34 year old nervous about starting Karate

Froma 30ish year old i think or older who teaches TKD: "fat man can jump" (inrefrence to himself, in context after he jumped onto one of those vaulting horses that a school uses)

 

The only accommodation we have to make for the passing of the years is to make sure we do not skimp on the warm up, the warm down or the stretching. I am not saying that you need to keep up with the younger guys and blitz through a half hour high intensity warm up. But a 5 minute warm up, 10 minutes gentle but thorough stretching and a 3 minute warm down, will reduce tiredness, reduce aches, and speed not only recovery but will also speed the return of strength and fitness. And in a few months you will find that you can keep up with guys 10 years younger.

 

I'm only 35, but on Monday we started class with 100 Burpees, 100 pressups, 100 squats, 100 Hindu pressups, 60 hamstring extensions, 60 lunges and 100 ab pulses. We then did give and take jab, jab cross and 2 rounds of full power pads. I stayed at the end to work the bag for 30mins working 123 and pushkicks. It's now Thursday and I still can't fully bend either of my arms without my triceps feeling like they are going to rip off my bones.

I wish I had stretched.

I wish I was 20.

 

I couldn't do that lot even when I was 20. These days I always leave the hard work or exercise until the end of the class. I've done classes like the one you described but I always tended to hold back a bit so I had energy for the skill based drilling or technique work. I like to be relatively fresh for doing good quality repetitions.

 

I also prefer to be fresh for skill work. It wouldn't have been my choice to run the class that way but I just had to roll with it. Usually it's a light warm up and then into skill work/pads then sparring. I think Monday was just a conditioning session more than anything. I didn't actually get much out of it as I much prefer to work my technique and spar.

If I ran a class it would be:
1) joint/mobility warm up (no stretching)
2) footwork/shadow boxing
3) skill introduction/drill
4) isolated skill sparring
5) full sparring
6) conditioning
7) stretching

But I'm not a coach, yet.

 

I hear ya. Used to do a Karate class that was an intense 45 minute "warm up". When it came to do techniques your arms would still be shaking from all the press ups and burpees. That's not how I'd do it personally (well the odd session like that doesn't go amiss) but it certainly was hard.

I just help out with teaching classes from time to time but that's pretty much how I try and structure it. It being taekwondo I usually put some dynamic stretching at the end of the joint mobility and movement phases. And then a bit of static stretching/yoga at the end.

 

What sort of dynamic stretches would/do you do just out of curiosity?

 

Kicking flow drills without impact are good.

 

Generally I'll do 10/15 front and side leg raises. Sometimes holding the wall, sometimes holding a partner. Starting low and gentle and then gradually building up height. Always with control and not going mad. Sometimes I'll do a stretch I like where you backwards roll, put one foot to the opposite knee and then roll forwards into a gentle stretch on the straight leg. Roll back and swap legs and repeat. Bit of a massage for the spine too. Sometimes I'll do the front raises as a continuous flow with a skip between each raise so it's also a warm up. Sometimes I just plain forget dynamic stretching and just do joint rotations and mobility drills.

 

Hey guys , sorry for the late reply , basically I went a couple of weeks ago and the class was postponed for 2 weeks as sensei Katsu was I think at a tournament or seminar , but I finally joined today and had my first class , really enjoyed it ,think I coped pretty well .

admittedly got abit lost with some of the combinations and movement but I suppose this will come with practice , also a lot of the Japanese terms were all new to me , So it was a lot to take in . But Sensei was great .

 

The 1st step is always the hardest, so give yourself a little pat on the back for persisting, and not allowing the dalays and cancellations derail you - Well done.

Travess

 

* delays (apologies)

Travess

 

Yes definitely , can’t wait till next week

 

Thank you , yes I was determined to Get into it , and nothing was gonna put me off , do you recommend anything I can do at home between classes to help?

 

I would have been weird, if all the new names and terms and movements would be... not new, wouldn't it?

Great you enjoyed your first steps, that should be a good sign
Keep on it and keep having fun!

 

Thank you

 

At the moment, as far as specific requirements to the class are concerned, I'd say your biggest asset would be mindful of what was covered. Mentally run yourself through the drills/techniques as best as you can remember, and things may start to feel a lot less alien to you in time. Then, when you are more comfortable, you will be able to start introducing physical asspects to your homework...

Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent, so make sure that you understand what you are practicing first.

Travess

 

welcome to the beginning of your karate journey.

Great to see you got in, and again after a delay. Stick to the routine, weeks will become months, becoming years

At 37 it's not as easy as it was in my teens and 20s, but plenty of progress to be had!