Too old to start MA at 3 years old.

i started TKD at 20(and again at 24) started hapkido at 25. i wish i had started at a younger age. our TKD instructer said he once had someone start at 60. we have a few who are in the late 40s and early 50s as white and yellow belts.

 

think the oldest person in our system started at 54, he's 59 now and is still quite fit, he does gradings seperately, and at his own pace.
I wish I'd been able to carry on from the age of 6, but an injury stopped it. I'd never had the opportunity to do a MA till I turned 19. I'm just glad I started when I did, and look forward to as many more years as I can get out of it.

 

And this would be why I'm thankful I do Kung Fu and know that the kids don't learn the same stuff as the adults

 

Thats the difference I do SPORT TKD and SPORT Muay Thai. In J/Jujitsu we have a completely different syllabus to adults

Some kids kick a ball all day, some are in a swimming pool at 5am every day before school then back in every night, I choose to go to the gym or M/A lesson and all I get is stick off people who have never seen me train, never taken a punch or kick off me and never sparred with me. I know hundreds of Martial Artists and Fighters who train with me and not one has a bad word to say about me. I am regularly used to train fighters as I am so unpredictable, all you people see is the age not the experence!

I am not claiming to know everything, far from it, to me a 1st dan shows that you have just about mastered the basics (maybe the bar for a B/B is to low now, I think it is way to low in some M/A) But I would not have been able to devote so much time to M/A if I had been older, my own M/A lessons have almost halved since joining high school due to school work and taking up a few other sports. The way I see it I have a few years of 'childhood' left and I'm going to fill them full of 'STUFF'

Rant over - going sailing then 2hr TKD lesson - think of me while you mow the lawn

 

I'm gonna rant myself here.

Firslty. Most child martial artists suck. - Simple fact. I remember being a 16 year old white belt and beating around the blackbelts who were not only never learned to understand the intermediate stuff at age 6 but had done it for so long that they lost interest in it in their teenage years.

This doesn't apply to all. Obviously. I know that my real training began at 16. I was old and mature enough to think about my training and my fitness and self-defence. As well as it still retaining it's novelty.

And most importantly.

Get up and do something! - I'm serious. I train a lot. But not by some people standards. I know I'm not going to be remembered by History as the Mas Oyama of the 21st Century. - But I guarantee most of the people who go "I should have started earlier" are training 3 times a week.

The "started earlier" thing is an excuse for people who don't train enough now and so wish they could put some training into their past. If you want to catch up with that guy who's been training 5 years longer than you then get putting more hours in. Get down the Gym more. Get in your garden more. Weightlift more. Push yourself harder and study more. - And if you're going to say "I have no time!" - You're at your computer right now. Get training.

I know I've accomplished more in 2 years than most of my peers have done in 5. I don't need to lament my lack of childhood training. Because the past is gone and if I want to be better then I'll train more.

Having said that. I'm off to train. I ain't gonna get good by wishing I trained more in my childhood am I?

 

Well said

 

Ragnarok2005, the only reason I wish I started earlier is because I never realized how much FUN I missed out on.Thats it. I dont care when the others in my class started. I just really enjoy the training. So I look at it as I missed out on those years of FUN. I will admit that it is hard for me to go 3 times a week because I have a wife and 3 kids plus i work shift work, I should be using my wifes treadmill and weights more than i do, but thats for my general fitness not just for MA. You make some good points and thanks for your input.

 

I'm sure a good number of people want to turn back time and do everything over if they could. I agree with most of the post though, you're never too old to do anything. Maybe, won't have much of a fighting career, but it still can be done if its a goal to accomplish.

 

Quote "Firslty. Most child martial artists suck" - Agreed, but there is nearly always one kid in the club who is really good, sometimes it is the intructors child, sometime not. Add up all the clubs and you have Thousands of good young martial artists who deserve the same respect as any adult. By slagging off kids as crap you are only reinforcing stereotypes, whats next women, disabled people the old?

We kids have to inherit the ****-tip of a world you have left for us, you haven't made a good job of that for all your age and experience

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Martial Jac you really crack me up.
I mean that in a good way.

 

Just sick of people slagging me off for being a 12 year old martial artist, proberly an age thing (before someone else says it)

 

Gawd... Do you ever make ANY post where you don't bang on about the fact that you're a child blackbelt? - You're like that Dwarf in Lord of the Rings. The constant statement that he's a dwarf is his entire personality.

You can't blame any adult for making the world a "****-tip" as it's something that we've collectively done as a species.

And I turned 18 one week ago.

 

Isn't the thread about age? But maybe your right, I bow down to your age and experience

Perhaps it's because people need to know I'm only 12 and take that into account when reading my posts, I might be thinking differently having missed the point because of my age or maybe its pride in achieving so much at such an early age, don't know.

Don't blame any adult - all of them - yourself excluded as you have only just become one.

 

doublepost

 

look at frank shamrock.

look at alot of professional boxers who got picked up in there 20ish's and became great.

MA is like weight lifting in a way. eventually you reach the balance point relative to fellow weight lifter.