I’m 32. I’ve never trained at any combat sport (or an organized sport of any kind). Up to my twenties, I was a classic ectomorph bookworm. I’m a bit clumsy and clueless when it comes to quick physical decision-making (not that I have much experience on this).
Why would I want to start to wrestle? After a succesful strength training bout ( now 205 lbs., with a bit of gut) and a rising interest in manly stuff, I feel I need to take up some sport with elements of self defense, general fitness and combat (I’m sure grabbing a guy trying to subdue you teaches you lots of stuff you’d never know no matter how much iron you move at the gym). Learning how to wrestle would be a boost to my self-defense ability, and the process a great general fitness/ agility/ stamina builder. The few wrestlers I knew back in school had great builds, real-life power and no qualms about getting intimate with an angry guy. Finally, wrestling just appeals to me, as a part of manhood the world over from time immemorial.
I’m wary of certain injuries. I don’t want a broken nose or cauliflower ears. Boxing, as efficient as it is, is out of the question. I don’t want to risk the full use of my fingers (I play bass, among other things). Am I completely wrong in assuming wrestling has a lower injury risk (especially to head / face and hands) than most other contact sports? If getting recreationally hit on the head is a bit much to me, am I too big a pussy / esthetician to even think about wrestling?
I know kids wrestle around the world. Do adults ever take up the sport of wrestling? Is there such a thing as general hobby wrestling where one gets to take on guys at similar (low) skill level? Is it realistic to take up the sport at this age and get any good in it? I’m not looking to compete - just wondering am I so far “gone” any guy with a school background in it would throw me around like nothing even if I trained hard?
ETA: I realize I have a faint idea of the many forms of wrestling. How about grappling? Education is welcomed.
Grappling or brazilian jiu-jitsu would be easier than wrestling per se. Wrestling (Greco-Roman or freestyle) is fairly difficult to find a club for - most of the teams are affiliated with a school of some sort.
A friend of mine did take up grappling as an adult and one of the advantages is that his club competes in events where they have different belt divisions, so you’d be wrestling against other people who took up wrestling as adults. As someone who was a pretty good high school wrestler with a terrible record as an adult, let me just say that you do NOT want to be competing against the top level of senior-division athletes.
You would be better off with TV type wrestling. There was a fascinating British TV show a few years ago called Faking It where the producers got experts to train people to “fake” some skill. For example:
A gay country lad becomes a London bouncer at sleazy clubs.
A Cellist becomes a club DJ.
A house painter becomes a gallery artist
A sheep-shearer becomes a snooty hairdresser
and for your purposes:
Ballet dancer Kasper Cornish becomes a professional Wrestler
P.S. I’m not an expert, but a black belt in karate once told me “What training in self defence teaches you is that the best move is often to run - especially if there are more than one of them.”
Yeah, I reckon, what with a cauliflower ear being a “badge of honor”, a “man’s ear” and all. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/sports/othersports/31ears.html I’m plenty used to maximal exertion and physical discomfort. Permanent damage is something else, however.
Eastern Martial arts don’t appeal to me. I’m not interested in their spiritual aspects, hierarchies, regulated clothing, competing etc. Self defense, per se, is down my list, below ‘combat conditioning’ and ‘body awareness’ that solo training can’t develop past a certain point. I agree that running away is the best self defense. I’ve used my quick legs on many occasion to escape from a fight. No harm done. But I’ve also trained CPR without ever having to use more than common sense IRL. I will probably never resuscitate a person nor wrestle one on the street for real. Hope not.
With every imaginable type of “combat-derived” excercise regime available these days, I’m interested in hearing about recreational, high-effort, low-risk wrestling derivatives. Apparently not much exists. I’ll check the local grappling scene. Even the Medieval buffs grapple, from what I hear.
I started martial arts training in my 30s, and was over 35 when I started grappling - mainly BJJ, tho some judo, JJ, greco-roman …
There was very little/no “spiritual aspects and hierarchies” in all of the BJJ I’ve known. Nothing “spiritual” at all. And you can expect to train several years before you get anything other than a white belt. And BJJ is certainly not what you might consider a traditional “Eastern” martial art.
Regulated clothing - well, you wear a gi. For one reason because you perform certain techniques using the opponent’s clothes. NHB involves a different set of skills without the gi. Wrestlers wear singlets, no? A gi is just the common workout clothing for the activity - like a pair of sweats.
Competition - no one will make you compete if you don’t want to. But I found it interesting and enjoyable after I had developed some level of skill.
Wrestling teaches phenomenal skills. But what it doesn’t teach is finishing. Think about it - if you are in a self defense situation, you don’t get all that far by pinning your attacker’s shoulders to the ground for 3 seconds!
You can always wear headgear to protect your ears.
Each person ages differently. I seem to be somewhat at risk for arthritis, and currently have problems related to a couple of MA injuries. And a good potion of most grappling martial arts is learning hw to fall. Of practical use even if you never get into a fight, but I’m pretty confident a 30-40 year old body takes a little longer to recover from repeated trips to the mat than a 20 year old buck!
So no, by no means are you too old to start wrestling. But I’m pretty certain you would have an easier time locating a BJJ club with a number of - ahem - older students.
