Too late to start?

[SacredCoconut]

I did not find thread for it, even thought it must have been talked about before.

So i will be 21 years old soon, and i have not realy done much sports, but i feel like i'm not in that bad of shape. Do you think there could still be posibility to get good at competing? I'm not talking about going into olympics or enything, but getting good enough, that someone can say that guy is good. I'm just curious and nothing else.

 

[WC_lun]

If you have a good work ethic then yes you can become good at competing. I've seen guys start at 3 times your age and be successful in tournaments.

 

[J W]

Yeah, you're nowhere near old. How good you can get all depends on how hard you're willing to work at it.

 

[Steve]

Couple things to consider. First, it depends upon what your specific goals are. Speaking for BJJ, you could absolutely compete and do well in a relatively short period of time. How long depends upon exactly HOW out of shape you are, whether you have any physical barriers to getting back into shape (such as a bad ticker) and how motivated and disciplined you are to improve your fitness level.

"Out of shape" means different things to different people. If you're a little round in the middle, have no cardio and haven't been very active, that's one thing. If you're morbidly obese and have been sedentary all your life while eating sugar with every meal, you might consider talking to a doctor and addressing the diet as well.

 

[GrandmasterP]

21 is no age at all, plenty of time to develop real skills.
What do you fancy doing?

 

[SacredCoconut]

Well at moment i will keep doing karate, and probely will compete, as i'm prety competive person (for what i have seen its not exactuly what i'm looking for as sports). After while if i feel like i want more sporty art, i may take up jujutsu, judo, kick boxing, boxing or TKD. As i alredy sayd it was more out of curiosity if people think i could compete if i wanted.

I don't have eny barriers in getting shape for what i know, I'd say i'm "you're a little round in the middle, have no cardio and haven't been very active", but i have not realy eaten healthy ever. Well i don't realy know what the norm is, but i feel like i'm not in that good shape (year ago i was able run 2650m in coopers test, because of army). Well i'm not the worst posible example of how not keep your self fit, as i have still done some execise to keep my self fit, even if they have been temporaly.

 

[Dirty Dog]

You're a freaking infant compared to a lot of us, and you're worried about being too old??? :rofl:


I took 2 bronzes (sparring and weapons sparring) and a silver (forms) in the last tourney I entered. There was one other competitor my age in the weapons sparring. Everybody else was 10+ years younger than me. The guy who beat me in sparring was about 15 years younger than me and won gold. Those who watched say there was definately a home court advantage when we sparred, and after the match he actually told me "I don't know how that happened. You kicked my ***."
Age is not really much of a factor.

 

[arnisador]

Go for it--and if it doesn't go as quickly as you hope, remember, upper-age-level divisions may start at as young as 35 years of age.

 

[Buka]

You are far too old to think about competing. You belong in a home, with a shawl around your shoulders, sitting in a nice rocker, eating soft foods.

Sorry to be the one to give you that reality check - but hey, if you started to compete you might get paired up with an eighteen year old. Then where would you be?
Oh, the horror!

 

[GrandmasterP]

Taki Theodocropolous was winning veteran golds for karate into his eighties.

 

[SacredCoconut]

I know 21 is not lot, but when i have 4 year experience, my opponent may have 13+ years experience.

You are far too old to think about competing. You belong in a home, with a shawl around your shoulders, sitting in a nice rocker, eating soft foods.

Sorry to be the one to give you that reality check - but hey, if you started to compete you might get paired up with an eighteen year old. Then where would you be?
Oh, the horror!

Thanks, now i can with peace of mind stay home. I was alredy getting afraid i might have to think about working out.

 

[Buka]

I know 21 is not lot, but when i have 4 year experience, my opponent may have 13+ years experience.


Thanks, now i can with peace of mind stay home. I was alredy getting afraid i might have to think about working out.

Joking aside, Martial competition is a funny thing. It's usually not the experience (years training) that beats you, it the experience (of a lot of competitions) that usually wins out. Competition is a game, a fun one to be sure, but it has it's own tempo, trends etc., the more you compete, the more you understand the game and the better you will usually do. You just have to go out there and sign up. You'll eventually have fun, maybe not the first time or two, but it gets better and better.

Go have fun.

 

[Steve]

What style of martial arts and what kind of competitions are you thinking about? I have competed in BJJ and done pretty well. Even as a 37 year old, out of shape white belt, I competed well against young guys and won more than I lost.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Makalakumu]

If you are already training in a MA and are this young, you should have no problem competing. I had lots of MA experience when i was 21, but didn't compete that much, but I was in good shape though. In a short amount of time, I was winning the midwest regional tournament at my rank. I had never really been successful in sports up to this point, but I applied myself here and made it happen. Try it!

 

[Zero]

SacredCoconut, did you stick with karate or go elsewhere? Maybe it is just where you are based but usualy there are plenty of karate tournaments that include both kata and kumite/fighting (if that is what you mean by wanting something more sporty). The degree of contact in the tournaments also varies greatly so would think karate definitely has something to offer if you are competitive in nature. What style of karate were/are you doing?

 

[SacredCoconut]

Yeah im still doing karate and we have lot of kumite training, so i will most likely try some tournament soon. Im part of JKA shotokan. Now i have little more information and think it can be realy good for competing, and when training it feels different from what i thought from watching some tournaments.

 

[DennisBreene]

Yeah im still doing karate and we have lot of kumite training, so i will most likely try some tournament soon. Im part of JKA shotokan. Now i have little more information and think it can be realy good for competing, and when training it feels different from what i thought from watching some tournaments.

It sounds like you really have all you need to start competing. Pick the venue with an eye towards gaining experience. Realize that success doesn't necessarily mean winning. What you learn about yourself in the process of competing can be more important than a trophy.