The Aging Budoka – A Martial Arts Journey

BJJ class circa 2005

When we think of Superheroes we usually think of comic book characters like Superman or Spiderman, but growing up in the 1970s there were flesh and blood people who seemed like Superheroes to legions of young boys. “Leap tall buildings in a single bound?” How about jump 50 school buses in a single jump? “Faster then a speeding bullet?” How about “Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee?” As a young boy in the 1970s, Evel Knievel, Muhammad Ali, and Bruce Lee were real life superheroes to me and many other kids.

But there was someone who wasn’t nearly as flamboyant that appealed to me even more. Kwai Chang Caine from the TV show Kung FU still kicked his share of ass, but there was more to him. A deeper, more spiritual side. As an 8 year old I started thinking about ideas like “enlightenment through combat” and other “deep” topics. Being the smallest kid in my class and kind of a “sensitive thinker” type, I had daily “confrontations” with some of the other kids at school. So, the idea of being able to kick a little ass myself certainly appealed to me. All of these experiences fostered my love and passion for the martial arts.

But studying martial arts of any kind would have to wait until college. First thing I did as a freshman in 1982 was to join the Fencing Club. This might seem like a strange place to start, but I had always been fascinated by swords and being small, I was intimidated by most martial arts. My experience fencing did prove useful when I started sparing in TaeKwonDo and HapKido years later.

Later on in school I ran into a group of people who repeatedly wanted to do me harm. Knives were drawn; punches were thrown on multiple occasions. Pretty freaky stuff, so putting aside my intimidation of Martial Arts, I enrolled in my first TaeKwonDo class. I enjoyed TKD, but felt restrained by the strict sparring rules. I’m 5’3”, how am I supposed to kick someone who is 6’4” in the head? I wanted to grab my opponent and bring him down to my level, but that just wasn’t allowed. About blue belt level in TKD I was introduced to HapKiDo and found a martial art that seemed to fill a lot of the gaps I had seen in TKD. I loved HKD. My instructor had a very basic philosophy where HapKiDo was concerned. If it works, it’s HapKiDo. Here was a martial art where I could grab my opponent, apply a joint lock, throw him to the ground, kick/punch, etc. There was just one rule that my instructor had. Since many of these techniques were potentially dangerous, we were not supposed to really go at it. This didn’t sit well with me and some of my buddies. How could we know if what we were learning would really work if we never tried it? So, quietly when the instructor wasn’t around, we would go at it. This was before the first UFC, so we knew nothing about Muay Thai or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Our only rules were to control the strikes a little and stop if someone tapped. I’ll never forget the reaction of some TKD people when they saw one of our practices. I was sparring with my friend Wil and took him down to the mat and started trying to apply a joint lock. He was fighting back with everything he had when several of the TKD folks came over to “break us up”. They thought we had flipped out and were trying to kill each other. We explained to them that we were having fun and that this is what can happen in a real fight.

Eventually new people started coming to the HapKiDo club that I couldn’t stand and I was about to get married, so I stepped away from HKD and martial arts for the next decade. As my family started I still retained much of my HapKiDo training and read countless books and magazines on martial arts…but the world changed. In my world, I had a desk job, long commute, two young children and a mortgage. In the martial arts world, a young Brazilian named Royce Gracie fought in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship and turned that world upside down.

In early 2001 I decided that I wanted my oldest son to start learning a martial art. He was 9 years old and I didn’t want him going to school kicking and punching at the other kids. So, I searched all over to find a Judo school. The only place I could find was 30 miles away, so I emailed that instructor asking him if he knew of anyplace closer to where I lived. He emailed me back promptly and encouraged us to come train with him on Saturday mornings. If I had thought that my friends and I sparred hard in HapKiDo, I was greatly “enlightened” the first time I saw Randori in Judo. These guys were doing things I had never seen before. Throws, chokes, armbars – all at full speed! Wow! I eventually started doing a little Judo myself, but quickly realized that the intervening years had not been kind to me. I was out of shape and could only Randori for short periods of time. Eventually other responsibilities for myself and our Judo instructor meant that our time learning Judo came to an end. But not before I developed a great respect for Judo and a life long friendship with our instructor.

As Judo was winding down, a resume came across my desk at work one day for a PC technician who listed “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” as a hobby. By this time I had seen a little BJJ, but knew next to nothing about it. I setup the interview and was impressed with his technical skills, but more importantly I was excited by the idea of having someone at work I could talk “martial arts” with. I hired him and we have been friends ever since.

In 2005 I learned that a Martial Arts school in a nearby town was going to start offering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I eagerly signed myself and my oldest son up for classes. I was nervous though, because I knew enough about BJJ to know that it would be the toughest martial art I had ever studied. Plus, I was 40 and hadn’t regularly trained in a martial art for almost 20 years. Due to his experience in wrestling and Judo, my son was a natural and I did…okay. The single biggest issue for me was my conditioning and weight. I did fine until we would really start rolling and then I would consistently “gas out”. Unfortunately, due to financial and other issues I had to stop training after only 6 months. Once again, I was blessed by becoming pretty good friends with our instructor and we have stayed in touch during my “hiatus”.

Since 2005, my son and I have focused our energies on his wrestling, but it’s not enough for either of us, so with 2008 just around the corner we are once again looking at how we can start training.

As a college student in the 1980s I ran 5 miles a day, lifted weights 3 times a week and practiced 2 different martial arts consistently. Today I am 43 years old, 40 pounds heavier, have a “touchy” rotator cuff in my left shoulder, and an achy lower back. I sit at a desk 40+ hours per week. Spend another 10+ per week sitting in a car. My time is limited, but I am determined to continue my martial arts journey. So, join me on The Aging Budoka as I share my experiences, both positive and negative, as I struggle to get back in shape and train with people literally half my age.

I will also review martial arts themed books, movies, TV shows and the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Stay Tuned!

- Jeff

~ by jeff3885 on December 29, 2007.