Tell me about your first day of training..

[Gerry Seymour]

When I was about 17 I did a few months of Taekwondo, but took a break when summer came to focus on surfing and never went back. Don't remember my first class. Last week I took my first Kung Fu class at the age of 53. Went in nervous, thinking that I'd be the oldest person in the class. There were people of all ages and a great vibe. I've got to do some serious stretching but I held my own. I do a lot of mountain hunting here in Idaho and my legs are strong. Upper body not so much. Woke up the next day feeling sore all over, but I like that feeling.

Class 4 was yesterday and I was proud of myself for having memorized the first 5 sparring forms. Realized in class that there are actually right AND left versions. Sigh...

I need to be challenged constantly or I get bored, and it's clear that martial arts fit the bill. I think I'm going to be doing this for awhile.

Then welcome to the addiction.

 

[dvcochran]

When I was about 17 I did a few months of Taekwondo, but took a break when summer came to focus on surfing and never went back. Don't remember my first class. Last week I took my first Kung Fu class at the age of 53. Went in nervous, thinking that I'd be the oldest person in the class. There were people of all ages and a great vibe. I've got to do some serious stretching but I held my own. I do a lot of mountain hunting here in Idaho and my legs are strong. Upper body not so much. Woke up the next day feeling sore all over, but I like that feeling.

Class 4 was yesterday and I was proud of myself for having memorized the first 5 sparring forms. Realized in class that there are actually right AND left versions. Sigh...

I need to be challenged constantly or I get bored, and it's clear that martial arts fit the bill. I think I'm going to be doing this for awhile.

Welcome to the forum. Us older guys have to stick together. Very good that you recognized the left and right. There is quite a lot of repetition so a good goal to work on is challenging yourself. Just like target practice and hunting, it take a lot of rounds and repetition. Well, hopefully the hunting doesn't take a lot of rounds. Keep us in the loop.

 

[Marlene Morga]

My first day of martial arts class at the local college was awesome. I remember waking up at 4 in the morning to catch the 6am bus to travel two cities to the campus. Once I got there, I was so nervous and excited; then, at the same time that I caught sight of a poster which showed the question: What are you looking for? and a few words that made me think for a moment. I finally selected the sheet of paper that held the word: Direction. And as I walked into the gymnasium, I realized that I was there early. Except for a particularly serious red belt martial artist that was kind enough to introduce himself to me. We shook hands and then we spoke for a while as to why we were all taking martial arts. So then, I decided to clean up the gymnasium using a broom and a floor mop to sweep up the gym, and believe me, you'd never guess to find little bolts and metal and dust from who knows how it got there. So it became a daily thing, cleaning up the dojo or training hall, as I called it. As for the red belt martial artist, he's my mentor now. And even though it was tough luck for me that I never got a thank you for the floor sweeping from the other students, but when I trained with them all, it was worth the sweeping. Seeing their courage made me want to keep practicing martial arts. Even if the simplest things get overlooked, it's the will to do something good that counts.

 

[Buka]

My first day of martial arts class at the local college was awesome. I remember waking up at 4 in the morning to catch the 6am bus to travel two cities to the campus. Once I got there, I was so nervous and excited; then, at the same time that I caught sight of a poster which showed the question: What are you looking for? and a few words that made me think for a moment. I finally selected the sheet of paper that held the word: Direction. And as I walked into the gymnasium, I realized that I was there early. Except for a particularly serious red belt martial artist that was kind enough to introduce himself to me. We shook hands and then we spoke for a while as to why we were all taking martial arts. So then, I decided to clean up the gymnasium using a broom and a floor mop to sweep up the gym, and believe me, you'd never guess to find little bolts and metal and dust from who knows how it got there. So it became a daily thing, cleaning up the dojo or training hall, as I called it. As for the red belt martial artist, he's my mentor now. And even though it was tough luck for me that I never got a thank you for the floor sweeping from the other students, but when I trained with them all, it was worth the sweeping. Seeing their courage made me want to keep practicing martial arts. Even if the simplest things get overlooked, it's the will to do something good that counts.

Hi Marlene! Welcome to Martial Talk, hope you enjoy it.

Just keep going to class. And make sure it doesn't get in the way of your studies.

And if I may be so bold to give some fatherly advice, make sure your red belt mentor stays just that and only that.

Enjoy the process of learning and please keep us posted.

 

[Marlene Morga]

Yes, sir. Thank you.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Hi Marlene! Welcome to Martial Talk, hope you enjoy it.

