why do I mostly see older folks when attending adult Karate class?

[Dboxobi]

Karate classes Ive attended, I tend to see mostly folks in their mid 40s upwards all the way to 70s (plus kids) but very few young adults. Is Karate more friendly for n aging body?

 

[Instructor]

Older people have more time and money to pursue goals that would have been more difficult when they were younger because of just starting out, building a family etc.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Karate classes Ive attended, I tend to see mostly folks in their mid 40s upwards all the way to 70s (plus kids) but very few young adults. Is Karate more friendly for n aging body?

Depends on the type of karate.

I'll bet a lot of people try to pick up a martial art during their midlife crisis. It makes perfect sense given all the Marvel, Star Wars, and DC stuff out there. People want to be like heroes, and you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Forget the haters. Find your own powers.

Let's face it, even if you haven't been into martial arts for long, or ever, the first 20 seconds of Obi Wan Kenobi are going to make you want to get out of your chair and start becoming one with the Dao That Cannot Be Named.

I was certainly compelled, but at a much younger age. And then again, and again, and again. That's how it works, if it does.

 

[donald1]

I have a mixed opinion on this comment. In my experience most of the older students are experienced students. And it would seem obviously younger students gravitate towards different styles? I've met tons of younger students in Goju Ryu, but not so much with kung fu. At a reunion I went to 4 years ago(nearly 5), I remember one of the pictures taken was of the youngest person there(which ended up being me) and and the oldest. An older lady(forgot her age). I was 23 at the time and I thought it was funny that I was the youngest person attending the event. There were some other people not much older than myself, but I was a bit surprised there wasn't anyone there younger than myself at the time.

I suppose the answer to your question depends on the style or arguably rather, the class itself. What does the class focus on? Since, ya know, different schools prioritize different things. One may be geared towards self defense and fitness while another may be health and wellbeing.

 

[GojuTommy]

Because most adults who want to do martial arts want something like KB or MT or BJJ, and most karate schools dont offer those kinds of classes

 

[GojuTommy]

Older people have more time and money to pursue goals that would have been more difficult when they were younger because of just starting out, building a family etc.

Definitely not the reason.
Walk into an adult BJJ class, kickboxing, judo, or MT classes. You’ll see plenty of people between the ages of 18-40 training.

When most adults get interested in martial arts, traditional karate simply isn’t what they want.

 

[GojuTommy]

I have a mixed opinion on this comment. In my experience most of the older students are experienced students. And it would seem obviously younger students gravitate towards different styles? I've met tons of younger students in Goju Ryu, but not so much with kung fu. At a reunion I went to 4 years ago(nearly 5), I remember one of the pictures taken was of the youngest person there(which ended up being me) and and the oldest. An older lady(forgot her age). I was 23 at the time and I thought it was funny that I was the youngest person attending the event. There were some other people not much older than myself, but I was a bit surprised there wasn't anyone there younger than myself at the time.

I suppose the answer to your question depends on the style or arguably rather, the class itself. What does the class focus on? Since, ya know, different schools prioritize different things. One may be geared towards self defense and fitness while another may be health and wellbeing.

Let’s face it, most ‘traditional’ karate schools focus on the same few things regardless of what they claim to teach. Kata being the biggest one, kihon, and compliant partner drills.

The reason younger people aren’t in adult classes (younger being relative) is that most ‘younger’ adults don’t want to do kata and kihon when they decide to do a martial art. Most of the low ranked adults likely are more interested in the dress up and the cultural pretend games(outside of Japan) the higher ranked obviously began train when they were younger at which point ‘younger’ again may be relative.

 

[Holmejr]

Back a hundred years ago when I first started in the MA’s, traditional arts was basically all there was. BJJ, KM and MMA couldn’t be found. Now BJJ is practically in every shopping center and they’re right up a young persons alley. No Kata’s, less formal typically, grittier and a bit too physical for a 50 plus’r to start off in. The older guys you see in in those arts have usually been there a decade or so or just about to quit, LOL. The FMA arts, although not as physical in the beginning, become increasingly more physical and challenging at higher levels. I got home at 5 tonight from a 4 hour class we have sundays. I’m in bed, sore everyplace, in pain in a few specific places and watching the Highwaymen with Ken Costner. Now where’s my Advil?

