Agreed. Otherwise, there isn't one. While i was in Tae Kwon Do, a man started taking classes who was 63, and had never taken a martial arts class in his life.
We had a lot of over-30 or over-40 guys showing up at Storvik fighter practice, and some of them took to it like a duck to water. (Not the sort of martial art you're thinking of, probably, but hey.)
I, on the other hand, was awful when I tried karate at 13, fencing at 15, fencing again at 20, and swordfighting at 26. I will assuredly be awful again if I take the boxing classes my gym offers at 29. :) But I'm considering it anyway.
It's never too late; I mean of course your eventual potential is somewhat limited by the fact that you didn't start in childhood like Bruce Lee, but seriously I've seen guys in their 40's and 50's start martial arts training and become really skilled black belts that win martial arts tournaments and such.
Much more important is to choose the right art. If you're not very flexible, perhaps you shouldn't go for TKD, which emphasises high kicks. You should also figure out what you want to get out of the art. If you want self-discipline, then something like karate is appropriate. Health benefits bring to mind something like T'ai Ch'i or Ch'i Kung (though really, any worthwhile T'ai Ch'i school will have Ch'i Kung as a requisite part of the training). If you're after rapidly developing self-defense skills, there are any number of styles and schools that emphasise that (the two most famous being Krav Maga and Sistema -- Israeli and Russian close combat systems, respecitvely).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 03:36 pm (UTC)I, on the other hand, was awful when I tried karate at 13, fencing at 15, fencing again at 20, and swordfighting at 26. I will assuredly be awful again if I take the boxing classes my gym offers at 29. :) But I'm considering it anyway.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 05:36 pm (UTC)Basically, the answer is "it depends." :)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 10:48 pm (UTC)