Just keep going to class. And make sure it doesn't get in the way of your studies.

And if I may be so bold to give some fatherly advice, make sure your red belt mentor stays just that and only that.

Enjoy the process of learning and please keep us posted.

Good advice from one of the wisest people on this forum.

 

[Syeed Ali]

If I recall correctly, my first class had a warmup that involved running around the edges of the room doing breathwork.

I couldn't keep up, and excused myself to lay down panting in the next room. There was a moment when I had to decide to either give up or get up.

When I returned, nobody batted an eye and it was never brought up at any point in the future. That's why I continued training.

 

[Buka]

If I recall correctly, my first class had a warmup that involved running around the edges of the room doing breathwork.

I couldn't keep up, and excused myself to lay down panting in the next room. There was a moment when I had to decide to either give up or get up.

When I returned, nobody batted an eye and it was never brought up at any point in the future. That's why I continued training.

What a great post. And similar to my first training days.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

If I recall correctly, my first class had a warmup that involved running around the edges of the room doing breathwork.

I couldn't keep up, and excused myself to lay down panting in the next room. There was a moment when I had to decide to either give up or get up.

When I returned, nobody batted an eye and it was never brought up at any point in the future. That's why I continued training.

I've experienced similar after a while away and trying out a new place. You need that break when you're getting back into it, everyone's experienced it at some point, so no one cares.

 

[Harry Flannagan]

I remember my first day training, the son of our coach was a bit cocky (blue belt) kept mocking my kicks and I was having a hard time, like come on that was my first day and what made it worst I accidentally kicked him on his stomach -_-

 

[minn8325]

I got choked out

 

[Gyakuto]

Sunday May 18th 1981. 10am at Priestnall Recreation Centre in Stockport/Manchester. I was 12 years old. It was a municipal Karate course which turned out to be Wado Ryu and I’d waited about 3 months for the course to start so I’d borrowed a book on Karate from the library and had been doing press ups on my knuckles on a stone hearth, so I felt prepared! It was a sunny, warm morning and as a consequence the instructor, Keith Harrison, decide the class should take place on a grassy area adjacent to the sports hall. I was a bit disappointed as I thought the first class would be better in a gymnasium. I wasn’t nervous but rather keen to do my best. Punching from kibadachi, front kicks from hami gamae, soto use, uchi uke and then to finish off, front kicks from a really long stance to work this anterior thigh muscles and it was all over. The two hours flew by. My first real experience of Budo…the most influential thing on my whole life.

On the 18th May, every year, I celebrate that first morning. I feel thankful, I wonder what became of my teacher and my regular training partner, Barry Wicks (I’ve tried to find them with little success..they could well have passed on) and the late Tatsuo Suzuki, hachidan hanshi our national teacher. I sometimes buy a cake to celebrate too, but mostly I just feel thankful and with love and warmth, remember the people, whose guidance touched my life so deeply…..

 

[Dboxobi]

My first martial art class was at a local MMA gym, I specifically attended the MT class and found out my round kick Ive been practicing by watching Van Dam movies was utterly flawed. I just did my best to follow my coach directions to the best of my ability, Time went on and I started training harder (4 years) and went from a slouch to someone with some decent striking fundamentals. I then Ventured off into the grappling world and stepped into a BJJ gym for the first time. I was immediately humbled when a blue belt had their way with me, I stuck with BJJ and Judo for about a year then finally settling in to traditional Japanese striking arts, which I still train to this day.

Overall, I went from that slouch to a person that has "some" sense of being able to give a decent fight against someone that intends to inflict harm.

MA as a hobby is something Id definitly favor as opposed to "IMO" other sports that would have no ideal use in today's dangerous world.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

My 1st day training didn't make much sense. So I don't even want to talk about it. I like to talk about my 1st day of teaching because I believe it makes more sense.

My 1st day teaching include how to deal with

- boxer's punch.
- MT guy's roundhouse kick.
- TKD guy's side kick.
- wrestler's single leg.

I want new students to know that MA training is to solve problems. Today our problems are not from our own MA system, but from different MA systems.

 

[Gyakuto]

Today (18th May) it is 41 years since I began my Budo journey. As I’ve posted above, I’ll be celebrating, remembering those with whom I trained and perhaps buy myself a pastry!

