Hey.
Ando here from SenseiAndo.com and Happy Life Martial Arts.
“Am I too old to start martial arts?”
Ha.
You know, I get this question all the time from people in their 60s, 40s, 20s, even 12 years old.
Talk about ridiculous!
Okay—the short answer is no.
You’re never too old to start training in the martial arts.
So, if you’ve been using age as an excuse to either sit home and play video games or
sit in the nursing home and play bingo,
I want you to get up and go sign up for a martial arts class.
Having said that, I do have a word of warning for some of you old timers out there.
And that's coming up right now.
Look, I’m not going to lie to you.
If you’re 30 years old and you've never taken a martial arts class, and you have a dream
of becoming a UFC champ or winning a gold medal in the Olympics for Judo?
It's too late.
I mean, I hate to be a dream squasher, but that ship has sailed and sunk.
If you truly have your heart set on becoming a champ or winning a medal, then might I suggest
a pie eating contest.
But if your goal is to simply to improve your life—if you want to get in shape, toughen up,
learn how to fight back against a bad guy, develop your balance, strength, your flexibility—
well, then don't think twice about it.
Go sign up for a class right now.
If you’re not sure which style to get involved with, well, I have a video all about that.
You can check that out. I'll put the link below.
Just remember that even if you can only show up for a class one time a
week, it's still going to be worth it.
Even a little martial arts will make your life a whole lot better.
So, whether you’re 20 or 120, go for it.
Rah rah rah.
We all love a good pep talk, don’t we?
But let’s not turn off our brains completely.
The truth is that training in the martial arts does get a little trickier and
more difficult as you get older.
Let me give you an example. When I was in my teens, if I threw too many punches or kicks,
sure, I’d wake up sore.
but I’d usually recover over breakfast and
be back to full power by lunch.
In my 20’s, if I woke up a little sore, it might take a day or two to recover.
In my 30’s, maybe two or three days.
Now, I’m in my late 40’s and let me tell you,
some days I wake up and I'm sore and it may take a week or two before
I'm feeling back to normal.
The weird thing is sometimes I don’t even know why I'm so beat up.
Sometimes you just wake up and you're hurt.
No kidding, this week, I woke up and I swear, both of my shoulders were separated.
I didn't go to the hospital or anything like that, but I couldn't lift up either one of my arms
and I have no idea why.
I thought about it forever. Like, was I doing cartwheels the day before?
Was I hanging off of a helicopter?
No. I still have no idea.
So, the fact is, I am a little scared about what’s going to happen to me in my 50s.
The older I get, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be normal again.
Wait. Normal?
Did I say normal?
Let me tell you something else—how you define normal in your 40’s is not the same
as how you define normal in your 20’s.
When I was in my 20’s, it was not normal for me to carry bandages, braces, and
Advil in my gym bag.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I can still hit hard, just as hard as I could in my 20s,
just not all day, every day.
Which brings me to the secret of success for older martial artists.
The secret to success in the martial arts as you get older is mindset.
Consider my experience in BJJ.
I had white hair when I tied on a white belt in my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class.
And in that class, there were a bunch of tough, terrifying 20-year-olds.
And when a 40-year-old tries to match up with a bunch of tough, terrifying 20-year-olds, let me tell you,
the 40-year-old goes home in pain and feeling like a loser.
But once I stopped trying to be 20, once I changed my goal to becoming the toughest, most terrifying
40-year-old that I could become, well, then class got a lot easier.
So, remember this--accept who you are. Accept what you can do, accept what you can’t do.
As you get older, you should have more wisdom in knowing the difference.
(snoring)
Sorry.
That seems to happen more now, too.
All right.
Bottom line.
I don’t care if you’re 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, or whatever, if you’ve always wanted
to try martial arts—do it.
If you quit martial arts years ago and now you’re worried that you'll never catch up,
well, thinking like that is just gong to make you farther and farther behind.
And if you’re 12?
Man—shut your mouth.
The point is this--life is short, my friend.
If you want to do something, go do it.
Yes, the journey might be a little bit steeper when you get older,
you may take few more twists and turns, but I promise you, the climb is worth it.
With each step you take, the view gets a little better.
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Until next time, throw out the bingo cards and keep fighting for a happy life.