I have a leather jacket older than 32
come to think of it, so do I
In any case.
When I started TKD, I was 34.
Having always been athletic, I did Ok, except for getting lost in Chong Chi, which in this style was literally 3 blocks and punches up and down. Cue Spongebob French Voice: Three Hours Later.......
Starting over is awkward. as if you have to learn how to walk all over again, and where your right and your left is.
I met a lady there who became my friend. She was 60 when she started.
She had arthritis, bum hips, you name it, the passing of time had not left her unscathed. She had limitations to what she could do. She excelled in other parts.
While she could barely get to kick above the belt line with a front or back kick, she could still knock your block off with a crescent kick!
Playing with shortsticks/Escrima, she was a fiend I would not want to meet in a state of anger.
She stuck it out for several years until she met a form that would not agree with her hips.
She reached Black Belt status with our organization.
The thing about martial arts is, that with each step you master, the next will become easier: If as a ley person you look at a black belt form, it makes no sense. When you work yourself up to that level you will learn the same form within a week or two (perfecting it is a never-ending process)
For my friend the training sessions were also therapeutic. She felt that with each form she learned her mental picture became better
Forms are also part meditation in motion.
And according to a Dr Feldenkrais, conducting exercises that are not usual for one, one develops more neurological connections, contrary to the notion that the brain is done by age 3 or so.
Don't give a 2nd thought to the younger people in the room.
They are too busy not tripping over their own feet.
And instructors are usually impressed when old folks take up their sport.
