[Closed] Any Martial Artists in? - going back after a (very) long break

I restarted a year ago at 34 having done various stuff in my late teens and early 20s. Ive kept fit inbetween with running and biking but found it pretty easy to restart.
GO for IT!! 😀

Go the full distance this time. The real learing starts at 1st Dan.

I started Thai boxing at 30 years old....thought i was fairly fit as i'd played squash every week since school and lifted weights 3 times a week throughout my 20s....my first ever session i had to walk out of the club and sit outside for a while as i thought i was going to puke!

Fitness increased very quickly (within weeks) and to this day the fittest and most healthy i feel is when i'm attending classes regularly....cycling is good but fighting sports are more of a whole body workout both aerobically and strength wise.

You will be amazed at how much you will remember. Ensure you find a good club though as there are loads of McDojos out there.

How do you know if your in a Mc dojo? Serious question.

20 years for me. A variety of things for me but mostly Kick Boxing.
Been doing Aikido for a couple of months now, really enjoying but it is hard remembering all the new stuff.

M.A.C. or C.T.C.C.A affiliated, not "McDojo"...

Good luck! Used to train at Chojinkai karate, many years ago, and now do work for a company as a First Aider at GKR's tournaments. From a demographic point-of-view, we get the most work from your group - lower-belt but slightly higher age. Seems to be a combination of having the power but not necessarily the control, though if you're trained before that'll be easier to re-learn. That said, I do watch the kumite and kind of wish I was training and sparring myself, but have too many other activities that rely on me not wrecking myself (again...)

[list]You will find people grade at silly rates these days, not unusual for people to get first Dan in a year in tkd. This means a lot are frankly terrible. The commercialization was one of the reasons I stopped training (in a club, still practise solo or with mates). I see 1 st Dan 12 year olds struting about which is frankly ridiculous. Anyways my own personal gripe, find an instructor who inspires you, avoid the journeymen who are just in it to take your cash.

Just been looking here - http://www.bullshido.net
My clubs main man seems to have devoted his whole life to martial arts and at 60ish is a 7th dan. Yet they seem to have some likeness to a mcdojo.
its a family orientated club but i have started going to a adult class which was pretty good. There must have been about 10 black belts and me! Very different to the mixed age groups class.
Anyway it seems pretty good so i will stick with them while my lad is still interested in it.

If you enjoy it and are learning then great. A sign of a mcdojo or 'cash for belts' type club is how good the students are. Got to remember some of the top guys do this for a living so they rely on keeping students paying. Ask questions like how many students are national or even international players gives you a good idea. I,ve heard of clubs offering contracts for black belts...

1st class tonight, so wish me luck!!

classes are free, only have to get a licence if I want to continue.

Classes are also focussed on practical application and not winning competitions, which is what turned me off my last club. I couldnt care less about competeing.

think i will be sore tomorrow!!?!

You will be amazed at how much you will remember.

Yeap. Bounced on and off of various styles (Wado Ryu, Shotokan, freestyle) and dabbled in Ju Jitsu since I was about 14. Need to get back into it after nearly two years out (shoulder op followed by a car smash), but always amazed how quickly it comes back. I was noticing I am less flexible now though when I was last training - head kicks aren't anywhere near as easy as they once were.

Agree about the grade rate in some places. Friends of my son grade every three months - regardless, it seems, of ability.

I am going for 1st Dan in kickboxing in Dec, took me nearly five years to get there but I know I am at the right level.

(I started late as well, will be 40 next year)

I am going for 1st Dan in kickboxing in Dec, took me nearly five years to get there but I know I am at the right level.

I should add that my old Shotokan club advise that it will take [i]at least[/i] four years to get to your first dan, which then people do fail. We were encouraged to grade, but I think it's primarily to get the newbies on the ladder - if you feel you're progressing then you're more likely to stay. We certainly weren't forced and people did regularly get provisional passes at all grades, with the understanding that they needed to show a marked improvement before their next grading.

My wife went back to aikido after a 12 year break. Turns out that one of the very few dojos in the south east is just down the road from us. She found it pretty hard work to begin with but is right back on it now. 3 training sessions a week, usually comes home limping with bruises. Saves me having to chin her I suppose. 🙂

Go for it!

I returned recently after a few years out. I would advise trying to take it easy and at your own pace. A good club should do this whilst gently encouraging physical progression. IME it takes a while for the body (flexibility and conditioning) to catch up with the mind (knowledge of techniques). This gets worse as I get older.

