Tonight was the first time I took an Aikido class. First thought, "lots of fun!" second thought "gosh my whole body hurts!" Everything started hurting after the class was over and I cooled down.
Right now it hurts when I try and raise my right arm above the keyboard level and for some strange reason the bottom of my big toe on my left foot also hurts. How the hell do you hurt the bottom skin area of your big toe? A bruise? Maybe this is what happens when your 55 and get back into martial arts. I did Karate for quite a few years but that was like 20 years back! Getting back into the flow will take time.
Anyway, will keep at it and return to class on Wednesday. I home my right shoulder is better by then. After Wednesdays class I will have 11 days to heal up before attending again ( after my work week). The main thing is not to hurt myself too bad but instead to improve my physical capabilities. Got some nice compliments from some of the black belt folks there, they were quite kind. So far doing things so so OK was mostly because I practised last week during my security work night shift. Did a bunch of rolling after watching YouTube vids, during my night time work shifts. Tonight at the Dojo (place of the way-training room) was definitely a step up, much more intense and driven.
The idea behind all of this is as always, goes back to the photography. I want to continue to make photos as I age. I hope the Aikido will help me to maintain or grow my flexibility, strength, conditioning and overall positive body movement into my 70s. If I can continue to make photos with large view cameras after 70, that has to be a good thing. My dad was still in reasonable shape even at 79 years old, he still worked very hard even with a damaged right arm (muscles torn). I hope to avoid serious injury and to continue to photograph later in life. Of course we can not control our health, bad luck is unforeseen, etc. but I want to do as much as I can to have the arrows all pointing in a positive direction. Never drank, never smoked my whole life, ate reasonably, did not get too too fat (am a overweight thou). Hopefully that none abusive life style stuff will help 55 year old Gerry study Aikiko. It would be cool to someday get a black belt but heck that's a long way off, a bit of a dream, for now I just want my right shoulder get better. :)
The 3 month trial Aikido period will continue! Got to learn me some Japanese, lots of Japanese terms come up during class!
Note* One positive is that my old old Karate Gi (uniform) is finally being used. I bought a nice one a few months before I left the sport, it was recenlty pulled out of a closet, washed and is now my Aikido training uniform!
Right now it hurts when I try and raise my right arm above the keyboard level and for some strange reason the bottom of my big toe on my left foot also hurts. How the hell do you hurt the bottom skin area of your big toe? A bruise? Maybe this is what happens when your 55 and get back into martial arts. I did Karate for quite a few years but that was like 20 years back! Getting back into the flow will take time.
Anyway, will keep at it and return to class on Wednesday. I home my right shoulder is better by then. After Wednesdays class I will have 11 days to heal up before attending again ( after my work week). The main thing is not to hurt myself too bad but instead to improve my physical capabilities. Got some nice compliments from some of the black belt folks there, they were quite kind. So far doing things so so OK was mostly because I practised last week during my security work night shift. Did a bunch of rolling after watching YouTube vids, during my night time work shifts. Tonight at the Dojo (place of the way-training room) was definitely a step up, much more intense and driven.
The idea behind all of this is as always, goes back to the photography. I want to continue to make photos as I age. I hope the Aikido will help me to maintain or grow my flexibility, strength, conditioning and overall positive body movement into my 70s. If I can continue to make photos with large view cameras after 70, that has to be a good thing. My dad was still in reasonable shape even at 79 years old, he still worked very hard even with a damaged right arm (muscles torn). I hope to avoid serious injury and to continue to photograph later in life. Of course we can not control our health, bad luck is unforeseen, etc. but I want to do as much as I can to have the arrows all pointing in a positive direction. Never drank, never smoked my whole life, ate reasonably, did not get too too fat (am a overweight thou). Hopefully that none abusive life style stuff will help 55 year old Gerry study Aikiko. It would be cool to someday get a black belt but heck that's a long way off, a bit of a dream, for now I just want my right shoulder get better. :)
The 3 month trial Aikido period will continue! Got to learn me some Japanese, lots of Japanese terms come up during class!
Note* One positive is that my old old Karate Gi (uniform) is finally being used. I bought a nice one a few months before I left the sport, it was recenlty pulled out of a closet, washed and is now my Aikido training uniform!
