The reaction didn’t surprise me, when I told two female coworkers I was taking karate.
“Kah-rah-TAY?” one said, purposefully butchering the word.
The other added, “Just like Ross Geller.”
Ross Geller. Of all people, these two women had to compare me to the least-likeable character from “Friends.” The world of ‘90s and ‘00s sitcoms considered it comedic: the idea of a grown man taking karate. Geller did it in Friends. Dwight Schrute did it in the Office. Cosmo Kramer did it in Seinfeld.
In particular, the writers on Seinfeld and The Office lampooned the idea of adults participating in what many people see as a children’s activity. Indeed, Kramer and Schrute are the only adults in their respective classes. Hilarity ensues as Kramer spars tiny children, chasing them around the room. Meanwhile, Schrute’s dojo teaches -- as three of its primary tenets -- to “Obey your parents,” “Do your homework,” and “Keep your room clean.”
Knowing I fit the profile didn’t help my pride. A 30-something-year-old man. No kids. More than six feet tall. Perhaps a little on the zany side myself.
Imagine my embarrassment, when I learned I would be the only adult in my first class.
As four of us waited for that class to start, one of the girls asked, “Has anybody taken Biology yet?”
I tried not to sigh.
A problem I don’t understand
The Dacula Dojo, where I study American karate in a suburb northeast of Atlanta, also teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’ve seen the people in the adult class. They’re all men. At least one of them is old enough to be my father.
Martial arts are incredibly popular, generally speaking. Plenty of us know a guy who “does MMA” (mixed martial arts). It’s a billion-dollar industry. UFC now has like-minded people talking about fighting in a way they never did before. They speak in reverent tones about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the superiority of “ground and pound.”
The study of judo and jiu-jitsu made Ronda Rousey the top-class fighter she became.
Then again, her epic defeat came at the hands of a more traditional fighter: kickboxer Holly Holm.
Which is why I don’t understand the relative lack of adult interest in American karate -- which draws its style from both traditional Japanese karate and modern kickboxing. So many men and women never try it. They never even see it in person. Considering our current gym culture society, that doesn’t make any sense to me.
CrossFit gets all the love, I guess.
I hate cardio
Most of my life has been spent working behind a desk or sitting at home playing video games. A handful of times, I became a gym rat for a couple months, then returned to my old lifestyle.
At my lower levels of fitness, cardio has been difficult. A slow walk from my recliner to my refrigerator would already have my heart rate above 100 beats per minute. Pushing it above 135 on the elliptical would just set my legs on fire, as weak as they were.
At my higher levels of fitness, my legs and my heart are too strong for the machine. Getting my heart rate into an effective range takes blinding speed. Reaching a point that’s actually beneficial, aerobically speaking, becomes tedious and frustrating.
I hate tedious and frustrating.
Martial arts are different.
A personal trainer once told me about lifting, “It doesn’t get any easier. You just get stronger.” I could easily apply the same idea to martial arts. Simple physics dictates more power means more energy. The stronger I get, the harder I punch. The harder I kick, the more calories I burn. I don’t notice how hard my body is working, because I’m just trying to punch faster. To kick harder. To execute every move with more precision. More speed. More power. Better technique.
It’s the best full-body workout I’ve ever had.
I’m not alone anymore
Several other adults have since joined the karate program at The Dacula Dojo.
One of them joined us after her karate center in Flowery Branch discontinued its adult program due to lack of interest. She’s a blue belt in her 60s. Karate keeps her young, and it helps keep her healthy. She says, most importantly, that she just doesn’t want to stop.
The rest of the adults came as novices, as I did -- not even allowed to wear a white belt until they earned it, taking several classes and eventually kicking through a board.
Those other guys are all fathers, and they’re all always smiling.
One joined to help his son learn, the way parents sometimes have to brush up on their math to help with a child’s homework. He seemed surprised to find out how invigorating it was.
One of the other guys watched his daughter take karate for six months, before he got tired of sitting on the sidelines. She’s in the adult class now (Ages 13 & Up), so her father also gets to spend more time with his teenage daughter. After just a few classes, he was already bragging about the effect on his golf game.
The other guy makes me think of the prototypical suburban soccer dad. On the one hand, he’s trying to get his young son involved in something. At the same time, he has always wanted to study karate himself. You can see the passion in him. He had clearly thought about doing this for a long time. He just never did.
Maybe he didn’t have the time. Maybe he didn’t have the drive or the courage.
Or maybe that’s just me. Those were certainly my insecurities. My reasons for not doing something I had always wanted to do.
I started studying martial arts when I was seven years old. I quit when I was eight. For nearly 25 years, I made excuses. My work schedule didn’t allow it. There was nowhere nearby that taught the style I wanted to learn. (I had this misguided perception that karate was somehow “less than” compared to more exotic-sounding styles of martial arts, such as Hapkido or Krav Maga.) I didn’t want to seem any more like Ross Geller than I already did.
I didn’t have a good reason to walk into The Dacula Dojo; just the suggestion of a friend, who happens to be an instructor there.
...and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in a very long time.
We’re all white belts at something
I never understood the practice of board-breaking until I actually did it.
It took me three tries to get my foot through one inch of wood. I failed twice. By the time I threw that third kick, the crowd of people had stopped their drumroll on the floor. My failures were punctuated by their silence.
...but when the board finally snapped, I experienced something. I felt a surprising amount of accomplishment in that moment. When the instructor tied my white belt around me, I knew it wasn’t just being given to me. I had earned it.
My dojo has a 19-year-old assistant instructor, who dropped a big piece of wisdom on me recently: “We’re all white belts at something.”
I’ve seen so many people in my life (myself included) fear failure. Afraid to seem like an amateur, they often avoid things they don’t already know how to do.
I don’t want to be that guy anymore.
At the dojo one night, before I could walk onto the mat, a little boy at the drinking fountain got in my way. Barely taller than my knee, he took one long look up at me, and with wide eyes and drawn-out syllables, he said, “You’re a white belt!?”
He didn’t have to say, “like me.” He wore a white gi and a white belt just like mine. The two of us were technically at the same skill level. For some reason, that didn’t embarrass me. He was clearly amazed that an adult -- especially one my size -- could be a beginner at anything. So I mustered up every ounce of pride I could, smiled, and told him, “I sure am.”
We all start as beginners. We fail. We keep failing. With practice, over time, we start to get better, and we start to fail less often.
I know karate isn’t for everyone, but it’s something I really enjoy. I want to share that excitement. I want more people to get involved. I want to change the perception that sitcoms put on adults in karate. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and it’s a lot more fun than you might expect.
Give it a shot. Get out of your comfort zone. Ask around about adult classes close to where you live. Whether it’s karate or jiu-jitsu or taekwondo, I would love to see more adult men and women involved in martial arts.
...and if you’re in my area, swing by The Dacula Dojo. We’d love to have you.
Submitted April 29, 2017 at 01:02AM by Lazlodamus http://ift.tt/2oU6ZvI self
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