The Darkness

[15love]

First, hello Karateforum, I have immense respect for your: lifestyle, art, craft, way of thinking, sport, et. all the other nouns that describe this complex concept known as MA. I realize that there is a thread for new introductions, but if the mods allow it, I would like to use this thread to share & communicate my new journey through 'your' forum.

I am 45 y/o, 5'5" 210lbs.. I am married with 3 children (my 8 y/o son will begin with me). I've always been interested in MA and actually trained somewhere around 1 year in Shorei Goju Ryu, when I was 22, but career focus/education interrupted my initial journey. With that said, it was an easy decision to choose a style & dojo: the dojo is very close to my work & home, it is Shorei Goju Ryu, the sensei was trained by the same sensei who trained my previous sensei, I've heard strong reviews from practitioners & family members who train at this dojo.

I finally have the money & more importantly the right time & schedule to focus on training at least 2-3 times a week formally and at least 10-15 a week on my own; which is how I trained during my first brief encounter.

After months of research & contemplation, my first class is WED 11/19/14.

My interests are Marine Aquariums & Tennis, but MA rates a lot deeper in my subconscious.

I would like to keep anyone interested , up-to-date on this journey. I plan to post fairly often & I'm open to all the advice anyone can provide.

Finally, I labeled this thread The Darkness to symbolize my current knowledge in the MA. I attempt to title each following post with hopeful progressions of my journey. Thank You

[OleOle]

Welcome 15love,

I too am new to martial arts, am around your age and have only started training about two months ago. I have to say I have found all the folks on this forum to be extraordinarily helpful, knowledgeable and insightful.

Very best of luck on your journey, how excellent that your young son will be training with you, I'm sure you'll both thoroughly enjoy it!

Cheers!

[sensei8]

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

Hopefully, your continued MA journey will last far much longer than your first one did. And with you and your son being involved together, that new spark will brightly light up your Darkness.

In time, that Darkness will fade to light, and then to the ebb tide of a bright hue that can't be denied.

Welcome back to the MA, and I pray for you and your sons MA journey.

Train hard, and train well!! I look forward to your future posts!!

[Zaine]

Welcome to KF 15 love, glad to have you!

I look forward to your updates. It's always awesome to see someone else delve into a world that I love so much. Good luck to you!

[DWx]

Welcome to the forums 15love and welcome to MA. Looking forward to reading your journey.

[cheesefrysamurai]

Welcome to the forum and more importantly to discovering yourself through the martial arts.

Please keep us informed about your journey!!

[bushido_man96]

Welcome to KarateForums! Glad to have you here.

[15love]

Thanks for the warm welcome Tomorrow night is my big night. I'm nervous about being old & out-of-shape, but I'm excited. I can't wait to post my impressions of my first day of training.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Welcome to the forum and good luck for your journey along with your kid.

Let us know how you go

[15love]

So it happened! I stepped into the dojo & was not disappointed.

First, I stood out like a sore thumb; guy in civilian clothes (me) with Kyoshi, 3 black belts (I believe a 3rd degree & 2 Shodans), and a 3rd & 4kyu. I was certainly intimidated, but everyone treated me friendly & they seemed to gear the whole session toward me, with very basic introduction/instructions. Kumite was our focus and it was fun & exciting.

I started off strong with the opening stretches & calisthenics, but after numerous repetitions & applying it to combos, and finally putting 3 moves together with simulated kumite, I was huffing and puffing. So much that the Kyoshi asked me several times if I was okay. I just faded & my counterparts demonstrated their superior endurance. But I held up and learned the dojo etiquette on my way to an exhilarating training experience. Certainly balance, flexibility, & endurance are glaring points that I need to improve upon, in order to feel more comfortable and execute the techniques correctly.

I felt so good after the session; I could feel blood flowing in joints I have not felt in some time, and coughed very deep a couple times, showing me the depth of my cardiopulmonary experience.

I brought my son to the adult class so he could get a preview & learn the decorum. He was stoked just watching, and was energetically asking questions about his training tomorrow.

Again, I was surprised at how good I felt after training. But in the same "short breath' I realized how far I have to go to just get into shape, as my technique really suffered, toward the end, due to my fatigue. I was so hot, my car fogged up the whole was home; had to roll my window down to see While I probably won't post every training episode, I will fill you in on how my son handles his first session.

Finally, I was so impressed with the Kyoshi. While demonstrating the techniques of point fighting, he moved so fast, so powerful, so graceful, and yet so controlled, he went full force against the 3rd degree going so hard yet maintaining a distance of mere centimeters from actually striking his opponent. So very impressed!

I'll post tomorrow, if I'm not too sore.