in with both feet and not give up. cause really it gets easier and easier from there and no one (hopefully) is rushing you to get to higher ranks. so you can kinda hang back a bit rank-wise till you feel healthy and fit enough to take it up a notch. I stayed a white belt for 2 1/2 months or so even though I had the skill to go up after like 3 weeks. But my body didn't feel ready to climb too quick. nowadays I feel great and Im ready to tackle anything they can throw at me. I hope everything is going well for you so far ^^

[mal103]

MA - or in my case Karate - is for everyone and anyone. We have a disabled Black belt in our club, we have someone who can't walk very far, people with other so called disabilities and people of all shapes and sizes.

Train as hard as you can, kick as high as your body will allow, move as quick as you can. Listen to your body though, it will tell you what you need to know.

We also have people that wobble when they train, don't be ashamed or embaressed, just train! If anyone in the Dojo was to laugh at you or point/stare then it is they that have the problem.

Remember a funny saying, I may not be able to punch fast but i've got 15 stone to push it home with....

[SonGoku92]

there was a black belt that attended one of our seminars who only had one leg. now thats dedication!

[bushido_man96]

I've been doing MAs since 1993, and I've been pretty well out of shape that whole time I see this question posed often, and more often with those who are trying to get back into the arts. They want to have all their old stuff down before they come back. I say forget that, you're just giving yourself an out. Come back and re-learn as you go. There's no shame in that at all.