over 46 years old. any one else?

[SaiFightsMS]

Take care of yourself and stay in shape and one day someone might be saying that about you.

[OldRookie]

I turn 44 in about 3 wks & started TKD @ 41. We have several in my class older, so I'm not the only dinosaur @ our dojang!

[Breakdancer]

well my kung fu instructor is around 60 his instructor who is still alive is around 85 and its crazy that he still does kung fu and even the splits, just dont overdue it and WORK HARD STRETCH RIGHT and keep positive mind and you will always turn out as an equal

[Rocklady]

Hi all--

 

I'm 48 now, and in my second year of MA (Chung Moo Do, but split off from the CMD folks quite a while back). I came into it through Tai Chi. First, some history.

 

In 1998 I developed a severe reaction to a prescription drug that first gave me liver damage, then severe arthralgia in all my joints except spine (think severe rheumatoid arthritis and you'll get the picture). I was bedridden for about 6 months, and spent the next 2 years letting it work through my system, with a fair bit of pain in all the major joints. By 2000, I could actually walk and move again, and the pain was much lessened, but...I had *no* stamina, and limited range of motion.

 

I started off swimming in the summer of 2000, and managed a 25 ft length. Period. That was it. By the end of the summer, I could do 15 laps. That's when I found a tai chi class, and signed up.

 

The class was once a week, with an hour of stretching followed by an hour and a half of beginner's tai chi. The instructors were very good about nudging us to push just a bit, but not too far. Little bits of progress and proper form were much more important than moving quickly.

 

I did tai chi for about a year, and by the end of it I had good range of motion, much better stamina, and my balance was much better as well. During the third year of my illness my eldest son (now 17) had been taken a TKD class elsewhere, and it looked like fun. There was no way I could have done it, but it had kindled the desire in me. That, plus an uncomfortable experience walking at midnight in a tunnel under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris when a friend and I were followed and heckled by three drunks. Fortunately the friend was a large (6'4") former bouncer, and the gendarmes were patrolling. But it made me uncomfortable knowing I didn't know the first thing about SD besides yell loud, run, and hope for the best.

 

Our tai chi class also had a session in the evenings, on the other side of the dojo from the regular MA class. That really looked like fun--well, after the 20-minute opening session of rigorous calisthenics, at least. And it looked like a lot of hard work.

 

After I reached an acceptable level on the tai chi basic form, I started on sword form. Then one day I screwed up my courage and talked to the Head Instructor about joining the regular class. I wasn't at *all* sure I could do it, but I wanted to try.

 

He encouraged me, and so I tried it. It was difficult at first, since I was still quite overweight as well (probably about 50 lbs more than I should have been carrying) but the same rules held--do as much as you can, try a little bit more than you think you can, but stop *before* you do yourself some damage.

 

I loved it. I've never been even remotely athletic before, but this was something I could do, and something I really enjoyed. They've been very good at showing me street techniques that will work for my size, strength and ability, and I found that a lot of the kung fu and aikido moves work well for me. Plus I really enjoy forms and katas. Doing them right puts me in the same frame of mind that doing a tai chi form does--the breathing flows, the body does its thing, and the energy moves almost of its own accord.

 

I lost a lot of weight (about 45 lbs), developed much better conditioning, and made it to 2nd section (I'm not sure how it compares color-wise because we don't use a colored belt system, instead our white belts are dyed black incrementally as we move up through the sections, and when you reach 10th, you begin to train for the black belt exams). I felt better than I ever have, even compared to when I was a teenager.

 

I did tend to get a few more injuries than I would have when I was younger. Most of them weren't MA-related.

 

My inspiration is another lady in my class. She started at the same time I did, but she was 56 then. Her daughter is an instructor at the school, and she'd been in the tai chi class as well. She is a tiny little thing, maybe 5 feet and 100 lbs wet, but she packs a wallop and she has determination. Along with, at last count, 5 grandchildren.

 

So I'd say, if you're in basically good health, have the right instructor and the right style of MA, age really shouldn't be too much of an impediment.

 

Right now, though, I'm trying to talk myself back into class, so I suppose I should listen to my own inspirational message. I stopped going last April because of muscle spasms in my back that kept me out for a few weeks, and once I got out of the habit, I stayed away. Regained some weight, got lazy, and now I'm out of shape, out of practice and feeling really sheepish about it. So I may start back up with the tai chi again for a month or two to get back into the swing of it.

 

PS. One good thing did come out of all that pain (which is now gone, btw). Our instructor demonstrates on each of us certain things, like how a blow feels done improperly vs. properly (he pulls his punches, but he does enough so you do feel it) and how to find and use pressure points. I have a real advantage there, and I get a kick out of watching his reaction. When he goes through a group of us and demonstrates a pressure point, in the armpit, for instance, it'll drop most of the students. Me, I feel it for a moment or two, and then my pain-adapted nervous system shunts that pain aside. I feel it, but it's like a rush of water going through the nervous system, not excruciating like it probably should be. He looks at me funny when I do that, hasn't quite figured out why it doesn't seem to affect me like the others. I enjoy that.

[SaiFightsMS]

Glad to have you in our midst.