Older Newbies to Kendo
I'm thinking of taking up a martial art and after a lot of reading would like to learn Kendo. I wanted to learn something using swordsmanship that was likely to have a Dojo in my area, so Kendo fits the bill.
However, I'm a forty-something female and although not overweight, I'm not the most athletic nor strongest person you will have ever met!
Is kendo right for someone like me? How hard is semi-contact in terms of damage to older bones? Do you get many older people starting this?
Currently I train at home using a mixture of stationary bike, light weights and kickboxing.
Thanks in advance for answering this question.
Kendo-Guide.Com: I am glad that you show interest in kendo. You sound very fit so there is no problem. However, you will realise that if you have to have physical strength and endurance for kendo. These will develop as you train. This article, How to increase my stamina for kendo?, is helpful.
Age is not a problem. Of course, you cannot move as people who have trained kendo since they are children. However, you have more life experiences and more importantly you can give a lot to those children.
My father started kendo when he was 55. He made it to 5th dan. The year he died to cancer, it was the year he was going for his 6th dan. It was not easy for him to train with other kendo-ka who have done kendo for almost entire their lives. But he improved a little by little. His story can be read here.
We never throw punches and kicks to our opponents. We do not have any throws. So I really think that kendo is the safest martial arts to practice. But you have to know though. Even though we are well-protected by armour, sometimes people accidentally hit you hard on armour or off armour. This is the only ouch moment in kendo.
Again kendo is the safest budo and you can do it through your life. The more you do kendo, more interesting it gets.
Good luck! If you have more questions, do not hesitate to ask!