 

[skribs]

Why are young adults in arts like BJJ, but older adults or kids in arts like Karate? Probably because Karate isn't as popular among UFC fighters as arts like BJJ. But I think some of it is the old TMA vs combat sport debate.

Personally, I feel some of the benefits of forms are aimed at kids or older adults. That's not to say they're useless to young adults (just hear me out). Some of the mental things forms help with are memory, attention to detail, and studying habits; as well as the confidence that you are working on those. Some of the physical benefit is learning the "Twister" (put your left foot here, your right hand there).

A little kid is going to be working on vocabulary, and translating that vocabulary into movement. They're going to need to learn how to learn things, and forms give a great progress report of how much they've learned. They need to start learning that details are important.

A 20-year-old college student probably already has good study habits, attention-to-detail, and their memory is at its prime. If they are pursuing athletics at this age, there's a good chance they are already athletic and know how to play Twister.

A 50-year-old adult is going to be worried about exercising their memory to stave off dementia and Alzheimer's. If they don't have an athletic background, they may need to relearn how to communicate with their own body. And since sparring leaves bruises, and bruises take longer and longer to heal the older you are, forms are a nice alternative.

That's not to say there's no reason for a 20-year-old to do forms. But these are what I think forms do that other types of drill cannot do as well, and these benefits will hit harder for a kid or an older adult.

 

[MetalBoar]

A 50-year-old adult is going to be worried about exercising their memory to stave off dementia and Alzheimer's. If they don't have an athletic background, they may need to relearn how to communicate with their own body. And since sparring leaves bruises, and bruises take longer and longer to heal the older you are, forms are a nice alternative.

I don't know which 50 year old's you know. Being 51 and having friends spanning ages from early 20's to mid 70's (not counting my parents, in their 80's), when you talk about dementia concerns I think you're off by a decade or two for most people. There do seem to be a few people I went to high school with who now make a lot of "senior moments" kind of jokes on Facebook, but they're the minority and mostly don't seem too serious. I don't associate directly with anyone in my generation who feels like they've lost too many mental steps yet, nor do they seem too concerned about it in the future either. The people I know who even think about it are the types of health nuts (like me) who are life hackers and optimizers and have been making choices to fend off aging, of all sorts, since they hit 30 (or earlier).

 

[skribs]

I don't know which 50 year old's you know. Being 51 and having friends spanning ages from early 20's to mid 70's (not counting my parents, in their 80's), when you talk about dementia concerns I think you're off by a decade or two for most people. There do seem to be a few people I went to high school with who now make a lot of "senior moments" kind of jokes on Facebook, but they're the minority and mostly don't seem too serious. I don't associate directly with anyone in my generation who feels like they've lost too many mental steps yet, nor do they seem too concerned about it in the future either. The people I know who even think about it are the types of health nuts (like me) who are life hackers and optimizers and have been making choices to fend off aging, of all sorts, since they hit 30 (or earlier).

It's a more direct concern later on, but it's something to get ahead of.

 

[Tez3]

Karate classes Ive attended, I tend to see mostly folks in their mid 40s upwards all the way to 70s (plus kids) but very few young adults. Is Karate more friendly for n aging body?

It's because we oldies believe in "old and sneaky beats young and fit" so we go out of our way to beat up and demoralise young people with our amazing skills.

Seriously, I'm not noticed more old than young but then 40 isn't old.

 

[tkdroamer]

Karate classes Ive attended, I tend to see mostly folks in their mid 40s upwards all the way to 70s (plus kids) but very few young adults. Is Karate more friendly for n aging body?

I wonder if the classes you saw were segregated by age. But there are many reasons this could be true. Most 40-somethings have a full life and family. Downtime from a physical injury is a bigger deal for them compared to a 20-year-old who is unattached and unencumbered.
I know of several 40-somethings that are still very active in tournaments of various styles.

