# aikido for a wise man



## Manny (Aug 10, 2010)

I wanted to put as a title of this tread " aikido for an old f.....t!!! but I reconsidered and better aikido for a wise man, please be kind read my tread and give me your toughts.

I returned to TKD afther a while (15 years) and been practicing for more than 3 years, I am almost 43 and have the heart but slowly my body is sufering the battering of TKD clasess.

For a time I've been thinking of aikido as a viable choice to do slowly the swich to a more gentler (to my body) martial art.

I am mostly an striker but with little knowing of grapling,trowing and manipulation. I've been doing some kenpo with sucess but think the aikido clases are more suitable for an old f... sorry again... a wise grey hair man.

What do you think?

Manny


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## Touch Of Death (Aug 10, 2010)

I'm all for you learning aikido, but the older you get, the more final your efforts have to be; because, you can't dance all night.
Sean


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## K-man (Aug 10, 2010)

Manny said:


> I wanted to put as a title of this tread " aikido for an old f.....t!!! but I reconsidered and better aikido for a wise man, please be kind read my tread and give me your toughts.
> 
> I returned to TKD afther a while (15 years) and been practicing for more than 3 years, I am almost 43 and have the heart but slowly my body is sufering the battering of TKD clasess.
> 
> ...


I started aikido at 58. The rolling is the most tiring part but the benefits of aikido are substantial. The benefit of having a prior striking art is that you easily recognise the opportunity of atemi or kick within the aikido technique. And, what you soon come to realise is that all of the aikido techniques are included in other arts such as karate if you only know where to look. I can't speak for TKD due to lack of experience in TKD but certainly the Shotokan roots contain all the moves.
Give it a go. I love my aikido. :asian:


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## dancingalone (Aug 10, 2010)

You'll need to find a dojo that is willing to make accomodations for some of your infirmities, Manny, but that's very possible.  I would look into perhaps a softer aikido style like Ki Society.

Some aspects of aikido practice are actually unfriendly to old bones and joints like ukemi or shikko walking and it takes a lot of practice to do them efficiently to avoid hurting yourself.


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## Vulcan (Sep 6, 2010)

43 is not that old. Look into some ways to train to be stronger off the mat, such as diet, exercise, proper rest and clean sober living.


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## hussaf (Sep 22, 2010)

I would say 43 is a great age to be physically...still pretty young, plus got that old man strength going!

To be honest, aikido is probably one of the more injury prone martial arts.  I often get slammed the most in aikido....maybe our hybrid judo/jujitsu class a little more.  But with the Judo/JJJ class, its mostly bruises and other cosmetic injuries, whereas in aikido I've lost hearing temporarily, had joints hyperextended, broke a toe, black eyes, etc.  That being said, my dojo is a little atypical in the robustness of its training...theres a good little group of the students that like to get down when we can.  Now THAT being said, we totally understand everyone trains for a variety of reasons and we respect those reasons.  The great thing about aikido is that you can cater it to all sorts...I trained at an aikijujitsu school with an instructor who had braces on his legs; great school, great instruction....though when the head instructor did breakfalls you had to watch to be sure your foot/hand, etc didn't get slammed on by one of the braced legs!

My teacher has a saying, you can have an excellent dojo of 5 or 8 highly skilled motivated students limited to the few, or you can have a dojo that is open to more people, spreading the art, and allow those who train, train as they please.  Its all about balance.  And besides, there's more to martial arts than the physical side...although that's very important.

Hope you find a great place to train!


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 22, 2010)

I'm 49 and I've never been harder.  I no longer feel, or care about, pain the way I once did.  I am far less limber, I was never fast, but I'm hella stronger.  All I want to do is destroy.  Isshin-Ryu rocks it.  That's all I can say.


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## Bruno@MT (Sep 22, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I'm 49 and I've never been harder.  I no longer feel, or care about, pain the way I once did.  I am far less limber, I was never fast, but I'm hella stronger.  All I want to do is destroy.  Isshin-Ryu rocks it.  That's all I can say.



I am quite a bit younger than gramps here  but also quite a bit older then when I did my first stretch of modern jujutsu. I can indeed confirm that dedication and understanding can make up for decreased physical condition.

My art is less about being 'conan the destroyer' and more about 'not be where the attack goes', but after 2 years of practice, I think that I would kick my younger self's ***. I could probably not keep up the same level of exertion, but I am fairly certain that I could end the fight quicker.


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## harlan (Sep 22, 2010)

Honestly, I started martial arts at 43 overweight, out of shape and with torn meniscus...and after watching an aikido black belt test decided to go for Goju karate. Every person in the aikido dojo had an injury...no thanks. I had tried TKD, but found it was too rigorous and physically demanding (at the time, very overweight). Goju had the right blend of kicks (mostly low) and punching and aikido-like principles for the aging beginner.


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