This evening, I took the first step into a brand new world. Just as the first monsoon of the season started drenching the streets in wind-driven rain, I arrived at the dojo I’d been researching.
I was half an hour early, and there were a couple of guys already stretching out, working on moves, and talking about stuff I didn’t understand at all. I was greeted by a really nice guy, one of the assistant instructors, who answered all of my questions thoughtfully and in detail. I’ve been doing research on different martial arts forms for a while now, and have settled on aikido as being the one that interests me most. (Of course, I dug up all the old martial arts threads off the boards. What a wealth of information this place is…).
The senior instructor wasn’t there tonight, but I was reassured that he teaches most classes, including tomorrow’s, so I’ll stop by then to meet him. The class size varies between 5 and 12 people, mixed skill levels. The fees seem reasonable, at $55 per month; there are potentially eight hours a week of classes which would fit into my schedule. Some weapons training is involved; what seemed like a good proportion of philosophy; no sparring, no competition.
I watched the class. A lot of emphasis was put on warmups, including some interesting and difficult-looking exercises, some of which seemed new to some of the class; looks like they put a lot of variation into their routines. The training portion of the class impressed me as well. A careful demonstration and explanation of a maneuver, followed by paired-off practice. Each pair of people would try it out on each other, while the instructor kept a careful eye out and offered suggestion, correction, and encouragement, in a friendly but authoritative way. There seemed to be a lot of consideration given to the more inexperienced people, in terms of taking it easy and going slow with them.
The moment that sold me, though, was when the big buzzcut blackbelt, who I’d seen throwing another guy around effortlessly, came off the mat just before class started, and offered to answer any questions I had. What impressed me most, though, was that he had a huge, completely goofy grin.
They offer an introductory course, which includes three 45-minute individual lessons with an assistant instructor and a basic gi, for $35. I signed up (tentatively; I still want to meet the instructor), and am starting it on Monday.
They seem like good people.
So, my question is; any advice? Should I start stretching out now, just to avoid some of the inevitable pain that’s coming up? Anything I should ask before committing to this dojo?
I’m a 36-year-old out-of-shape computer geek, and this is all totally new to me. I’ve never studied a martial art before, and any mistakes you could help me to avoid would be seriously appreciated.
). I vote stretch now and commit to the dojo.
