Everyone at one time or another imagines reliving some aspect of their youth. A very important part of my teens and twenties involved the study of the martial arts. I studied and sometimes even taught Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Aikido, Kenpo and Hapkido. Over the last decade marriage, career and variety of other interests led me down other paths. But the spirit and the memory of my martial arts experiences have stayed with me... and now I'm about to take a shot at living them again.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out a Brazilian Jujitsu school just up the road from my house. I spent a good amount of my youth sweating in a Dojo (or Dojang, depending on what style of martial art I was pursuing at the time), five sometimes six days a week and more often than not attending back-to-back classes. The big difference now is that I'm in my 40's. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous. Do I still have my legs? Can I still punch with power? How's my cardio gonna hold up against kids in their 20's?
I remember teaching Tae Kwon Do when I was attending college in Michigan. One of my students was 40-years old (damned if I can't remember his name, but he reminded me of Chuck Norris because he had a beard and could do the splits - something I've never really been able to do). Chuck was a really nice guy, he had power in his punches and his kicks were impressive, but I remember he wasn't "into it" in the same way that I was. Back then I was about 170 pounds and could do it all, spin kicks, flying kicks, breaking boards... Martial arts were my life between high school, through my years in the Army and for most of my twenties. For a while I actually thought I would make a living teaching Tae Kwon Do - and for a couple years that's exactly what I did. So I was always a bit shocked that Chuck wasn't as dialed into teaching, competing and essentially living the life of a martial artist as I was.
But now that I've reached the age of my former friend and student I can appreciate his attitude towards the martial arts. Back then I thought I would be defined by my fighting skills, now I'm merely interested in getting back into shape and maybe, just maybe, recapturing some of the dynamic fighting skills of my twenties. Alas, I don't think 170 pounds are in my future, however.
This school also emphasizes the "MMA" style of fighting, as might be seen in the UFC or Strikeforce on television. I competed frequently over the years, but while the fighting was often full-contact it was hardly with the ferocity and violence of modern-day MMA fighting. I sincerely want to challenge myself, physically and mentally, to see how I'll match up in this type of competitive hand-to-hand combat. When I fought as a Black Belt we wore headgear, gloves and foot guards - sometimes even a chest pad. Consequently, I can't recall ever getting hurt - but then I've always had the capacity to take a punch. In MMA you enter the ring with a cup, a mouthguard and a pair of very lightweight gloves that don't really appear to cushion the blow very much, judging by the bouts I've seen on Spike and Versus network.
So get ready MMA-world, here comes a veteran of the Japanese, Okinawan, Chinese and Korean fighting arts. I'm older, possibly wiser and in my mind still the young man who could put together string of head-high kicks and gut-busting body punches without breaking a sweat. It all starts tomorrow, ready or not!
No comments:
Post a Comment