 

[skribs]

I wonder if the classes you saw were segregated by age. But there are many reasons this could be true. Most 40-somethings have a full life and family. Downtime from a physical injury is a bigger deal for them compared to a 20-year-old who is unattached and unencumbered.
I know of several 40-somethings that are still very active in tournaments of various styles.

I've not seen a martial arts class that separates young adults from older adults.

 

[tkdroamer]

I've not seen a martial arts class that separates young adults from older adults.

I agree but having not seen what the OP was referring to I am speculating.

 

[GojuTommy]

I don't know which 50 year old's you know. Being 51 and having friends spanning ages from early 20's to mid 70's (not counting my parents, in their 80's), when you talk about dementia concerns I think you're off by a decade or two for most people. There do seem to be a few people I went to high school with who now make a lot of "senior moments" kind of jokes on Facebook, but they're the minority and mostly don't seem too serious. I don't associate directly with anyone in my generation who feels like they've lost too many mental steps yet, nor do they seem too concerned about it in the future either. The people I know who even think about it are the types of health nuts (like me) who are life hackers and optimizers and have been making choices to fend off aging, of all sorts, since they hit 30 (or earlier).

He’s not wrong about staving off things like dementia and Alzheimer’s in your 50s.
Honestly it’s something we should be thinking about in our 20s.

I forget if it’s dementia or Alzheimer’s, but a famous chess champion got one of those two, but he never got as bad as most people. What happened was his brain went from being able to think 15 moves ahead, to only 10, to only 5 to only 2 or 3.

All he’s saying is around 50 a lot of people are going to be thinking about dementia more than most people do around 30.

 

[GojuTommy]

I've not seen a martial arts class that separates young adults from older adults.

And this is one of the biggest problems with martial arts schools in the US.

1. The way a class should be run is vastly different for 5yr olds vs 15 yr olds vs 25 yr olds. So a class with 5 yr olds has to cater to the lowest common denominator which means older students really aren’t getting as much out of class as they could.
2. There’s never a reason to put young children in positions that could make them think that theyre in a peer group with adults. There’s really no good reason for a 25 year old student to be put into close social settings with 14 or 17 year olds they’re not related to.

I came up in a mixed age dojo and I realized now it had me thinking I was more mature and more adult than I was. Then there’s the risk of predators. I’m sure we all heard about those girls in HS who were 14 or 15 but had 20+ year old boyfriends.

It really didn’t hit me how weird this all was though until stingray was introduced in Cobra Kai. He is a parody but a great example of why adults need to be kept out of classes that have minors in them.

 

[Oily Dragon]

A lot of science is starting to show that various lifestyle choices, especially lack of exercise and poor diet, correlate with dementia, including early onset (before 50). Smoking, obesity, alcohol, high cholesterol etc.

And (potentially based on a recent study or two) drinking diet soda.

So the idea that Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia are something you get from the genetic lottery...sadly no. Many people with it have contributed to their decline.

 

[GojuTommy]

It's because we oldies believe in "old and sneaky beats young and fit" so we go out of our way to beat up and demoralise young people with our amazing skills.

Seriously, I'm not noticed more old than young but then 40 isn't old.

When it comes to sports 40 is old. When a professional athlete hits 40 that’s about the time most of them begin to consider retiring from play and shift over to coaching if they’re not going to retire from the sport completely.

Everything is relative, but also to a 20 year old 40 is old. To my 80 yr old grandparents 40 is still young. To me 40 is basically my peer group lol

 

[Oily Dragon]

I've not seen a martial arts class that separates young adults from older adults.

I have. For obvious reasons, in grappling classes it's not ok for adults to wrestle with kids.

And even a TKD class I did a free lesson at separates kids from adults at under 16.

Honestly if there's any decent amount of physical contact, I don't know why you'd want your kid doing that with a fully grown 30 year old dude that could easily hurt them.

If there's zero contact (...) then there's probably no big deal mixing them, but if I were an instructor I'd be very cautious with the adults who are eager to train with kids. Sadly we live in a world where sick people seek out places like that.