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Starting with Martial Arts late in life. Anyone experiences?

onepixel said:
One thing that goes with age, that most people don't take into account is flexibility. I always tell them to try yoga or stretch on a regular basis. It'll increase balance, coordination, stamina and speed. You can be strong as hell, but if you can't tag your opponent, they will whittle you down.
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My wife has been saying she wants to start a stretching regiment together.
 
I recommend strength training and doing whatever your sport/martial art is. Starting Strength is a great program for beginners. I also recommend Judo/Jiu Jitsu - you’ll learn how to fall properly, maintain your balance, and move someone who’s trying to move you.
 
Merely joining a martial arts club and getting into this activity may depend upon several factors, which might be your present physical condition, age and motivation.

Personally, I'd avoid the more linear striking schools offered, and go with a more passive mode of defense-type school.

Your joints are older now than back then, and you might wish to try a softer, yet still effective manner of dealing with confronting situations. Aikido might be the way to follow, as you build both body strength and mind discipline. In this branch of the martial arts, you make use of the other's size/strength to your advantage.

If you haven't been active much, your connective tissue will have to be conditioned before you enter into any martial arts program. Trust me on this! I took a jump-kick airborne one time, which dropped me out of the discipline of Tae!


Even if you become accomplished in any of the fighting disciplines, try to avoid any physical contact if you can with the bad folk. Even the Black Arts people advocate this philosophy.


Q
 
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I'd have to plump for Krav Maga. Simple techniques, core strength. It's pretty brutal, but it's effective, and you're still young enough to endure the training.

Find a good school, and ask what their lineage is. It should start with Imi, then Darren. There are a lot of places that claim to teach Krav, but they've just picked up a smattering and are not strictly qualified.

I had to quit because I got too old and fragile and arthritic, but it started me on a habit of working out that I still haven't given up, even at age 70.

B.
 
Mystic said:
Seconding these, but Jiu Jitsu in particular. Where I was raised one needed to be able to defend oneself. My brother and I enrolled @ the Chicago Institute of Jiu Jitsu as boys (he was 9, I was 10), where we studied/practiced -- and competed -- for 7-8 years (7 for me). After university, I was back @ MA in the Army, again Jiu Jitsu / Judo ... US SOG were not yet @ KM @ the late 1970s. Used a/or practiced almost daily for nine years, then set away in a closet for about a decade till I took it out, dusted it off, and renewed daily practice in (circa) 2002. I'm in a club here, in France, @ which I instruct experienced teens~young adults in the stuff. It'sa lotta fun but I prefer powerlifting.

Anyway, J-J is darned good stuff "for the streets" get my meaning.
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Me and my buddy went to the Chicago Judo & Karate Center in Hammond, IN in 69-70. It was a chain of schools run by Jim Koncevic. He got into a dispute with another dojo and got run through with a sword.

We never went back.

https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-life-and-death-of-the-deadliest-man-alive/
 
Fat Point Ja said:
Me and my buddy went to the Chicago Judo & Karate Center in Hammond, IN in 69-70. It was a chain of schools run by Jim Koncevic. He got into a dispute with another dojo and got run through with a sword.

We never went back.

https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-life-and-death-of-the-deadliest-man-alive/
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Thanks for the link to the story about Keehan, I remember that cat, the one who walked the lion by Michigan and I sorta, but barely, recall Koncevic being killed in the early 1970s.

And hey, The Reader is still kicking! I didn't know that and haven't thought about that paper in years, but I loved it, free and available every Friday (was it?) around town. Sure, it had a North Side bias, especially in the want ads section, but I liked and read it anyway.

PS: Like anyone was seeking housing @ the South Side ever, right? Well, yeah, there were a few of us.
 
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Wow. I'd never heard of Keehan, nor the rest of that story. Bleccchhh. I need a shower to wash the grime off my soul after reading about that guy; sounds like every wrong conception and bad twisting of martial art teachings combined into one person.

I tried to find the movie, too, but I don't think it ever got past the "work in progress" stages. Found a few trailers, an indiegogo fundraising page (campaign closed with only $8k of the $100k goal realized), and this site/blog by Webb...

https://thesearchforcountdante.com/blog/
 
No personal experience, but my 17yo daughter is a black belt in Kempo karate. I see a lot of older people in her studio and I've actually been thinking about it myself.
 
PabloX said:
No personal experience, but my 17yo daughter is a black belt in Kempo karate. I see a lot of older people in her studio and I've actually been thinking about it myself.
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Always glad to hear when young women train to defend themselves.
 
Boogiepop said:
I'd have to plump for Krav Maga. Simple techniques, core strength. It's pretty brutal, but it's effective, and you're still young enough to endure the training.

Find a good school, and ask what their lineage is. It should start with Imi, then Darren. There are a lot of places that claim to teach Krav, but they've just picked up a smattering and are not strictly qualified.

I had to quit because I got too old and fragile and arthritic, but it started me on a habit of working out that I still haven't given up, even at age 70.

B.
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I started taking Krav Maga 10 years ago. At the time it was the only KM school in NYC and it was located in Manhattan. Living in Brooklyn and working at night made it impractical time/travel wise. What I liked about KM is that from the very first lesson you would leave each class with some useful technique that could be useful right away. I have a scar on one forearm from blocking a crow bar coming down on my head in my younger days. One of the first things I learned in KM was this move where you extend one arm upward and lock your elbow with your hand just over your head to the opposite side of your opponents weapon wielding arm [as he is facing you]. The idea is to cause the weapon to slide down your side and then you sort of hook your arm around his weapon arm, turn and elbow the crap out of his face.
 
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