Good luck on your continuing journey

 

[donald1]

I vaguely remember my first day of training. It was years ago. Back in late 2009. Class was in the back of a Vfw. Me and my mom were confused showing up there believing the place to be a simple bar. People there were drinking. No place for Karate. Anyways... The lady pointed us to the room in the back. Large room with concrete floor. I've had tons of great memories there. We haven't trained there in years, but I have a lot of memories there.

Anyways... Back to my first day of karate. I was the only person to show up that day. There was one other student. Young adult. Was always late for class. He was a weird guy and kinda dumb too. Like he missed classes on occasion. I think he had white belt with orange stripe? Or maybe not even that? I don't remember. I'm pretty sure he didn't have an orange stripe.

If your not sure what an orange stripe is. It's basically a small rank in between white belt and orange belt. He was a weird dude. I feel pretty sure I got orange stripe before he did? I know I got orange belt before him. I won't say his name, but one day he was complaining to the instructor about believing he should be compensated since he had missed days and thus did not receive training for those classes. Which escalated when the guy tried to attack the instructor? It was weird!! The instructor said the guy tried to attack him!! A white belt. The instructor restrained him. I imagine with a lot of ease. And he just told the guy to never come back. We eventually got better students. but anyways...

On my first day of Karate. It really wasn't anything particularly special. It wasn't really motivating either since I was the only student. I didn't get to see any higher ranked students practice forms or anything early on. Despite that, I rather enjoyed it. I mean... Over 10 years later, I'm still doing this stuff so obviously I enjoyed it.

 

[Yanli]

As a kid I went to dads class to workout and be around him and his friends. It was a great way to stay in shape along with wrestling. I came back as a way to deal with disabilities, I am hooked. There is no doubt. I will quit the 12th of never.

I was 15, and to make a long story short, I was so-to-speak, adapted by an Chinese couple. When I say "so-to-speak," I mean I still lived with my family, but the couple treated me like one of their own. The couple had Chinese MA movies, and man offered to teach me when he saw how much I enjoyed the movies. He was a very kind and gentle man, but when it came to teaching me, he did not go easy on me lol. He would whip my hand and many other spots if I did not do things correctly lol, this taught me that if I truly desired to lean, I must endure, and how to tolerate pain no matter what. This not only helped me in MA, but in life itself.

 

[Yanli]

I vaguely remember my first day of training. It was years ago. Back in late 2009. Class was in the back of a Vfw. Me and my mom were confused showing up there believing the place to be a simple bar. People there were drinking. No place for Karate. Anyways... The lady pointed us to the room in the back. Large room with concrete floor. I've had tons of great memories there. We haven't trained there in years, but I have a lot of memories there.

Anyways... Back to my first day of karate. I was the only person to show up that day. There was one other student. Young adult. Was always late for class. He was a weird guy and kinda dumb too. Like he missed classes on occasion. I think he had white belt with orange stripe? Or maybe not even that? I don't remember. I'm pretty sure he didn't have an orange stripe.

If your not sure what an orange stripe is. It's basically a small rank in between white belt and orange belt. He was a weird dude. I feel pretty sure I got orange stripe before he did? I know I got orange belt before him. I won't say his name, but one day he was complaining to the instructor about believing he should be compensated since he had missed days and thus did not receive training for those classes. Which escalated when the guy tried to attack the instructor? It was weird!! The instructor said the guy tried to attack him!! A white belt. The instructor restrained him. I imagine with a lot of ease. And he just told the guy to never come back. We eventually got better students. but anyways...

On my first day of Karate. It really wasn't anything particularly special. It wasn't really motivating either since I was the only student. I didn't get to see any higher ranked students practice forms or anything early on. Despite that, I rather enjoyed it. I mean... Over 10 years later, I'm still doing this stuff so obviously I enjoyed it.

Are you still just practicing it, or are you teaching now?

 

[donald1]

Are you still just practicing it, or are you teaching now?

Teaching would be cool, but nah. Practicing. I have gotten to assist in teaching. One time my instructor had a afterschool program for elementary students once. I'd come and he'd teach one group, and I taught the other. It was fun while it lasted.

I would like to one day teach, but I'd want more experience doing so. Preferably with an adult group.

 

[Yanli]

Let me inform you, you sometimes learn and comprehend more when you are trying to teach it to someone else. When I first started teaching, I would run into a student that did not pick up on things as easily as your standard student, and it was those students that helped me better comprehend what I already thought I fully comprehended. As I struggled to get them to comprehend, I started comprehending more. My teacher knew that would happen, but wanted me to see it for myself. Sometimes you can not be taught, sometimes you have to learn it for yourself.