I would advise looking watching the club first. I walk away when the instructor slags other instructors of.

Good luck!

Anyone ever tried Bujinkan Ninjitsu?

Very happy memories of training with Douggie Craddock in Manchester and meeting Masaaki Hatsumi years ago in London.

None of that Dux or Hayes American nonsense BTW.

Why not boxing?

Serious post. It'll be good for stress and for fitness.

Otherwise at our age I'd look at Aikido as you'll struggle for flexibility/to make the best due to your hamstrings etc.

I have just done the same thing at 41 but doing Jiu Jitsu.

No problems, just a bit more sore and less flexible

I took up Shotokan Karate around 1995, practiced it for quite a few years and branched out into Muay Thai around 2001/2002.
I chucked all that stupid punchy kicky malarky around 2004, when I took up a proper martial art, Judo.

Now after several years doing that, my kicking flexibility is completely gone. Whenever I go back to MT for a visit, I can't kick over leg height.

Don't underestimate how much flexibility you will have lost!

How was it?

Was good and not sore at all. The warm up/stretches were the worset bit!! (not as supple as i used to be).

did some pad/partern work punching/kicking combinations, then did 1st basic kata, then onto Kata application.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, need to find a gi now!

Not sure what I should do about belts though, i previously got to 5th Kyu (traing for 4th) (16 years ago), and there are some that say, the belt is yours forever, but not sure i would feel comfortable wearing that grade of belt, and thinking I should go back to the start with a white belt and hope i can skip a few grades?

Not sure what I should do about belts though, i previously got to 5th Kyu (traing for 4th) (16 years ago), and there are some that say, the belt is yours forever, but not sure i would feel comfortable wearing that grade of belt, and thinking I should go back to the start with a white belt and hope i can skip a few grades?

I agree, I got 2nd Dan when I was regularly practicing and competing in Judo, would not dare to wear it now. Disrespectful IMHO.

I went back after a break of 5 years and it really really hurt. Unfortunately don't have the time to pursue it properly, but as the family gets older I hope to introduce them to judo or aikido - I think it did me a lot of good mentally and physically.

Any recommended places for Aikido in Manchester?

So Ive now been back twice and loving it. 2 hour session on saturday morning was a killer, and my blood was all over the dojo floor!!!..........becuse of my girly soft feet.

Both big toes blistered then split, then bled everywhere. Aside from MTFU, how do toughen my feet up? And is taping my toes an option to prevent this in the future? What type of tape would I need and where would I get it?

Got compeed on right now and really not looking forward to badminton tonight!!

Re going back after a long break and starting afresh. I disagree. I achieved brown in traditional Wado Ryu and even now I can remember alot of the Kata's (over 20yrs on). I think if you watched a DVD and practiced slowly it'd comeback to you. Don't forget each belt is repetitive and repracticed over and over again so it should come back very quickly.

You'll initially struggle with sparring but the biggest issue is flexibility. I doubt I'm nowhere near or will get anywhere near as flexible so my enjoyment level would be nowhere near the same. The other issue is speed. When I practiced I was circa 12.5/13 stone. I'm now 15.5stone in the wrong places. For me the form and movement is about flexibility, form and then speed of each move.

Every so often I think of 'going back' but it'd be Aikido where I can reap the most enjoyment using the limits of my body now.

I retuned to Muay Thai some years ago after a 6/7 year lay off. I was markedly less fit than I had been and the standard at the club was high. I was battered relentlessly by superior fighters over a succession of weeks before I dislocated by knee in a semi-contact session.

I didn't make it back, largely because the knee gave me trouble for a long time (and indirectly resulted in me taking up mtb), but I also found a JKD group much closer to home, that I found more cerebral and more to my liking. They were a bit wet generally, and I had to leave them after damaging my back lifting a manhole cover!

Ho hum.

For those that worry about flexibility, unless you're doing it for the sport, I'd thoroughly recommend not kicking greater than leg height as a general rule anyway - its the quickest way to the floor IMO (unless you WANT to go to the floor) 😈

I still think about going back to it, but with kids and work, I barely have time to ride a bike - and mtb gives me so much more for the time invested.

ooosh!, 3rd session last night, toes are healing up but now I have slightly pulled groin (from an over enthusiastic side kick), twisted knee and sore left wrist.

Am I just gonna have to live with getting injured every session or will be body eventually adapt?

1st grading tomorrow, wish me luck!! (knee is still twisted though)